NASA officials have been talking about using the moon as a springboard for Mars exploration for years. But now the space agency is reorganizing its administration to finally embody its purpose in its bureaucratic structure. was established.
This office will consolidate a series of programs already underway. This includes the goals of NASA’s Artemis lunar mission. These include the creation of spacesuits for lunar astronauts, the Orion spacecraft, and the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket that successfully flew the unmanned Artemis. Test flight in November. These projects will be more formally linked to the development of technology and operations for future human travel to Mars.
“This new office will help NASA ensure the long-term lunar existence it needs to prepare for mankind’s next giant leap to Mars,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. increase. in a statement.
in the NASA Authorization Act of 2022, Congress recommended that NASA create a Moon-to-Mars program office to ensure that each Artemis lunar mission “demonstrates or advances the technology or operational concepts that enable manned missions to Mars.” obliged. After Artemis I’s successful test flight, NASA will launch her four astronauts on her Artemis II lunar flyby mission in late 2024, and return humans to the moon with Artemis III in 2025. We aim to Subsequent Artemis missions should allow astronauts to build lunar habitats at the lunar south pole every two years.
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“We went to the moon and have a more sustained presence and execution than we had historically back on Apollo,” said Lakiesha Hawkins, deputy manager of the new office. popular science“The demonstrations we’re doing are preparing us for long-term stays. In essence, we can live off the land.”
NASA astronauts will experiment with extracting oxygen by extracting water from the moon’s crater ice and melting the moon’s regolith (rock). They also practice maneuvers and procedures as if they were on Mars, deliberately delaying communication with Earth and making it largely unavailable. Test the reliability of life support equipment and other systems. “The further we go, the less we can look back at our home planet’s ability to help us,” says Hawkins.
At the moment, the Moon-to-Mars program office is still in the works and has adopted key roles, Hawkins said, but some changes have already begun.
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“One of the things I think is the obvious change is that we used to have three different divisions,” she says. A planned lunar space station called Gateway, a lunar lander, a space suit, another for lunar technology. Then there is the third division, which focuses on Mars technology and capabilities. These are now consolidated under the Moon-to-Mars Program Office. By coordinating these offices, “we can set ourselves up for future success,” she says, Hawkins.
While the changes so far have been largely administrative, Hawkins sees the congressional order as justification for NASA’s approach to its extraterrestrial closest neighbors. , seems to have a clear strategy that works, which has worked well through multiple presidential administrations now,” she says. “We’re not kidding, we’re going back to the moon.” And finally to Mars.
