NASA has no money to land people on Mars

Mars - such close and so far

Mars - is a very attractive target for humanity. With a stretch, it can be called an earth-like planet, and many scientists and entrepreneurs believe that if we already arrange the outpost of humanity in the solar system, then it is on Mars. Elon Musk previously stated that he considers the Red Planet a "backup storage" for civilization. That is why all his aspirations (almost all) are aimed at achieving the desired goal - the flight of man to Mars with the creation of a colony there. In this case, most likely, this will be a one-way ticket, the colonists simply will not have the opportunity to return.

NASA is working on a similar goal. Over the past few years, the agency has been activelyabout exactly how it is going to reach Mars and why it is needed. Initially, the plan included flying around the moon, transporting an asteroid to the Earth’s natural satellite, and creating a base for flying to Mars. Over time, some points (including the same transportation of the asteroid) had to be removed, but overall, the plan looked pretty viable. Agency representatives tirelessly demonstrated slides, talking about the various stages of the implementation of their program. Well, now it turned out that NASA simply does not have money for all this.

According to the plan, flights to Mars were supposed to take place already in 2030. For this, in particular, a heavy SLS booster is being developed. In 2040, as stated by representatives of the agency, the Red Planet should already be conquered. By the way, some NASA employees suggested flying to the moon instead of Mars, saying that they’re much closer, and it’s easier and cheaper to organize a colony. But everyone else advocated creating an outpost of humanity on Mars.

One of these days at one of the meetings held at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, one of the leaders of NASA admitted that there is no money to land a man on the Red Planet. On purpose or by accident, but William Gerstenmeyer reportedthat the financial support received by the agency now is not enough. “I can’t say when people get to Mars, the reason for this is lack of funding, the budget is increased roughly 2%, we don’t have landing and take-off systems for Mars,” Gerstenmeyer said when answering the question when people will fly to Krasnaya the planet. “At this stage, take-off and landing is a difficult challenge for us.”

In other words, NASA is currently spending a ton of money on SLS and Orion. The construction of these systems costs huge amounts, which continue to increase, going beyond the budget. That is why the agency does not have money to create systems that allow it to land on Mars and take off from its surface. Well, without this, it’s not like a colony, but even landing a small number of astronauts for just a few days is impossible.

As mentioned above, NASA was pushing the idea of ​​flying to Mars with all its might , and not "returning to the moon." Politicians, including several US presidents, have repeatedly asked NASA to reconsider their goals, but they have always been clear - Mars. And now, representatives of the agency said that maybe the moon should still be borne in mind when speaking about the advancement of man in the solar system.



“If we find water on the moon, we will conduct satellite survey operations, we have the opportunity to support this program. If we want to think not only about Mars, then we can try, ”said a representative of NASA.

As far as you can understand, officials insistently recommended that NASA pay attention to the moon and temporarily stop thinking about Mars. In principle, the idea is also not bad, but the problem is that NASA simply may not have ways to create a colony on the moon. The fact is that at first the agency’s operations will depend only on SLS, and this booster will take off no more than once a year. Moreover, the cost of the flight is $ 1 billion. A flight to Mars or the Moon will cost even more, so the agency should think about what to do next.

So, can humanity forget about flights to other planets? No, there is still a way out. It consists in using transport systems of other companies, including SpaceX, United Launch Alliance and Amazon. These companies are developing their own launch vehicles, the maintenance and operation of which is much cheaper than working with SLS. If everything works out (NASA did not conclude a contract with these companies for nothing), plans for the development of the solar system will be implemented. And if not Mars, then the moon will be subdued. On the other hand, Elon Musk is directed to Mars and only to Mars, and he can insist on flying all the same there, and not to the Moon. Well, here we can only wait.