Bolden On Mars

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden told a skeptical, sometimes hostile Senate committee that sending astronauts to Mars was the ultimate goal of the U. S. manned spaceflight program. He argued that NASA doesn't have that capability now, but by directing resources towards developing the necessary technology to combat radiation and other health issues and to cut months off the mission, we could have the capability in as few as ten years.

The ten year time frame is interesting. First, it is much sooner than even most interested laymen probably would have put the opening of manned Mars exploration. Of course, Bolden said we might have the capability in ten years; he didn't say we would head out as soon as we had the capability. Second, if we assume we would go soon after developing the means, the ten year time frame suggests Bolden might be thinking of going directly to Mars. Perhaps there would be no lunar base to test technologies needed for Mars. Such a base could be considered part of the infrastructure the Obama administration proposes building to support a human spaceflight effort, but the administration has so far embraced no such program.

The Obama approach faces a tough road in Congress. Many members think relying strictly on commercial spacecraft to get NASA astronauts into space-- spacecraft that have yet to fly-- is a bad idea. They argue NASA needs its own launch capability, and its own ships. Many also still support Constellation. Congress repeatedly voted, in a bipartisan fashion with healthy majorities, to support the Bush program over the past five years, and many members don't want to abandon that. The debate is just being joined.