Nasa establishes ‘Moon to Mars’ office to ‘land first humans’ on Red Planet
New office to lead planning and analysis for long-lead developments to support human Mars missions
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Your support makes all the difference.Nasa has established a new “Moon to Mars Program Office” at its headquarters in Washington to help develop “missions to the Moon and land the first humans on Mars,” the space agency announced on Thursday.
“The Moon to Mars Program Office will help prepare NASA to carry out our bold missions to the Moon and land the first humans on Mars,” Nasa administrator Bill Nelson said.
“The golden age of exploration is happening right now, and this new office will help ensure that NASA successfully establishes a long-term lunar presence needed to prepare for humanity’s next giant leap to the Red Planet,” Mr Nelson said.
The new office would focus on hardware development, mission integration, and risk management functions for Nasa’s upcoming space exploration programmes, including the Artemis Moon missions, leading to human missions to Mars.
Nasa said the office would also lead planning and analysis for long-lead developments to support human Mars missions.
Amit Kshatriya, who previously served as acting deputy associate administrator for Common Exploration Systems Development at the agency, would serve as the agency’s first head of the office, Nasa noted.
“The golden age of exploration is happening right now, and this new office will help ensure that NASA successfully establishes a long-term lunar presence needed to prepare for humanity’s next giant leap to the Red Planet,” Mr Nelson added.
As part of the Artemis I mission, Nasa has already proven the flight-worthiness of its spacecraft and its new space launch system, sending an uncrewed Orion capsule to lunar orbit and back late last year.
The American space agency is currently planning to send a crew of four astronauts around the moon in late 2024, which if goes by plan, may lead to boots on the lunar south pole in 2025.
Nasa hopes land the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon through Artemis, paving the way for a long-term, sustainable lunar presence.
This may further help explore more of the lunar surface than ever before, and prepare for future astronaut missions to Mars, the agency said.
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