Journey To Mars
Learn about our real Journey To Mars and Asteroid as well.
The film “The Martian” takes the work NASA and others have done exploring Mars and extends it into fiction set in the 2030s, when NASA astronauts are regularly traveling to Mars and living on the surface. NASA has collaborated on this film with 20th Century Fox Entertainment, providing guidance on production design and technical consultants
So whats happening in real life? NASA is developing the capabilities needed to send humans to an asteroid by 2025 and Mars in the 2030s. NASA will send a robotic mission to capture and redirect an asteroid to orbit the moon. Astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft will explore the asteroid in the 2020s, returning to Earth with samples. This experience in human spaceflight beyond low-Earth orbit will help NASA test new systems and capabilities, such as Solar Electric Propulsion, which we’ll need to send cargo as part of human missions to Mars. Beginning in FY 2018, NASA’s powerful Space Launch System rocket will enable these “proving ground” missions to test new capabilities. Human missions to Mars will rely on Orion and an evolved version of SLS that will be the most powerful launch vehicle ever flown.
A fleet of robotic spacecraft and rovers already are on and around Mars, dramatically increasing our knowledge about the Red Planet and paving the way for future human explorers. The Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover measured radiation on the way to Mars and is sending back radiation data from the surface. This data will help us plan how to protect the astronauts who will explore Mars. Future missions like the Mars 2020 rover, seeking signs of past life, also will demonstrate new technologies that could help astronauts survive on Mars.
>>Neil deGrasse Tyson examines the upcoming Ares 3 mission and their JourneyToMars in this special episode of StarTalk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fdKyszL1Zo
http://www.nasa.gov/realmartians
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