A manned mission to Mars is “feasible, affordable and necessary” if the human race is to survive, Nasa chiefs insisted yesterday as they set out a path to land on the Red Planet soon after 2030.
Charles Bolden, head of the US space programme, plotted a series of “stepping stones” to Mars that included “lassoing” an asteroid; using 3D printers for on-board repairs; cultivating plants in space in advance of a three-year return trip to the planet’s surface and — essentially — more cash from Congress.
“The challenge is huge,” Mr Bolden, a veteran of four space shuttle missions, including piloting the Discovery when it deployed the Hubble telescope in 1990, told the Humans to Mars summit in Washington. “But we love huge challenges.”
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