At the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautic’s annual Explore SPACE Forum, a question posed at the “Journey to Mars” panel discussion stood out. The question was, what happens if SpaceX sends humans to Mars before NASA? Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO stated earlier in the summer that the SpaceX manned mission to Mars would arrive at the planet by 2025, 15 years sooner than the government agency.
NASA and SpaceX Racing to Mars Together
SpaceX or Space Exploration Technologies Corporations, founded in 2002, is an aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company. Musk’s, former PayPal entrepreneur and Tesla Motors CEO, goal is to create technologies to reduce space transportation costs and enable the colonization of Mars. Currently, SpaceX contracts with NASA to carry to the International Space Station (ISS) crew members and supplies.
In spite of the company’s failure to launch a rocket to the ISS, the company remains optimistic about their mission to Mars. After the failed CRS-7 mission to the ISS, SpaceX conducted an internal investigation which pinpointed the strut assembly failure and caused the explosion. According to Nature World News, SpaceX audited their company and retained NASA’s confidence. Included in the document were a lock-in price guarantees, business transparency, and manufacturing processes.
While SpaceX still has many obstacles to overcome, the prospect of sending a crewed mission to Mars is not unthinkable, according to Inverse. William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for human exploration and operations for NASA replied, “It’s not a competition,” adding that whether NASA or SpaceX gets to Mars first, the feat will advance humanity “as a species.” Each organization is rooting for each other’s advancement in this goal.
Separately, each has their advantages and disadvantages. While NASA has federal backing along with the know-how, the agency can only move so fast. That’s where SpaceX comes in. The private company is willing to take risks while NASA must certify everything. NASA, in return to providing SpaceX with help, gets data from the private company, which includes, data from rocket launches, descending into the Martian atmosphere, and most importantly, landing on Mars.
Abhishek Tripathi, director of the certification program at SpaceX, said to Inverse that partnering with the government agency is “a mutual benefit all around.” SpaceX plans on sending their Red Dragon, their unmanned capsule for low-cost Mars lander missions, as soon as 2018 for a data gathering mission.
NASA and SpaceX have no plans to resurrect the lunar program. Gerstenmaier said that the moon’s surface wouldn’t provide any essential new data on descending and landing due to the lack of atmosphere. For more CDA News, follow our tweets on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
By Cheryl Werber
Photo Courtesy SpaceX
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