Chennai: Though the scientific community is filled with enthusiasm about the Nasa’s new findings of the earth like planets in the universe, the US space organization has clearly set its sight on colonizing Mars in the coming decades.
“Sending humans to orbit Mars is our primary mission now. We are working on the human and rocket technologies required for the long mission,” said Lt General Larry James, deputy director of Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
He delivered a talk on “Exploring our world, the solar system and the universe” at Birla Planetarium on Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters after the event he said, “We are doing human research in that mission. Next stage is going to lunar space and building habitat there and staying for long periods of time.”
Explaining the technology he said, “It’s generally five to six months to go to Mars and probably stay there for a year or so that the planets align themselves to come back to earth in a shorter time.”
“We are talking about two to three years to orbit Mars and come back. So how do you keep the crew alive that long in terms of protecting them from radiation and ensure they have supplies? So, a lot of work still has to be done just to make sure the crew safety,” he said.
Nasa is also designing new rockets called Space Launch System (SLS) for carrying the human to Mars. “Nasa is in the middle of building the rocket and testing its components. The first launch will be 2019,” he said.
The space organization is looking sometime in 2030 to send a man to orbit Mars and come back.
He also said like the Antartica expeditions it is possible to build habitats on Mars.
Speaking about the earth like candidates found by Nasa’s Kepler telescope he said, “There is no evidence of life yet.”
“The data you get from Kepler is primarily that the planet is there and how fast it is going around the star and how big is that. Knowing how fast it is going around the star we can state how far it is from the sun whether it is in the habitable zone,” he said.
“Sending humans to orbit Mars is our primary mission now. We are working on the human and rocket technologies required for the long mission,” said Lt General Larry James, deputy director of Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
He delivered a talk on “Exploring our world, the solar system and the universe” at Birla Planetarium on Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters after the event he said, “We are doing human research in that mission. Next stage is going to lunar space and building habitat there and staying for long periods of time.”
Explaining the technology he said, “It’s generally five to six months to go to Mars and probably stay there for a year or so that the planets align themselves to come back to earth in a shorter time.”
“We are talking about two to three years to orbit Mars and come back. So how do you keep the crew alive that long in terms of protecting them from radiation and ensure they have supplies? So, a lot of work still has to be done just to make sure the crew safety,” he said.
Nasa is also designing new rockets called Space Launch System (SLS) for carrying the human to Mars. “Nasa is in the middle of building the rocket and testing its components. The first launch will be 2019,” he said.
The space organization is looking sometime in 2030 to send a man to orbit Mars and come back.
He also said like the Antartica expeditions it is possible to build habitats on Mars.
Speaking about the earth like candidates found by Nasa’s Kepler telescope he said, “There is no evidence of life yet.”
“The data you get from Kepler is primarily that the planet is there and how fast it is going around the star and how big is that. Knowing how fast it is going around the star we can state how far it is from the sun whether it is in the habitable zone,” he said.