NASA today provided a glimpse into its future plans for Mars exploration, an effort that will be hampered somewhat thanks to budget constraints.
Specifically, the agency's Mars Program Planning Group (MPPG) called on researchers and engineers in planetary science to submit their ideas for how best to explore the Red Planet. Some of the best abstracts will be presented at a June workshop hosted by the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston.
The MPPG, led by veteran aerospace engineer Orlando Figueroa, was established to develop a new strategy for Mars exploration in light of the president's goal of sending humans to the planet in the 2030s.
It won't be as easy as strapping on a suit and hopping in a spaceship, though. One reason for the re-evaluation of NASA's Mars program was the "budget environment we're in," John Grunsfeld, MPPG associate administrator, said during a call with reporters today.
President Obama's 2013 budget included a 21 percent cut to planetary science, Space.com noted last month. That required NASA to drop out of European-led journeys, known as ExoMars.
As a result, NASA needs to get creative. One of the MPPG's highest priorities, Grunsfeld said, is collaboration.
The June workshop "will provide an open forum for presentation, discussion and consideration of concepts, options, capabilities and innovations to advance Mars exploration," NASA said today. "These ideas will inform a strategy for exploration within available resources, beginning as early as 2018 and stretching into the next decade and beyond."
For more information about submitting ideas, visit the Lunar and Planetary Institute's website.
The announcement comes about five months after the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), which includes the car-sized rover known as Curiosity, successfully launched from Cape Canaveral and started its journey toward the Red Planet.
Today, Grunsfeld said Curiosity "is making rapid progress" toward its Aug. 6 arrival on Mars.
Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters, promised a "mid-cruise update" on Curiosity in the next few weeks, which will include details on improvements in point of entry accuracy and landing options.
When asked if next-generation Mars efforts will involve a rover or orbiter, Figueroa said NASA is still examining both options. "We have not completed the analysis just yet," he said.
In other Mars news, meanwhile, a new paper suggests that life on Mars was actually found back in 1976. Further, the new analysis says human exploration of the planet is not needed to verify this point. "The ultimate proof is to take a video of a Martian bacteria. They should send a microscope - watch the bacteria move," the University of Southern California's Joseph Miller told Discovery News.
Most of us probably won't make it to the Red Planet in our lifetime, but to get a taste of what that experience might be like, the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan is currently hosting a "Future of Space Exploration" exhibit, which includes a model of the Red Planet and projections about what it might take to live there. See the slideshow below for more.
For more from Chloe, follow her on Twitter @ChloeAlbanesius.
