Mission Mars before the risk of failure

In a report submitted to the US Congress, the National Research Council (NRC) warned that the US Air and Space Administration's (NASA) program to bring people to Mars would fail.

According to AFP, NRC thinks that with NASA budget equivalent to only 0.5% of the federal budget ($ 17.5 billion), bringing people to Mars 'is just a dream'.

Picture depicting NASA's Curiosity robot operating on Mars - (Photo: NASA)

NRC said that to satisfy the goal of bringing people to Mars requires years of preparation, hundreds of billions of dollars of budget and accepting 'the risk to human life'.

NRC believes that NASA needs to implement a step-by-step strategy to achieve the necessary technological development before sending people to Mars. NRC proposes three directions: The first is to return to the Moon, build a base here and bring people to Mars. The second is to send people to orbit and the Moon's surface, to orbit asteroids, to explore the moons of Mars before setting foot on the Red planet. The third is developing technology to 'capture' asteroids to lead to Moon orbit, explore Mars' moons, and send people to Mars orbit before reaching the planet. NRC also asked NASA to cooperate with countries to promote space capacity.

NASA has welcomed the NRC report, pledging to carefully study the recommendations.'But the goal of the space exploration mission is Mars. All long-term space programs are for this purpose, " NASA said.