At the end of last month, we announced the readiness of the American aerospace agency NASA to change course and deviate from the Martian program in favor of the Moon, if such a task is set by the current US government. And it looks like the agency will really have to take such a step, because the US government has just announced the resumption of the program to return a man to the moon.
In a statement published October 4 in the Wall Street Journal by Vice President of the United States of America Mike Pence, an executive order has been signed to rebuild the National Space Council and to appoint him as head of the organization.
"On Thursday, the council will hold its first meeting in 25 years and I, as its chairman, am going to make one simple message: America will once again lead in space exploration," Pence said, adding that the lack of a clear vision for future development in the state space program is the main reason why countries like China and Russia, rather than the United States, are currently leading players in this area.
The vice president also explained in a statement that the United States desperately needs its own space technologies to protect its communications, navigation and surveillance systems from hacker attacks.
What will happen to Mars now?
The new state space program is generally reduced to human research. However, Pence believes that the Moon and the establishment of a permanent human settlement there is "an extremely important strategic goal", which should be achieved in the first place.
It should be noted that other prominent personalities adhere to the same opinion regarding the Moon. For example, in August of this year, retired astronaut Chris Hadfield said that the creation of a settlement on a satellite of the Earth is the first thing a person should return to. And not just to prove that we can do this, but also because the Moon can become the starting point for many future space missions.
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Of course, US ambitions will not end on the Moon. According to Vice President Pence, America is ready to make every effort to make the country the first in the world to send a man to Mars. At the same time, the prerequisites for the implementation of such a mission are more of a commercial than a research nature.
“In the years to come, American industry should be the first to create a permanent commercial human presence in Earth's orbit, expanding its economic reach beyond the planet,” Pence added.
Vice President Pence speaks at the first meeting of the National Space Council
In the coming weeks, the US administration is set to form a dedicated advisory group made up of leaders in the modern commercial space industry. As the name suggests, the main task of this group will be to provide expert advice from those commercial organizations that are currently developing new equipment and technologies needed to deliver humans into space.
“Business is pushing space technology forward, and we're going to plunge into this vast world of innovation to meet our challenges,” added Pence.
Unfortunately, the US Vice President did not provide details on who will be part of this expert group. But names like Elon Musk (head of SpaceX) and Jeff Bezos (head of Blue Origin) certainly come to mind first. The former recently shared a detailed plan for delivering people to Mars by 2024, while the latter wants to start carrying out tourist suborbital flights as early as next year.
The first results of the work of the National Space Council, however, most likely will have to wait for some time. Despite the fact that the aerospace agency had previously shared its plans for the Moon and Mars, the mention of the organization in the speech of the speaking Vice President Pence was exponentially absent.
Nikolay Khizhnyak