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WASHINGTON: A new mission to send humans to Mars could see astronauts stepping foot on the red planet within 24 years without the need for budget increases, according to new plans put forward by Nasa.
The new plans, proposed by scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena California, will first land humans on the Red Planet’s moon Phobos before visiting the Martian surface.
It ultimately aims to send four astronauts to live for a year on the surface of Mars in 2043.
Crucially, the proposals aim to use technology already in development or in use already to achieve the missions.
The ‘minimal architecture’ approach is seen as a way of getting humans to Mars without any large increases in budget beyond those in line with inflation.
The plan suggests having a ‘dress rehearsal’ to test the Mars landing system by touching down on the Earth’s moon and testing of a deep space habitat.
NASA would then send a crew of four astronauts to first orbit Mars and land on the Red Planet’s 16km wide moon Phobos in 2033.
A two man crew would then spend a month on the surface of Mars in 2039 and then four astronauts would then be sent to spend a year on the surface in 2043.
