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Man will land on Mars in 2037, says NASA official
A series of planned lunar missions comes into focus at International Astronautical Congress
— PHOTO: P. V. SIVAKUMAR
Delegates at the International Astronautical Congress near Hyderabad on Monday.
Hyderabad: Michael Griffin, Administrator, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), U.S., is convinced that the first human being will land on Mars in 2037. “When this conference meets in 2057, I am convinced that we will be able to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first human landing on Mars…” he asserted at the International Astronautical Congress near here on Monday.
A series of lunar missions planned by Japan, China, Russia, the U.S. and India and later missions of land rovers and human beings to Mars came sharply into focus at the IAC plenary, when the heads of top national space agencies gathered to answer questions from delegates.
While Japan launched a two-tonne spacecraft called Selene to the moon by the middle of this month and is planning a series of lunar missions, China will launch a spacecraft to the moon by the end of this year. “Our lunar spacecraft has been transported to the launch site. If everything goes well, it will be launched by the end of this year,” said Sun Laiyan, Administrator, China National Space Administration (CNSA).
One step beyond ISS
Dr. Griffin said the next step in space exploration would be one step beyond the International Space Station (ISS), where 15 partners of the U.S. were engaged in building a platform for humanity above the earth’s atmosphere.
“We will learn from that — how to go beyond — first back to the moon and stay there for a substantial length of time and then on to Mars. In the process, we will build a civilisation for tomorrow and after that,” he declared.
Dr. Laiyan revealed that China had planned its missions to the moon in three stages: “orbiting, roving and returning.” China had no plans to send a man to the moon. But Dr. Laiyan was confident that “hopefully, the objective would be fulfilled later.”
Keiji Tachikawa, president, Japanese Space Exploration Agency, believed that moon was no longer a place to visit but should be considered for human inhabitation and exploitation of its mineral resources. In the wake of the Selene mission, Dr. Tachikawa said, Japan would send a series of spacecraft to the moon to explore it further.
“Our future programme in human space flight,” said Anatoly N. Pernimov, Head, Federal Space Agency, Russia, “will be in three major steps.”
The first step up to 2015 would mark Russia integrating its segment into the ISS and setting up a multi-purpose laboratory there. Between 2016 and 2025, Russia would continue to integrate its complex in the ISS and build up a space crew. From 2026 to 2040, Gen. Pernimov said Russia would develop near-earth space infrastructure, which would form the basis for human flights to the moon and Mars.
ISRO Chairman Madhavan Nair said the government had not yet taken any decision to send an Indian into space.
“We are assessing the technologies to be developed, the facilities needed” and the Indian scientific community wanted to “go its own way” on sending an Indian into space. This would take eight years. Prof. U.R. Rao, former ISRO chairman, moderated the plenary.
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Der Wettlauf zum Mars geht anscheinend in die heiße Phase: Erstmals hat ein Verantwortlicher der NASA indirekt ein Zieldatum für einen bemannten Flug zum Mars genannt. Demnach soll es im Jahr 2037 soweit sein. NASA-Chef Michael Griffin selbst definierte das Ziel. Laut der Nachrichtenagentur PTI geschah das am Montag, den 24. September bei dem „58. International Astronautical Congress“ (IAC 2007), der in der Zeit vom 24. bis zum 28. September in der südindischen Stadt Hyderabad stattfindet.

Griffin wird auf dem Kongress wörtlich wie folgt zitiert: „When this conference meets in 2057, I am convinced that we will be able to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first human landing on Mars…“. Übersetzt: „Wenn diese Konferenz im Jahr 2057 wieder stattfindet, bin ich davon überzeugt, dass wir den 20. Jahrestag der Landung eines Menschen auf dem Mars feiern werden.“

Weiter sagte er, dass es das Ziel der Weltraumbehörde sei, eine „Weltraumzivilisation für morgen“ zu schaffen. Wörtlich sagte Griffin: „In the process, we will build a civilisation for tomorrow and after that.“ Übersetzt: "Während dieser Entwicklung werden wir eine Zivilisation für morgen und übermorgen bauen". Mit Entwicklung meinte Griffin den Plan der NASA, nach der Internationalen Raumstation zuerst auf den Mond zurückzukehren um danach den Mars anzupeilen.