NASA PLANNING GROUP TAKES KEY STEPS FOR FUTURE MARS EXPLORATION

Three generations of Mars Rovers.  Credit: NASA


FROM:  NASA 
NASA's Mars Program Planning Group (MPPG), established 
to assist the agency in developing a new strategy for the exploration 
of the Red Planet, has begun analyzing options for future robotic 
missions and enlisting the assistance of scientists and engineers 
worldwide. 


NASA is reformulating the Mars Exploration Program to be responsive to 
high-priority science goals and the President's challenge of sending 
humans to Mars in the 2030s. 


"We're moving quickly to develop options for future Mars exploration 
missions and pathways," said John Grunsfeld, an astrophysicist, 
five-time space shuttle astronaut and associate administrator for 
NASA's Science Mission Directorate at the agency's headquarters in 
Washington. "As part of this process, community involvement, 
including international, is essential for charting the new 
agency-wide strategy for our future Mars exploration efforts." 


Grunsfeld leads the agency-wide Mars program reformulation effort 
along with William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for the 
Human Exploration and Operations Directorate, Chief Scientist Waleed 
Abdalati and Chief Technologist Mason Peck. 


In February, Grunsfeld named veteran aerospace engineer Orlando 
Figueroa to lead the MPPG. In March, the group established an initial 
draft framework of milestones and activities that will include 
options for missions and sequences bridging the objectives of NASA's 
science, human exploration and operations and technology. 


Starting today, the scientific and technical community across the 
globe can submit ideas and abstracts online as part of NASA's effort 
to seek out the best and the brightest ideas from researchers and 
engineers in planetary science. Selected abstracts will be presented 
during a workshop in June hosted by the Lunar and Planetary Institute 
in Houston. 


The workshop will provide an open forum for presentation, discussion 
and consideration of concepts, options, capabilities and innovations 
to advance Mars exploration. These ideas will inform a strategy for 
exploration within available resources, beginning as early as 2018 
and stretching into the next decade and beyond. 


"Receiving input from our community is vital to energize the planning 
process," said Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration 
Program at NASA Headquarters. "We'll integrate inputs to ensure the 
next steps for the Mars Exploration Program will support science, as 
well as longer-term human exploration and technology goals." 


The new strategy also will be designed to maintain America's critical 
technical skills, developed over decades, to achieve the highest 
priority science and exploration objectives. 


NASA has a recognized track record of successful missions on Mars, and 
exploration of the planet is a priority for the agency. The rover 
Opportunity, which landed on Mars in 2004, is still operating well 
beyond its official mission of 90 days. There also are two NASA 
satellites, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey, 
orbiting Mars and returning unprecedented science data and images. 


In August, NASA will land the Mars Science Laboratory, "Curiosity," on 
the planet's surface. This roving science laboratory will assess 
whether Mars was in the past or present an environment able to 
support life. In 2013, NASA will launch the Mars Atmosphere and 
Volatile Evolution orbiter, the first mission devoted to 
understanding the Martian upper atmosphere. 

NASA, PARTNERS SOLICIT CREATIVE WASTE-MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS

The following excerpt is from the NASA website:
NASA, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the State 
Department and Nike today announced a challenge to identify 10 
game-changing innovations that could transform waste-management 
systems and practices. Waste management is important for planning 
long-duration human spaceflight missions to an asteroid, Mars or 
beyond. 

Humans living off the planet require waste solutions that mirror 
issues facing people on Earth. In the hostile environment of space, 
waste must be eliminated or transformed in the most efficient and 
cost-effective manner possible. The innovations, which will be 
presented at the LAUNCH: Beyond Waste forum, may lead to practical 
applications for astronauts as we send humans deeper into our solar 
system. 

The challenge will be open April 1-May 15 and will seek creative 
solutions to minimize waste or transform it into new products in 
space and on Earth. Forum partners will select 10 innovators to 
present their technology solutions at the LAUNCH: Beyond Waste forum, 
hosted by NASA July 20-22, at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory 
in Pasadena, Calif. 

NASA and the LAUNCH Council -- thought leaders representing a diverse 
and collaborative body of entrepreneurs, scientists, engineers, 
government, media and business -- will participate in the forum and 
help guide these innovations forward. The selected LAUNCH innovators 
will receive networking and mentoring opportunities from influential 
business and government leaders, as well as portfolio presentations. 

Previous LAUNCH forums have focused on water, health and energy. These 
forums resulted in innovations, including technology that enables 
irrigation using brackish, saline and polluted water; a biodegradable 
needle that can deliver vaccines or medicine under the skin using a 
pressure device; a tiny holographic microscope attached to a cell 
phone that can detect parasites and bacteria in blood and water in 
remote locations; a handheld lab-in-a-box that diagnoses a variety of 
diseases in a matter of minutes; a modular, flexible smart-grid 
distribution technology to provide access to power for those in need; 
and a simple, affordable fuel cell that converts biomass directly to 
electricity. 

LAUNCH was created to identify, showcase and support innovative 
approaches to global sustainability challenges. LAUNCH searches for 
visionaries whose ideas, technologies or programs show great promise 
for making tangible impacts on society in the developed and 
developing worlds.