While NASA evaluates how soon it can send astronauts on a loop around the moon in an Orion capsule, Lockheed Martin is promoting a concept that would send crews on a three-year trip around Mars in just over a decade.
"This is all doable in the next 10 to 12 years," said Tony Antonelli, a former NASA space shuttle pilot who heads advanced civil space programs for Lockheed Martin, lead contractor for the Orion spacecraft being assembled at Kennedy Space Center. "All that we have to do is decide that we’re going to go collectively, together — government, industry, international participation. This is a mission for citizens of Earth, and there’s a role for everyone to play."
Addressing more than 300 guests at the National Space Club Florida Committee's meeting on Tuesday, held at the KSC Visitor Complex, Antonelli outlined Lockheed's concept for a "Mars base camp."
The symmetrical spacecraft would feature Orion capsules on either end of habitat and laboratory modules, enabling six astronauts to depart as soon as 2028 on a roughly three-year, round-trip science mission orbiting Mars.
Astronaut scientists orbiting the Red Planet could perform a variety of research, potentially including remotely controlling rovers and drones. They could help scout future human landing sites. An Orion could fly sorties to explore the Martian moons Phobos and Deimos.
The vision relies on systems that are either already available or in development, Antonelli said.
"We’re not waiting for the future and some kind of magic," he said.
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