Alexis Guilleux, edited by Ophélie Artaud
As the Artemis mission continues around the Moon, with a return to Earth scheduled for Sunday, NASA next plans to conquer Mars. A way to keep the United States ahead of China. And for that, the country grants a budget increase to the space agency, which will reach 26 billion dollars.
The Americans are determined to maintain their lead in the conquest of space. There is the Artemis mission, currently rotating around the Moon. Return to Earth scheduled for Sunday. NASA is counting on her to prepare to send a manned mission to Mars.
NASA is trying to maintain its lead over China
The Americans are at the head of almost all the Martian missions. Only China also sent a robot to the red planet. Since 2018, the Insight probe has been analyzing the internal structure of Mars. A few weeks ago, she picked up the sound of a meteorite hitting the Martian soil. NASA also has two exploration vehicles, Curiosity and Perseverance, whose mission is to collect rock samples to better understand the history of water on Mars. Future missions will bring these samples back to Earth in the early 2030s.
There is a consensus in the American political class, Mars exploration allows the United States to maintain its lead over China. NASA’s budget will also be up 8% next year, to reach $26 billion. All the work of the American space agency converges towards a medium-term objective: to send humans walking on Mars by 2040. And the journey will be long. Count at least two and a half years for the entirety of a human mission on the red planet. Two way travel.