NASA: Humans on Mars by 2035 is 'primary focus'

NASA says they want to put people on Mars by 2035, but Hollywood has been sending travelers to the Red Planet for decades. Look back at some of the many movies that have inspired by our planetary neighbor. NASA says they want to put people on Mars by 2035, but Hollywood has been sending travelers to the Red Planet for decades. Look back at some of the many movies that have inspired by our planetary neighbor. Photo: Associated Press Photo: Associated Press Image 1 of / 21 Caption Close NASA: Humans on Mars by 2035 is 'primary focus' 1 / 21 Back to Gallery

For a couple years, NASA has been talking about sending people to Mars by 2035.

That goal is still on the books, despite recent upheaval in the space program, according to two of the agency's top scientists.

"In the near term, Mars remains our primary focus," Ellen Stofan, NASA's chief scientist said May 15 in a talk at the Royal Institution in London. Her visit and that of Jim Adams, the agency's deputy chief technologist, can be viewed in this YouTube video.

"This is not something any one nation can do on their own," Stofan said. "It's something that humanity is going to do together."

A trip to Mars and back, with time spent exploring the planet, will take about three years, she said.

After making that huge initial effort, humans are likely to stay on the red planet, Stofan said.

"I don't think that first group will necessarily stay there, but we need to think of this as establishing an outpost," she said. "We want it to be possible for those people to come back if they want to, but it's the beginning of sustained human presence on Mars."

Stofan said the drive behind this huge undertaking is the fundamental question: "Are we alone?"

NASA also plans to continue studying the moon and asteroids, she said.

"The moon remains an extremely important target," she said. "People often call it a 'witness plate.' "

For example, Earth had craters similar to those on the moon and Mars, but erosion has wiped away the evidence," she said. "The moon has preserved our history," Stofan said.

Asteroids also are another important target, Adams said.

"We first thought, 'We'll send an astronaut to an asteroid,' " he said. "Then we realized how hard that is. Just to catch up to one requires so much rocket propulsion, it's almost impossible."

So the agency's scientists decided to "redirect" an asteroid into an orbit of the moon and are searching for an asteroid that's an appropriate candidate.

"Once we find the right one, we'll use all the technology we've got," he said. "We'll snag it, we'll bag it and we'll drag it into orbit around the moon. Then we can send humans to a target that enables us to practice deep space operations."

NASA is looking for an asteroid that's about 10 meters (33 feet) in diameter. One idea is to enclose the asteroid in a gigantic, 20-meter bag and push it into orbit around the moon, Adams said.

Astronauts would be sent to the asteroid to unwrap it and live there for months to explore the surface, he said.

"The point isn't the asteroid," he said. "It's the living and working together and the technology to be able to do that."

The plan is to accomplish that by 2020, Adams said.

Stofan and Adams didn't bring up the subject, but there are private groups talking about establishing a human colony on Mars by 2025. One such effort is Mars One, based in the Netherlands.

The nonprofit Inspiration Mars Project proposes to send a married couple on a "flyby" mission that would pass close to Mars and would rely heavily on NASA support. The initial target date was 2018, but that has changed to 2021, according to the group's website.