If the power goes out in your home, you can usually settle in with some candles, a flashlight, and a good book. You wait it out, because the lights will probably be back on soon.
But if you&#8217;re on Mars, your electricity isn&#8217;t just keeping the lights on — it&#8217;s literally keeping you alive. In that case, a power outage becomes a much bigger problem.
NASA scientists think they&#8217;ve found a way to avoid that possibility altogether: <a href="https://www.space.com/40479-space-nuclear-reactor-kilopower-passes-big-test.html">creating a nuclear reactor</a>. This nuclear reactor, known as Kilopower, is about the size of a refrigerator and can be safely launched into space alongside any celestial voyagers; astronauts can start it up either while they&#8217;re still in space, or after landing on an extraterrestrial body.
The Kilopower prototype <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/demonstration-proves-nuclear-fission-system-can-provide-space-exploration-power">just aced a series of major tests</a> in Nevada that simulated an actual mission, including failures that could have compromised its safety (but didn&#8217;t).
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This nuclear reactor would be a &#8220;game changer&#8221; for explorers on Mars, Lee Mason, NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) principal technologist for Power and Energy Storage, said in a November 2017<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/feature/Powering_Up_NASA_Human_Reach_for_the_Red_Planet"> NASA press release</a>. Just one device could provide enough power to support an extraterrestrial outpost for 10 years, and do so without some of the issues inherent to solar power, namely: being interrupted at night or blocked for weeks or months during Mars&#8217; epic dust storms.
&#8220;It solves those issues and provides a constant supply of power regardless of where you are located on Mars,&#8221; Mason said in the press release. He also noted that a nuclear-powered habitat could mean that humans could land in a greater number of landing sites on Mars, including high latitudes where there&#8217;s not much light but potentially lots of ice for astronauts to use.
Nuclear reactors are not an unusual feature in space; the <a href="https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status/">Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft</a>, now whizzing through deep space after departing our solar system, have been running on nuclear energy since they launched in the 1970s. The same is true for the Mars rover Curiosity since it landed on the Red Planet in 2012.
But we&#8217;d need a lot more reactors to colonize planets. And that could pose a problem of what to do with the waste.
<figure id="attachment_130527" style="width: 1500px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img class="wp-image-130527 size-full" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2018/05/stmd_kilopower.jpg" alt="An artist's depiction of the Kilopower nuclear reactor, with a mushroom-like shape, working in concert with others on a reddish surface, presumably Mars." width="1500" height="843" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">An artist&#8217;s depiction of a series of Kilopower reactors, working in concert to power an extraterrestrial outpost. (Image Credit: NASA)</figcaption></figure>
<a href="https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/moon-mars/a20127140/nasa-tests-mini-nuclear-reactors-for-moon-and-mars/"> According to Popular Mechanics</a>, Kilopower reactors create electricity through active nuclear fission — in which atoms are cleaved apart to release energy. You need solid uranium-235 to do it, which is housed in a reactor core about the size of a roll of paper towels. Eventually, that uranium-235 is going to be &#8220;spent,&#8221; just like fuel rods in Earth-based reactors, and put nearby humans at risk.
When that happens, the uranium core will have to be stored somewhere safe; spent reactor fuel is still dangerously radioactive, and releases lots of heat. On Earth, most spent fuel rods <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear-power/nuclear-waste/safer-storage-of-spent-fuel#.Wuteh4gvw2w">stored in pools of water</a> that keep the rods cool, preventing them from catching fire and blocking radiating radioactivity. But on another planet, we&#8217;d need any available water to, you know, keep humans alive.
So we&#8217;d need another way to cool spent radioactive fuel. It&#8217;s possible that the spent fuel could be stored in shielded casks in lava tubes or designated parts of the surface, since the Moon and Mars are so cold, though that introduces the risk that someone might accidentally bump into them.
Right now, all we can do is speculate — as far as we know, NASA doesn&#8217;t have any publicly available plan for what to do with spent nuclear fuel on extraterrestrial missions. That could be because the Kilopower prototype just proved itself actually feasible. But not knowing what to do with the waste from it seems like an unusual oversight, since NASA is planning to <a href="https://futurism.com/making-moon-space-gas-station/">go back to the Moon</a>, and <a href="https://futurism.com/its-official-humans-are-going-to-mars-nasa-has-unveiled-their-mission/">then to Mars</a>, by the early 2030s.
And in case you were wondering, no, you can&#8217;t just shoot the nuclear waste off into deep space or into the sun; <a href="https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19780015628.pdf">NASA studied that way back in the 1970s</a> and determined it was a pretty terrible idea. Back to the drawing board.

Kilopower could keep the lights on for Mars explorers for 10 years. But what happens when the reactor is spent?

We now have a working nuclear reactor for other planets

Off World

NASA's Kilopower nuclear reactor just aced a series of tests showing it can be safely used on space missions. Yet its unclear what will happen to its waste.

We Now Have A Working Nuclear Reactor for Other Planets — But No Plan For Its Waste

The thing works, but NASA doesn't know what to do with its spent fuel. 

<h2>The First Car in Space</h2>
On December 21, SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk posted seven photos to Instagram of his red Tesla roadster <a href="https://futurism.com/spacex-sending-tesla-roadster-mars-believe-when-see/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">being encased within a Falcon Heavy rocket</a>, seemingly confirming rumors (that he had himself <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/936782477502246912">started via Twitter</a>) that he plans to make the vehicle the payload for the rocket&#8217;s first test. The Falcon Heavy is slated to carry supplies into Mars orbit for future manned missions — but it has to get off the ground first.
After months of delays, the test mission is planned for sometime in January, and will utilize the Roadster as a dummy payload to be delivered into a &#8220;billion year elliptic Mars orbit.”
Musk has been very open about the fact that the first Falcon Heavy flight <a href="https://futurism.com/what-would-failed-falcon-heavy-launch-mean-spacex/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">could very likely fail</a>; this test flight will allow the rocket to demonstrate that it can carry real supplies into orbit, but without risking the loss of expensive equipment packed into the first-ever launch.
&#8220;There&#8217;s a lot of risk associated with Falcon Heavy, a real good chance that that vehicle does not make it to orbit,&#8221; he said <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-just-shared-an-update-on-spacexs-upcoming-manned-mars-mission/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">at a discussion</a> during the International Space Station Research and Development conference. &#8220;I want to make sure to set expectations accordingly. I hope it makes it far enough beyond the pad so that it does not cause pad damage. I would consider even that a win, to be honest.&#8221;
Whether the launch is successful or not, there are still lots of questions remaining about the specifics of the unusual payload: is it legal to launch a car in the Falcon Heavy? Is it safe? Does it pose the threat of creating space debris? And, since Musk has stated that he loves the idea of &#8220;a car drifting apparently endlessly through space and perhaps being discovered by an alien race millions of years in the future,&#8221; is a Tesla Roadster really the best legacy we can leave for aliens to discover?
We asked experts about the legal, technical, and extraterrestrial issues that arise from Musk&#8217;s planned Roadster launch — and what might happen if that launch fails.
<hr />
Frans Von der Dunk, Othmer Professor of Space Law, University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Law
Whether Musk’s plans are feasible and/or advisable is, of course, not a legal question as such — so I’ll limit myself to the legal sides indeed. The short answer is yes. There is law both on the international plane and on the U.S. plane dealing with that.
The 1967 <a href="http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/spacelaw/treaties/introouterspacetreaty.html">Outer Space Treaty</a> (OST) imputes state responsibility and state liability on relevant states (in this case the U.S.) for private launches into, and activities in, space, such as Musk’s; SpaceX being both a U.S. company and launching from U.S. territory or facilities. It also offers the U.S. the possibility to exercise jurisdiction and control over SpaceX vehicles, so as to effectively make them into vehicles carrying the U.S. flag just like U.S.-registered ships or aircraft. The U.S. is one of the parties to the OST, together with all other important spacefaring nations, including Russia and China.
Other than that, the OST only imposes some rather general limitations to the legitimate use of space, such as the orbiting of weapons of mass destruction or (to some extent only) the wanton harmful interference with other states’ legitimate space activities. But in principle, outer space is a kind of global commons, an area free for exploration and use by all states and their private entities as long as properly authorized and supervised.
The <a href="http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/spacelaw/treaties/introliability-convention.html">1972 Liability Convention</a> (LC) has further detailed the liability regime for damage caused by space objects — including anything sent into outer space by Musk — again imputing that liability to the U.S.
Following on from these international obligations resting upon the U.S. (as well as from its own varied interests in a relatively orderly conduct of mankind’s activities in outer space) the U.S. has enunciated a set of laws over the last decades to implement these obligations, notably of authorization and supervision through a complicated licensing system, imposing the obligation to ensure upon licensees.
SpaceX needs to have a license prior to being allowed to launch, whereby the relevant office within the <a href="https://www.faa.gov/">Federal Aviation Administration</a> (FAA) scrutinizes the safety, security and other relevant public interest aspects of the launch, including a payload review addressing, in this case, the Tesla Roadster. In the license will include an obligation to repay the U.S. government the first tier of any international liability claim that the U.S. government would be required to pay out following its OST and LC obligations, a first tier likely amounting to a seven or eight figure dollar amount, against which SpaceX has to then insure itself.
Prof. Joanne Irene Gabrynowicz, Emerita, Editor-in-Chief Emerita, Journal of Space Law
There is clear U.S. law regarding launches and reentries. Therefore, if the launch is from U.S. territory, SpaceX will have to get a U.S. launch license from the FAA. However, the FAA only has authority to license launches and reentries.
As for the payload itself, the FAA does not have authority to license activities of payloads on-orbit or on celestial bodies. It has issued one favorable payload review for a lunar activity. A favorable payload review determination means that a payload does not present any issues affecting public health and safety, the safety of property, U.S. national security or foreign policy interests, or international obligations of the United States. It is not an authorization to operate. Congress would have to pass a law that grants jurisdiction to a federal agency, or agencies, to authorize on-orbit operations.
The FAA has said that any future payload reviews would have to be done on a case-by-case basis. Therefore, the FAA would have to conduct a review to determine if a payload consisting of a Tesla Roadster presents any issues affecting public health and safety, the safety of property, U.S. national security or foreign policy interests, or international obligations of the United States. And if a favorable review were made, there would still have to be a law in place that allows a federal agency to authorize on-orbit activities. In short, the legal environment is currently ambiguous for non-traditional space missions.
Don Kessler, Orbital Debris and Meteoroid Consultant; Retired NASA Senior Scientist for Orbital Debris Research
The issue as to whether Mr. Musk creates a debris hazard depends more on where in Mars orbit he puts the Roadster, rather than what material is in the required payload. However, the international debris community has yet to define the “safe limits&#8221; of debris in various regions of Earth orbit, much less in orbit around Mars or in any other planetary orbit.
The international community still needs to address the need for an international long-term management plan, starting with all of Earth orbit and then expanding to a plan for other planets. So far, the only plan that exists is a set of unenforceable guidelines to minimize the accumulation of debris in all Earth orbits below geosynchronous orbit.
Most of space is large enough that any mass we introduce could not cause a significant debris hazard. That is not true of the space around planets. Obviously, the closer an orbit is to a planet, the less available space there is, making collisions between orbiting objects more probable, and any mass in lower orbits becomes more dangerous due to the increase in velocity necessary to stay in orbit.
At this point, the safe option for Musk is to leave the payload in an orbit around the sun rather than in an orbit around Mars. However, we have already introduced artificial objects into Mars orbits and so Musk would not be the first to contribute to a future debris hazard there. By ignoring these issues in Mars orbit, we are beginning a process that created debris issues in Earth orbit that we have not yet adequately explored. We should not make the same mistake again.
Seth Shostak, Chief Astronomer, Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute
Compare this payload to <a href="https://futurism.com/nasas-twin-voyager-probes-are-the-most-important-spacecraft-ever-launched/">the Voyager pioneer probe</a>, which was created to send messages to aliens. There are two aspects of considering both: one, would aliens understand any of it, would they be appropriate messages? And two, would they ever find it?
Regarding that second thing, the chances that they&#8217;ll find the Voyager probe strike me as somewhat less than minuscule. To find this thing, it will have to get by chance maybe within one light year to someone else&#8217;s star system. It takes a hundred thousand years for the fastest rockets to go to <a href="https://futurism.com/after-moon-mars-nasa-wants-head-alpha-centauri-2069/">Alpha Centauri</a>. And that doesn&#8217;t matter because it will survive that journey, but in between &#8211; it&#8217;s very small. It&#8217;s the size of a compact car, and space is really big. I did a calculation a few weeks ago, and it would kind of be like locating a bacterium on the Pacific ocean without knowing it&#8217;s there! And that&#8217;s only a two-dimensional calculation; it&#8217;s actually much worse than that because it&#8217;s a 3D problem.
Now, if a payload is going into Mars orbit, that changes things. Theoretically, aliens might go into our solar system, look around Mars, [and] might eventually find it.
The first question, of: will they understand it, or be ticked off by the message, send battle wagons to earth to destroy the planet out of pique? [When it comes to the Voyager message], that&#8217;s a question about alien sociology more than anything. But I think that probably the most informative thing would be any craft they find. You could think of it as if we had found one of the ships from the great age of exploration from the 1500&#8217;s. There might be a Bible or two on board, but the interesting thing would be the ship itself. [We would know], so they steered with this big wooden paddle on the back, they had sails and ropes, and that would tell you something about the technical sophistication of that society. So aliens could probably learn more from the craft itself.
I think, if I’m going to construct a message for the aliens, I would just give them the internet. They could pick up a lot from that. There&#8217;s a lot of redundancy there. If you look up &#8220;cat,&#8221; you don&#8217;t just see symbols. Their computers could look through the whole thing, referenced many times, and between images and funny videos they could get an idea of what that meant. I wouldn&#8217;t go for a very carefully crafted, specific message: we’re humans and this is what we looked like. I&#8217;d just give them lots and lots of stuff.
Responses have been edited for brevity and clarity.

We asked experts whether Elon Musk can really send a Roadster to space

We asked experts about the legal, technical, and extraterrestrial issues concerning Musk's planned Roadster launch — and what might happen if it fails.

We Asked Experts Whether Elon Musk Can Really Send a Roadster to Space

Here's what they think.

<h2>&#8220;Dreaming Big&#8221;</h2>
President Donald Trump has just signed a <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-signs-new-space-policy-directive-at-white-house-live-stream/">major new directive</a> at a ceremony in the White House prioritizing the administration&#8217;s efforts to advance space exploration, chiefly by sending US astronauts back to the Moon and beyond to Mars. Trump stated that his order will &#8220;refocus America&#8217;s space program on human exploration and discovery.&#8221;
At the ceremony on December 11, the President said, &#8220;Imagine the possibility waiting in those big beautiful stars if we dare to dream big. That&#8217;s what our country is doing again, we&#8217;re dreaming big.&#8221;
The United States hasn&#8217;t sent an astronaut beyond low-earth orbit since 1972. Trump&#8217;s latest order directs the NASA Administrator to lead a new US space exploration program, one that will bring Americans back to the Moon and onward to the Red Planet. Robert M. Lightfoot, Jr. is presently acting administrator for NASA. President Trump nominated Jim Bridenstine for the role in September, but he <a href="https://futurism.com/politicians-and-scientists-are-concerned-about-president-trumps-pick-for-nasa-leader/">has yet to be confirmed</a> by the Senate.
<figure id="attachment_114925" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="wp-image-114925 size-large" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/12/20170322_Trump_NASA-1200x800.jpg" alt="Trump at the ceremony after signing a directive to establish a new US space exploration program. Image credit: The White House" width="1200" height="800" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Image credit: The White House</figcaption></figure>
The President has now signed two orders in favor of ratcheting up the nation&#8217;s space exploration programs. In June, an executive order <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/06/30/presidential-executive-order-reviving-national-space-council">re-established the National Space Council</a>, an advisory board that has been out of commission for around 25 years.
<h2>Cosmic Distraction?</h2>
Making the American government a formidable force in space exploration was one of the <a href="https://futurism.com/president-trump-wants-to-send-humans-back-to-the-moon-by-2020/">Trump campaign&#8217;s major promises</a> leading up to the election last year, and the administration has made it clear they believe space exploration is <a href="https://futurism.com/the-trump-administrations-interest-in-nasa/">a good economic opportunity</a>. Vice President Mike Pence, who will <a href="https://futurism.com/vice-president-pence-to-lead-national-space-council-and-get-u-s-to-mars/">chair the reinstated National Space Council</a>, emphasized this when he stated, &#8220;Our space program needs new leadership, and a new vision,&#8221; at a campaign rally in Florida in October 2016. This order by the President shows the administration is moving forward to institute that leadership.
Yet the President&#8217;s overall leadership has been under question since he took office nearly a year ago. His administration has been plagued with scandal that only seems to be getting worse each news cycle. Some may point to this order as a distraction from the many scandals swirling through the West Wing and throughout the country.
When Donald Trump took office, we noted that <a href="https://futurism.com/all-mentions-of-climate-change-were-just-deleted-from-the-white-house-website/">The White House removed all mention of climate change from the website</a>, and we noted that, given the way that Trump campaigned, it was unlikely that any information about climate change would make its way back onto the website. It <a href="https://futurism.com/7-months-later-climate-change-still-isnt-mentioned-on-the-white-house-website/">seems that these fears were justified</a>.
The establishment of a new US space exploration program could, therefore, be more indicative of a President who is eager to &#8220;get things done&#8221; for the sake of ceremonial accomplishment, rather than moving forward with a plan that is based on clear and attainable goals derived from sound science and tech policy  — with policy that is based on actual science. (It doesn&#8217;t help that <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/journey-to-mars-overview">NASA already has a timeline</a> in place to get to Mars.)
Rae Paoletta at Inverse <a href="https://www.inverse.com/article/39272-trump-sign-space-policy-directive-1-send-humans-back-to-moon">echoed this sentiment</a>, writing, &#8220;The move is incredibly on-brand for an administration that vows to do big things despite having no knowledge on how to actually do them.&#8221;  
For example: Trump recently defied the world when he recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Isreal. After this, reports came out that the President did not realize the impact of such an action. One source claiming to be a &#8220;confidant&#8221; of the President told <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-jerusalem-israel-capital-peace-process-campaign-promise-advisers-a8097596.html">the Independent</a>, “It’s insane. We’re all resistant&#8230;He doesn’t realize what all he could trigger by doing this.”
Along these same lines, <a href="https://futurism.com/its-done-your-internet-provider-can-sell-all-your-web-history/">President Trump previously signed a resolution reversing the previously approved FCC internet privacy rules.</a> The former rules required ISPs to follow certain guidelines before they could share or sell their consumers’ private and sensitive data. At the time, Chris Lewis, VP of consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge, asserted that this recent development gives ISPs (and other web companies) the ability to act freely and without oversight: “President Trump has signed away the only rules that guarantee Americans a choice in whether or not their sensitive Internet information is sold or given away…and eliminates the requirement that broadband providers notify their customers of any hacking or security breaches.”
To that end, given his history of doing the opposite of what scientists and technology experts recommend, the President&#8217;s motivations for this order are the question of the hour, especially given that (as previously noted) NASA is already actively working to put astronauts on Mars. More funding and focus on space exploration is fantastic — but coming from an administration that denies the basic science of climate change, it&#8217;s hard to celebrate.

Is this move just a cosmic distraction from the scandal swirling around the president?

Trump just signed a directive to send US astronauts to the moon

Trump Just Signed a Directive to Send US Astronauts to the Moon and beyond to Mars. Read more to understand how he plans on doing it.

Trump Just Signed a Directive to Send US Astronauts to the Moon

But it's still unclear exactly how they'll get there. 

<h2>Deep Into The Past</h2>
NASA&#8217;s next mission to Mars will see the <a href="https://insight.jpl.nasa.gov/" target="_blank">spacecraft InSight</a> exploring the deep interior of the Red Planet, in the hopes of discovering more about how all rocky planets — including Earth — formed. Preparations for the 2018 mission have ratcheted up this summer, <a href="https://phys.org/news/2017-08-nasa-mars-mission-interior-red.html" target="_blank">and NASA says</a> it is on track for a May launch from central California&#8217;s Vandenberg Air Force Base. This will be the first mission to focus on the deep interior of Mars.
<figure style="width: 798px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="wp-image-98208 size-large aligncenter" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/08/1-nasasnextmar.jpg" alt="Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Lockheed Martin" width="798" height="380" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">The Mars lander portion of NASA&#8217;s InSight spacecraft is lifted from the base of a storage container to be tested in a Lockheed Martin clean room facility in Littleton, Colorado. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Lockheed Martin</figcaption></figure>
After the spacecraft lands on Mars near the equator, it will place two main instruments permanently on the surface using a robotic arm: a seismometer to detect seismic waves from earthquakes and meteor impacts, and a heat probe to measure heat coming from the core. Scientists hope they will gain insight into the inner layers of the planet using these tools.
Meanwhile, a third experiment will assess perturbations in how Mars rotates on its axis, using radio transmissions in order to make better guesses about the size of the planet&#8217;s core.
The launch was originally set for March 2016, but problems with equipment necessitated a delay, with the launch rescheduled for sometime during the two weeks beginning May 5, 2018. The lander should reach Mars the Monday after Thanksgiving of the same year.
Depending on what they discover about the Red Planet, NASA may gain more insight into the stability of Mars and its history since formation. This in turn might yield information about its potential for colonization — something on the minds of everyone thinking about Mars today, including Elon Musk of SpaceX, who is <a href="https://futurism.com/spacex-is-partnering-with-nasa-for-a-2018-mars-mission/" target="_blank">partnering with NASA</a> for a 2018 mission. Fans of SpaceX are also waiting for a <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-sets-september-as-a-target-for-the-next-mission-to-mars-update/" target="_blank">possible September update</a> on the company&#8217;s plans for Mars missions, including <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-just-shared-an-update-on-spacexs-upcoming-manned-mars-mission/" target="_blank">possible manned flights</a>.

The lander will record earthquakes and gather information about the planet's core.

NASA's InSight Mars lander will be the first to examine Mars' interior, boosting our knowledge of how the planet formed and how it could support colonists.

NASA’s InSight Mars Lander to Investigate Inside the Red Planet

The mission will give insight into how rocky planets form, and potentially help future colonists live on Mars.

<h2>Budget Bummer</h2>
NASA has been talking about <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/nasas-journey-to-mars/">getting humans to Mars for years</a>, and continues to <a href="https://futurism.com/its-official-humans-are-going-to-mars-nasa-has-unveiled-their-mission/">provide updated plans</a> for getting there. Unfortunately, though, NASA&#8217;s chief of human spaceflight, William H. Gerstenmaier, just announced that the agency can&#8217;t achieve the Mars goal on its current budget.
“I can&#8217;t put a date on humans on Mars, and the reason really is the other piece is, at the budget levels we described, this roughly 2 percent increase, we don’t have the surface systems available for Mars,” <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/07/nasa-finally-admits-it-doesnt-have-the-funding-to-land-humans-on-mars/" target="_blank">Gerstenmaier said</a> during a propulsion meeting of the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics on Wednesday. “And that entry, descent, and landing is a huge challenge for us for Mars.”
Essentially, the SLS rocket and Orion craft have cost the agency a lot. As a result, NASA hasn&#8217;t even been able to begin designing vehicles to land on Mars or ascend from the surface.
NASA&#8217;s next moves will depend on funding. Gerstenmaier indicated the agency might be interested in a Moon exploration mission – one that is more extensive than the current plan to build the Deep Space Gateway in the Moon&#8217;s orbit. Beyond just being a launching pad for further space exploration, the gateway could “support an extensive moon surface program,” <a href="https://www.engadget.com/2017/07/13/nasa-budget-cannot-land-humans-on-mars/?sr_source=Facebook" target="_blank">says Gerstenmaier.</a>
<h2>A Team Effort</h2>
Fortunately for our Red Planet dreams, it isn&#8217;t just up to NASA. Getting humans to Mars is a team effort. Agencies like NASA are really at the mercy of political moods and budgetary restraints, so they need to do as much as they can with what resources are there. One way they can maximize impact is to partner with private companies.
<figure style="width: 360px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://futurism.com/images/invaders-from-earth-how-elon-musk-plans-to-conquer-mars/"><img src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2016/11/Homepage-Thumbnail-3.jpg" alt="Invaders From Earth!: How Elon Musk Plans to Conquer Mars" ></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text center"><a href="https://futurism.com/images/invaders-from-earth-how-elon-musk-plans-to-conquer-mars/" target="_blank">Click to View Full Infographic</a></figcaption></figure>
This month <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-sets-september-as-a-target-for-the-next-mission-to-mars-update/" target="_blank">Elon Musk announced</a> we might be getting an update about the SpaceX Mars mission in September at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Australia. For now, though, SpaceX has <a href="https://futurism.com/boeing-announces-ambitious-plan-to-go-head-to-head-against-elon-musk/" target="_blank">set a deadline</a> of 2018 for an unmanned Mars mission and 2025 for a manned mission. <a href="https://futurism.com/vice-president-pence-to-lead-national-space-council-and-get-u-s-to-mars/" target="_blank">Both Boeing</a> and <a href="https://futurism.com/private-companies-not-governments-are-shaping-the-future-of-space-exploration/" target="_blank">Blue Origin</a> are also planning to put humans on Mars. It may turn out that the “we” in Vice President Pence&#8217;s remarks about putting American boots on Mars is the larger American “we,” and not the government or NASA.

NASA admitted today that under the current budget they cannot afford to get humans to Mars. NASA's next steps will depend on its funding, but now more than ever, the future of Mars colonization rests in the hands of commercial space companies.

NASA Just Announced They Can’t Afford to Get Humans to Mars

Fortunately for our Red Planet dreams, it isn't just up to NASA.

<h2>Another Giant Leap</h2>
Back in May, renowned physicist Stephen Hawking made yet another doomsday prediction. He said that <a href="https://futurism.com/stephen-hawking-humanity-only-has-100-years-left-on-earth-before-doomsday/" target="_blank">humanity has 100 years left on Earth</a>, which knocked 900 years off the prediction he made in November 2016, which had given humanity 1,000 years left. With his new estimate, Hawking suggested the only way to prolong humanity&#8217;s existence is for us to find a new home, on another planet.
Speaking at the <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-40345048" target="_blank">Starmus Festival</a><a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-40345048"> in Trondheim</a>, Norway on Tuesday, Hawking reiterated his point: &#8220;If humanity is to continue for another million years, our future lies in boldly going where no one else has gone before,&#8221; he explained, <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-40345048" target="_blank">according to the </a><a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-40345048" target="_blank">BBC</a>. Specifically, Hawking said that we should aim for another Moon landing by 2020, and work to build a lunar base in the next 30 years — projects that could help prepare us to send human beings to Mars by 2025.
&#8220;We are running out of space and the only places to go to are other worlds. It is time to explore other solar systems. Spreading out may be the only thing that saves us from ourselves. I am convinced that humans need to leave Earth,&#8221; Hawking added.
<figure class="wp-caption"><img class="wp-image-87680 size-large aligncenter" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/06/slide3-1200x653.jpg" alt="NASA's lunar stopover. Image credit: NASA" width="798" height="380" />NASA&#8217;s lunar stopover. Image credit: NASA</figure>
<h2>Multiplanetary Species</h2>
Hawking&#8217;s plea comes almost 45 years since NASA&#8217;s last lunar mission, and he&#8217;s not the only one thinking about revisiting the Earth&#8217;s cosmic satellite. Even U.S. president <a href="https://futurism.com/president-trump-wants-to-send-humans-back-to-the-moon-by-2020/" target="_blank">Donald Trump wants to</a> put a human on the Moon by 2020. Various plans, both from government space agencies as well as private ones, are already in the works. <a href="https://futurism.com/its-official-humans-are-going-to-mars-nasa-has-unveiled-their-mission/" target="_blank">NASA&#8217;s mission to Mars</a>, for example, notes that setting up an <a href="https://futurism.com/a-space-station-that-orbits-the-moon-may-be-on-the-way/" target="_blank">orbital lunar station</a> would be a key step for a future mission to the Red Planet.
Other nations are also working towards the same goal: <a href="https://futurism.com/china-and-europe-may-build-a-moon-village-in-the-2020s/" target="_blank">China and Europe</a> also hope to<a href="https://futurism.com/esas-plan-for-a-moon-village-is-slowly-starting-to-come-together/" target="_blank"> reach the Moon by the 2020s</a>, and other countries are <a href="https://futurism.com/global-superpowers-are-racing-to-build-a-base-on-the-moon/" target="_blank">scrambling to set up</a> their own lunar bases, too. It&#8217;s an echo of the Cold War era space race — except now, there are more nations in play.
For private space agencies, the Moon seems to be more of a special tourist attraction than a permanent domicile: SpaceX is already preparing for its first <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-the-rocket-that-will-eventually-take-humans-to-the-moon-will-launch-in-4-months/" target="_blank">privately-funded round trip to the Moon</a>, while Jeff Bezos envisions an opportunity for <a href="https://futurism.com/amazons-founder-wants-to-deliver-supplies-to-the-moon/" target="_blank">a special delivery service</a> to facilitate the construction of any permanent off world settlement. For Hawking, though, aiming for the Moon (again) is not only about survival, but strengthening humanity while we&#8217;re still on Earth — for however many years we have left here.
&#8220;I hope it would unite competitive nations in a single goal, to face the common challenge for us all,&#8221; he said. &#8220;A new and ambitious space program would excite (young people), and stimulate interest in other areas, such as astrophysics and cosmology&#8221;.

Speaking at the Starmus Festival in Trondheim, he spoke about the importance of a lunar mission as a stepping stone for getting us to Mars and beyond.

Stephen Hawking: “I Am Convinced That Humans Need to Leave Earth”

Hawking suggests we should start looking at real estate elsewhere in the universe — but first, we have to go back to the moon.

How much risk are we facing as we get closer to actually reaching and exploring the Red Planet?

What Are the Real Implications of Exploring Mars?

<h2>The Right Dosage of Radiation</h2>
It&#8217;s easy to talk about humanity&#8217;s role in deep space exploration, but it&#8217;s another thing to actually figure out the logistics of the endeavor. One of the greatest risks involved in human space exploration is the risk of radiation. While the Earth and Sun do pose some radiation risk to our astronauts, the greatest source of <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/space/nasa-mars-radiation-rule/" target="_blank">trouble comes from outer space</a> and is known as galactic cosmic radiation, ancient waves emanating from supernovas of the past.
<img class="aligncenter" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/04/radiation-limits_v3-1200x1234.jpg" alt="*2* Journey to Mars May Risk Breaking Current Radiation Protocol [Kelsey]" width="501" height="516" />
NASA astronauts are listed as &#8220;radiation workers&#8221; by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). In accordance with NASA, OSHA has worked to establish the ALARA Principle, meaning that NASA keeps radiation exposure &#8220;as low as reasonably achievable.&#8221; With this in mind, OSHA waived the terrestrial radiation requirements for NASA, having the Office of the Chief Health and Medical Officer set the limit. This lead to the current protocol that ensures that astronauts aren&#8217;t exposed to radiation that will increase their risk of death <a href="https://srag.jsc.nasa.gov/Publications/TM104782/techmemo.htm" target="_blank">from cancer by more than 3</a> percent. But if it&#8217;s a trip to Mars that we&#8217;re talking about, these low-Earth orbit standards will be modified to fit the expedition.
<h2>Ethically Leaving Earth</h2>
While NASA has learned a lot with previous research into the <a href="https://futurism.com/1-evergreen-what-space-travel-will-do-to-you/" target="_blank">long-term effects of living in space</a>, the space agency still has a ton of data to understand, and even more ethical gray areas to define. When on the International Space Station, astronauts are exposed to ten times as much radiation as on Earth. A Mars trip would up that exposure to 100 times more than on Earth. NASA has begun to study the effects of long-term exposure with the help of astronaut Scott Kelly, Mark Kelly (his Earth-dwelling retiree twin), and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko.
“For as long as there have been catalogs of health effects, radiation has been the most intractable, most severe, hardest problem to solve,” says Dan Masys, biomedical and health informaticist of the University of Washington. “Now, 20 or more years into advances in space technology and propulsion and systems and vehicles, radiation is still the deal breaker. It has never changed.” NASA is working on various means of lessening exposure to radiation, with faster rockets, better barriers between the astronauts and space, and drugs all on the table.
But at the end of the day, the question isn&#8217;t about a group of brave astronauts, it&#8217;s about the future of humanity. Billionaire tech innovators like <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-we-must-leave-earth-for-one-critical-reason/" target="_blank">Elon Musk are lobbying for humanity&#8217;s </a> eventual expansion in our solar system for the key reason of preserving humanity itself. In order to ensure that a single catastrophic event doesn&#8217;t spell out the end times for the only life we know to exist in the universe, we must push it forward, or as Musk suggests: establish a colony of 1 million people on Mars <a href="https://futurism.com/nasa-just-released-their-latest-plans-to-get-humans-to-mars/">as soon as we feasibly can</a>.

NASA is put in an ethical quandary when it comes to pushing mankind where it has never gone before.

The First People to Colonize the Solar System Will Risk Deadly, Cosmic Radiation

NASA has to make a difficult choice in the coming months.

Ever since Musk founded SpaceX is 2002, with the intention of eventually colonizing Mars, every move he has made has been the subject of attention. And for the past two years, a great deal of this attention has been focused specifically on the development of the Falcon Heavy rocket and the Dragon 2 capsule – the components with which Musk hopes to mount a lander mission to Mars in 2018.
Among other things, there is much speculation about how much this is going to cost. Given that one of SpaceX’s guiding principles is making space exploration cost-effective, just how much money is Musk hoping to spend on this important step towards a crewed mission? As it turns out, NASA produced some estimates at a recent meeting, which indicated that SpaceX is spending over $300 million on its proposed Mars mission.
These estimates were given during a NASA Advisory Council meeting, which took place in Cleveland on July 26th between members of the technology committee. During the course of the meeting, James L. Reuter – the Deputy Associate Administrator for Programs at NASA’s <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/home/index.html">Space Technology Mission Directorate</a> – provided an overview of <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/spacex_ccsc_saa_modification_1_-_redacted_1.pdf">NASA’s agreement with SpaceX</a>, which was signed in December of 2014 and updated this past April.
In accordance with this agreement, NASA will be providing support for the company’s plan to send an uncrewed <a href="http://www.spacex.com/news/2014/05/30/dragon-v2-spacexs-next-generation-manned-spacecraft">Dragon 2</a> capsule (named “Red Dragon”) to Mars by May of 2018. Intrinsic to this mission is the plan to conduct a propulsive landing on Mars, which would test the Dragon 2‘s SuperDraco Descent Landing capability. Another key feature of this mission will involve using the <a href="http://www.spacex.com/falcon-heavy">Falcon Heavy </a>to deploy the capsule.
The terms of this agreement do not involve the transfer of funds, but entails active collaboration that would be to the benefit parties. As Reuters indicated in his presentation, which NASA’s Office of Communications shared with Universe Today via email (and will be available on the <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/nac_ti_committee/index.html">STMD’s NASA page</a>soon):
<blockquote>“Building on an existing no-funds-exchanged collaboration with SpaceX, NASA is providing technical support for the firm’s plan to attempt to land an uncrewed Dragon 2 spacecraft on Mars. This collaboration could provide valuable entry, descent and landing (EDL) data to NASA for our journey to Mars, while providing support to American industry. We have similar agreements with dozens of U.S. commercial, government, and non-profit partners.”</blockquote>
Further to this agreement is NASA’s commitment to a budget of $32 million over the next four years, the timetable of which were partially-illustrated in the presentation: “NASA will contribute existing agency resources already dedicated to [Entry, Descent, Landing] work, with an estimated value of approximately $32M over four years with approximately $6M in [Fiscal Year] 2016.”
<div id="attachment_130104" class="wp-caption aligncenter">
<img class="size-medium wp-image-130104" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2016/07/SpaceX_reddragon-580x432.png" alt="Diagram showing SpaceX's planned &quot;Red Dragon&quot; mission to Mars. Credit: NASA/SpaceX" width="580" height="432" />
Diagram showing SpaceX’s planned “Red Dragon” mission to Mars. Credit: NASA/SpaceX
</div>
According to Article 21 of the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/spacex_ccsc_saa_modification_1_-_redacted_1.pdf">Space Act Agreement</a> between NASA and SpaceX, this will include providing SpaceX with: “Deep space communications and telemetry; Deep space navigation and trajectory design; Entry, descent and landing system analysis and engineering support; Mars entry aerodynamic and aerothermal database development; General interplanetary mission advice and hardware consultation; and planetary protection consultation and advice.”
For their part, SpaceX has not yet disclosed how much their Martian mission plan will cost. But according to <a href="http://spacenews.com/spacex-spending-about-300-million-on-red-dragon-mission/">Jeff Foust</a> of SpaceNews, Reuter provided a basic estimate of about $300 million based on a 10 to 1 assessment of NASA’s own financial commitment: “They did talk to us about a 10-to-1 arrangement in terms of cost: theirs 10, ours 1,” said Reuter. “I think that’s in the ballpark.”
As for why NASA has chosen to help SpaceX make this mission happen, this was also spelled out in the course of the meeting. According to Reuter’s presentation: “NASA conducted a fairly high-level technical feasibility assessment and determined there is a reasonable likelihood of mission success that would be enhanced with the addition of NASA’s technical expertise.”
Such a mission would provide NASA with valuable landing data, which would prove very useful when mounting its crewed mission in the 2030s. Other items discussed included NASA-SpaceX collaborative activities for the remainder of 2016 – which involved a “[f]ocus on system design, based heavily on Dragon 2 version used for ISS crew and cargo transportation”.
<div id="attachment_128594" class="wp-caption aligncenter">
<img class="size-medium wp-image-128594" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2016/07/spaceX_mars2018-580x363.jpg" alt="Artistic concepts of the Falcon Heavy rocket (left) and the Dragon capsule deployed on the surface of Mars (right). Credit: SpaceX" width="580" height="363" />
Artistic concepts of the Falcon Heavy rocket (left) and the Dragon capsule deployed on the surface of Mars (right). Credit: SpaceX
</div>
It was also made clear that the Falcon Heavy, which SpaceX is close to completing, will serve as the launch vehicle. SpaceX intends to conduct its first flight test (Falcon Heavy Demo Flight 1) of the heavy-lifter in December of 2016. Three more test flights are scheduled to take place between 2017 and the launch of the Mars lander mission, which is still scheduled for May of 2018.
In addition to helping NASA prepare for its mission to the Red Planet, SpaceX’s progress with both theFalcon Heavy and Dragon 2 are also crucial to Musk’s long-term plan for a crewed mission to Mars – the architecture of which has yet to be announced. They are also extremely important in the development of the <a href="http://spaceflight101.com/spacex-launch-vehicle-concepts-designs/">Mars Colonial Transporter</a>, which Musk plans to use to create a permanent settlement on Mars.
And while $300 million is just a ballpark estimate at this juncture, it is clear that SpaceX will have to commit considerable resources to the enterprise. What’s more, people must keep in mind that this would be merely the first in a series of major commitments that the company will have to make in order to mount a crewed mission by 2024, to say nothing of building a Martian colony!
Further Reading: <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/nac_ti_committee/index.html">NASA STMD 
</a>TOTH: <a href="http://spacenews.com/spacex-spending-about-300-million-on-red-dragon-mission/">SpaceNews</a>

Elon Musk's SpaceX is planning on going to Mars. NASA estimates that the cost will only be around $300 million.

NASA Estimates SpaceX 2018 Mars Mission Will Cost Only $300 Million

Not a such a bad price tag to go to Mars.

Part two of the <a href="http://exploration.esa.int/mars/46048-programme-overview/">ExoMars mission</a> won’t get off the ground until 2020—a delay of two years from its planned launch in 2018.
The <a href="http://www.esa.int/ESA">European Space Agency</a> (ESA) and <a href="http://en.federalspace.ru">Roscosmos</a>, the Russian Federal Space Agency, are collaborating on the ambitious ExoMars exploration program, which aims to suss out the possibility of whether the Red Planet supports life, or ever did so in the past.
Phase one of the <a href="https://futurism.com/exomars-mission-find-life-mars-begins/">ExoMars mission</a> began in March with the launch of two spacecraft which are scheduled to reach Mars in October. The Trace Gas Orbiter is designed to measure the Martian atmosphere for the signatures of biologically produced molecules; the Schiaparelli Lander is a technology demonstration module, meant to pave the way for landers to come.
<figure class="wp-caption" style="width: auto; height: auto;">
<figure style="width: 633px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2016/05/Exomars_Rover_201403_orig.jpg" width="633" height="421" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Illustration of the future ExoMars lander. Credit: ESA</figcaption></figure>
</figure>
<a href="http://exploration.esa.int/mars/48088-mission-overview/">Phase two of ExoMars</a> will consist of a Russian-built surface platform, which will house during descent, deploy, and act as home base to a European autonomous rover which will scout out the red sands of Mars for signs of life.
The reasons for the postponement were not specified, but the<a href="http://exploration.esa.int/mars/57789-second-exomars-mission-moves-to-next-launch-opportunity-in-2020/"> joint statement of the two agencies</a> indicated delays in the industrial activities of the two partners, and difficulties meeting the delivery schedules for the scientific payloads.

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A joint statement by the ESA and Roscosmos has announced the delay of the second phase of the European-Russian ExoMars mission from 2018 to 2020—likely a reflection of the technical difficulties in meeting the planned mission requirements.

/Mars Mission

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