NASA plans

NASA has some very ambitious plans for upcoming programs. These include a new Mars Rover; a plan to send astronauts to a nearby asteroid after the asteroid has been captured and made to orbit the Moon; the Orion system will be utilized to send astronauts to Mars.

I might add here the fact that there is a mission planned to send a spacecraft to an asteroid to retrieve a sample and return it to Earth. The OSIRIS-Rex will travel to the asteroid Bennu and return with a sample. The launch date is Sept 8, 2016. The launch has been completed successfully.

The new Mars Rover has a planned launch date in July, August 2020, and it will search for evidence of life on Mars. Basically, it's just a more advanced version of the previous rovers. This is a no-brainer.

The Orion system (MPCV or Multi-purpose crew vehicle) is in the works and will come on line by 2020, assuming it doesn't get canceled. This is the main spacecraft that will carry four to six astronauts beyond the Earth to asteroids and Mars. This system involves both a capsule being built by Lockheed Martin and a service module being built by Airbus Defense and Space.

The rocket that going to get this baby up into space is a 70 ton heavy lifting rocket (SLS or Space Launch System) being developed at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

This is stuff that's being developed right now, so I assume that it will happen.

However, the idea of capturing an asteroid and having it orbit the Moon sounds like fantasy. This would take a monumental effort to achieve without something going wrong. I could easily see NASA sending astronauts out to an asteroid to study it and bring back samples, but capturing an asteroid and sending into a Moon orbit is not going to be easy.

Sending astronauts to Mars is not only possible I believe it will happen after 2020. Everything is in place and all it needs is for NASA to send habitats and supplies to Mars in anticipation of a manned mission.

I just hope I'm still around to see it.

Thanks for reading