{"id":18571,"date":"2018-04-12T22:07:27","date_gmt":"2018-04-12T14:07:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/boeing-ceo-dennis-muilenburg-says-that-humans-could-get-to-mars-within-a-decade\/"},"modified":"2018-04-12T22:07:27","modified_gmt":"2018-04-12T14:07:27","slug":"boeing-ceo-dennis-muilenburg-says-that-humans-could-get-to-mars-within-a-decade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/boeing-ceo-dennis-muilenburg-says-that-humans-could-get-to-mars-within-a-decade\/","title":{"rendered":"Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg says that humans could get to Mars within a decade*"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Politico
Politico\u2019s Robert Albritton (left) chats with Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg (right) during a space conference. (Politico Live via Facebook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg says it\u2019s possible that humans will set foot on Mars in the next decade, and he\u2019s convinced the first people will get there on a Boeing-built rocket.<\/p>\n

Muilenburg\u2019s comments, made today during a Q&A at the first Politico Space conference, could be interpreted as yet another challenge to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who also has plans to send people to Mars within a decade.<\/p>\n

Politico\u2019s founder and publisher, Robert Allbritton, gave Muilenburg ample opportunities to reflect on the SpaceX effect during the session.<\/p>\n

At one point, he referred indirectly to SpaceX\u2019s maiden Falcon Heavy launch, which sent Musk\u2019s Tesla Roadster into deep space in February. Allbritton jokingly told Muilenburg that he assumed Boeing had no plans to send a Camaro into space.<\/p>\n

Muilenburg went along with the joke: \u201cWe might pick up the one that\u2019s out there and bring it back,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

<\/span> I certainly anticipate that we\u2019re going to put the first person on Mars during my lifetime, and I\u2019m hopeful that we\u2019ll do it in the next decade.<\/span><\/p>\n

Boeing\u2019s CEO, president and chairman was more serious about his company\u2019s space aspirations, which go back to Project Mercury, if you count the companies that Boeing has assimilated over the decades. \u201cSpace has always been part of the DNA of our company,\u201d Muilenburg said.<\/p>\n

He acknowledged that America\u2019s capability for human space exploration have been allowed to \u201cwither over the last couple of decades, and we need to rebuild it, reinvigorate it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Muilenburg clearly sees NASA\u2019s deep-space exploration, which depends on the heavy-lift Space Launch System rocket and the Orion capsule, as the means to rebuild. Boeing is a prime contractor for SLS, which is due to have its first uncrewed test flight in the 2019-2020 time frame.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re working on today with Space Launch System is bigger than the Apollo program,\u201d Muilenburg said. \u201cMost of the country doesn\u2019t know about it yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the next steps, including the establishment of an outpost in lunar orbit as a jumping-off point for trips to Mars and other deep-space destinations, were \u201cnot that far away.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI certainly anticipate that we\u2019re going to put the first person on Mars during my lifetime, and I\u2019m hopeful that we\u2019ll do it in the next decade,\u201d said Muilenburg, who is 54. \u201cAnd I\u2019m convinced that the first person that gets to Mars is going to get there on a Boeing rocket.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a more ambitious timeline than NASA\u2019s. The current plan calls for crewed trips to Mars and its moons to start in the 2030s. In contrast, SpaceX has an aspirational goal of sending humans to Mars in its yet-to-be-built BFR spaceship by the mid-2020s.<\/p>\n