{"id":19176,"date":"2016-11-11T17:44:17","date_gmt":"2016-11-11T09:44:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/heres-what-donald-trump-nasa-and-spacex-need-to-do-to-get-us-to-mars\/"},"modified":"2016-11-11T17:44:17","modified_gmt":"2016-11-11T09:44:17","slug":"heres-what-donald-trump-nasa-and-spacex-need-to-do-to-get-us-to-mars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/heres-what-donald-trump-nasa-and-spacex-need-to-do-to-get-us-to-mars\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s what Donald Trump, NASA and SpaceX need to do to get us to Mars"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_288340\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-288340\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-288340\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/161110-daedalus-crew-630x356.jpg\" alt=\"Daedalus crew\" width=\"630\" height=\"356\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/161110-daedalus-crew-630x356.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/161110-daedalus-crew.jpg 634w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-288340\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The crew of the fictional Daedalus spaceship touches down on the Red Planet in \u201cMars,\u201d a miniseries making its debut on the National Geographic Channel. (Credit: National Geographic Channels)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The \u201cMars\u201d miniseries premiering on the National Geographic Channel is only the latest in a decades-long string of media projects laying out a vision for settling Mars \u2013 but this time, the creators say they\u2019re sure the vision will actually come true.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re in a zeitgeist moment right now,\u201d producer Justin Wilkes told GeekWire. \u201cThere are enough people talking about Mars, thinking about Mars, dreaming about Mars, and now there are people who actually have the means to do something about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The people leading the pack are at SpaceX, where billionaire founder Elon Musk has made the establishment of a sustainable city on Mars his lifetime goal. The 45-year-old Musk and other space luminaries lay out their case in \u201cMars,\u201d in interviews that are interspersed with a fictional movie-style narrative about the first human mission to the Red Planet in 2033.<\/p>\n<p>Musk sees the push to Mars as an evolutionary imperative, to ensure humanity\u2019s survival in the event of a global catastrophe on Earth. Wilkes sees it the same way: \u201cAt its most basic level, it\u2019s backing up the human species,\u201d he&nbsp;said.<\/p>\n<p>Wilkes started out planning to do a documentary about Musk and SpaceX, but Musk persuaded him to think bigger. Soon Ron Howard and Brian Grazer (the filmmakers behind \u201cApollo 13\u201d) signed on as the executive producers for a six-episode miniseries that used the Moroccan desert as a stand-in for Mars. National Geographic also commissioned a coffee-table book about Martian exploration, plus a&nbsp;cover story for this month\u2019s issue of National Geographic magazine.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"MARS | Exclusive Sneak Peek\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CNkcgUuubIE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>You could argue that this Mars&nbsp;project is on the same scale as rocket scientist Wernher von Braun\u2019s campaign&nbsp;to popularize space missions back in the 1950s \u2013 a campaign that&nbsp;spawned a book, magazine articles and a series of Disney TV spots. That media blitz helped get the American public ready for the space race of the 1960s.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would hope that the public\u2019s mind will grasp onto this in a similar way,\u201d said journalist Stephen Petranek, the author of \u201cHow We\u2019ll Live on Mars.\u201d Petranek\u2019s slim book, published last year, set the wheels in motion for this year\u2019s \u201cMars\u201d production.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople need to grab onto this, because it\u2019s going to happen,\u201d Petranek said. \u201cThe reason I wrote the book in the first place was to say, \u2018Hey, wake up!\u2019 We\u2019re going to Mars. Whether you think it\u2019s a good idea or a bad idea, we\u2019re going to Mars, and now is the time to be thinking about it. You\u2019re going to wake up in a few years and suddenly people are landing&nbsp;on Mars, and you are not going to be prepared for that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Petranek\u2019s&nbsp;book described a mission that sent twin spaceships to the first Mars landing in 2027 \u2013&nbsp;which is a few years earlier than the miniseries\u2019 time frame, but a few years later than Musk\u2019s current timetable. In September, Musk laid out a grand plan that would put humans on Mars as early as 2025.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI suspect he\u2019s still a couple of years off,\u201d Petranek said. \u201cI would stick with 2027, possibly 2029.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Before MARS | MARS\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mPuTlZYDbh4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>What makes Petranek and Wilkes so sure it\u2019s going to happen this time? They say it\u2019s because space&nbsp;odysseys, even missions to Mars, are no longer the exclusive domain of government space programs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLike Apollo, there needs to be a tremendous amount of political will to pull off this kind of mission,\u201d Wilkes said. \u201cBut unlike Apollo,&nbsp;this is the first time private enterprise has both the technology and the financial means&nbsp;\u2013 not to do it solely, but certainly to become a catalyst.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Musk and SpaceX are serving as that catalyst, starting with a privately funded \u201cRed Dragon\u201d&nbsp;mission to Mars that could lift off as early as the year after next. SpaceX is already talking with NASA and other potential customers about putting payloads on the robotic Dragon capsule it intends to launch atop a Falcon Heavy rocket.<\/p>\n<p>Petranek said some think the first mission is likely to fail \u2013&nbsp;but even if that\u2019s the case, Musk intends to keep trying. His willingness to endure failure on Mars is an advantage that SpaceX has over government-funded programs, Petranek said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe really interesting thing is that NASA is 100 percent behind this,\u201d he&nbsp;said. \u201cThey can\u2019t give them any money \u2026 but they\u2019re doing everything they can to help SpaceX, because they want the knowledge that SpaceX will accrue from attempting to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/H7Uyfqi_TE8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>NASA\u2019s support is as essential to SpaceX\u2019s aspirations as SpaceX is to NASA\u2019s aspirations. Although Musk has laid out a detailed plan for getting humans to Mars, it\u2019s NASA that has been working on the technologies to keep humans alive once they get there.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf SpaceX had to develop that part of the technology, it would take them another 10 years,\u201d Petranek said. \u201cThey really need each other.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Because of that interdependence, Petranek said he\u2019s \u201cscared to death\u201d of what President-elect Donald Trump might do, or not do.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe sad fact about NASA is that it\u2019s not an independent agency, the way it should be,\u201d Petranek said. \u201cIts CEO is the president, and if the president says we\u2019re going to Mars, they go to Mars. If the president says we\u2019re going to the moon, they go to the moon. If the president doesn\u2019t really care, then NASA\u2019s budget struggles.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=b0yle&amp;dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=796502692378054656&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.geekwire.com%2F2016%2Fdonald-trump-nasa-spacex-mars%2F&amp;sessionId=6f8f8993a2ea175814b0ef03390ca74a85ff4a27&amp;siteScreenName=geekwire&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-twitter-extracted-i1782803892008528517=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">As I open the Mars habitat model at London&#8217;s Royal Observatory for Nat Geo&#8217;s new Mars series, I fear what Trump will do to NASA&#8217;s budget.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Stephen Petranek (@Petranek) November 10, 2016<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The signals from the Trump campaign have been mixed: Last year, the candidate said the space effort was \u201cterrific\u201d but suggested that&nbsp;fixing potholes was more important. Last month, Trump policy advisers said in an op-ed for Space News that solar-system exploration should be NASA\u2019s goal. But this week, there\u2019s no mention of NASA or space (except for \u201coffice space\u201d) on the Trump transition team\u2019s website.<\/p>\n<p>Trump and his advisers will have to negotiate the intricacies of international cooperation when it comes to Mars exploration. No one country, not even the United States, can take on the task by itself, said Robert&nbsp;Braun, an aerospace engineering professor at the University of Colorado who served as a technical adviser for the miniseries.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"icon-quotes-left\"><\/span>&nbsp;I certainly hope Mr. Trump watches the series.<span class=\"icon-quotes-right\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Braun is familiar with the ins and outs of mission planning, thanks to his academic work as well as his stint as NASA\u2019s chief technologist in 2010-2011. For the \u201cMars\u201d miniseries, he worked with the writers to give the mission\u2019s leading roles to&nbsp;a fictional Vienna-based consortium (the International Mars Science Foundation) and a SpaceX-like commercial venture (the Mars Mission Corporation).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is an international public-private partnership,\u201d Braun explained. \u201cThe reason we settled on that, frankly, is that an organization like NASA&nbsp;\u2013 which is a great organization, by the way&nbsp;\u2013 has four or five missions. They have a mission to study our own planet, and the space science mission, and an aeronautics mission, and the International Space Station, and deep-space exploration. I think it\u2019s going to take a new organization that has a single-minded goal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Would Donald Trump go for that?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe wants to make America great again, right?\u201d Braun said. \u201cTo me, there\u2019s no better way to display your greatness than to have an ambitious space program. And there\u2019s no ambitious space goal that\u2019s greater than the idea of having humans on Mars. I\u2019m not connected to the Trump administration in any way, but I certainly hope Mr. Trump watches the series. I hope it inspires him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>The six-episode \u201cMars\u201d miniseries makes its TV debut on the National Geographic Channel on Monday, but you can watch the first episode now on National Geographic\u2019s website. More than a dozen featurettes, including a half-hour prequel titled \u201cBefore Mars,\u201d are available for viewing via the website and&nbsp;National Geographic\u2019s YouTube channel. The website also offers virtual reality games and other extras.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The crew of the fictional Daedalus spaceship touches down on the Red Planet in \u201cMars,\u201d a miniseries making its debut on the National Geographic Channel. (Credit: National Geographic Channels) The \u201cMars\u201d miniseries premiering on the National Geographic Channel is only the latest in a decades-long string of media projects laying out a vision for settling [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2539,1045,367,5412,5129,316,4551],"class_list":["post-19176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-donald-trump","tag-elon-musk","tag-mars","tag-national-geographic","tag-national-geographic-channel","tag-spacex","tag-television"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19176"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19176\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}