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NASA Planning Steps To Moon, Mars
Washington (UPI) Mar 01, 2004 NASA's plan to implement President George W. Bush's moon-Mars-beyond space vision will use small incremental steps called space policy building blocks, according to documents just released by the agency. The strategy is meant to keep costs low and make sure no one policy direction will threaten the evolution of the overall project. The first of the building blocks, called Lunar Testbeds and Missions, will include a major new series of space robotic probes to the moon, along with an accelerated program of unmanned Mars exploration. Both elements were covered in funding requests in the fiscal year 2005 budget for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which is now under review in Congress. NASA already has announced the first part of the Bush plan: a new series of reconnaissance satellites to be launched into lunar orbit. Scheduled for blast-off in 2008, the satellites will map the lunar surface in greater detail than ever before, identifying and classifying features such as large rocks and boulders, rills, hills and canyons. The idea would be to create maps that visiting astronauts -- and their robotic companions -- can use to navigate their landers and roving vehicles.
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