A private organization that hopes to send a manned spacecraft to Mars and Venus in 2021 has appealed to Congress for NASA's help.
Working toward a "flyby mission" that would pass Mars and Venus during a fortunate alignment, the Inspiration Mars Foundation is looking to send two people to space in just seven years, according to Space.com.
The organization will need NASA to fulfill two big requests: Inspiration Mars is asking for one of the agency's giant Space Launch System rockets along with an Orion deep-space capsule, both of which are still in development.
Experts from the foundation addressed Congress on Thursday when the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Science, Space and Technology held a hearing to discuss the feasibility of such a mission.
"I continue to believe, as do many Americans, that Mars is the logical destination to put human space exploration back on track and demonstrate the 'can do' spirit that seems to have faded over time," Inspiration Mars leader Dennis Tito, who did not address Congress on Thursday, said in a written statement released later. "The window of opportunity in 2021 is challenging but achievable, and waiting to be claimed."
The flyby can only be possible with a set budget and timeline, sources said at the hearing, according to Space.com.
Sandra Magnus, executive director of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a former astronaut, noted that the mission and the resources would have to be clearly defined before anyone takes on the project.
"In the context of a coherent strategy and framework, the appropriate missions will be defined logically, based on requirements developed within the strategic framework and then developed into a variety of mission and operational scenarios," Magnus said, as reported by Space.com.
"I would also like to underscore that any plan, whether its goals are to retrieve an asteroid, establish a lunar base or send people to Mars (or any combination thereof) is doomed to failure without the resources to support it--resources provided in a sustained and sustainable manner based on realistic projections," she added.
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