Clemson Psychology Professors helping NASA in Manned Mars Mission in 2030

The space agency will spend $55 million or more on developing the habitation module, and will need to have a prototype finished by 2018.

That’s a healthy increase in the budget for NASA, and according to a report by SpaceNews, $55 million of that bump in the budget is meant for the development of a deep space habitat which will be used to house astronauts when they eventually make their way to Mars. NASA also needs to provide Congress a report within 180 days of the bill’s enactment, showing the status of the programme and the funds. The Orion capsule is NASA’s primary vehicle for a manned mission to Mars. The agency, for one, has hopes of launching a crewed mission to the Red Planet by the 2030s, and kicking off testing of a deep space habitat by the 2020 in cislunar (between Earth and Moon) conditions.

No details were provided by NASA on how it will develop the module using the fund and its requirements. “The Habitation Systems Project is a multi-center team of NASA architects, scientists and engineers, working together to develop sustainable living quarters, workspaces and laboratories for astronauts on next-generation space missions”. “As soon as I put the picture up there, somebody is going to assume what the configuration is”. Though the funding is there, it is still unclear what the module might require in terms of money and resources.

NASA has been discussing a habitation module for several years. So far, Bigelow Aerospace’s inflatable deep space habitat is promising concept, but other active private partners include Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Orbital ATK.

Buried in the latest omnibus spending bill from Congress, plans to build a deep-space-habitat. Bigelow Aerospace’s director of D.C. operations and business growth Mike Gold even went so far as to say Congress’ push was the “missing piece of the human space exploration puzzle”. Considering the relatively short clock has already begun ticking on the project, it’s reasonable to expect big news regarding a deep space habitat prototype sometime in 2016.

Nonetheless, with Congress seemingly behind NASA’s doings, this could be a sign that the U.S.is heading toward a fruitful period of space exploration over the next decade. Scimemi said the agency might build the habitation module internally.