A big Mars discussion is coming to Washington, D.C. starting Tuesday (May 17).
The three-day event, hosted by Explore Mars, features panel discussions and speakers from across the space industry, as well as NASA and international entities.
The conference has listed its schedule of events and all speakers. The event will be hosted at George Washington University and you can register for various attendance options on EventBrite. You can also catch a livestream.
Related: A brief history of Mars missions
The event is taking place after a notable year for space tourism and private space exploration efforts, including flights by Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic and Axiom Space that brought several non-professionals into space that were not agency astronauts, although a few of them had related experience in piloting or similar fields.
NASA is also aiming to send its first round-the-moon mission for the Artemis program, an uncrewed effort called Artemis 1. The mission has been delayed from an early springtime launch due to issues in getting the Space Launch System rocket ready for flight, but the agency is still hoping for 2022.
Assuming funding and technology go to plan, the agency will follow this up with crewed missions in 2024 (around the moon) and 2025 (to the surface of the moon). NASA frames Artemis cislunar (moon-Earth) exploration as a proving ground to get ready for Mars exploration, as they both involve rocky worlds at some distance from Earth.
Mars exploration is also accelerating, with several countries having sent new missions to the Red Planet in 2021. The NASA set among these, the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter, have proven that flight is possible on Mars and are now jointly engaged in exploring a potentially life-rich river delta ahead of returning the samples to Earth in joint American-European mission.
"We are entering the golden age of space exploration," Chris Carberry, Explore Mars CEO, said in a statement about the summit. "H2M 2022 will not only examine how humans will return to the surface of the moon by the mid-2020s and then travel to Mars by the mid-2030s, but will also consider the extraordinary opportunities and innovations expected to materialize over the next decade."
In Explore Mars' words, here are some of the big topics that will be covered in this year's series of events.
- Will Humans be on the Surface of the Moon by the Mid-2020s and Travel to Mars by the Mid-2030s?
- Orbiting the Moon: Artemis 1 and 2
- How can the Humans Landing System (HLS) Advance Human Missions to Mars?
- International Space Relations: Space Diplomacy and Security in Challenging Times
- Mars, Innovation, and Sustainability
- Humans and Machines on the Surface of Mars
- Nuclear vs. Chemical Propulsion to Mars
- STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering and Math] Entertainment
- Producing Food on Mars
- Art and Music in Space
- Keeping Crews Healthy and Happy During Long Duration Space Missions
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