Why the US can't send humans to Mars

Mon, 05/27/2024 - 07:49

An artist concept of two astronauts in large spacesuits on Mars with a rover in the background — Getting to Mars will be tricky. NASA and others have been working on the problem for decades.
JPL/NASA

Humans have long imagined life on Mars, though our understanding of the planet has changed a lot.
Some of the US's earliest plans assumed humans could reach the Red Planet by the 1980s.
Over the decades, technology and funding challenges have hampered the nation's hopes of crewed flights.

Earlier this month, NASA announced it was funding a revolutionary high-thrust rocket — called a Pulsed Plasma Rocket — that could make crewed missions to Mars in just two months.