Fly to Mars? Maybe. But why?

An illustration of Nasa's Orion spacecraft, which will carry the first crewed Artemis mission, Artemis 2, around the Moon and back to Earth. – Nasa/TNS

ON April 9, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) in the United States announced the names of the four astronauts who will crew Artemis II, a 10-day mission planned for November 2024. The expedition will boost humans out of an Earth-bound orbit for the first time since 1972 and put them into orbit around the moon, in preparation for subsequent missions that will include lunar landings.

Experienced astronaut Christina Koch, who will be the first woman to reach the moon, is thinking beyond the lunar surface. During her 328-day stay at the International Space Station, she read aloud from a children’s book titled Hey-Ho, to Mars We Will Go.Tech visionary Elon Musk isn’t bothering with the moon. He has announced his goal to colonise Mars by establishing a city of one million people on the Red Planet by 2050.