Total Members Voted: 96
NASA manages a continuously crewed space station in low earth orbit. Beyond that I know of no other connection between NASA and space "settlement". Settlement (colonizing) of Mars (or building a transportation system to Mars for settlers) is Elon Musk's goal.
Quote from: veblen on 09/12/2014 04:00 pmNASA manages a continuously crewed space station in low earth orbit. Beyond that I know of no other connection between NASA and space "settlement". Settlement (colonizing) of Mars (or building a transportation system to Mars for settlers) is Elon Musk's goal.2 presidential speeches, a national commission, and a public law suggests that settlement is in fact part of the goal. But YMMV
2 presidential speeches, a national commission, and a public law suggests that settlement is in fact part of the goal. But YMMV
"Settlement" as in "Colonization" is so far in the realm of science-fiction that it has absolutely no bearing on today's reality. It is not happening in the foreseeable future, and I doubt that Orion will still be flying when it does. Space is not the American Wild West, so any culture-centric analogies based on 19th Century history do not apply.