Currently, Nasa has small-scale studies but no plans for a manned mission to Mars.
The scheme has also attracted interest as a possible long-term power source for a manned mission to Mars.
With respect to a manned, one-way mission to Mars, I suspect such questions will fall on deaf ears.
During the summer of 1997, Holliman most recently served as the network's lead reporter for the Pathfinder mission to Mars.
At the same time we are trying to solve climate change, police the world and send a manned mission to Mars.
Nasa has also identified 2014 as a possible launch date for the first human mission to Mars in a 1997 study.
Horizon: Mission to Mars was broadcast on BBC Two Monday 30 July.
"Several space missions are planned for 2013, including India's first mission to Mars and the launch of our first navigational satellite, " he told lawmakers.
Edited and scored with the dramatic tension of a summer blockbuster trailer, NASA's put together a gripping short clip that dresses down Curiosity's mission to Mars for the layman.
ENGADGET: NASA's Seven Minutes of Terror: Curiosity's precarious Mars landing explained (video)
We have the technology and ability to exploit the resources found on the moon and in the asteroid belt as well as sending a manned mission to Mars to set up a permanent base.
FORBES: Who Says America Is Falling Behind In The Space Race?
Following the example of World of Warcraft, which features collaborative, user-generated environments, we could create a Universe of Physics, where students work as teams to learn science principles by developing a mission to Mars.
Many sceptics will undoubtedly question why any country would choose to invest in future space exploration, including a manned mission to Mars, while there are so many unsolved problems on our planet, from HIV to malaria to poverty.
But Prof Colin Pillinger, the scientist behind the ill-fated Beagle-2 mission to Mars, said the printer would have to be really precise to be able to fabricate complex parts that usually make up the body of a spacecraft.
In 2010, when Mr Obama outlined his ideas, he spoke, somewhat vaguely, of a manned trip to a near-Earth asteroid, to be followed at some unspecified date in the 2030s by the ultimate space-cadet dream a manned mission to Mars.
It might sound like a weird cross between a hollywood storyline and a Craigslist personal add, but non profit organization Inspiration Mars Foundation is seeking a man and a woman to take part in a 501-day mission to Mars.
Last summer, when I first met Prof Siegert, I was too polite to remind him of what had happened to another British science project, the Beagle 2 mission to Mars, the spacecraft named after the ship that had carried Charles Darwin.
They are looking at many options, including another robotic mission to land on Mars in this decade.
And it would help the mission to land humans on Mars because it "looks a lot like sending a crew to Mars and returning them safely, " Grunsfeld said.
The organisers have not stated how much the mission will cost nor how much they need to raise, saying only that it is much cheaper than one would imagine a Mars mission to be.
Before any of those missions can happen, NASA still has to decide what robotic or orbiter mission it wants to send to Mars in 2018, if any.
After weeks of fruitless attempts to raise the lander by radio, JPL mission controllers appeared resigned to their second major failure on a Mars mission in three months, following the September loss of the Mars Climate Observer.
CNN: Technology - Will quiet Mars lander talk to Dutch radar dishes?
The George W. Bush-era Constellation project, for instance (later cancelled by Mr Obama), was supposedly going to be a return mission to the moon followed by a trip to Mars.
The rover's mission is to determine whether Mars ever had an environment capable of supporting life, and its prime target is Mount Sharp, the 18, 000-foot (5, 500-meter) peak about 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) to the south.
If I answer, "Well let's use that trajectory anyway, " wouldn't you conclude that I was less than totally committed to the Mars mission?
Rover mission managers named the outcrop as a tribute to Mars scientist Ronald Greeley (1939-2011), who served as a mission team member and taught planetary science at Arizona State University.
MSN: A stunning close-up of Mars taken by visiting NASA rover
At the moment a shift in priorities that would lead to a direct Mars mission seems unlikely.
Dr Elachi conceded there was some, but then went on to explain how the Nasa Administrator Charles Bolden had visited the centre to emphasise that Mars exploration was still central to the agency's mission.
That's a proposed mission that would send a robotic airplane to Mars to fly over the surface looking for the chemical signs of life.
The overall goal of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission is to use 10 instruments on Curiosity to assess whether areas inside Gale Crater ever offered a habitable environment for microbes.
ENGADGET: Curiosity rover finds radiation levels on Mars are safe for humans
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