Aim for the Moon, not Mars to ensure security and economic opportunities

Space Technology and Policy

Good morning,

Earlier this week, President Trump announced a goal of a manned Martian mission before the end of the decade, echoing President Kennedy’s Rice University address where he famously called on the United States to reach the moon ‘in this decade’.

While the current president has not ruled out a return to the moon, he really hasn’t mentioned it at all.

Elon Musk, on the other hand, has been critical of attempts to return to the Moon, calling it a ‘distraction’.