article_snippet.sent: Planetary Society concluded that such a plan could indeed fit within NASA's human space exploration budget - but that politics is holding the decision back.
article_snippet.sent: We believe We now have an example of a long-term, cost-constrained, executable humans-to-Mars program,' Scott Hubbard, a professor in the Stanford University Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a member of Planetary Society's board of directors, said. '
article_snippet.sent: This workshop was an important step in community-building among the many groups interested in Mars science and exploration.'
article_snippet.sent: The Planetary Society's's CEO (and former TV 'Science Guy')
article_snippet.sent: Bill Nye, said: 'Getting humans to Mars is far more complex than getting to Earth's Moon,' said Bill Nye. '
article_snippet.sent: But space exploration brings out the best in us. '
article_snippet.sent: By reaching consensus on the right set of missions, we can send humans to Mars without breaking the bank.'
article_snippet.sent: This workshop's 70 attendees discussed the technical feasibility, affordability and benefits of a proposed schedule to get humans into orbit around Mars and eventually onto the planet's surface, using a detailed plan was not created by Planetary Society, but was proposed in a separate report co-created by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
article_snippet.sent: This workshopreached a consensus' on a series of key points, including that an orbital mission would be required prior to a crewed mission to the surface of Mars, and an independent cost estimate showed that the program would fit into the NASA budget, assuming the agency 'ends the agency ' lead role in the International Space Station.'
article_snippet.sent: While the conditions for another Apollo-era Kennedy moment don't exist, we have a highly skilled scientific engineering and policy community that is eager to get going on sending humans to Mars,' said Dr. John Logsdon, workshop co-chair and professor emeritus, Space Policy Institute, Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University. '
article_snippet.sent: Dr. John Logsdon, workshop co-chair and professor emeritus, Space Policy Institute, Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University believe the consensus points achieved during this workshop can get Dr. John Logsdon, workshop co-chair and professor emeritus, Space Policy Institute, Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University moving down the path to the Red Planet.'
article_snippet.sent: The 'Humans Orbiting Mars' workshop took place in Washington,
article_snippet.sent: Hubbard said that, in the past, Mars missions may have been limited by technological or scientific challenges, but that no longer appears to be the case. '
article_snippet.sent: In the past, when the question of humans to Mars came up, I would typically cite a number of major hurdles: biomedical, launch systems and so forth,' Hubbard said. '
highlights_snippet.sent: Planetary Society analysed the feasibility and cost of missions .
  
highlights_snippet.sent: Report says missions fit within NASA's human space exploration budget .