posted 03-30-2023 12:10 PM               

New Program Office Leads NASA's Path Forward for Moon, Mars

NASA has established the new Moon to Mars Program Office at NASA Headquarters in Washington to carry out the agency's human exploration activities at the Moon and Mars for the benefit of humanity. Amit Kshatriya will serve as the agency's first head of the office, effective immediately.

This new office resides within the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, reporting to its Associate Administrator Jim Free.

"The Moon to Mars Program Office will help prepare NASA to carry out our bold missions to the Moon and land the first humans on Mars," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. "The golden age of exploration is happening right now, and this new office will help ensure that NASA successfully establishes a long-term lunar presence needed to prepare for humanity's next giant leap to the Red Planet."

As directed by the 2022 NASA Authorization Act, the Moon to Mars Program Office focuses on hardware development, mission integration, and risk management functions for programs critical to the agency's exploration approach that uses Artemis missions at the Moon to open a new era of scientific discovery and prepare for human missions to Mars. This includes the Space Launch System rocket, Orion spacecraft, supporting ground systems, human landing systems, spacesuits, Gateway, and more related to deep space exploration. The new office will also lead planning and analysis for long-lead developments to support human Mars missions.

Kshatriya previously served as acting deputy associate administrator for Common Exploration Systems Development, providing leadership and integration across several of the programs that now fall within the new office.

Lakiesha Hawkins will serve as the deputy for the Moon to Mars Program Office. As deputy, Hawkins will support Kshatriya in all aspects of the office's day-to-day management and operations. Steven Creech will serve as the technical deputy for the office. In this capacity, Creech will be responsible for ensuring technical issues are identified and brought to resolution across all of the offices and programs under the Moon to Mars Program Office.

Updates to the mission directorate also include the Strategy and Architecture Office that develops the integrated master plan based on the agency Moon to Mars Objectives, alongside NASA's Science, Space Technology, and Space Operations Mission Directorates. With these changes, NASA will continue to lead the nation in exploration while also building a coalition of international partners in deep space with the Artemis Accords.

Since establishing its Exploration Systems Mission Directorate in September 2021, NASA has worked diligently to assess and align its two human spaceflight organizations while remaining focused on Artemis and other agency mission priorities including International Space Station operations, commercial crew and cargo, and more.

The Space Operations Mission Directorate remains responsible for all low-Earth orbit space operations and is focused on the space station, space communications and navigation supporting all NASA human and science exploration missions, as well as a continued development of a vibrant and expanding commercial space economy closer to home. Space Operations also manages the Launch Services Program, Commercial Crew Program, Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program, Human Spaceflight Capabilities, and other associated resources.

Other organizational updates include a business function for each mission directorate to manage administrative processes and financial formulation, and the exploration operations function will report to the Moon to Mars Program to maximize efficiency for integrated risk management with the relevant hardware programs supporting Artemis missions.

Through Artemis, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon, paving the way for a long-term, sustainable lunar presence to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before and prepare for future astronaut missions to Mars. This is NASA's Moon to Mars exploration approach.

posted 04-18-2023 12:00 PM               

NASA Shares First Moon to Mars Architecture Concept Review Results

As NASA builds a blueprint for human exploration throughout the solar system for the benefit of humanity, the agency released Tuesday (April 18) the outcomes from its first Architecture Concept Review, a robust analysis process designed to align NASA's Moon to Mars exploration strategy and codify the supporting architecture.

"Our first Architecture Concept Review is a milestone that will help our Moon to Mars strategy unfold through the objectives in missions both near and long term," said NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy. "We're aligned with partners toward a future of expanded economic opportunity, scientific discovery, and greater activity on and around the Moon, and with limitless possibilities deeper in the solar system."

NASA's Architecture Definition Document written for highly technical audiences, and an associated executive summary, provide a deep dive into NASA's Moon to Mars architecture approach and development process. Six supporting white papers also released address frequently discussed exploration architecture topics.

"NASA now has a goal-based foundation upon which to build our current and future exploration plans," said Cathy Koerner, deputy associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Our approach is designed to ensure exploration of the Moon and Mars has staying power."

NASA's process answers a call from Vice President Harris, as Chair of the National Space Council, to develop a plan for an initial lunar surface architecture which includes commercial and international partnerships. The agency's Moon to Mars architecture represents the hardware and operations needed for human missions to the Moon and Mars, and how they function together as system. The architecture is not a mission, a manifest, or a set of requirements, but defines the elements — rockets, spacecraft, rovers, spacesuits, communications relays, and more — that will be incrementally developed and delivered to the Moon and Mars for long-term, human-led scientific discovery in deep space.

NASA released its revised Moon to Mars Objectives in 2022 as guideposts in the agency's Moon to Mars exploration approach to help space NASA investments, as well as those of the agency's industry and international space agency partners, toward the Moon and beyond. They cover four broad areas: science; transportation and habitation; lunar and Martian infrastructure; and operations. The objectives were informed by input from U.S. industry, international space agencies, NASA's workforce, and others.

The agency began developing its Architecture Definition Document in late 2022 as a detailed look at how current objectives are distilled into specific architecture elements. The agency plans yearly Architecture Concept Reviews to incorporate new technological capabilities and evolving objectives.

Under Artemis, NASA has set a vision to explore more of the Moon than ever before. With the crew for Artemis II recently named, the agency plans to return humans to the Moon and establish a cadence of missions starting at the lunar South Pole region. These missions set up a long-term presence to inform future exploration of Mars and other potential destinations in the solar system.