the mars exploration summit began with opening remarks from nasa administrator charles bolden, he spoke about the importance of humans becoming a multiplanet species and nasa's goal of putting humans on mars in the next two decades. this is 30 minutes. thank you very much, and thanks to all of you for allowing me to be with you this morning and it kind of kick us off, i hope. i also want to thank explore mars as well as g.w. president steve knapp and scott pace of the g.w. policy institute for bringing us together for the humans to mars summit. let's leave that slide up, i'll talk about it all day long, and at least you can refer to it and you don't have to look at me. with mars making it's closest approach to effort last week and currently appearing as the brightest body in the eastern sky during the month of april, this is an ideal time for this conference, as the red planet draws nearer to earth--sort of as -- i'm surprised she remembered, maybe i'm not surprised she remembered, but we did talk last year about my three grand daughters, the number one granddaughter being 14-year-old mckayla who wants to be the rocket scientist, who has begun telling me i'm thinking shortsightedly when i talk about going to mars. she talks about going outside the solar system. so i told her, one thing at a time. let's get to mars first. during the next three days, you're going to get an update on nasa's steppingstone approach to mars from some of the leading experts at the agency including ellen stoffen, our associate administrator operations director, and mike gazirik, national technology space admissions director. and i will be learning and listening to all of you as you share your thoughts on the best step forward. while humans have been fascinated with mars since the beginning of time, there are a number of very tangible reasons why we need to learn more about our closest planetary neighbor, for one thing, mars's evolution and formation are comparable to earth and we know at one time mars had conditions suitable for life. what we learn about the red plant may tell us more about our own home planet's history and future and help us answer the fundamental human question does life exist beyond earth? while nasa has been on a path to mars for decades, with our earlier mars rovers and orbiters, a critical national policy statement in support of our strategy, was on april 15, 2010 during a visit by president obama to the kennedy space center, where he challenged the nation to send humans to ans a destroyed by 2025 and to mars by the 2030s. the national space policy stayed in 2011 further supports those goals and over the past several years, nasa has been developing the capabilities to meet these goals through a bipartisan space exploration plan agreed to by the administration and congress in the 2010 authorization act and embraced by the international space community in the 2013 global exploration road map. while robotic explorers have explored mars for more than 30 years, nasa's plans for the exploration of mars begins aboard the international space station, our springboard to the exploration of deep space. even as we speak, astronauts aboard the iss are helping us learn how to safety execute extended missions deeper into space. we're guaranteed this unique orbiting outpost for at least another decade by the administration's commitment to extend the iss until 20 in. there means an expanded market for -- microgravity and opportunities to live, work and learn in space over longer periods of time. and as most of you know, we're working to return both cargo and human launches to the iss to more than soil. the president's 2015 budget supports the administration's commitment that nasa be a catalyst for the growth of a vibrant american commercial space industry. already two american companies are making regular cargo deliveries to the space station. in fact i think most of you know we had an easter sunday delivery of dragon and it has now birthed to the international space station and will be there for a number of weeks. while the russian space agency remains a strong and reliable partner, later this year, nasa intends to select from american companies competing to send astronauts to the station from american soil. if congress fully funds our 2015 request, we believe we can do this by the end of 2017. our next step in deep space, where nasa will send the first mission to capture and redirect ans ans a destroyed to -- returning to earth with samples. this experience in human space flight beyond the earth orbit will help nasa test new systems and capabilities such as solar electric propulsion. beginning in 2017, nasa's powerful space launch system or sls rocket will enable these proving ground missions to test new capabilities. human missions to mars will rely on orion and an evolved version of the sls that will be the most powerful launch vehicle ever flown. i have made reference several times now to earth and the proving ground and you're here to talk about mars, so just sort of as reference to my chart, since mike's going to use it, bill is going to use it, ellen's probably going to use ill and anybody else that comes from nasa is probably going to use it because we want it indelibly emblazed in your brain. we fade are earth reliant. we are dependent on being on this planet. yet. i don't know whether buzz is going to talk to you about it later. but buzz and i agree on a number of things and one of them is that only multiplanet species survive for long periods of time. here in the western world, we think very shortsighted and some of you have heard me say this before. we think about the time in which we're going to be on this earth or which our kids or our grandkids are going to be on this earth. many other civilizations think much longer than that. and we need to start thinking that way. we need to remember that we'dep department on a star, the sun is on a star and just like many other stars that we study all the time and many of you who follow the exploits of the hubble telescope get a picture of a star that used to be but is no longer. one of these days that is going to be the story of our star, the sun. so if this species is to survive indefinitely, we need to become a multiplanet species. one reason we need to go to mars is so that we can learn a little bit about living on another planet, so when mccaylee, my granddaughter is ready to move out of the solar system, we'll know more about this planet than we do today. mars is the steppingstone approach to other solar testimonies and other galaxies that people have always dreamed of but frequently don't talk about. so we're earth reliant right now. and our steppingstone in the earth reliant system is the international space station. i hope i don't need to remind this audience, but i will take advantage of it anyway, because i find that sometimes people don't remember. we have now been on the international space station continuously without interlineupation for almost 14 years, continuously, without interruption for almost 14 years. everybody's excited right now because of what's going on in the ukraine, although i'm cautious, i'm cautiously optimistic because we went through this when the russians went to georgia and the station continued to operate the way it is now. we continue to operate just as we always have today with cosmos and jacsos, and esa and all of our partners. so the iss continues to move on as our steppingstone to the rest of the coz mows. the proving ground is where we need to go. so we're going to present our case to you over these next three days and hopefully you will pummel us with questions. i'm having trouble with the lights, but i think i may see, michele, are you down there? there's michele on the third row. i know mike was here, but you should pummel us with questions about why we chose this path. there are all kinds of ways we could go to get to mars. to include those that people espouse, which is just go right now, forget about all this other stuff, just go. we don't think that that's the right idea. so we don't think we can just go, but we need to take a measured approach as we go. so we have chosen an asteroid to be our proving ground. so we can develop the technology to make it the disfans to mars, we can learn how to operate in that environment. because mars and it's moons will probably not be like operating in lower earth orbit. we're accustomed to -- i give them the example of when i was a young snotty-nosed astronaut in camden, and i was one once. and i remember going to the johnson space center for the first time and they said you're going have a class on orbital mechanics and you're going to go over to the simulator and you're going to learn how to rendezvous and dock, i said piece of cake, i've been rendezvousing for 14 years now, i have been flying for 17,000 hours, all u you got to do is put your nose on the airplane that u you want to rendezvous with and just go. the first time i got in the simulator, the instructors, they didn't push back, they just said okay, another little snotty-nosed quid that thinks he knows everything, we'll just see. so i got in the shuttle mission stimulator and off shuttle to rendezvous with the space station or something and i didn't come within hundreds of miles. and it was because i was flying an airplane in the atmosphere that doesn't have to worry about orbital mechanics or anything of that stuff. and it seemed like the more i fought to get there, the favorite i got away, and then i learned a little bit about orbital mechanics and how you have to do stuff. when we go to mars, we're going to find the same problem, it's not like flying in lower earth orbit. we already know that, but what we don't know is what is it like flying? we're going to use an approach to an asteroid in luner orbit, to figure out how do we maneuver out there, and we're going to in a steppingstone manner, go out and probably maneuver afternoon the moons of mars and figure out how do we get down to the planet safely with human beings? so that's sort of what we talk about as being the proven grounds in being mars ready. and with some modest increase in nasa's budget over the years, we're going to be able to get to mars by the 2030s, president obama didn't ask us to do anything, he just tells us and we make it happen. a feet of robotic spacecraft are already around mars, dramatically increasing our knowledge about the red planet and paving the way for future explorers. the mars science laboratory, curiosity, rover, is sending back radiation data from the surface today. this data will help us plan how to proteblg the astronauts. seeking the signs of past live, also will demonstrate new technologies that could help astronauts survive on mars. engineers and scientists around the country are working hard to develop the technologies astronauts will use to one stay live and work on mars and safely return home. this conference is bringing together the best minds to share ideas about the path ahead. it's important to remember that nasa sent humans to the moon by setting a goal that seemed beyond our reach. with mars as our focus, we're steadily building the capability to enable human missions to mars. the challenge is huge, i don't want to fool you, the challenge is huge. if you don't think so, then please listen up as we talk over these next three days. but we love huge challenges. we're making real progress right now as a radiation monitor on the curiosity rover records the mars radiation environment that our crews will experience. advanced entry, descent and landing technology are ready for entry speed testing high above the waters of the pacific ocean in june. orion ask finishing preparation for a heat shield test in december. we're counting on the support of congress, the scientific community and all of you in this summit to help us realize that goal. the future of space exploration in my estimation the bright, but it will be up to all of us in this assembly to bring the rest of the world along on this great adventure that awaits all humanity. so with that, i'll finish my formal comments and then, do i have time for questions? can i do that? >> yes, you do. >> great. uh-oh. oh, that's okay. >> welcome to our company. >> that's all right. so i think they told me they have mikes that way and that way. right here. so if you all will come down, i'll try to answer questions that you have. and if i can't answer them, trust me, there are enough people out here in the audience, that i'll let ask and you can answer some of them. and there are two mikes, are you all awake? yeah, come on up. >> my question's not directly about mars, but it's about, you know, human access. >> yeah. >> american human access to space. congress was not especially polite to you last time you had to testify before congress, they wanted a contingency plan about how can we quickly get american access back to space. space x thinks they can do it by 2015. i think a kosovo contingency plan if we could give them additional funding so that they're not just flying their own crews, but can in fact fly nasa crews. >> if we elected space x as one of the providers, then i would be able to do that. which haven't selected a provider yet. you may know more than i know. i don't know that space x is the best provider. they haven't provided any human rated vehicles yet. but they're in competition, there's a blackout right now so i don't know what they're doing. we're going to select the% potential providers and we'll go with them. they may be ready before 2017, but our goal right now is to be ready by 2017. i told congress a few weeks ago, the contingency plan for rockets is years away by $10 million. and the american capability to put humans in orbit is $800 million by next year and a few years away, that's better than the contingency plan on rockets. there is no instachbt access to space on american rockets. it just ain't going to happen because we didn't pay attention, you know, years ago. >> i think part of that was congress's fault. >> i'm not going to -- i don't want to get into the position where i'm blaming congress alone. it's been a number of administrations. the decision to do this, okay, and i'm going to help some people here who don't remember history. the decision to tart this path came in 2004, when we lost columbia, the colombia accident investigation board met and gave a report and one of my predecessors, the nasa administrator at the time said i'm going to accept every recommendation in that report. whether that was wise or not, i don't know. but that was the decision that was made back in 2004. and so we started on this path. and i think we have kind of picked it up. we have picked up the pace at least in the five years that i have been nasa administrator. we only talked about commercial cargo and now we have it. and we had no money that the administration put toward it, not even a proposal. so when the president came in, i think the first time we requested -- and congressman wolf corrected me, the first time in the budget, although we knew we needed a million dollars, the first time in the budget, we asked for $500 million. i don't care what the administration or staffers say $312 is not 500 million. and it's not more than $500 million. so we have never gotten more than what the president asked for the commercial crew. it's my intent to get down on my hands and kneeings and beg and plead and help them understand that this nation needs our own capability to get humans into space. and we can do it. >> we have no experience whatsoever with gravity, 38% gravity as we have on mars with any biological system much less humans, so in previous conferences, i have heard american folk, european and russian all say we need to put a centrifuge on the space station and do something with mice or something. why don't we see nasa doing that? >> well, because back when the space station was envisioned. and again, i wasn't here, so i'm going to tell you what i heard. although the plan was for a centrifuge to be on the international space station, it fell victim to what things usually fall victim to, the budget. so it just fell out when we looked at how much money was going to be available for station. but we're looking for alternative ways to do it. if you look at that chart, the proving ground, we're going to be orbiting in -- you know, in sis lunar and transorbital movement. some people will hopefully take an opportunity to drop out of lunar orbit to the surface. we have international partners who are saying we can't do it on our own, but if you can help us, we think we can get to the surface of the moon. we have challenges going on right now, to see if commercial companies or entrepreneurs can put things on the surface of the moon. we are not going to get 4% of the federal budget. so in this group, if you are serious about wanting to go to mars, then start thinking about reality. and reality is the budget. and we are not going to get 4% of the federal budget to go to mars or any other place. so we're going to have to figure out ingenious ways to do it, based on the present budget plus some modest increases. and i think we can do it. and you all may not agree. but if you feel we have got to have the apollo era funding levels, then forget it right now, don't even spend your time in this conference. because we are not going to get that. people told us we couldn't see commercial cargo. anybody in here who works in nasa will tell you five years ago, people said it won't happen. some of my predecessors said commercial crew and cargo, forget it. i'll give you $500 million and that's all you're getting for commercial cargo. and we took $500 million and we now have commercial cargo. so we're just saying, you know, we got some smart people too. and we do listen to you. and so that's really what we want to hear in the three days of this conference, is given the budget realities of today, how do we make that happen? and no, we won't have four slss out orbiting, there are pieces of this chart -- truth be told, okay? sometimes even we are not real good at chartsmanship. slss are not going to be flying around mars. i know there's some purists out here who are going, look, he doesn't even know what he's talking about. he's got slss going around mars. they do like most first stages and second stages and all that, they end up in the ocean somewhere. we do know that, so don't -- humor me. question? please come -- don't let him talk all this time, just come right up. >> yes, sir, two questions actually. >> okay. >> question one, what do you say to the public when they say that nasa is dead. that's question one, after the space shuttle, that's a popular perception. and question two, please speak to education of k-20 and what you guys are going to do to help get your message out to kids. >> when people talk about nasa being dead, i say i wish i could agree with you, but we're still working really hard keeping curiosity going all the over the lunar surface, we have orbiters that are orbiting mars right now, giving us data, we've got juneau on the way to jupiter. we have got plult toe -- new horizons on the way to pluto. we already put messages around mercury, we had never done that before. we're working with our international partners, there are 15 nations contributing monetarily to life on the international space station, we now have commercial cargo that's going back and forth to the international space station, we have three companies in serious competition to carry crew to the international space station, we hope to make an announcement, sometime end of the summer, early fall. if that's dead, so be it. i can't -- i can't help, you know, you understand. i'm a shuttle person. i love shuttles. it was time for shuttle to go w and it was time for shuttle to go long before we phase it it out. because shuttle was not -- and i know there's some shuttle people in here. i talk to bob thompson all the time. i spent a saturday with him not very long ago down in houston over beer, you know--he helping me understand why if i had just kept shuttle going, we could have used shuttle to get to mars. that's true. we could have. you know, if we had on object fuel depots and the commercial companies were flying rockets the way that they will do someday, we could have done that a so those of you who are shuttle fans who still think it should be around, i'm not going to argue that point. like i said, there are 1,000 different ways to do what we want to do. as a marine, i was taught as a second lieutenant. lieutenant, make a decision, because if you don't, the troops are not going to follow you anywhere and they're going to leaf you at the start line. to they'll tell you their mission is over when they come back and talk about it. we made a decision, some people in this room don't like it, but we're on our way, and you can either go with us or figure out how to start all over again, and everybody in this room i think knows what happened when you start all over again. we're favorite down this road than we have been in a long, long, long, long time. if you don't want to admit that, i can't help you. but if you stop and think about it, we never had a commercial capability to get anything to space the way we're doing today. we're oh, so close to having a commercial capability to get crews to space. and nasa is finally freed up to work with all of you to do exploration, which is what everybody in this auditorium, i hope, came here to talk about. so, you know, get over it. to be blunt. this is the path we have chosen. help us get it right. i mean we can tweak it along the way, everybody knows that, if you don't start down a road, you know, and figure out, okay, we took a wrong turn, how do you ever get to the destination? we can tweak this, i can't tweak just constant ideas with nothing. we now have hardware under construction, we can do this. but i need your help. question here? >> excuse me. >> okay, that's all right. one more. >> okay. >>. michele will answer them when she gets up and bill will answer too. >> i would like to put a bug in your ear, there's an example, of gravity, that could operate on space station which has been sitting in the wings for probably a decade. have yourself or your mignons reexamined the mars gravity biosatellite? it was a joint task between georgia tech and m.i.t. years ago, it sits in moth balls, can been flown on small boosters, it's a century fujs full of mice, female mice as a matter of fact. >> is that important? >> well, it is for the statistics of the biophysics. it can be marked outside the space station, you don't have to add the centrifuge of the space station, spin it up and take it o out. the other question -- >> that wasn't a question, that was a statement. >> the question is, have you considered it. >> i didn't know got it but i will go back and look. >> mars, gravity biosatellite. and second question, is it automatically crazy to imagine more money? we have spent monotonicly les on the geo sciences and now

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