How to Beat the Ban of Humans on Mars

An interesting article written by Michael Huang of the Space Review was posted today discusses how the legislation that is being proposed to ban humans on Mars may be beat. The House of Representative version of HR 3093, the bill that determines NASA's funding for 2008 prohibits funding of any research, development, or demonstration activities related exclusively to the human exploration of Mars. The primary motivation behind the ban is the old, predictable, anti-human-spaceflight routine. The bill is still in Congress and hasn't been made into a law yet. If the bill is passed, there are still ways for NASA to continue its human spaceflight research and development without breaking the law. The law says nothing about orbiting Mars. If the law is passed, it should also include a ban on the human exploration of Mars' moons. As long as astronauts do not land on Mars, they can explore the moons as much as they want. The law also does not ban the use of a humanoid robot, or android. If NASA sent an android to Mars, the robot could be equipped with biochemical functions to test the mission's life support systems. If legislators decided to lift the ban, then NASA could simply swap the android with an actual human and immediately begin a manned mission. If this bill is passed and the government really does want to ban the human exploration of Mars, Huang believes the wording may need changing. As of right now, there are many loopholes in the legislation and this will not stop NASA from pursuing their ultimate goal of putting a man on Mars.