Mars by the 2030s: Obama

President Obama has pledged to get citizens of the Stars and Stripes onto Mars within about two decades using a mix of commercial and NASA technology.

He noted that during his tenure in office, commercial space companies have taken a third of the satellite launch market. Over 1,000 companies in nearly 50 states now work in the space industry.

“We have set a clear goal vital to the next chapter of America’s story in space: sending humans to Mars by the 2030s and returning them safely to Earth, with the ultimate ambition to one day remain there for an extended time,” he wrote on CNN.

“Getting to Mars will require continued cooperation between government and private innovators, and we’re already well on our way.”

Obama’s not the first US president to stake this claim; his predecessor predicted human feet would have hit Mars last year. His father did start the Space Exploration Initiative to look into this in the 1980s – but put his deputy Dan Quayle in charge – while Ronald Reagan was more concerned about alien invasion.

Nevertheless, the announcement is good news for Elon Musk’s plans to set up shop on the Red Planet. ®