Buzz Aldrin criticizes NASA’s approach to reaching Mars

Ars Technica : At this week’s Humans to Mars conference, Buzz Aldrin publicly criticized NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, Orion spacecraft, and “Journey to Mars” plan for the next 20 years of crewed planetary exploration. Aldrin, who joined NASA in 1963 as part of the agency’s third astronaut class, has previously been less critical of NASA’s recent efforts. In his speech he criticized the SLS as a project that competes with private-sector efforts and is based on 1970s-era technology instead of more modern developments. He also described the Orion spacecraft as having marginal utility for transporting astronauts to Mars. Aldrin suggested that NASA should change its operational model so that it could focus on developing innovative and game-changing technologies for problems and tasks that do not have modern solutions. Desirable goals include refueling in space and on the surface of the Moon or Mars and harvesting ice from planetary bodies.