Scientists See Way to Reach Mars via the Moon

Since the last mission to the moon half of century ago, space enthusiasts have been talking about a trip to Mars but lunar scientist Paul Spudis is among the experts who question the current plan to go there sometime after 2030.

Any program where the payoff is 20 to 30 years in the future is effectively a dead issue in Congress because they don't deal on time scales like that, they deal on time scales of 2 to 10 years.

In his recently published book “The Value of the Moon,” Spudis makes the case for establishing an outpost on the moon which is relatively close by.