by Wayne Boyd

Many others could answer this question better than what I can say. I’d only point out the person asking the question has it backwards in his/her question.

Agreed, in the mind of the public we’re all getting ready to go to Mars. But that’s not what’s really happening. NASA is gearing up to go back to the Moon, not Mars, just the opposite of what the person is asking.

Now I know we hear Elon Musk talking about starting some kind of permanent encampment on Mars, and I know he has plans to go there himself. Elon Musk’s company SpaceX is a NASA contractor, but that doesn’t mean NASA isn’t focused more on the Moon than Mars.

NASA’s idea is to establish a working settlement on the Moon, kind of like having astronauts living on the International Space Station now.