that we can give our young drive to a thirst, a search for that which is awesome , that which brings awe and wonderment today. whether they find that in music, politics, literature, or in the sciences and engineering, i'm not very concerned because our with inspired young people who are driven to see what they can do will be a great nation and will make the world a better place. that our efforts exploring mars, putting a rover named curiosity as our curiosity that anythat -- touch use, it makes me very happy and very humbled to be part of it -- touch that in youth. i look forward to any efforts we

put forward to create awe and inspire our nation's youth. >> awesome. thanks so much. [applause] [applause] adam.nk you very much, thanks to all of you for allowing me to be with you this morning and kind of kick us off, i i want to thank explore mars in the space policy institute for bringing us together for the second annual humans tomorrow summit. i'm going to leave that slide up. i'll talk to it every once in a while. i thought i let you get used to it. you can refer to that. with mars making its closest to approach to earth last week and currently appearing as the brightest body in the eastern sky during the month of april, this is an ideal time for this. as red planet draws near to

earth, nasa with your help, is drawing near to our goal of sending humans to mars. sort of as artemis, i'm surprised she remembered, we did talk last year about my three granddaughter, my number one granddaughter who wants to be a rocket scientist. she talks about going outside the solar system. i told her one thing at a time. let's get to mars first. during the next three days you're going to get an update on nasa steppingstone approach to mars from some of the leading experts. nasa's chief scientist. we'll be listening and learning from all of you as you share your thoughts on the best path

forward. let me set the stage by reminding us of why we're all here. while humans have been fascinated with mars, since the beginning of time. there are a number of very tangible reasons why we need to learn more about our closest planetary neighbor. for one thing, mar's formaking and evolution is comparable to earth. we know at one time mars had a condition suitable for life. while nasa has been on path to mars for decades. a critical national policy statement in support of our strategy was on april 15th, 2010 during a visit by president obama to the kennedy space center. where he challenged the nation to send humans to an -- an asteroid by 2025.

and t omars -- to mars in the 2030's. over the past several years, nasa has been developing the capabilities to meet those goals through a bipartisan plan agreed to by the administration and congress in a 2010 authorization act and embraced by the international space community in the 2013 global exploration road map. while robotic explorers studied mars, nasa's plan for the human exploration of mars begins in lower orbit aboard the international space station. our spring board to the exploration of deep space. even as we speak, astronauts aboard the i.s.s. are helping us learn how to safely execute missions into space.

we are guaranteed this outpost for at least another decade. this means an expanded market for private space companies, more ground breaking research in science discovery and microgravity and opportunities to live, work and learn in space over longer periods of time. as most of you know, we're working to return both cargo and human launches to the i.s.s. to american soil. the president's 2015 budget supports the administration's commitment that nasa be a catalyst for a growth of a american commercial space. already -- two american companies are making it to the space station. we had easter sunday delivery. while the russian federal space agency remains a strong and reliable partner. later this year nasa intends to select from american companies

competing to send astronauts to the station. we believe we can do this by the end of 2017. our next step in deep space where nasa will send the first mission to capture and redirect an asteroid to orbit the moon. astronauts will explore the asteroid in the 2020's. this experience in human space life will help nasa test new systems and capabilities. such as solar electric compulsion we'll need to support human missions to mars. begin in 2017, nasa's pour space launch systems will enable proving ground missions to test new capabilities.

human missions to mars will rely on orion and an evolved version of s.l.s. that will be the most powerful vehicle ever flown. i made reference several times now to earth and the proven ground and your here to talk about mars. just sort of reference to my chart. we today are earth reliant. we're depending on being on this planet. we are not a multiplanet species yet. buzz and i agree on a number of things. one of them it that only multiplanet species survive. here in the western world, we think very short sighted. we think about the time in which we're going to be on this earth or our kids or grandkids. many other civilizations think much longer than that. we need to start thinking that way.

we need to remember that we're depending on a star. the sun is a star. just like many other stars that we study, many of you who follow the hubbell space telescope also daily get a picture of a star. if this species is to survive indefinitely, we need to become a multiplanet species. one reason we need to go to mars, so we can learn about living on another planet. so when my granddaughter is ready to move out of the solar system, we will know more than we know today. mars is a steppingstone and steppingstone approach to other solar system and galaxies and things that people have dreamed of but frequently don't talk about. we're earth reliant now. our steppingstone is the

international space station. i hope i don't need to remind this audience but i will take advantage of it anyway because i find that sometimes people don't remember. we have now been on the international space station continuously without interruption for almost 14 years. everybody is excited right now because of what's going on in ukraine. although i'm cautious, i'm cautiously optimistic. we went through this when the russians went into georgia and the station continued to operate the way it is now. we continue to operate just as we always have today with cosmos and the canadian space agency and our partners. the i.s.s. continues to move on. the proving ground is where we need to go. we're going to present our case to you. hopefully you will have questions.

i'm having trouble with the lights. michelle, are you down there. there is michelle on the third row. michelle gates is here. you should pummel us with questions about why we chose this path. there are all kinds of ways we can go to get to mars. we don't think we can just go. we need to take a measured approach as we go. we've chosen an asteroid in lunar orbit as our proving ground. mars will probably not be like mars. its moons will probably not be like operating in lower orbit.

i tell people, give them the example when i was an young snotty nose astronaut. i was one. i remember going to the johnson space center, they said you will have a class in orbit mechanics and go over to the simulator. i said piece of cake. i've been flying airplanes for 14 years now. i had over 7000 hours. -- several thousand hours. all you got to do is put your nose on the airplane you want to rendezvous with and just go. the instructors, they didn't push back. they just said okay, another little snotty nose kid who think he knows everything. i got in a shuttle mission simulator. off into the shuttle to rendezvous with space station or something. i didn't come within hundreds of miles. it was because i was flying an airplane in the atmosphere that didn't have to worry about orbital mechanic.

it seemed like the more i fought to get there the farther i got away. then i learned about orbital mechanics and how you have to do stuff. when we go to mars, we're going to find the same problem. it is not like flying in orbit. what we don't know is what it is like flying. we're going it use rendezvous and approach to an asteroid in lunar orbit to try to figure out how do we maneuver. we're gong to step in a steppingstone and go out and probably maneuver around the moons of mars and then figure out, how do we finally get down to the planet safely with human beings. that's sort of what we talked about the proven ground and then on to being mars ready. we think right now, with some modest increases in nasa's budget over the years, we're going to be able to get to mars in the 2030's as president obama tell us.

-- asked us. the mars science laboratory, curiosity rover, measured radiation all way to mars and is sending back radiation data from the surface today. this data will help us plan how to protect the astronauts who will explore mars. future missions like mars 2020 rover seeking signs of past life, also will demonstrate new technologies that could help astronauts survive on mars. engineers and scientists around the country are working hard to develop the technologies astronauts will use. this conference is bringing together the best minds to share ideas about the path ahead. it's important to remember that

nasa sent humans to the moon by setting a goal that's seen beyond our reach. -- seemed beyond our reach. with mars as our focus, we are building the capability to enable human missions to mars. the challenge is huge. i don't want it fool you. if you don't think so, then please listen up as we talk over these next three days. we love huge challenges. we're making real progress right now as radiation monitor on the curiosity rover records the martian radiation environment. advance entry, descending landing technology needed for landing on mars are ready for entry speed testing. orion is finishing preparation for a heat shield test in december. we're counting on the support of

congress, the scientific community to help us realize that goal. the future is bright, but it will be up to all of us to bring the rest of the world along on this great adventure. with that i'll finish my formal comments and then -- do i have time for questions? >> yes you have. [inaudible] >> i think, they told me they have mikes that way and that way. if you all will come down, i'll try to answer questions that you have. if i can't answer them, trust me, there are enough people out here in the audience that i'll let ask. there are two mikes.

>> my question is not directly about mars. it's about human access to space. congress was not especially polite to you last time you testified before congress, they wanted a contingency plan. space x thinks they can do it by 2015. i think a possible contingency plan if we could give them additional funding so that they're not flying their own crews and can fly nasa crews to i.s.s. >> it's one of the providers, then i would be able to do that. we haven't selected a provider yet. they haven't provided any human rated vehicles yet. but they're in competition. there's a blackout now.

i don't know how they're doing. we're going to select the best potential providers and then we'll go with them. they may be ready for 2017. our goal now is to be ready by 2017. as i told the congress two weeks ago, the contingency plan for rockets is years away and billions of dollars. having a capability is $850 million next year and three years away. there is no instant access to space on american rocket. it aint going to happen. because we didn't pay attention years ago. >> that was part of congress fault. >> i don't want to get in position where i'm blaming congress alone. it's been a number of administrations. i'm going to help people here

who don't remember history. the decision to start this path in came in 2004. when we lost columbia, they gave a report. the nasa predecessor at the time said, i'm going to accept every recommendation in that report. whether that was wise or not, i don't know. but that was the decision that was made back in 2004. we started on this path. i think we kind of picked it up. we picked up the pace. we only talked about commercial cargo. we now have it. we only talked about commercial crew, we had no money that the administration put toward it. not even a proposal. when the president came in, i think the first time we requested -- and congressman wolf corrected me, the first

time in the budget, we asked for $500 million. we got $312 million. i don't care what congress says or what staff said or anything, $312 million is not $500 million. it's not more than $500 million. we have never gotten what the president asked for commercial crew. we really need the support of congress. it is my intent to get down on my hands and knees and beg and plead and help them understand that this nation need our own capabilities to get human into space. we can do it. >> we have no experience what so ever with gravity 38% gravity as we have on mars with any biological system. previous conferences i've heard american folks, europeans and russians all say, we need to put a centrifuge on space station. do something with mice. why don't we see nasa doing that?

>> back when the space station was invented. i wasn't here so i will tell you what i heard. although the plan was for a fusion to be on the international space station. it fell victim to the budget. it just fell out when we looked at how much money will be available. we're looking for alternative ways to do it. if you look at that chart, the proving ground, we're going to be orbiting in cyst lunar. we will be orbiting the moon. that means that, some people will hopefully take an opportunity to drop out of lunar orbit to the surface. we have commercial partners. we have international partners who are saying we can't do it on our own.

if you can help us, we think we can get to the surface of the moon. we have challenges going on right now to see if commercial companies or entrepreneurs can put things on the surface of the moon. the u.s. government can't do everything. i said, our plan to go to mars is based on a budget that we propose today with some modest increases in the outyears. we are not going to get four percent of the federal budget. in this group, if you are serious about wanting to go to mars, then start thinking about reality and reality is the budget. we are not going to get four percent of the federal budget to go to mars. i think we can do it. you all may not agree if you feel we've got to have apollo era funding level, then forget it now. -- agree. if you feel we've got to have apollo era funding level, then

forget it now. don't even spend your time in it conference because we are not going to get that. people told us we couldn't see commercial cargo. anybody in here who works in nasa will tell you five years ago, people say it won't happen. some of my predecessor said, i'll give you $500 million, that's all you're getting for commercial cargo. we took $500 million and we now have commercial cargo. just saying, we got some smart people too. we do listen to you. so that's really what we want to hear in the three days of this conference. given the budget realities today, how do we make that happen. no, we won't have four s.l.s.'s out orbiting. the pieces of this chart -- truth be told, sometimes even we are not real good at charts.

s.l.s.'s don't go much farther in lower orbit. they do like in first stages or second stages. they do end up in the ocean. don't let me talk all this time. >> yes, sir, two questions. question one, what do you say to the public when they say nasa is dead. that's question one. question two, please speak to education of k-20 and what you guys will do to help get your message out to kids? >> people talk about nasa being dead. i wish i can agree with you. we're working really hard to keep curiosity moving all over the lunar surface. we've got orbiters that are orbiting mars now giving us data. we got juneau on the way to jupiter.

we got pluto horizons to pluto. we put messenger in orbit around mercury. we put orbiters around mercury. we are working with our international partners. there are 15 nations contributing monetarily to life on the international space station. we now have commercial cargoes that's going back and forth to the international space station. we have three companies to carry crew to the international space station. we hope to make an announcement some time in the end of summer and early fall. if that is dead, so be it. i am a shuttle person. it was time for shuttle to go along before we phased it out. i know there are some shuttle people in here. i spent a saturday with him in , he helping meer

understand why if i just kept shuttle going we could have used shuttle to get to mars. that is true. we could have, if we had on orbit fuel depots and the commercial companies were flying rockets the way they would do someday, we could have done that. those of you who are shuttle fans, who still think it should be around, i will not argue that point. there are a thousand different ways to do what we want to do. i was taught as a second lieutenant, make a decision because if you do not, the troops will not follow you anywhere and they will leave you at the starting line. we made a decision, some people in this room do not like it, but we are on our way and you can either go with us or figure out how to start all over again. everybody knows what happens when you start all over again.

we are farther down this road than we have been in a long, long, long time. if you do not want to admit that, i cannot help you. if you stop and think about it, we never had a commercial capability to get anything to space way we are doing today. we are also close to having commercial capability to get crews to space and nasa is finally freed up to work with all of you to do exploration, which is what everybody in this auditorium came here to talk about it. get over it. to be blunt. this is the path we have chosen. help us get it right. we can tweak it along the way. if you do not start down a road, and figure out, we took a wrong turn, how do you ever get to the destination? i cannot tweak constant ideas with nothing. we have hardware under construction.

we can do this. but i need your help. >> [inaudible] >> i would like to put a bug in your ear. there is an example of gravity that could operate on the space station, which has been sitting in the wings for a decade. have yourself or your minions re-examined the gravity bio satellite? it was a joint task between georgia tech and m.i.t. it can be flown on small boosters. it is a centrifuge filled with female mice. >> is that important? >> it is for the statistics. it can be parked outside the space station.

park it outside the space station. >> what was the question? that's was a statement. >> have you considered it? >> i did not know about it. >> mars garvity bio -- mars gravity bio-satellite. is it automatically crazy to imagine more money? we have spent less in terms of gdp on physical science and we're down a factor of more than two -- there is no reason why we should not redress that grievance, although it is an uphill battle. >> we are going for the biggest money we think we can logically go for right now.

i think it is unrealistic to assume that this congress and any future congress is going to jump to four percent of gdp. >> [inaudible] >> one percent, we may get to one percent. one percent would be like a gold mine. a modest increase -- but we have to be able to demonstrate that we can do what we said we can do. commercial cargo was a first step. people said it could not be done. we have to get a commercial crew and we have to demonstrate we can do it and we can do anything. -- before we can do anything. we will fly orion in the fall. that is really important. thank you very much.