The Mars Society announcement notes:
ARM is intended to send a robotic spacecraft to a Near Earth Asteroid to collect a small boulder from the object and move it to cislunar space. Astronauts will then visit the captured boulder during a planned Orion mission in 2026 in order to test deep space operations in advance of a trip to the Red Planet.
Speakers for ARM will be (1) Dr. Louis Friedman, Co-Founder & Executive Director Emeritus, The Planetary Society; (2) Dr. Thomas Jones, Former NASA Astronaut, Author and Former Member, NASA Advisory Council.
Speakers against the mission will be (1) Dr. Robert Zubrin, President & Founder, The Mars Society, and President, Pioneer Astronautics; and (2) Art Harman, Director, Coalition to Save Manned Space Exploration, and Former Legislative Director, Office of Congressman Steve Stockman.
The debate takes place on Thursday, September 22nd, at 7:30pm at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
It should be an informative debate on a key piece of the puzzle as we wind our way to Mars.
