I was reading a piece in ARS Technica about the potential pivot of a Clinton administration back to the Moon rather than Mars. Physicist Neal Lane, who was a science advisor to Bill Clinton and may informally advising Hillary, recently stated:
We’ve been to the Moon but we didn’t stay very long...So the US really ought to consider, in my view, leading international expeditions back to the Moon and to other bodies in the Solar System, and perhaps eventually Mars, and work[ing] with other countries to ensure free access to space. I think the new president could find this to be a real opportunity for leadership.
This is somewhat disappointing, though we already have an administration that chose an asteroid over the Moon and Mars. I was hoping we could do both the Moon and Mars between NASA and the private sector.
SpaceX's Elon Musk provided a better vision the other week with his mission to Mars. Maybe the private sector needs to take on Mars with NASA stays local (a reverse of expected roles, but an increasingly plausible scenario).
Boeing appears to agree, and seems to be calling for a private sector space race. Boeing's Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg made the following statement at a Chicago meeting:
I’m convinced the first person to step foot on Mars will arrive there riding a Boeing rocket.
Boeing may be more tied to NASA's apron than Musk, but both will need the support of NASA to make it to Mars.
Let the space race begin!