-Source-USA Today-
About 25 years is how long it could take for NASA to send humans to Mars, officials said Tuesday. That's only if the space agency is able to create technology able to sustain deadly radiation and conditions that could eat bones and blind eyes.
"The cost of solving those means that under current budgets, or slightly expanded budgets, it's going to take about 25 years to solve those," said former NASA astronaut Tom Jones, who has flown on four space shuttle missions.
There aren't yet solutions in place to protect astronauts from cosmic rays, solar flares and radiation levels that are so high an outbound trip to Mars would result in the amount of radiation an astronaut might be exposed to over an entire year. The agency must also perfect a spacecraft that can easily land on Mars and take off with humans and cargo. Read more