Japan and the U.S. will launch a mission to Mars “very soon,” President Trump said as he announced an expanded space exploration program between the two nations during his visit to Tokyo.
Trump’s statement comes as Washington vies with Beijing in the race to explore Mars, opening another front in the battle for influence.
At the end of a four-day state visit, Trump said: “Japan will join our mission to send U.S. astronauts to space.”
“We’ll be going to the moon,” he sad. “We’ll be going to Mars very soon.”
“It’s very exciting. And from a military standpoint, there is nothing more important right now than space,” Trump said.
Trump has repeatedly outlined Mars ambitions. In 2017, he signed a bill that put NASA on a timetable of sending a mission to Mars in 2033.
However, it emerged earlier this year that he had pushed NASA officials to commit to a much more ambitious target of launching with his first term — “or, at worst, during my second term,” according to a memoir published by former White House communications aide Cliff Sims.
Space exploration experts suggest the timetable is unrealistic.
More realistic is a return to the moon. Two months ago, Vice President Mike Pence announced that the U.S. will send astronauts to the moon within five years.
