NASA chief Mike Griffin spoke this week at the International Astronautical Congress in Glasgow, Scotland, outlining the immediate priorities for NASA’s space program, and pointing out that before we can even think of landing people on Mars, we have to know more about our own moon, and landing on other planets in general.

Answering demands that NASA focus on landing people on Mars, Griffin said that “The total human experience on the Moon is less than 27 human working days – on a world that is the size of Africa,” and that we shouldn’t skip gathering this knowledge, as it is essential to a successful space mission and needs to be further researched. Griffin went on, saying that “whether the Moon is a stepping stone to Mars or a place of interest in its own right depends on knowledge we don't have yet."

In order to both improve our knowledge of the moon, and to gain practical experience with space logistics, testing our capacity, Griffin has proposed that an intricate lunar mission experiment be conducted.

This training experiment proposes using the moon and the International Space Station as a simulator of sorts for a potential Mars mission, using the Moon as a surrogate for Mars, and the ISS as a Martian orbiting spaceship.

According to Griffin, the experiment would involve astronauts being placed on the space station for a period of seven to eight months, as much as they would spend on the actual trip to the red planet, then landing them on the surface of the moon, where they would be left to fend for themselves for nine months to a year, without any outside assistance except the gear that they’ve brought with them. The astronauts would then be returned to the space station for another six to seven months, simulating the return trip, before they were allowed back on Earth. “All with no extra assistance – because that is what it will be like when we go to Mars," Griffin said. "Unless we can do that experiment successfully, the first crew to go to Mars will not come back."

Other space agencies from different countries, who are interested in participating in future manned Mars missions, agree with Griffin’s uncompromising view, and would like to co-operate in such a “Lunar Boot Camp” mission.

Jean-Jacques Dordain, director general of ESA is quoted as saying "I fully agree with what Mike says. We need to know much more about the Moon and Mars and how humans can use the resources in situ, not launch every kilo of stuff they will ever need. That's why in the meantime a lot of robotic missions to both the Moon and Mars are so very important."