NASA has established its new Moon to Mars Program Office to support and conduct human exploration work on the lunar surface and prepare for future crewed missions to Mars.
Veteran space professional Amit Kshatriya will lead the office, which falls under NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate led by Associate Administrator Jim Free, the agency said Thursday.
“The golden age of exploration is happening right now, and this new office will help ensure that NASA successfully establishes a long-term lunar presence needed to prepare for humanity’s next giant leap to the Red Planet,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.
In support of the organization’s Artemis missions on the moon, which are intended to drive the future of scientific discovery and prepare for future human missions to Mars, the office will focus on mission integration, hardware development and risk management efforts for various related programs. These initiatives include the Orion spacecraft, Space Launch System rocket and Gateway, among others.
The entity will also oversee planning and analysis for development efforts in support of manned missions to the red planet.
Before assuming the office’s leading role, Kshatriya was assistant deputy associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate within the agency.
He began his NASA career as a robotics operator, and has since held a number of roles in the organization, including space station flight director and deputy manager of the International Space Station Vehicle Office and flight director of the
Lakiesha Hawkins will support Kshatriya as deputy for the office and Stephen Creech will serve as technical deputy, in which he will focus on addressing technical issues facing programs managed by the office.
