Guest: David Susko, The Road To The Moon And Then To Mars

David Susko, a Martian geologist working for a NASA contractor is our guest. He builds and operates cameras for space missions, including a visible-light camera called MACIE (Mars Color Imager) that photographs the Martian surface at various scales and resolutions.   Key points discussed: Moon before Mars. The Moon is a mandatory stepping stone — everything from Apollo to the ISS has been about learning to live and work in space before attempting Mars. Going straight to Mars carries too much risk. Historical context. Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo were proof-of-concept missions. The Saturn V rocket remains the gold standard. Retiring it in the 70s (and the engineers and facilities with it) was a costly decision NASA has been recovering from ever since. The rocket equation problem. The vast majority of fuel is spent just escaping Earth's gravity well. Every extra kilogram of payload requires exponentially more fuel, making heavy-lift missions extremely difficult. Today's rockets. Three heavy-lift vehicles are currently in play: NASA's SLS, SpaceX's Starship, and Blue Origin's New Glenn. All three are involved in Artemis. Artemis mission architecture. The plan involves multiple launches, orbital rendezvous and docking between the Orion capsule and the Starship lunar lander (or Blue Moon variant), new spacesuits from a private aerospace company, and astronauts landing near the lunar south pole. Artemis milestones so far. Artemis I (2022, uncrewed) flew around the Moon and successfully re-entered Earth's atmosphere. Artemis II will fly crew around the Moon. Artemis III will attempt the first crewed landing in decades. A first Moon landing in roughly 2–3 years is the current plan, though delays are likely. Target: lunar south pole / Shackleton Crater. The south pole is almost permanently shadowed and likely harbors water ice — a critical resource for long-term habitation. The VIPER rover (using ground-penetrating radar) is being sent to prospect for these resources. Long-term goal. Build permanent lunar infrastructure to support human habitation — a "Moon base" — as the launchpad for eventual Mars missions. Safety. The guest emphasizes not rushing; the Apollo program's near-perfect safety record shouldn't breed complacency, especially given tragedies like the Space Shuttle Columbia.