Jim Bridenstine said NASA’s Mars missions could soon uncover extraterrestrial life, which has been the agency’s main focus of attention for decades. Mr Bridenstine said: “We’re going to be able to look at samples and determine if there’s a biosignature in there. “The goal is to discover life on another world, that’s what we’re trying to achieve. “And because of so many great people in this room, friends, we are well on our way to doing that.”
His words, from a conference in the US, follows the discovery of methane and organic molecules deemed the building blocks of life on the Red Planet.
Also found was water beneath the planet’s South Pole.
Mr Bridenstine added: “All of these things collude to say there is a lot we need to learn, and friends, we’re going to do it quickly.”
He also told of plans to send a NASA team back to the Moon by 2028, where they plan “to stay” in a bid to make the planet habitable for humans.
Mr Bridenstine said: “This time, when we go to the moon, we’re actually going to stay. We’re not going to leave flags and footprints and then come home to not go back for another 50 years.
“We’re doing it entirely different than every other country in the world.
“What we’re doing is, we’re making it sustainable so you can go back and forth regularly with humans.”
US President Donald Trump announced in 2017 that he wanted to send Americans to the moon and establish a foundation there which would act as a go-between base for a mission to Mars.
Referring to astronaut Jack Schmitt, he said in December 2017: “Exactly 45 years ago, almost to the minute, Jack become one of the last Americans to land on the moon. Today, we pledge that he will not be the last.”
Signing a Space Policy Directive 1, with three more following from yesterday, he added: “The directive I’m signing today will refocus America’s space program on human exploration and discovery.
“It marks an important step in returning American astronauts to the moon for the first time since 1972, for long-term exploration and use. This time we will not only plant our flag and leave our footprint — we will establish a foundation for an eventual mission to Mars and perhaps someday to many worlds beyond.”
The news comes days after NASA abandoned their Mars Opportunity rover after the machine had its power supply cut off after a huge sandstorm hit the planet.