Advocates For Mars Colony At Washington, D.C. Summit

Buzz Aldrin says that "no one is excited" about NASA's planned mission to bring an asteroid into a orbit inside that of the Moon, and says the space agency should be planning to place a manned colony on Mars instead.

Speaking at a "Humans to Mars" summit in Washington, D.C. Wednesday, Aldrin called President Obama's plan to mine an asteroid a "distraction." The second man to set foot on the moon has recently published a book titled "Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration".

Aldrin advocates for a permanent colony on Mars, using Phobos as a staging area and home base for the program. Aldrin says establishing a Martian colony would make mankind a "two-planted species." He envisions a scenario in which humans are constantly shuttled to Mars to expand the colony ... and the trips would be one-way.

US News reports that, at the same summit, NASA administrator Charles Bolden said that the asteroid mission is a "step" towards mars, which he called the "ultimate destination in our solar system, and a priority for NASA."

The asteroid mission would be unmanned. A robotic spacecraft would capture an as-yet-unidentified asteroid and bring it back to an orbit approximating that of the Moon. Once there, astronauts would visit the asteroid for study.

But Aldrin isn't buying it. He called the asteroid mission a "waste of time" that "excites no one." He said the mission has "turned into a whole planetary defense exercise at the cost of our outward exploration."

(Photo from file. Buzz Aldrin sets foot on the Moon)

FMI: www.nasa.gov, http://buzzaldrin.com