WASHINGTON – With a green light from Congress, NASA is moving swiftly to carry out President… WASHINGTON – With a green light from Congress, NASA is moving swiftly to carry out President Bush’s ambitious plan to return robots and humans to the moon and eventually to Mars.

The United States is also seeking foreign partners for the hugely expensive project, hoping to save money and avoid wasteful duplication.

Space officials from 17 countries, including China, Russia, Japan and much of Europe, participated in a planning workshop in Washington last week. Representatives from each nation said they intend to participate in at least the planning phase.

“They were very enthusiastic,” Michael O’Brien, NASA’s assistant administrator for external relations, said after the workshop. “I am 100 percent certain there will be international participation.”

When Bush unveiled his “Vision for Space Exploration” at the White House on Jan. 14, he said he would welcome foreign partners.

“It makes sense that we work together to be more efficient, not duplicate our efforts, and get some savings in the process,” said Craig Steidle, NASA’s associate administrator for exploration systems. “We must make this journey together.”

Despite the federal budget squeeze and skepticism by many members of Congress, the gigantic appropriations bill that was approved this past weekend contained all of the more than $2 billion that Bush requested for the space exploration program in the 2005 fiscal year. A total of about $14 billion will be sought for the five-year period ending in 2009.

The ultimate cost of the venture, to include a manned landing on Mars if that’s approved by future administrations, will run into hundreds of billions of dollars over the next 30 years.

Many scientists dissent from Bush’s plan. They fear human space travel will gobble up scarce funds that they would prefer to use on pure research.

On Monday, the American Physical Society, which represents 45,000 physicists and astronomers, issued a report protesting that manned missions to the moon and Mars will jeopardize more promising robotic missions, such as the Hubble Space Telescope and the Mars rovers now surveying the red planet.

Nevertheless, NASA earlier this month awarded 70 contracts, totaling about $1 billion, for such items as a robot “prospector” to search for a good site for a manned moon base and for construction equipment to handle mining for possible lunar resources.

Northrop Grumman Corp., the big defense contractor based in Redondo Beach, Calif., was given $18 million to develop an “autonomous walking inspection and maintenance robot” for work on the moon. Boeing Corp., of Chicago, got $31 million for a “precision landing and hazard avoidance technology demonstration” for a future lander.

Meanwhile, NASA presented a tentative exploration strategy paper at the international workshop. It suggested the lunar south pole would be the best target for the first human outpost. Two previous U.S. spacecraft have spotted what appears to be frozen water in the polar region. The water could be used for drinking and also split into hydrogen and oxygen to make fuel for future trips.

The NASA paper proposed a series of unmanned missions to the moon between 2008 and 2011 to collect data and pick a landing site. Between 2011 and 2015, robots would prepare the site for a permanent manned base between 2015 and 2020.

The lunar operations would serve as a test bed and training ground for an eventual Mars landing, the paper said.

In addition to the United States, four other countries have their eyes on the moon. Last week, a British spaceship entered lunar orbit for a two-year scientific reconnaissance mission. Japan, China and India have announced plans to launch unmanned lunar orbiters in the next three years.

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For more information, go to: http://www.nasa.gov/missions/solarsystem/explore-main.html

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(c) 2004, Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.