American astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the moon, urged the U.S. to lead the way in colonising Mars by establishing a human settlement on the red planet.

His challenge for the return of U.S. leadership in the race to Mars is in line with plans by NASA and the Obama administration to send the first human settlers to Mars in 2030. However, other groups such as the Mars One venture of first space tourist Dennis Tito aims to bring Earthlings to Mars ahead in 2023.

"The U.S. needs to begin homesteading and settlement of Mars ... It is within reach," AFP quoted Mr Aldrin's address at the Humans to Mars conference at the George Washington University on Wednesday.

He insisted there is very little new research needed to pursue the Mars colonisation programme, but would need cash investment and political will to sustain a vision of a permanent two-planet society.

Mr Aldrin, who authored a new book, Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration, foresees many trips to the red plant and continuous human presence.

"The U.S. needs to continue to be the human space transportation leader and I think we can capitalize on the dynamism of the commercial market to develop a landing system that can truly become the basis for a U.S. highway to space," he said.

Prior to the human settlement on Mars, he said a first step for the U.S. would be to deploy three people to Photos, the Martian moon, for 18 months to oversee the robotic deployment of an international Mars base. He said the base could be built by different space agencies such as those from the U.S., China, Europe, India, Japan and Russia.

While he supports the goal of Mars One to send Earthlings to Mars on a permanent basis, meaning they would never return back to their planet of birth, he said Mr Tito's project needs more technical basis behind it.

Mars One has attracted thousands of applicants, with the final first Mars migrants to be selected through a reality TV show like that of Big Brother.

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