The Space Congress® Proceedings 1968 (5th) The Challenge of the 1970's Apr 1st, 8:00 AM Experiment Payloads for Manned Encounter Missions to Mars and Venus W. B. Thompson Belle omm 3 Inc. Washington, D. C. J. E. Volonte Belle omm 3 Inc. Washington, D. C. Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.erau.edu/space-congress-proceedings Scholarly Commons Citation Thompson, W. B. and Volonte, J. E., "Experiment Payloads for Manned Encounter Missions to Mars and Venus" (1968). The Space Congress® Proceedings. 1. https://commons.erau.edu/space-congress-proceedings/proceedings-1968-5th/session-10/1 This Event is brought to you for free and open access by the Conferences at Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Space Congress® Proceedings by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. EXPERIMENT PAYLOADS FOR MANNED ENCOUNTER MISSIONS TO MARS AND VENUS W. B. Thompson J. E. Volonte Belle omm 3 Inc. Washington, D. C. Summary Trajectory opportunities have been Mariner flyby probes through possible manned identified for free return manned flyby, Mars landings in the 1980 f s are being or encounter, missions to Mars and Venus. studied. It appears that a planetary Using Saturn V launch vehicle technology program covering that spectrum of mis­ and assuming the development of a manned sions could achieve many of the scienti­ planetary spacecraft with two year capa­ fic, technological and national prestige bility, missions to these planets with objectives associated with one of the experiment payloads of 50,000 Ibs are major goals of our national space program— possible. the exploration of the solar system. Selecting as a design reference Assuming that manned planetary explo­ mission a triple planet (Venus-Mars-Venus) ration in the late 1970 T s is a possibility, flyby with a 1977 Earth launch date, a this paper postulates a planetary program possible experiment program is outlined concept and illustrates the roles fulfilled which employs unmanned probes to explore by unmanned precursory and manned encounter Mars and Venus during the planetary en­ missions. In particular, the possible con­ counter phase. To complement this a pro­ tribution of the experiments payload of the gram of space science and astronomy latter class of missions to our knowledge experiments is carried out during the of the solar system is described. remaining portion of the mission. 2.0 Program Concept A precursory unmanned program of orbital reconnaissance missions with small 2.1 Exploration Objectives atmospheric and survivable surface impacter probes is assumed for both planets. Based One of the major goals of our national on this the prime objective of the manned space program is the exploration of the encounter mission at Mars is surface sample solar system. General objectives which may return for life detection experiments. be cited in the pursuit of this goal are Samples from three different selected areas the advancement of science and technology, could be recovered during the Mars encoun­ with implications bearing on our national ter phase of the mission. Pour types of image. probes are considered for Venus. A mete­ orological balloon probe deploys a distri­ The scientific objectives, as stated bution of weather balloons to record by the Space Science Board of the National atmospheric data. A companion orbiter Academy of Sciences, (D are summarized as serves as a balloon tracking and data relay follows. station. Also considered are slow descent, non-survivable impacter probes which might A. The origin and evolution of the take TV pictures of the surface from below Earth, sun, and planets the cloud layer and survivable impacting lander probes to investigate surface pro­ Pertinent questions relate to the perties . source of the material and mechanism of formation of the visible objects of Several en route experiments have been the solar system, the time scale of the identified which take particular advantage major events which have occurred and of the trajectory of the design reference are occurring in the solar system, and mission. These include optical observa­ the physical processes responsible for tions of Zodiacal light, several known the principal energy release of the sun, asteroids, Mercury, and the moons of Mars. Radio observations of Jupiter and the sun B. The origin and evolution of life made in conjunction with an earth-based station would also be of interest. * Problems include the examination of what constitutes life, the search for 1.0 Introduction recognizable life elsewhere in the solar system, the possibility of living The U.S. program of planetary explora­ systems based on other than hydrogen- tion through space flight missions is still carbon chemistry, and an examination of in its early stages. Missions ranging in the likely conditions necessary for the technical complexity from today's unmanned origin of primitive life. 10.4-1 C. The dynamic processes that shape Utilization of the existing capa­ man's terrestrial environment bility for development of unmanned probes, instrumentation, and data One facet of this objective in­ processing. volves the examination of other bodies Acquisition of engineering design of the solar system which are either input data on the planets and inter­ quite different from Earth or, if planetary space for application to similar, are at different stages of future systems. geologic evolution, to stimulate in­ Definition of the requirements on creased understanding of the evolution technology for the exploration of and' present physical state of the the entire solar system. Earth itself. A second facet is the application of our knowledge of the Enchancement of National Prestige terrestrial environment to the explana­ tion of observed properties of plane­ Manned planetary encounter mission. tary atmospheres, surfaces, and Mars surface sample return. interiors . Unmanned spacecraft rendezvous with an asteroid. The technological objectives, although Unmanned spacecraft rendezvous with not necessarily independent of the scienti­ a comet. fic objectives, are focused on stimulating Manned planetary landing. a wide spectrum of scientific and engineer­ ing disciplines in the nation and providing Objects of Investigation the capability to continue manned and un­ manned exploration of space. The selection of Mars and Venus as the prime areas of investigation in the early Prestige objectives focus on the poten­ phases of planetary exploration is a re­ tial enhancement of national power and posi­ flection of the fact that they are not only tion which can be accrued by demonstrating highly interesting bodies which will pro­ technological leadership through being first vide new data bearing on the scientific in important new accomplishments. objectives of solar system exploration, but they are also the near-Earth planets with Particular scientific, technological, higher likelihood of yielding early results. and prestige objectives which may be pursued A listing of the priorities of solar system through a planetary program are summarized exploration, exclusive of the sun and the as follows : Earth, which reflects a consensus within the scientific.community,^ 1 ' is: Scientific 1. Mars 5 Venus Search for extraterrestrial life in 2. Moon the recovered Mars surface sample 3. Major planets and in situ on the Mars surface. 4* Comets and asteroids Mapping and reconnaissance of Mars 5. Mercury and Venus to understand the current 6.. Pluto physical state of the planets and 7. Interplanetary dust their history. Measurement of the atmospheric pro­ 2 ,2 Flight Opportunities perties of Mars and Venus, especially the dynamics of the Venus atmosphere. Table I outlines possible unmanned fly- Optical observations of Mercury, by- missions to Mars and Venus in terms of light scattered from interplanetary the Earth departure energy requirements, CU, dust, the satellites of Mars, and velocities at which cannot be and the hyperbolic excess selected asteroids planetary encounter, ¥«,. Of particular made from. Earth orbit . fact that the V^ values all of Jupiter and interest is the Radio observations within the relatively low range of the sun which cannot be made from lie Earth orbit* 2.4-5.6 km/sec. of Increase in our understanding The parameters of representative manned Mars and Venus to a level where full Mars and Venus encounter missions are set use can be made of the exploration II, They are all low-energy succeeding genera­ forth in Table potential of the trajectories of a free-return type, i.e., tion of manned planetary orbiting only minor trajectory corrections are neces­ and landing missions. sary to achieve Earth entry following the initial planetary injection maneuver in Earth orbit. The missions include single planet exploration, as well as dual and Utilization of the existing techno­ flights* • logical capability for manned triple planet 'exploration of space, 10.4-2 2.3 Precursory Program Early orbiter probes are desirable to provide reconnaissance data useful in the It is expected that the planetary pro­ targeting of later probes such as soft gram of the next decade would pave the way landers. Furthermore, as a comparison of for continued achievement of our national Tables 1 and II indicates, the passage space objectives through manned planetary velocities at both Mars and Venus are in orbiting and landing missions. The time general less when the probe is launched scales for carrying out the more advanced directly from Earth, thereby reducing the missions are difficult to forecast, but a propulsion requirements for planetary orbit reasonable planning assumption is that inj ectlon, their accomplishment would be feasible in the 1980 T s. This timing suggests that an Small atmospheric probes in the 50-200 initial manned planetary encounter mission Ib class could be delivered to different be conducted in the late 1970 T s and that regions of the atmospheres of both planets it be preceded by (1) a manned Earth or­ by being deployed from a parent arbiter bital program aimed specifically at the spacecraft either before or after the or­ development of a capability for long bital Injection maneuver.