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DESTINATION By Gemma Lavender Destination Mars

Destination

Written by Gemma Lavender MarsWith private space enterprises and NASA planning manned missions to Mars in the coming years, All About Space discovers how the world’s leading space explorers will take the first humans to the Red

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It was former Apollo and combining an and . But the rovers has provided us with an involves diligent work such as second man on the Buzz that was it until the mid-Nineties. incredible amount of information, carefully splitting open shells to find Aldrin who uttered the words, Since then several robots have been signatures of past life such as fossils preserved fossils. This is way beyond “Forget the Moon, let’s head to Mars!” sent to Mars, determined to be the could easily be overlooked by the the ability of robotic rovers and if This is something that mankind first to underpin the principles which robots. “You could parachute 100 you’re talking about whether humans has been working to achieve since will one day allow humans to set rovers [to Mars] and you would could settle on Mars, then clearly, the Sixties. Fleets of missions, foot on the planet’s surface. never find a fossil,” Zubrin explains. you have to send humans.” orbiters, rovers and landers have have included NASA’s Mars Global “Finding fossils involves hiking So to Mars humans must go. And been sent on one-way missions to Surveyor and Mars Reconnaissance through lots of terrain, it involves in a change of dynamic, agencies shape our understanding of the Red Orbiter, and the ESA’s , pick and pickaxing work and it and organisations are looking past Planet, setting down the groundwork as well as the successful and that will one day lead to the moment Pathfinder landers, while the , The makes landing an astronaut sets foot on and rovers difficult, it’s too thin to provide useful for the first time. touched down on Mars to inspect the deceleration like 's but thick enough At an average distance of around Martian soil for signs of life and to to destroy an unprotected spacecraft 225 million kilometres (140 million take a few snaps of their new home. miles), Mars might not be as close to However, as we push for greater the Earth as the Moon or , but feats the rovers don’t seem to be the ruddy-coloured planet’s potential enough. We need something more to provide us with information to sophisticated, according to advocate sate our appetites for knowledge as of the manned well as the opportunity to expand and American aerospace engineer, our species to another world, today Dr of the . encourages generations of scientists We need to go to Mars ourselves. to overcome this distance with “I do favour sending robots to relative ease. However, it was not Mars and I am very happy that we’re always this way. doing that,” says Zubrin. “They are The was the first just the advance scouts and you country to launch robotic missions know, the rovers, I love them, but to Mars, with a number of failed there’s nothing they can do that we launches and probes in the Sixties. [humans] couldn’t do a thousand By the Seventies, however, they had times faster.” While the work of competition from the Americans. With two countries setting their The module replaces the sights on the Red Planet, the race now cancelled Constellation was well and truly on, but who Program as our future hopes would get there first? to send man to Mars On 19 May 1971, the USSR’s successfully raced through the last of Earth’s atmosphere with the Red Planet in its sights. was in with a good chance of winning this round of the . With the successful launch of taking place a mere nine days later, this only reaffirmed the Soviets’ confidence. However, on 30 May 1971 NASA released into the skies above Cape Canaveral, hot on the heels of Mars 2 and Mars 3. It reached Mars by 14 November of the same year, beating the sluggish Mars 2 and 3 by a few weeks. Even so, Mariner 9 had to wait out months of relentless dust storms raging across Mars before it could take any of the 7,329 clear images of the Red Planet that it ultimately beamed back to anxiously waiting scientists on Earth. It saw river beds, craters, canyons, great extinct volcanoes such as , as well as obvious signs of erosion from and wind. Following Mariner 9’s successful visit, in 1975 NASA launched the twin Viking missions, each one

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unmanned missions and instead are carbon dioxide in Mars' atmosphere focusing on landing the first man on to create the methane and oxygen the Red Planet in a step that makes propellant and oxidiser. “So Manned fiction a reality. The feat has now you have a fully fuelled Earth- become a race once again. return vehicle waiting on the Martian missions to Mars Zubrin thinks he knows how to surface,” he says. “Then you shoot win the race to the Red Planet. In the crew out to Mars and because . The leading candidates in the new race to Mars the Nineties he developed a daring the return vehicle is waiting on Mars, plan that he called . “The they don’t need to fly to Mars on a 1. Inspiration Mars 3. NASA basic idea of the Mars Direct mission giant spaceship, they just fly to the With the intention of sending a The National and Space is to explore Mars with a travel-light Red Planet in a habitation module man and a woman on what has the Administration, NASA, is the world philosophy,” he says. “Rather than that in the vicinity of the Earth- makings of a historic mission lasting leader in Mars exploration. Its most building giant spaceships loaded return vehicle.” 501 days, Inspiration Mars intends recent development to send humans with all of the , water, air, fuel After 18 months on the surface, to safely return its crew to Earth to Mars in a 2030 timeframe is and oxygen required for a round-trip the then head home in after they fly within 160 kilometres also currently under review. One mission, we try to make the most the Earth-return vehicle, leaving (100 miles) of the Red Planet, using possibility is the Orion Multi-Purpose important of these on Mars.” the habitation module on the Red technologies derived from NASA Crew Vehicle that was announced For example, Zubrin proposes that Planet. But then a second manned and the International . by NASA in 2011. It is hoped that the an unmanned mission go ahead first, mission is launched, delivering The plan is to use the gravitational Orion capsule will be able to carry carrying with it an Earth-return craft another habitation module to the influence of Mars to slingshot their between two and six astronauts and the ability to make rocket fuel on surface, and then a third and a fourth. manned vehicle onto a return course sometime after 2020. It is intended Mars by reacting hydrogen with the “Before long you have the first human back to Earth. They will not on that the 8,900-kilogram (19,600- Mars. The ship’s inflatable habitat pound) module will be able module will be deployed after launch to return to Martian using “I do favour and detached prior to re-entry into methane propellant made from Mars' our planet’s atmosphere. soil. Image 3 shows the recent Orion sending robots to drop test where scientists used a 2. SpaceX mock-up of the Orion crew module Mars... but they SpaceX is the world’s first privately to simulate various water-landing held company to send cargo to the scenarios to account for the different are just the International Space Station and now velocities, parachute deployments, the company’s founder and CEO Elon entry angles, wave heights and wind advance scouts” Musk intends to send a mission to conditions on Mars. Dr Robert Zubrin Mars. First will be a sample-return mission called Red Dragon, that 4. will also look for signs of life. Its Adamant that the technologies to The NDX-1 spacesuit, designed by aerospace engineer Pablo de Leon for possible use on Mars, long-term plans, however, are to land the first humans on Mars exist, was able to endure the icy temperatures and send a manned mission to Mars in a Dutch start-up Mars One aims to battering winds during tests in Antarctica modified version of its already built spend an estimated $6 billion to Dragon capsule. The intention is initially send four individuals to the for the capsule to descend through Red Planet. They will be tasked with the Martian atmosphere and land setting up a habitable outpost based on the rocky surface without the on ready-made hardware that will be need for a parachute. The capsule’s sent to the planet in advance. After own drag may slow it down enough installing their habitat, the members to allow retro-propulsion thrusters of the first colony outside of Earth for a controlled enough descent. will be expected to grow their own Eventually SpaceX wants to shuttle food, mine their own water and 80,000 people to Mars with the oxygen, perform research and, of intention of colonising the planet. course, explore a whole new planet. “SpaceX’s long-term goal is to colonise the Red Planet” History of Mars exploration

1971 1976 1997 Mars 3 & 2 This was the first spacecraft The Viking programme Sojourner was the first rover to achieve a soft landing on returned hi-res images, to touch down on Mars. It the surface of Mars but a studied the surface and analysed the atmosphere, great dust storm caused a atmosphere and attempted climate and make-up of the communications failure. to search for . planet’s rocks and soil.

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Manned missions to Mars The leading candidates in the new race to Mars

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2004 2006 2012 Opportunity Mars Reconnaissance Curiosity The Opportunity rover has Orbiter (MRO) Curiosity is providing found Martian meteorites, With a suite of instruments, information on the past and looked into geological the MRO continues to present habitability of Mars, processes and studied analyse Mars' and as well as taking hi-res surface composition. surface conditions. images of the landscape.

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A self-supporting colony On the surface of Mars Being so far from Earth, Martian explorers will have to be able to support Frosty nights themselves. An inflatable Temperatures on Mars can greenhouse could be reach highs of around 20°C put up to grow crops, No oxygen (68°F) at noon, at the equator although nobody knows Mars' atmosphere is a very thin in the Martian summer, and how well plants will grow envelope of mostly carbon dioxide plummet as low as around in the Martian dirt. gas, and so is not breathable. The -153°C (-240°F) at the poles. first colonists will only be able to go out in spacesuits, but after hundreds or maybe thousands of years it might be possible to terraform the Red Planet to be more like Earth. In the meantime, oxygen can be produced from Looking for life water-ice or reacting hydrogen Did Mars harbour life at some point with carbon dioxide. in its long history? Is it still home to simple microbial life even today? One of the main scientific goals when going to Mars will be to answer these questions about life on the Red Planet.

Better than robots Steve Squyres, principal investigator on NASA’s Mission, has gone on record to say that what the Spirit and Opportunity rovers have accomplished in their nine years (so far) Weather station on Mars could have been accomplished When on Mars, astronauts by a team of astronauts in a week. Underground water Water-ice lies just a few can study the atmosphere metres beneath the and weather, looking out for surface of Mars down to at huge dust storms that could least its mid-latitudes, and rapidly engulf the landing site. should be easily accessible.

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Longer days settlement on another world,” says papers where they describe the The length of a Martian Landing craft Zubrin. “There is nothing in this that mission profile, it is well thought In Robert Zubrin’s solar day, or , is 24 is beyond our technology; we can through and written by experts Mars Direct mission, hours and 39 minutes. do this.” who are very good in their subjects. he proposed sending Astronauts will need habitation modules Other organisations are However, for trajectory reasons they special Mars watches to Mars with each clamouring to be the first. SpaceX’s have to keep the 2018 deadline.” that factor in this extra new crew, eventually has already stated that (They are now aiming for a 2021 39 minutes. building up to the he intends to go to Mars, while instead). That’s the first settlement on former private astronaut Dennis big problem, says Grömer. Tito is the Red Planet. Tito has launched Inspiration Mars, only funding the first three years an organisation that plans to send of that project until the really two humans – a male and female, high financial demand kicks in. likely married – on a flyby mission of “Developing a transportation system Mars in 2018. It’s a plan that Zubrin which brings people to Mars and himself pitched to NASA in 1995, but back safely is something that will they didn’t take him up on the idea. probably take more than the few “Really the key question of years left to the 2018 deadline,” whether Tito is going to pull this added Grömer at the time of off is whether he can raise the $2 interview. “I honestly wish them all billion needed,” says Zubrin. “NASA the luck, but I am pessimistic that is funded to a level of $18 billion per they can really achieve the super- year. Now $2 billion is nothing to tight schedule.” the government but it is a lot in the Another proposed privately private world, but really if NASA had funded manned mission is the courage of Tito we would have that of Mars One, a not-for- done this when I proposed it to them profit organisation based in the in 1995.” that intends to establish Dr Gernot Grömer of the a permanent human settlement University of and head of on Mars by 2023, by sending the MARS2013 project agrees with astronauts there on a one-way trip. Zubrin. “This is a truly ambitious Their plan is to get funding by plan,” he says. “If you look at their turning the adventure into a reality “The basic idea of the Mars Direct mission is to explore Mars with a travel-light philosophy” Dr Robert Zubrin

It's claimed that a team of astronauts working on Mars could achieve more in one week than rovers have over many years

Geology The rocks and dirt on Mars can tell us lots about the past climate in their local environment. Some of the first Martian astronauts therefore may well be geologists.

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“The first human to walk on Mars is already born” Gernot Grömer, MARS2013 project leader NASA is preparing for Currently standing as ’s very much looking forward to a an unmanned test largest Mars simulation to science conference in Vienna in of Orion in 2014 date, the month-long ‘Mars’ May where we will go into the expedition dubbed MARS2013, academic discussion. One of the which included field tests of major outcomes was that we “Inspiration Mars is a truly two experimental spacesuits, have gained a lot of operational an astronaut injury scenario, experience in conducting human ambitious plan. It is well tests of autonomous rovers and exploration activities on the a cliff-climbing robot, has now surface of another world. This thought through and been successfully completed – ranges from data on instrument surpassing its very own ambitious behaviour, biomedical data on written by experts who objectives. MARS2013 was led by the exhaust patterns as well as Gernot Grömer. Grömer serves as the efficiency of how to do things are very good in their a board member of the Austrian such as geoscience in a very Space Forum managing a research efficient manner. subjects” Gernot Grömer programme to develop an advanced spacesuit simulator for Do you think humans are ready TV show. However, Grömer is less In the meantime, as the various human Mars expeditions. for a trip to Mars? convinced by their plans than he is companies look to find the funds Yes. It will be the most technically of Inspiration Mars'. to reach the Red Planet, full-blown What did the MARS2013 challenging journey our society “Unlike the team of Dennis simulated expeditions to Mars are expedition entail? has ever undertaken, but from the Tito, the Mars One team lacks the taking place. For example, isolated Between 1 and 28 February 2013, engineering and scientific point expertise and knowledge how to for 520 days in a mock-up spacecraft the – in of view, we are almost ready. approach such super-ambitious in Moscow, five crewmembers got partnership with the Ibn Battuta In all our research we haven’t programmes,” he says. “Just simply the full brunt of what it would Center in Marrakesh – conducted encountered a showstopper that recruiting and maintaining such a really be like to be making their an integrated Mars analog field told us ‘no, you can’t go’. This large astronaut corps is well beyond way to another planet. The Mars- simulation in the northern includes hazards such as their capabilities, not to speak of 500 project simulated the Earth Sahara near , Morocco in or human factors but, at the end launchers, habitats, spacesuits etc. to Mars shuttle spacecraft journey, the framework of the PolAres of the day, I believe we have never Having big players like SpaceX the ascent-descent craft and the research programme. Directed by a been so close to human missions [behind them] certainly helps, but . Delving deep into Mission Support Center in , to the Red Planet. there is no indication these are doing the psychological and medical a small field crew conducted it for free. That means, that even effects that long-distance experiments preparing for future What do you think the large TV companies won’t be able to would cause, Mars-500 identified human Mars missions mainly future holds for the manned afford such a multi-year programme, possible problems and solutions that in the fields of engineering, exploration of Mars? not to mention the challenge of cosmonauts were likely to encounter. planetary surface operations, At the Austrian Space Forum keeping the public interest going for Subjected to peculiarities such as , geophysics/geology, we say that the first human to such a long time.” a lag in communication between life and others. We had a walk on Mars is already born. truly international team from 23 I personally believe that this countries, involving more than generation is the first one to be 100 researchers and volunteers, able to tackle the question of life including the . in the on a promising planetary surface for the first What did you learn from the time in-situ. If you read a history MARS2013 expedition? book in 200 years from now, the We had 17 peer-reviewed research economic crisis might only be a experiments and collected a marginal chapter, whereas in the truly large data set which we long run, our time will be known are now going to analyse in as the time where we left the Studying the Martian landscape the next 12 months. We are planet to discover new worlds. will provide us with clues as to whether it was once habitable

8 Destination Mars reasons we need to go to Mars 5Why getting mankind to the Red Planet is so important 2 Establishing human life elsewhere 1 Testing At the moment, the only planet that we know of that harbours any complex life is Earth. But what if we humans could technologies exist elsewhere? Mars has the potential, despite its hostile for space environment, to offer colonisation as an option. exploration A manned mission to the Red Planet 3 Conquering will involve state-of-the art technology but Mars also offers the opportunity frontiers Despite being the closest planet to to test our new spacecraft and us which bears some similarities to instruments to the extreme. While we Earth, experts have not let the fact that have not landed any humans on the a manned mission to Mars would be Martian soil as of yet, every mission difficult escape their notice. However, that we have and will continue to for the first time in history, a species send in the future will yield important on Earth has the knowledge and information from their surroundings. technology to make the journey to This data will serve as a stepping another planet possible. Making the stone, paving the way for human journey to Mars and landing on its exploration and the technology that surface would, indeed, be a challenge will get us to Mars. of a lifetime.

4 Looking for life When asked to envision what life might 5 Understanding look like on other , it is easy to imagine humans or even sub-human Mars' past and beings roaming their world. Another present to look into misconception is that for a planet to be habitable it must have exactly the same the future characteristics as our Earth. A frozen Clearly expanding our knowledge about Mars is very important, planet harbouring something as small as especially if we hope to set foot on the Red Planet sometime a single organism surviving comfortably in the future. Learning from past and current missions has under an icy planetary crust means broadened our horizons immeasurably giving us the confidence that world is habitable no the to start thinking about what to expect when the first crew differences in comparison to our home. touches down on the ruddy soil. Important information that we Mars is similar, while it is unable to have discovered is that Mars may have supported life in its past support humans without the aid of – according to the damp soil that Curiosity found recently. Of spacesuits and technology, it can provide course, rovers are not as dextrous as humans which means that clues on the conditions for life both they have several limitations when it comes to looking for clues. under its surface and on other planets in This is another reason why we need to go to Mars. the and beyond. 9 Destination Mars Road map to Mars Author of Mars: A Cosmic Stepping Stone, Kevin Nolan speculates on how he thinks Mars exploration will First manned fly-by 2020-2029 “A -driven sample return mission by around develop in the next seven decades 2025. Human astronaut programme for Mars will be ramped up by the European Union, the of America and potentially . A manned flyby of Mars will occur before 2030 and will be initiated by Dennis Tito but in co-operation with NASA. By contrast, the Netherlands-driven Mars One project for a one-way mission to Mars is notional, impractical and bears no basis on reality.” 2030 2010 2020 2040 2010-2019 Missions will include NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutionN (MAVEN), a planned mission to send a to orbit Mars as well as ESA’s ExoMars, a mission new NASA- 2030-2039 type rover. AdditionallyNew plans Rovers will be and Landers 2010-2019 “If we stay on course, we firmed up for an international“Missions samplewill include NASA’s Mars Atmosphere could see a human mission to return mission. In reality,and Volatile Dennis EvolutioNTito’s (MAVEN), a planned space Mars' furthest moon Deimos Inspiration Mars, if itexploration is to actually mission to send a space probe to orbit and serious Chinese human happen, could not happenMars, as before well as 2025. ESA’s ExoMars, a new Mars Science activity at Mars by either Laboratory-type rover. Additionally, plans will be flyby or landing on Deimos.” firmed up for an international sample return mission. In reality, Dennis Tito’s Inspiration Mars, if it is to actually happen, could not happen before 2025.”

‘Mars’ and ‘Earth’, rationing of food admitted three separate crews, proved walking for miles across the tough and having to live in an enclosed a success, with most volunteers Martian terrain? space with others for a long period reportedly being in good physical and For such an occasion there was the of time, these Martian explorers psychological condition. aforementioned MARS2013 project, were tested to their limits. While However, with simulated missions which took place in February 2013. several crewmembers experienced to the Red Planet far from over, The month-long simulation was problems sleeping, avoided exercise experts want to put potential initially based at Camp Weyprecht in to counteract the effects of space astronauts through even more the Mars-like Moroccan desert, before travel and would hide away from thorough tests and training. How a three-day excursion collecting rock their crewmates, Mars-500, which would they deal with completing samples on the way to a second ran between 2007 and 2011 and actual scientific experiments and ‘landing site’ called Station Payer

“The Mars One team lacks the expertise and The Valles Marineris canyons, illustrated here, knowledge how to approach such super- could be of interest to future Martian explorers ambitious programmes” Dr Gernot Grömer 10 Destination Mars

500 day stay 2040-2059 “If we’re to set people on the surface of Mars then it most likely cannot happen before 2040 (with current forecasts). The notion of placing people on the surface (for a required 500-day stay there) would need significant resources, such as supply missions two years in advance, landing mining stations on the surface, return fuel in-situ manufacturing facility. All of these are decades away, so a 20-year interval time period is most likely for actual human missions to land on the surface of Mars.” 2050 2060 2080 2070

Long term presence 2060-2079 “When you consider we’ve been in space for over 50 years and what we’ve done in that time, one can sense the lengths of time needed, the commitment by countries and governments and the readiness of people. These issues, coupled with the extraordinary technology and budgets required, pushes a long-term human presence on Mars well into the second half of this century in my opinion. An en masse migration of people to the surface of Mars will be another entire agenda well into the next century. Of course, these are speculations, and one multibillionaire could propel all of this forward by decades!”

that had been established by four collected from such simulations is of the ten-member team of analog important in planning and preparing astronauts. Led by Gernot Grömer, for the real thing. MARS2013 was the biggest Mars And when is that ‘real thing’ likely simulation ever performed by a to occur? The Mars enthusiasts at European organisation, involving Inspiration Mars, Mars One, the Mars 23 nations and more than 100 Society and SpaceX would argue that scientists. The team performed 17 it could happen by the end of the scientific experiments, as well as current decade, or the beginning of field-testing new spacesuit designs next. Others, however, are playing it and deployable shelters, acting out an safer, and suggesting 2030 or later astronaut-injury situation and testing as the most likely date for mankind cliff-climbing robots. Like Mars-500, a to reach the Red Planet. In the end 20-minute ‘time delay’ was included it will be decided by who can raise in all communications with ‘Earth’, the necessary money and have the simulating the wait as radio waves courage that Zubrin says is essential travel at the speed of light from Mars to make history by being the first to

to Earth and then back again. Data send people to Mars. ©NASA; Alamy; ESA/F.Didot; Katja Zanella-Kux; 11