WASHINGTON — Both SpaceX and NASA have ideas about how to get humans to the Red Planet, but the founder of the Mars Society says there's a better way to do it.
In a colorful talk here at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) on Oct. 23, Robert Zubrin made the case for his long-standing " Mars Direct " plan. Mars Direct, Zubrin argued, makes more sense than SpaceX's current Starship architecture and the plans of NASA, which may use the Gateway lunar space station as a staging point for human Mars missions.
Many things are taking place:
NASA's Curiosity rover took an eerie photo of the Mars horizon - CNN
Here's How NASA Might Bring Home Pieces of Mars (In a Darth Vader Helmet) | Space
WASHINGTON — Scientists studying Mars have wanted pieces of the Red Planet here on Earth for decades, and they are finally getting their shot at designing a mission to acquire such souvenirs.
The Apollo program's legacy of carefully collected moon rocks here on Earth reshaped the science of the moon and Earth alike. A Mars sample-return mission could offer the same sort of potential, but the Red Planet is a more daunting target than the moon.
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Arranging a mission to bring the samples back is a challenge, one that NASA intends to tackle in a partnership with the European Space Agency. "This process is remarkably interrelated, everything is connected to everything else in some way," Muirhead said. There are a host of spacecraft components: NASA's Mars 2020 rover to select the samples, a "fetch rover" to pick up those samples, a rocket to launch them off the Red Planet, a capsule to bring them back to Earth.
A Million People on Mars May Not Be Wishful Thinking | Daily Planet | Air
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A sustainable, self-sufficient population of one million people can be achieved on Mars within 100 years, according to a new modeling study published by Kevin Cannon and Daniel Britt, both at the University of Central Florida. Their study drew on a plan sketched out by Elon Musk of SpaceX, which begins with about 12 people landing on Mars, followed by multiple ships carrying 100 to 200 passengers at every launch opportunity, roughly every 26 months.
Based on Cannon’s and Britt’s analysis, four of the five major “consumables” necessary for a Martian settlement—energy, water, oxygen, and construction material—can be extracted from the Martian surface in economically practical concentrations. Only food is not obtainable from raw materials on Mars. So, how to solve the food problem? The authors suggest growing plants, insect farming, and cellular agriculture.
Other things to check out:
Researcher makes the heart of Mars speak
For a planet to be habitable, it needs water on its surface. Previous space missions have demonstrated that there was water on Mars and that there is none today. Another essential fact about the red planet: its magnetic field is now extinct (which makes Mars uninhabitable—Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere protect us from radiation and the solar wind eroding our atmosphere). To understand this loss of atmosphere, one solution is to study the heart of Mars.
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In concrete terms, on 25 July 2020 the ExoMars mission, led jointly by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Russian Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS), will send a platform and a robot to the red planet:
Climate explained: why Mars is cold despite an atmosphere of mostly carbon dioxide
When we look at Earth, the balance of these ingredients makes our planet habitable. Changes in this balance can result in effects that can be felt on a planetary scale. This is exactly what is happening with the increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere of our planet.
Increased concentrations of carbon dioxide , methane, sulphur hexafluoride and other gases in the atmosphere have been raising the temperature of our planet's surface gradually and will continue to do so for many years to come.
Get a bird's-eye view of NASA's missions on Mars - CNN
The 2020 Mars rover: A stepping stone to humans on Mars | TheHill
During the summer of 2012, the entire world marveled and watched in awe as NASA's Mars Science Laboratory and its Curiosity rover survived the treacherous descent through the Martian atmosphere and successfully soft-landed on the Martian surface.
It had been many years since the world had last been so energized by a space exploration mission, particularly one that did not carry astronauts. Part of this excitement was a direct result of the extraordinary technological and scientific achievement that this mission represented. But a significant reason for the enormous public engagement in the Curiosity mission was a highly effective and coordinated educational campaign by NASA and its partners.
Happening on Twitter
Mars Society Founder Makes Case for 'Mars Direct' Path to the Red Planet https://t.co/qaIbkDHElP https://t.co/yXkQPKJ2HB SPACEdotcom (from NYC) Wed Nov 06 12:39:05 +0000 2019
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