Human mission to Mars

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Concept for Mars base with ice dome, pressurized rover, and Marsuits

 

Rendition of person in a spacesuit on Mars

 

Spacecraft for transporting crew to Mars

 

SpaceX Falcon Heavy, with more launch capacity than the Space Shuttle, was used to send a test payload beyond the orbit of Mars in early 2018.

A human mission to Mars has been the subject of science fiction, aerospace engineering, and scientific proposals since the 19th century. The plans comprise proposals to land on Mars, eventually settling on and terraforming the planet, while utilizing its moons, Phobos and Deimos.

The exploration of Mars has been a goal of national space programs for decades. Preliminary work for missions that would involve human explorers has been undertaken since the 1950s, with planned missions typically being stated as taking place 10 to 30 years in the future when they are drafted. The list of manned Mars mission plans in the 20th century shows the various mission proposals that have been put forth by multiple organizations and space agencies in this field of space exploration. Plans have varied from scientific expeditions in which a small (2 to 8) group visits Mars for a period of a few weeks or year, to the permanent colonization of Mars.

In the 2010s, numerous American, European, and Chinese agencies were developing proposals for human missions to Mars. They are now developing and testing the technologies.

Mars in fiction is a frequent target of exploration and settlement in books, graphic novels, and films.

Travel to Mars

Three views of planet Mars, the "red planet"

Closest approaches of Mars to Earth, 2014–2061. Communication times are slightly shorter when it is closest.

The energy needed for transfer between planetary orbits, or "∆V", is lowest at intervals fixed by the synodic period. For Earth / Mars trips, this is every 26 months (2 years and 2 months), so missions are typically planned to coincide with one of these launch windows. Due to the eccentricity of Mars' orbit, the energy needed in the low-energy windows varies on roughly a 15-year cycle with the easiest windows needing only half the energy of the peaks. In the 20th century, there was a minimum in the 1969 and 1971 launch windows and another low in 1986 and 1988, then the cycle repeated. The next low-energy launch window occurs in 2033.

Several types of mission plans have been proposed, such as the opposition class and conjunction class, or the Crocco flyby. The lowest energy transfer to Mars is a Hohmann transfer orbit; a mission to Mars using Hohmann transfer involves an approximately 9 month travel time from Earth to Mars, about five hundred days at Mars to wait for the transfer window to Earth, and a Hohmann transfer of about 9 months to return to Earth.

Shorter Mars mission plans have round-trip flight times of 400 to 450 days, but requiring a higher energy. A fast Mars mission of 245 days round trip could be possible with on-orbit staging. In 2014 ballistic capture was proposed, which may reduce fuel cost and provide more flexible launch windows compared to the Hohmann.

In the Crocco grand tour, a crewed spacecraft would get a flyby of Mars and Venus for under a year in space. Some flyby mission architectures can also be extended to include a style of Mars landing with a flyby excursion lander spacecraft. Proposed by R. Titus in 1966, it involved extending a flyby mission with a short stay lander. Basically, a short stay lander-ascent vehicle would separate from a "parent" Earth-Mars transfer prior to its flyby of Mars. The Ascent-Descent lander would arrive sooner and either go into orbit around Mars or land, and depending on the design offer perhaps 10–30 days before it needed to launch itself back to the main transfer vehicle.

Aerobraking at Mars was estimated in the 1980s to cut the mass of a Mars mission lifted off the Earth by half. As a result, Mars missions have designed interplanetary spacecraft and landers capable of aero-braking.

Landing on Mars

Insets depict observation and analysis to find a safe landing site

When an expedition reaches the orbit of Mars, it may drop into orbit around Mars by either of two main options: using rockets to slow down, or aerocapture. The same is true for missions to the surface. The state of the atmosphere, the altitude, and the properties of the landing site must come into consideration for a surface landing. It may be necessary to avoid a scientifically interesting site in the interest of safe touchdown.

Aerocapture at Mars for human missions was studied in the 20th century. In a review of 93 Mars studies 24 used aerocapture for Mars or Earth return. One of the considerations for using aerocapture on crewed missions is a maximum G-limit to experience, for which it was noted 5-g's (5 times Earth gravity) was a common limit to be planned for.

There may be several landers, for example, separate ones for the crew, a habitat, rover, supplies, ascent vehicle, etc.

Landed spacecraft on the surface of Mars:

• Viking 1 & 2
• Mars Pathfinder (includes Sojourner)
• MER A & B (Spirit & Opportunity)
• Phoenix
• Curiosity

Challenges

One of the big challenges to landing on Mars was overcome by Mariner 4, when it showed the properties of the atmosphere. Another was a basic survey of the planet, to know what place might be suitable to land. This has been overcome in stages, with major global surveys done by Mariner 9 and Viking 1 and 2 orbiters, which supported the Viking landers finding a suitable landing site. Later orbiters such as Mars Global Surveyor, 2001 Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, have helped identify the location of water, a critical resource.

Logistical

The estimated cost of sending humans to Mars is roughly 500 billion U.S. dollars, though the actual costs are likely to be more. The largest limiting factor for sending humans to Mars is funding. In the late 1950s, rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States stimulated a national priority to send humans to the Moon. Under the current global geopolitical climate, however, government funding of these programs has decreased. Recent participation of private companies in space travel and participation by new nations such as India may present new opportunities.

Critics argue the immediate benefits of establishing a human presence on Mars are more esoteric than practical. Yet proponents of human space exploration contend that while the short term benefits will be academic, the symbolism of establishing a presence in space may garner public interest to join the cause and spark global cooperation. Furthermore, experts maintain that a long-term investment will be necessary for humanity’s survival.

Medical

Comparison of radiation doses – includes the amount detected on the trip from Earth to Mars by the RAD inside the MSL (2011–2013). Vertical axis is in logarithmic scale, so the dose over a Mars year is about 15 times the DOE limit, not less than twice, as a quick glance might suggest. The actual dose would depend on factors such as spacecraft design and natural events such as solar flares.

There are several key physical challenges for human missions to Mars:

• Health threat from cosmic rays and other ionizing radiation. In May 2013, NASA scientists reported that a possible mission to Mars may involve great radiation risk based on energetic particle radiation measured by the RAD on the Mars Science Laboratory while traveling from the Earth to Mars in 2011–2012. The calculated radiation dose was 0.66 sieverts round-trip. The agency's career radiation limit for astronauts is 1 sievert. In September 2017, NASA reported radiation levels on the surface of the planet Mars were temporarily doubled, and were associated with an aurora 25-times brighter than any observed earlier, due to a massive, and unexpected, solar storm in the middle of the month.

Artistic vision of spacecraft providing artificial gravity by spinning.

• Negative effects of a prolonged weightlessness environment on human health, including eyesight visual impairment. (Depends on mission and spacecraft design).
• Psychological effects of isolation from Earth and, by extension, the lack of community due to impossibility of real-time connections with Earth.
• Social effects of several humans living under cramped conditions for more than one Earth year, possibly two or three years, on the mission to Mars, and a comparable length of time on the return to Earth. (Depends on spacecraft and mission design).
• Inaccessibility of terrestrial medical facilities.
• Potential failure of propulsion or life-support equipment.

Some of these issues were estimated statistically in the HUMEX study. Ehlmann and others have reviewed political and economic concerns, as well as technological and biological feasibility aspects. While fuel for roundtrip travel could be a challenge, methane and oxygen can be produced using Martian H₂O (preferably as water ice instead of liquid water) and atmospheric CO₂ with mature technology.

Planetary protection

Robotic spacecraft to Mars are required to be sterilized, to have at most 300,000 spores on the exterior of the craft—and more thoroughly sterilized if they contact "special regions" containing water, as otherwise there is a risk of contaminating not only the life-detection experiments but possibly the planet itself.

It is impossible to sterilize human missions to this level, as humans are host to typically a hundred trillion microorganisms of thousands of species of the human microbiota, and these cannot be removed while preserving the life of the human. Containment seems the only option, but it is a major challenge in the event of a hard landing (i.e. crash). There have been several planetary workshops on this issue, but with no final guidelines for a way forward yet. Human explorers would also be vulnerable to back contamination to Earth if they become carriers of microorganisms.

Mission proposals

20th century

Fuel is mined from Phobos with the help of a nuclear reactor.

 

Over the last century, a number of mission concepts for such an expedition have been proposed. David Portree's history volume Humans to Mars: Fifty Years of Mission Planning, 1950–2000 discusses many of these.

Wernher von Braun proposal (1947 through 1950s)

Wernher von Braun was the first person to make a detailed technical study of a Mars mission. Details were published in his book Das Marsprojekt (1952, published in English as The Mars Project in 1962) and several subsequent works. Willy Ley popularized a similar mission in English in the book The Conquest of Space (1949), featuring illustrations by Chesley Bonestell. Von Braun's Mars project envisioned nearly a thousand three-stage vehicles launching from Earth to ferry parts for the Mars mission to be constructed at a space station in Earth orbit. The mission itself featured a fleet of ten spacecraft with a combined crew of 70 heading to Mars, bringing three winged surface excursion ships that would land horizontally on the surface of Mars. (Winged landing was considered possible because at the time of his proposal, the Martian atmosphere was believed to be much denser than was later found to be the case.)

In the 1956 revised vision of the Mars Project plan, published in the book The Exploration of Mars by Wernher Von Braun and Willy Ley, the size of the mission was trimmed, requiring only 400 launches to put together two ships, still carrying a winged landing vehicle. Later versions of the mission proposal, featured in the Disney "Man In Space" film series, showed nuclear-powered ion-propulsion vehicles for the interplanetary cruise.

U.S. proposals (1950s, 1960s, and 1970s)

Artist's conception of the Mars Excursion Module (MEM) proposed in a NASA study in 1963. Crew wear Mars suits on surface EVA from the module.

In 1962, Aeronutronic Ford, General Dynamics and the Lockheed Missiles and Space Company made studies of Mars mission designs as part of NASA Marshall Spaceflight Center "Project EMPIRE". These studies indicated that a Mars mission (possibly including a Venus fly-by) could be done with a launch of eight Saturn V boosters and assembly in low Earth orbit, or possibly with a single launch of a hypothetical "post Saturn" heavy-lift vehicle. Although the EMPIRE missions were only studies, and never proposed as funded projects, these were the first detailed analyses of what it would take to accomplish a human voyage to Mars using data from actual NASA spaceflight, and laid much of the basis for future studies, including significant mission studies by TRW, North American, Philco, Lockheed, Douglas, and General Dynamics, along with several in-house NASA studies.

Following the success of the Apollo Program, von Braun advocated a manned mission to Mars as a focus for NASA's manned space program. Von Braun's proposal used Saturn V boosters to launch nuclear-powered (NERVA) upper stages that would power two six-crew spacecraft on a dual mission in the early 1980s. The proposal was considered by President Richard Nixon but passed over in favor of the Space Shuttle.

In 1975, von Braun discussed the mission architecture that emerged from these Apollo-era studies in a recorded lecture and while doing so suggested that multiple Shuttle launches could instead be configured to lift the two Nuclear Thermal Rocket engine equipped spacecraft in smaller parts, for assembly in-orbit.

Soviet mission proposals (1956 through 1969)

The Martian Piloted Complex or "'MPK'" was a proposal by Mikhail Tikhonravov of the Soviet Union for a manned Mars expedition, using the (then proposed) N1 rocket, in studies from 1956 to 1962. The Soviets sent many probes to Mars with some noted success stories including Mars atmospheric entry, but the ratio was low and their space program struggled through disasters like the lost Salyut 1 crew and explosions of their N1 rocket.

Heavy Interplanetary Spacecraft (known by the Russian acronym TMK) was the designation of a Soviet Union space exploration proposal in the 1960s to send a manned flight to Mars and Venus (TMK-MAVR design) without landing. The TMK spacecraft was due to launch in 1971 and make a three-year-long flight including a Mars fly-by at which time probes would have been dropped. The project was never completed because the required N1 rocket never flew successfully. The Mars Expeditionary Complex, or "'MEK"' (1969) was another Soviet proposal for a Mars expedition that would take a crew from three to six to Mars and back with a total mission duration of 630 days.

Case for Mars (1981–1996)

Following the Viking missions to Mars, between 1981 and 1996 a series of conferences named The Case for Mars were held at the University of Colorado at Boulder. These conferences advocated human exploration of Mars, presented concepts and technologies, and held a series of workshops to develop a baseline concept for the mission. It proposed use of in-situ resource utilization to manufacture rocket propellant for the return trip. The mission study was published in a series of proceedings volumes. Later conferences presented alternative concepts, including the "Mars Direct" concept of Robert Zubrin and David Baker; the "Footsteps to Mars" proposal of Geoffrey A. Landis, which proposed intermediate steps before the landing on Mars, including human missions to Phobos; and the "Great Exploration" proposal from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, among others.

NASA Space Exploration Initiative (1989)

Artist's conception of a human mission on the surface of Mars
1989 painting by Les Bossinas of Lewis Research Center for NASA

In response to a presidential initiative, NASA made a study of a project for human lunar- and Mars exploration as a proposed follow-on to the International Space Station project. This resulted in a report, called the 90-day study, in which the agency proposed a long-term plan consisting of completing the Space Station as "a critical next step in all our space endeavors," returning to the Moon and establishing a permanent base, and then sending astronauts to Mars. This report was widely criticized as too elaborate and expensive, and all funding for human exploration beyond Earth orbit was canceled by Congress.

Mars Direct (early 1990s)

Because of the greater distance, the Mars mission would be much more risky and expensive than past Moon flights. Supplies and fuel would have to be prepared for a 2-3 year round trip and the spacecraft would need at least partial shielding from ionizing radiation. A 1990 paper by Robert Zubrin and David A. Baker, then of Martin Marietta, proposed reducing the mission mass (and hence the cost) by using in situ resource utilization to manufacture propellant from the Martian Atmosphere. This proposal drew on concepts developed by the former "Case for Mars" conference series. Over the next decade, Zubrin developed it into a mission concept, Mars Direct, which he presented in a book, The Case for Mars (1996). The mission is advocated by the Mars Society, which Zubrin founded in 1998, as practical and affordable.

International Space University (1991)

In 1991 in Toulouse, France, the International Space University studied an international human Mars mission. They proposed a crew of 8 traveling to Mars in a nuclear-powered vessel with artificial gravity provided by rotation. On the surface, 40 tonne habitats pressurized to 10 psi (69 kPa) were powered by a 40 kW photovoltaic array.

NASA Design reference missions (1990s)

NASA Mars habitat concept for DRA 1.0, derived from the Mars Direct Architecture. (1995)

In the 1990s NASA developed several conceptual level human Mars exploration architectures. One of these was NASA Design reference mission 3.0 (DRM 3.0) to stimulate further thought and concept development.

Selected other US/NASA studies (1988–2009):

1. 1988 "Mars Expedition"
2. 1989 "Mars Evolution"
3. 1990 "90-Day Study"
4. 1991 "Synthesis Group"
5. 1995 "DRM 1"
6. 1997 "DRM 3"
7. 1998 "DRM 4"
8. 1999 "Dual Landers"

21st century

Crew members setting up weather monitoring equipment on the surface of Mars (artist's concept)

NASA Design reference missions (2000+)

The NASA Mars Design Reference Missions consisted of a series of conceptual design studies for human Mars missions, continued in the 21st century Selected other US/NASA plans (1988–2009):

11. 2000 SERT (SSP)
12. 2001 DPT/NEXT
13. 2002 NEP Art. Gravity
14. 2009 DRA 5

MARPOST (2000–2005)

The Mars Piloted Orbital Station (or MARPOST) is a Russian proposed manned orbital mission to Mars, using a nuclear reactor to run an electric rocket engine. Proposed in October 2000 by Yuri Karash from the Russian Academy of Cosmonautics as the next step for Russia in space along with the Russian participation in the International Space Station, a 30-volume draft project for MARPOST was confirmed as of 2005. Design for the ship was proposed to be ready in 2012, and the ship itself in 2021.

ESA Aurora programme (2001+)

Artwork featuring astronauts enduring a Mars dust storm near a rover

The European Space Agency had a long-term vision of sending a human mission to Mars in 2033. Laid out in 2001, the project's proposed timeline would begin with robotic exploration, a proof of concept simulation of sustaining humans on Mars, and eventually a manned mission; however, objections from the participating nations of ESA and other delays have put the timeline into question. Nevertheless, a spawn of this programme, ExoMars, delivered an orbiter to Mars in 2016

ESA/Russia plan (2002)

Another proposal for a joint ESA mission with Russia is based on two spacecraft being sent to Mars, one carrying a six-person crew and the other the expedition's supplies. The mission would take about 440 days to complete with three astronauts visiting the surface of the planet for a period of two months. The entire project would cost $20 billion and Russia would contribute 30% of these funds.

USA Vision for Space Exploration (2004)

Project Constellation included an Orion Mars Mission. (Then United States President) George W. Bush announced an initiative of manned space exploration on January 14, 2004, known as the Vision for Space Exploration. It included developing preliminary plans for a lunar outpost by 2012 and establishing an outpost by 2020. Precursor missions that would help develop the needed technology during the 2010–2020 decade were tentatively outlined by Adringa and others. On September 24, 2007, Michael Griffin, then NASA Administrator, hinted that NASA may be able to launch a human mission to Mars by 2037. The needed funds were to be generated by diverting $11 billion from space science missions to the vision for human exploration.

NASA has also discussed plans to launch Mars missions from the Moon to reduce traveling costs.

Mars Society Germany – European Mars Mission (EMM) (2005)

The Mars Society Germany proposed a manned Mars mission using several launches of an improved heavy-lift version of the Ariane 5. Roughly 5 launches would be required to send a crew of 5 on a 1200 days mission, with a payload of 120,000 kg (260,000 lb). Total project was estimated to cost 10 to 15 billion Euros.

China National Space Administration (CNSA) (2006)

Sun Laiyan, administrator of the China National Space Administration, said on July 20, 2006 that China would start deep space exploration focusing on Mars over the next five years, during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2006–2010) Program period. The first uncrewed Mars exploration program could take place between 2014–2033, followed by a crewed phase in 2040–2060 in which crew members would land on Mars and return home. The Mars 500 study of 2011 prepared for this manned mission.

The One-Way Trip Option (2006); Mars to Stay (2006)

The idea of a one-way trip to Mars has been proposed several times. Space activist Bruce Mackenzie, for example, proposed a one-way trip to Mars in a presentation "One Way to Mars – a Permanent Settlement on the First Mission" at the 1998 International Space Development Conference, arguing that since the mission could be done with less difficulty and expense without a return to Earth, the first mission to Mars should be a settlement, not a visit. In 2006, former NASA engineer James C. McLane III proposed a scheme to initially colonize Mars via a one-way trip by only one human. Papers discussing this concept appeared in The Space Review, Harper's Magazine, SEARCH Magazine and The New York Times.

Former Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin is a particularly outspoken promoter who has suggested in numerous forums "Forget the Moon, Let's Head to Mars!" In June 2013, Aldrin wrote an opinion, published in The New York Times, supporting a manned mission to Mars and which viewed the Moon "not as a destination but more a point of departure . . . " In August 2015, Aldrin, in association with the Florida Institute of Technology, presented a "master plan" for NASA consideration proposing astronauts with a "tour of duty of ten years" colonize Mars before the year 2040.

NASA Design Reference Mission 5.0 (2007)

NASA released initial details of the latest version conceptual level human Mars exploration architecture in this presentation. The study further developed concepts developed in previous NASA DRM and updated it to more current launchers and technology.

NASA Design Reference Mission Architecture 5.0 (2009)

Concept for NASA's Design Reference Mission Architecture 5.0 (2009)

NASA released an updated version of NASA DRM 5.0 in early 2009, featuring use of the Ares V launcher, Orion CEV, and updated mission planning.

NASA Austere Human Missions to Mars (2009)

Extrapolated from the DRMA 5.0, plans for a manned Mars expedition with chemical propulsion. Austere Human Missions to Mars

USA's Mars orbit by the mid-2030s (2010)

In a major space policy speech at Kennedy Space Center on April 15, 2010, then-U.S. President Barack Obama predicted a manned Mars mission to orbit the planet by the mid-2030s, followed by a landing:

By the mid-2030s, I believe we can send humans to orbit Mars and return them safely to Earth. And a landing on Mars will follow. And I expect to be around to see it.

The United States Congress has mostly approved a new direction for NASA that includes canceling Bush's planned return to the Moon by 2020 and instead proposes asteroid exploration in 2025 and orbiting Mars in the 2030s. The Asteroid Redirect Mission was cancelled in June 2017 and "closed out" in September of the same year.

Martian Frontier (2007–2011)

Mars 500, the longest high fidelity spaceflight simulation, ran from 2007 to 2011 in Russia and was an experiment to assess the feasibility of manned missions to Mars.

Russian mission proposals (2011)

A number of Mars mission concepts and proposals have been put forth by Russian scientists. Stated dates were for a launch sometime between 2016 and 2020. The Mars probe would carry a crew of four to five cosmonauts, who would spend close to two years in space.

In late 2011, Russian and European space agencies successfully completed the ground-based MARS-500. The biomedical experiment simulating manned flight to Mars was completed in Russia in July 2000.

2-4-2 concept (2011–2012)

In 2011, Jean-Marc Salotti published a new proposal for a manned Mars mission, with a release in 2012. The 2-4-2 concept is based on a reduction of the crew size to only 2 astronauts and the duplication of the entire mission. There are 2 astronauts in each space vehicle, there are 4 on the surface of Mars and there are 2 once again in each return vehicle. In addition, at every step of the mission, there are 2 astronauts ready to help the 2 others (2 for 2). This architecture simplifies the entry, descent and landing procedures, which are known to be very risky, thanks to a significant reduction of the size of the landing vehicles. It also avoids the assembly of huge vehicles in LEO. The author claims that his proposal is much cheaper than the NASA reference mission without compromising the risks and can be undertaken before 2030.

Conceptual Space Vehicle Architecture for Human Exploration of Mars (2012)

In 2012, Conceptual Space Vehicle Architecture for Human Exploration of Mars, with Artificial Gravity and Mini-Magnetosphere Crew Radiation Shield was released, laying out a possible design for a human Mars mission. Components of the architecture include various spacecraft for the Earth-to-Mars journey, landing, and surface stay as well as return. Some features include several unmanned cargo landers assembled into a base on the surface of Mars. The crew would land at this base in the "Mars Personnel Lander", which could also take them back into Mars orbit. The design for the manned interplanetary spacecraft included artificial-gravity and an artificial magnetic field. Overall, the architecture was modular and to allow for incremental R&D.

Mars One (2012)

In 2012, a Dutch entrepreneur group began raising funds for a human Mars base to be established in 2023. The mission is intended to be primarily a settlement mission with no return trip to Earth planned. Astronaut applications were invited from the public all over the world.

The initial plan included an orbiter and demonstration lander in 2018, followed by a rover in 2020, and the base components in 2024. Mars One suggested it could use a SpaceX Heavy rocket to launch flight hardware. The first crew of four astronauts were to land on Mars in 2025. Then, every two years, a new crew of four would arrive. The entire mission is to be filmed and broadcast as a media event. Revenues from broadcasting would help fund the program. In April 2015, Mars One’s CEO Bas Lansdorp admitted that their 12-year plan for landing humans on Mars by 2027 is mostly fiction.

Inspiration Mars Foundation (2013)

In 2013, the Inspiration Mars Foundation founded by Dennis Tito revealed plans of a manned mission to fly by Mars in 2018 with support from NASA. NASA refused to fund the mission.

Boeing Affordable Mission (2014)

On December 2, 2014, NASA's Advanced Human Exploration Systems and Operations Mission Director Jason Crusan and Deputy Associate Administrator for Programs James Reuthner announced tentative support for the Boeing "Affordable Mars Mission Design" including radiation shielding, centrifugal artificial gravity, in-transit consumable resupply, and a lander which can return. Reuthner suggested that if adequate funding was forthcoming, the proposed mission would be expected in the early 2030s.

NASA's Journey to Mars: Pioneering Next Steps in Space Exploration (2015)

Artist's rendering of a Block 1 SLS

On October 8, 2015, NASA published its strategy for human exploration and colonization of Mars. The concept operates through three distinct phases leading up to fully sustained colonization.

The first stage, already underway, is the "Earth Reliant" phase. This phase continues using the International Space Station until 2024; validating deep space technologies and studying the effects of long duration space missions on the human body.

The second stage, "Proving Ground," moves away from Earth reliance and ventures into cislunar space for most of its tasks. The proposed Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway would test deep space habitation facilities, and validate capabilities required for human exploration of Mars.

Finally, phase three is the transition to independence from Earth resources. The "Earth Independent" phase includes long term missions on the lunar surface with surface habitats that only require routine maintenance, and the harvesting of Martian resources for fuel, water, and building materials. NASA is still aiming for human missions to Mars in the 2030s, though Earth independence could take decades longer.

In November 2015, Administrator Bolden of NASA reaffirmed the goal of sending humans to Mars. He laid out 2030 as the date of a manned surface landing, and noted that planned 2020 Mars rover would support the human mission. Also discussed was the use of robotics to prepare an underground habitat for the arriving people. He noted the advantages of living underground on Mars, especially that it eliminates the need to construct above ground shielding. The underground base would be prepared in advance by an armada of robots. Top surface activity was not excluded however, just that the crew would "probably live underground for the most part".

SpaceX Mars transportation infrastructure (2016-)

Since 2016, SpaceX publicly announced a comprehensive vision to begin the colonization of Mars, by proposing to develop a high-capacity transportation infrastructure.

ITS launch vehicle

In September 2016 at the International Astronautical Congress, Elon Musk announced the ITS launch vehicle design (informally discussed earlier as the Mars Colonial Transporter), that comprised a large reusable booster topped by a spaceship or a tanker for in-orbit refueling, as well as a propellant plant to be built on Mars, at a base referred to as Mars Base Alpha. The aspirational objective is to advance the technology and infrastructure such that the first humans to Mars could potentially depart as early as 2024.

BFR (Big Falcon Rocket)

On 29 September 2017, Elon Musk announced an updated vehicle design for the Mars mission at the International Astronautical Congress. The replacement vehicle for this mission is called BFR (Big Falcon Rocket). BFR will provide the on-orbit activity like satellite delivery, servicing the International Space Station, Moon mission, as well as Mars mission. There are two phases for the human mission to Mars via BFR:

• In 2022, at least 2 BFR cargo vehicles will land on Mars.
  • They will confirm water resources and identify hazards.
  • They will place power, mining and life support infrastructure for future missions.
• In 2024, 2 BFR crew vehicles will take the first people to Mars.
  • 2 BFR cargo vehicles will bring more equipment and supplies.
  • They will place a propellant production plant.
  • They will build up a base to prepare for expansion.

The BFR is currently under construction, with sub-orbital flight testing expected in 2019.

Mars Base Camp (2016)

Mars Base Camp (MBC), an American spacecraft concept that proposes to send astronauts to Mars orbit as early as 2028. The vehicle concept, developed by Lockheed Martin, would utilize both future and heritage technology as well as the Orion MPCV built by NASA.

Deep Space Transport (2017)

Deep Space Transport

Main article: Deep Space Transport

 

The Deep Space Transport (DST) is a spacecraft meant to be launched on top of NASA's SLS launch vehicle in 2027. It was announced by NASA in March 2017. It is to dock with the Deep Space Gateway (DSG) station, which would be in cis-lunar space after its construction, in 2027. Current plans show it to be sent with a crew of 4 to Mars in 2033. It would not, however, land, but merely remain in Martian orbit until there is a launch window for a return. The mission is expected to take about 2 years if all missions in the DSG and DST from 2021–2030 are successful. This mission would use the SLS rocket for launches, and the Orion MPCV to transport the crew to and from the Earth and the DSG and DST.

Current intentions by nations and space agencies

Artist's rendering of the planned Orion/DSH/Cryogenic Propulsion Module assembly.

A number of nations and organizations have long-term intentions to send humans to Mars.

• The United States has several robotic missions currently exploring Mars, with a sample-return planned for the future. The Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) is intended to serve as the launch/splashdown crew delivery vehicle, with a Deep Space Habitat module providing additional living-space for the 16-month-long journey. The first manned Mars Mission, which will include sending astronauts to Mars, orbiting Mars, and a return to Earth, is scheduled for the 2030s. Technology development for US government missions to Mars is underway, but there is no well-funded approach to bring the conceptual project to completion with human landings on Mars by the mid-2030s, the stated objective. NASA is under presidential orders to land humans on Mars by 2033, and NASA-funded engineers are studying a way to build potential human habitats there by producing bricks from pressurized Martian soil.
• The European Space Agency has a long-term goal to send humans but has not yet built a manned spacecraft. It has sent robotic probes like ExoMars in 2016 and plans to send the next probe in 2020.

A Soyuz landing on Earth in 2015

• India successfully placed an unmanned Mars Orbiter Mission (also called Mangalyaan) satellite in Mars orbit in 2014. ISRO plans a larger follow-up mission called Mangalyaan 2 between 2018 and 2020. This mission will likely consist of a lander and a Mars rover. No plans for an Indian human mission to Mars have been made public.
• Japan has sent one robotic mission to Mars in 1998, the Nozomi, but it failed to achieve Mars orbit. JAXA has proposed a rover mission called MELOS for an engineering demonstration of precision landing, and to look for possible biosignatures on Mars in 2020 or 2022. No plans for a Japanese human mission to Mars have been made public.
• China's first attempted mission to Mars, the Yinghuo-1 space probe, was lost with Russia's sample return mission to Phobos, Fobos-Grunt in 2011–2012. China plans to develop and launch an orbiter, lander and rover to Mars in July or August 2020 with a Long March 5 heavy lift rocket. A crewed phase is planned for the 2040–2060 timeframe.
• Russia plans to send humans in the 2040–2045 timeframe.

Current intentions by private companies

United States-based launch company SpaceX intends to establish a permanent Mars base in the 2020s, using the BFR fully reusable launch system. The current plan is for 2 unmanned BFRs to fly to Mars in 2022, establishing a rocket propellant plant and other infrastructure for the base. 2 crewed BFRs, with 100 crew each, and 2 further unmanned BFRs will follow in 2024.

The BFR is currently under construction, and is planned to enter sub-orbital flight testing in 2019.

Technological innovations and hurdles

Depiction of plants growing in a Mars base. NASA plans to grow plants for space food.

 

NASA has stated that robots will prepare an underground base for a human surface mission.

 

Significant technological hurdles need to be overcome for human spaceflight to Mars.
Entry into the thin and shallow Martian atmosphere will pose significant difficulties with re-entry and for a spacecraft of the weight needed to carry humans, along with life support, supplies and other equipment. Should a heat shield be used, it would need to be very large. Retro rockets could be used, but would add significant further weight.

A return mission to Mars will need to land a rocket to carry crew off the surface. Launch requirements mean that this rocket would be significantly smaller than an Earth-to-orbit rocket. Mars-to-orbit launch can also be achieved in single stage. Despite this, landing an ascent rocket on Mars will be difficult. Reentry for a large rocket will be difficult.

In 2014 NASA proposed the Mars Ecopoiesis Test Bed.

Intravenous fluid

One of the medical supplies that may be needed is intravenous fluid, which is mostly water but contains other things so it can be added directly to the human blood stream. If it can be created on the spot from existing water then it could spare the weight of hauling earth-produced units, whose weight is mostly water. A prototype for this capability was tested on the International Space Station in 2010.

Breathing gases

While it is possible for humans to breathe pure oxygen, usually additional gases like nitrogen are included in the breathing mix. One possibility is to take in-situ nitrogen and argon from the atmosphere of Mars; however, they are hard to separate from each other. As a result, a Mars habitat may use 40% argon, 40% nitrogen, and 20% oxygen.

An idea for keeping carbon dioxide out of the breathing air is to use re-usable amine bead carbon dioxide scrubbers. While one carbon dioxide scrubber filters the astronaut's air, the other is vented to the Mars atmosphere.

Precursor missions

Some missions may be considered a "Mission to Mars" in their own right, or they may only be one step in a more in-depth program. An example of this is missions to Mars' moons, or flyby missions.

Manned flyby

An example of this is Inspiration Mars, which could be compared to the Manned Venus Flyby (NASA) mission proposal of the 1970s, but for Mars.

Missions to Deimos or Phobos

Many Mars mission concepts propose precursor missions to the moons of Mars, for example a sample return mission to the Mars moon Phobos – not quite Mars, but perhaps a convenient stepping stone to an eventual Martian surface mission. Lockheed Martin, as part of their "Stepping stones to Mars" project, called the "Red Rocks Project", proposed to explore Mars robotically from Deimos.

Use of fuel produced from water resources on Phobos or Deimos has also been proposed.

Mars sample return missions

Artist concept of SCIM gathering a sample of the Martian atmosphere.

 

Sample return mission concept

An unmanned Mars sample return mission (MSR) has sometimes been considered to be an essential precursor to crewed missions to Mars' surface by the 21st century. The ESA called a sample return "essential" and said it could bridge the gap between robotic and human missions to Mars. An example of a Mars sample return mission is Sample Collection for Investigation of Mars (SCIM). Mars sample return was the highest priority Flagship Mission proposed for NASA by the Planetary Decadal Survey 2013–2022: The Future of Planetary Science. However, such missions have been hampered by complexity and expense, with one ESA proposal involving no less than five different unmanned spacecraft.

Sample return plans raise the concern, however remote, that an infectious agent could be brought to Earth. Regardless, a basic set of guidelines for extraterrestrial sample return have been laid out depending on the source of sample (e.g. asteroid, Moon, Mars surface, etc.)

At the dawn of the 21st century, NASA crafted four potential pathways to Mars human missions. Of those four, three included a Mars sample return as a prerequisite to human landing; however one did not.

Crewed orbital missions

Landis and Lupisella proposed to explore Mars via telepresence from human astronauts in orbit.

A similar idea was the proposed "Human Exploration using Real-time Robotic Operations" (HERRO) mission.

Another proposed mission was the Russian Mars Piloted Orbital Station.

Mars Society

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Mars Society

Founded	August 1998
Type	Nonprofit corporation with §501(c)(3) federal income tax exemption.
Legal status	The Mars Society is a "public charity" and is eligible to receive tax-deductible charitable contributions.
Focus	Space advocacy and Manned mission to Mars
Location	Lakewood, Colorado, United States of America
Area served	U.S.A-based internationally active
Key people	Board of Directors: Robert Zubrin (President) James Heiser Officers & Staff: Lucinda Offer, Executive Director Michael Stoltz, VP, Development, & Dir. Media & Public Relations Nicole Willett, Dir., Educational Outreach Florence Maisch, Dir., Volunteers Shannon Rupert, Dir. Program Manager, MDRS Joseph Palaia, Mission Director, FMARS Kevin Sloan, Dir., University Rover Challenge (URC) James Burk, Webmaster & IT Director Carie Fay, Dir., Administration Frank Crossman, Chief Archivist
Website	http://www.marssociety.org

The Mars Society is an American worldwide volunteer-driven space-advocacy non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the human exploration and settlement of the planet Mars. Inspired by "The Case for Mars" conferences which were hosted by The Mars Underground at the University of Colorado Boulder, the Mars Society was established by Dr. Robert Zubrin and others in 1998 with the goal of educating the public, the media and government on the benefits of exploring Mars, the importance of planning for a humans-to-Mars mission in the coming decades and the need to create a permanent human presence on the Red Planet.

History

Mars Society, Inc. was formally established in September 1997 under the Colorado Non-Profit Corporation Act. In August 1998 more than 700 delegates – astronomers, scientists, engineers, astronauts, entrepreneurs, educators, students and space enthusiasts – attended a week-end of talks and presentations from leading Mars exploration advocates. Since then, the Mars Society, guided by its steering committee, has grown to over 5,000 members and some 6,000 associate supporters across more than 50 countries around the world. Members of the Mars Society are from all walks of life and actively work to promote the ideals of space exploration and the opportunities for exploring the Red Planet. In 2017 the Marspedia encyclopedia became an official project of the Mars Society.

Mars Society's purpose, mission and goals

The Mars Society's goals aren't purely theoretical. Its aim is to show that Mars is an achievable goal through a practical series of technical and other projects, including:

• Further development of the Mars Direct mission plan to send humans to Mars
• The Mars Analog Research Station Program (MARS) – analogues of possible future Mars habitation units, located in Mars-like environments. Established stations include the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS) and the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS)
• The University Rover Challenge – a competition to design a pressurized rover vehicle that could be used on Mars that was won by the Michigan Mars Rover Team.
• The MarsVR Program – a mulit-phase effort to built virtual reality tools to support the human exploration of Mars, and train the crewmembers at the Mars Desert Research Station.
• The Mars Gravity Biosatellite - a program to design, build, and launch a satellite rotated to artificially provide partial gravity of 0.38g, equivalent to that of Mars, and hosting a small population of mice, to study the health effects of partial gravity, as opposed to zero gravity; this originated as a Mars Society initiative and is now supported by the YourNameIntoSpace web portal
• The Mars balloon mission ARCHIMEDES, due to launch in 2018 (conducted by the German Chapter of Mars Society)
• Tempo3 The Tethered Experiment for Mars inter-Planetary Operations, a CubeSat based satellite that will demonstrate artificial gravity generation using two tethered masses

In addition, the Society:

• gives talks and presentations on Mars Direct to schools, colleges, universities, professional bodies and the general public
• promotes the teaching of science, astronomy and spaceflight-related subjects in schools
• campaigns for greater investment on the part of individual countries in space research and development
• hosts the largest annual conferences on Mars exploration in the United States, Europe and Australia
• actively supports NASA, ESA and other space agencies in their on-going exploration of Mars

The current board of directors of the Mars Society includes Robert Zubrin (chairman) and James Heiser.

Notable members of its steering committee include Buzz Aldrin and Peter H. Smith.

Notable former members of the board of directors or steering committee of the Mars Society include Kim Stanley Robinson, Michael D. Griffin, Christopher McKay, and Pascal Lee.

The Society is an organization member of the Alliance for Space Development.

North American Chapters of the Mars Society

The Mars Society has chapters in the U.S. and around the world. Many of these chapters undertake scientific, engineering and political initiatives to further the Mars Society's goals. Some accomplishments of Mars Society chapters are listed below:

Canada

Mars Society of Canada:

• hosted the Third International Mars Society Convention in 2000 (Toronto)
• organized a month-long multi-national research expedition (known as Expedition One) to the Mars Desert Research Station in the Utah desert in 2003
• organized a second multi-national research expedition (known as Expedition Two) in the Australian outback in 2004
• organized a series of training expeditions (beginning with Expedition Alpha, Beta etc.)

United States

California

Northern California Chapter of the Mars Society:

• hosted the Fourth International Mars Society Convention in 2001 (Stanford University)
• raised over $100,000 for the Mars Society hosting a fundraiser banquet with James Cameron, May 5, 2001
• provided Mission Support services for crews at the Mars Desert Research Station starting in 2002

San Diego

The Mars Society - San Diego:

• provides Crewmembers and Mission Support services for the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) and the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS) since 2002
• TMS-SD provides public outreach events to classrooms, libraries, museums and other organizations throughout the Southern California region with seven different multimedia programs: "Invasion from Earth - The Robotic Exploration of Mars"; "Mars Exploration Rovers - Year 4"; "Mars on Earth - The Adventures of Space Pioneers in the Utah Desert"; "Mars on Earth - The Adventures of Space Pioneers in the Canadian Arctic: "Humans to Mars - How We'll Get There"; "A Close Look at Mars"; and "Mars in the Movies"
• TMS-SD offers a 1/4-scale radio controlled Mars Exploration Rover with wireless video that children (of all ages) can operate
• holds monthly chapter meetings, as well as special program events throughout the year
• hosts a monthly Mars Movie Night in conjunction with The Mars Movie Guide

Texas

Dallas Chapter of the Mars Society:

• hosted the Mars Track of the National Space Society's International Space Development Conference in 2007
• Planning Publicizing, and Politicking a vision of Mars colonization in the Dallas area and beyond.

Washington

Mars Society Seattle (formerly known as Mars Society Puget Sound):

• Hosted MarsFest with Seattle's Museum of Flight in 1999 (Polar Lander), 2007 (Phoenix), and 2012 (Curiosity).
• Staffed outreach table at local events: NSTA conference, Yuri's Night, Norwescon, Rustycon, AIAA, and others.
• Speaker series (co-sponsored with NSS Seattle) every first Sunday of the month at 7pm in the Red Barn classroom at the Museum of Flight.
• Website development for the Mars Society in the early days, helped set up chapters.marssociety.org and initial task force websites.

European Chapters of the Mars Society

Austria

The ASF (Österreichisches Weltraum Forum, OeWF) is a national network for aerospace and space enthusiasts, being the Austrian chapter of the Mars Society. The Forum serves as a communication platform between the space sector and the public; it is embedded in a global network of specialists from the space industry, research and policy. Hence, the OeWF facilitates a strengthening of the national space sector through enhancing the public visibility of space activities, technical workshops, and conferences as well as Forum-related projects.

Their research focus is Mars Analogue Research, e.g. the AustroMars mission with roughly 130 volunteers supporting a mission simulation at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) and the ongoing PolAres, a multi-year research program which encompass the development of a Mars analogue rover system and a novel spacesuit prototype dubbed "Aouda.X", culminating in an arctic expedition in 2011.

The Forum has a small, but a highly active pool of professional members contributing to space endeavors, mostly in cooperation with other nations as well as international space organizations. The spectrum of their activities ranges from simple classroom presentation to 15.000-visitors space exhibitions, from expert reports for the Austrian Federal Ministry for Technology to space technology transfer activities for terrestrial applications.

France

The Mars Society French chapter (Association Planète Mars) was established in 1999 as "Association Planète Mars", a non-profit organization with its headquarters in Paris. Its founder and president is Richard Heidmann, a space propulsion engineer, who participated in the founding convention of the Mars Society in August 1998 and is a member of the Mars Society Steering Committee.

While fully supporting the ideas and actions of the Mars Society, it considers that those must be adapted to the specific cultural and political context of France and Europe. The main activities of Association Planète Mars are devoted to public communication, through conferences, exhibits, events, media appearances (TV, radio, magazines...). It also acts occasionally as an adviser for journalists or film makers.

Whenever possible, it cooperates with other associations or science outreach organisms, which permits to reinforce its action and reach a wider public.

Association Planète Mars seeks to interest younger people: 25% of its paid members are under the age of 25. It aims to encourage Mars-related projects to be undertaken by engineering students. The association also encourages the formation of working groups on miscellaneous topics. Today, three groups are active, respectively on mission safety, Martian architecture and medical aspects. It has participated in several MDRS and FMARS missions, including a prototype of a "Cliff Exploration Vehicle".

Another major field of action is lobbying, aiming at both political and institutional groups, in France and at the European level (European Council, ESA). In doing so, it relies on the networks established by some of its managers. On the occasion of most critical events, the association publishes political documents to support its views, which are distributed both to opinion formers and to the press. This has been the case in June 2004, in the wake of the US Space Exploration Initiative, and in September 2008 in preparation of the ESA ministerial council.

Germany

The German Chapter of the Mars Society (Mars Society Deutschland e.V. | eingetragener Verein | - MSD) was founded in 2001 based on the Founding Declaration of the Mars Society of the USA from 1998 and has about 230 members. The MSD is registered in Germany as a non-profit association (gemeinnütziger Verein). Registered members pay a yearly membership fee of 60 Euro. However, students and firms pay a different fee. The activities of the MSD are focused on technical-scientific projects such as the Mars Balloon Probe ARCHIMEDES as well as on all Mars exploration and general manned space matters. The main means of communication with members and the general public is the MSD Website with information on the ARCHIMEDES project, publications on Mars and other space subjects, the regular news, which can be commented by visitors of the website, the Space Forum and informative meetings.

The MSD Board comprises five members. Since June 2009 its president is the Space Physicist Dr. Michael Danielides. The development of ARCHIMEDES is led by Dipl.Ing. Hannes Griebel, who is also a member of the MSD Board and prepares his doctorate thesis on ARCHIMEDES.
ARCHIMEDES is presently under development and the major project of the MSD since 2001. Starting in 2006, flight tests have been undertaken for testing the innovative balloon system in the low-gravity environment. Test carriers were so far the Airbus A300 for short duration parabolic flights and the sounding rocket test campaigns REXUS3-REGINA and REXUS4-MIRIAM for longer duration flight tests under free space conditions. Further flights tests are planned for the coming years (e.g. MIRIAM II) with the objective of qualifying ARCHIMEDES for its Mars mission by 2018. ARCHIMEDES will be carried to Mars on board an AMSAT Mars Probe or a similar satellite. ARCHIMEDES is developed by the MSD with the support of the Bundeswehr University Munich, of the IABG in Ottobrunn, the DLR-MORABA for rocket flight opportunities, other universities, and several industrial companies supporting specific technical areas.

Netherlands

The Mars Society Netherlands chapter was wound up in 2011. The board and members moved over to a new Mars-oriented organisation, Explore Mars.

Poland

The Polish Mars society (Mars Society Polska (MSP)) is actively participating in the creation of the Polish space industry. Since this sector is still developing, the organization is taking the opportunity to provide a strong Mars-related element for the years to come. Poland was the last member state of the EU to sign the cooperation agreement with ESA. Most projects in Poland currently focus on satellite technology, so MSP is the only leading organization promoting exploration and manned spaceflight. Besides private sponsors, it relies on resources obtained from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and local authorities, proposing projects to be undertaken with local communities and thus engaging with the general public.

MSP's first project was the Polish MPV (pressurized rover) design, for which some hardware was produced. This enabled development of the Polish Mars Society itself, together with a number of educational activities for Polish schools. This was followed by the joint organization of the Polish edition of the Red Rover Goes to Mars contest and organization of a Mars colonization negotiation game (Columbia Memorial Negotiations). In 2007 MSP organized the first Mars Festival, a two-day event which drew 600 visitors, with Discovery Channel as the main sponsor. Mars Festival 2008 was smaller due to the efforts being made in other projects, particularly the Polish URC rover, named Skarabeusz.

The flagship MSP project is the Polish Martian habitat, based on a design by Janek Kozicki. It has three inflatable modules attached and a usable surface of 900 m². The habitat is to be located close to a large town, meaning that beyond its role as a test site, largely for materials and design, it will be accessible to the wider public and media.

MSP has established a constant presence in the mainstream Polish media and is working on a documentary about itself. It is also developing software projects, IT systems for the future martian habitat, with a Virtual Mars Base and remote access. Jan Kotlarz of MSP has created RODM software for the modeling of the Martian surface based on high-resolution photographs from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. RODM is currently being tested by NASA and ESA.

Switzerland

The Mars Society Switzerland ("MSS") was founded in February 2010. It covers the French and German speaking parts of Switzerland. It keeps close links with the French branch ("association planète Mars", see above). Its aim is to convince the Swiss public of the interest and feasibility of the Martian exploration with inhabited flights through the Mars direct concept such as described by Robert Zubrin. It wants to gather around the scientists working on Mars in Switzerland, all people who share their interest on the matter.

In November 2010, MSS participated to the 8th Swiss Geoscience Meeting which was the opportunity to discuss the main topics related to Mars geology, the making of the planet, the role of water and the atmosphere.

In 2011 (September 30 until October 2), MSS held the 11th European Mars Convention ("EMC11") in the frame of the University of Neuchâtel. Through 24 presentations and two debates with major Swiss media, this convention covered all subjects related to Mars exploration; from astronautics to architecture, including the study of geology which remains its key objective.

On September 10, 2012, in the Natural History Museum Bern ("NHMB"), it held a conference on the theme "Searching for Life on Mars". The conference was centered upon a presentation by Professor André Maeder (a well-known astrophysicist at the University of Geneva) following the publishing of his book "L'unique Terre habitée?" (Favre editions). Another presentation was made by Dr. Beda Hofmann, Head of the Earth Science Dept. of the NHMB. He showed and commented photos of primitive forms of life which he gathered to serve as references for the observations to be made by the ESA ExoMars mission (to be launched in 2018). Pierre Brisson, president of the Mars Society Switzerland introduced the conference, speaking about the instruments aboard Curiosity and the targets of exploration of the rover.

In October (12th till 14th) The Mars Society Switzerland participated to the 12th EMC ("EMC12") in Neubiberg, Germany (University of the German Armed Forces, near Münich). In this frame, Pierre Brisson discussed the past possibility of an Ocean in the Northern Lowlands of the planet.

A key event of the year 2013 (March 26), was a conference organized with "Club 44" in La Chaux de Fonds, during which Professor Michel Cabane, LATMOS and co-PI of the SAM Instruments aboard Curiosity, presented the findings of his instruments dedicated to the study of the molecular and atomic compositions of the rocks and atmosphere of the planet Mars.

United Kingdom

The Mars Society UK is the oldest Mars Society outside the United States. It held its first public meeting on July 4, 1998, in London. Professor Colin Pillinger, head of the Beagle 2 project, was the Guest Speaker, and the event marked the first time Beagle 2 had been presented to the general public in the UK. From 1998 through to 2003, the Mars society UK (MSUK) continued to support Beagle 2, providing numerous public events at which members of the Beagle 2 project team could speak, and the Beagle 2 model be displayed.

Highlights of the MSUK's history include:

• It hosted the first Mars Society European Leaders Meeting, with representatives from France, Germany, Poland, Spain and the Netherlands.
• The first UK Mars Day, attended by some 200 members of the public took place in 2002. It was covered by all the UK's leading television media (BBC, ITN, Sky News).
• In 2003, it had white papers accepted and published by the UK government as a part of a review of UK Space Policy. It also actively lobbied for UK involvement in human spaceflight endeavours.
• Since 2006 it helped establish the Sir Arthur Clarke Award, the most prodigious award given in the United Kingdom for contribution in all field of space research and exploration. it also continued to provide consultation and white papers on the UK's changing space policy and helped determine the UK government's decision to actively engage in human spaceflight activities from 2010.
• It is currently engaged in a further UK space policy review aimed at determining whether the UK requires a dedicated space agency.

More recently, the MSUK had been allied with attempts to initiate a formally recognized and fully founded UK Space Conference (UKSC) with the first such event being held in April 2009.

Asian Chapters of the Mars Society

India

The Mars Society India chapter (MSI) was founded in January 2012 by Dhruv Joshi, an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. Dhruv Joshi was inspired to set up the chapter in India after he attended a presentation by Mars society Switzerland chapter; during his visit to Switzerland. MSI was launched on March 2, 2012 at Mumbai, with collaboration from Nehru center (Planetarium) and students of Indian Institute of Technology - Bombay (IIT-B). MSI endeavors to set a platform for bringing immense talent pool of Indian students to the forefront and achieve country's ambitious space missions.

Bangladesh

Mars Society Bangladesh chapter was found in 2016. A group of 40 students and three teams from Bangladesh participated in 2016 University Rover Challenge (URC 2016) powered by Mars Society, held in June 2016 at Utah, USA.

Oceania Chapters of the Mars Society

Australia

There is a chapter in Australia, with branches in Australian Capital Territory (ACT), New South Wales (NSW), Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia. The main goals for Mars Society Australia are to support government funded programs geared towards exploring Mars and reach out to the public about both exploring Mars and the importance of studying planetary sciences and engineering.

New Zealand

The NZ Mars Society has the same list of goals as Australia. In an effort to help put people on Mars, they plan to have their members test surface exploration strategies and technologies in locations dedicated to Mars analogue.  One of these Mars analogue locations is Mars Desert Research Station in Utah. 

Martian soil

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Curiosity's view of Martian soil and boulders after crossing the "Dingo Gap" sand dune (February 9, 2014; raw color).

Martian soil is the fine regolith found on the surface of Mars. Its properties can differ significantly from those of terrestrial soil. The term Martian soil typically refers to the finer fraction of regolith. On Earth, the term "soil" usually includes organic content. In contrast, planetary scientists adopt a functional definition of soil to distinguish it from rocks. Rocks generally refer to 10 cm scale and larger materials (e.g., fragments, breccia, and exposed outcrops) with high thermal inertia, with areal fractions consistent with the Viking Infrared Thermal Mapper (IRTM) data, and immobile under current aeolian conditions. Consequently, rocks classify as grains exceeding the size of cobbles on the Wentworth scale.

This approach enables agreement across Martian remote sensing methods that span the electromagnetic spectrum from gamma to radio waves. ‘‘Soil’’ refers to all other, typically unconsolidated, material including those sufficiently fine-grained to be mobilized by wind.^[2] Soil consequently encompasses a variety of regolith components identified at landing sites. Typical examples include: bedform armor, clasts, concretions, drift, dust, rocky fragments, and sand. The functional definition reinforces a recently proposed genetic definition of soil on terrestrial bodies (including asteroids and satellites) as an unconsolidated and chemically weathered surficial layer of fine-grained mineral or organic material exceeding centimeter scale thickness, with or without coarse elements and cemented portions.

Martian dust generally connotes even finer materials than Martian soil, the fraction which is less than 30 micrometres in diameter. Disagreement over the significance of soil's definition arises due to the lack of an integrated concept of soil in the literature. The pragmatic definition "medium for plant growth" has been commonly adopted in the planetary science community but a more complex definition describes soil as "(bio)geochemically/physically altered material at the surface of a planetary body that encompasses surficial extraterrestrial telluric deposits." This definition emphasizes that soil is a body that retains information about its environmental history and that does not need the presence of life to form.

Observations

Comparison of Soils on Mars - Samples by Curiosity rover, Opportunity rover, Spirit rover (December 3, 2012).

 

First use of the Curiosity rover scooper as it sifts a load of sand at "Rocknest" (October 7, 2012).

Mars is covered with vast expanses of sand and dust and its surface is littered with rocks and boulders. The dust is occasionally picked up in vast planet-wide dust storms. Mars dust is very fine, and enough remains suspended in the atmosphere to give the sky a reddish hue. The reddish hue is due to rusting iron minerals presumably formed a few billion years ago when Mars was warm and wet, but now that Mars is cold and dry, modern rusting may be due to a superoxide that forms on minerals exposed to ultraviolet rays in sunlight. The sand is believed to move only slowly in the Martian winds due to the very low density of the atmosphere in the present epoch. In the past, liquid water flowing in gullies and river valleys may have shaped the Martian regolith. Mars researchers are studying whether groundwater sapping is shaping the Martian regolith in the present epoch, and whether carbon dioxide hydrates exist on Mars and play a role.

First X-ray diffraction view of Martian soil - CheMin analysis reveals feldspar, pyroxenes, olivine and more (Curiosity rover at "Rocknest", October 17, 2012).

 

It is believed that large quantities of water and carbon dioxide ices remain frozen within the regolith in the equatorial parts of Mars and on its surface at higher latitudes. Water contents of Martian regolith range from <2 a="" by="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivine" more="" of="" presence="" than.="" the="" title="Olivine" to="" weight="">olivine
, which is an easily weatherable primary mineral, has been interpreted to mean that physical rather than chemical weathering processes currently dominate on Mars. High concentrations of ice in soils are thought to be the cause of accelerated soil creep, which forms the rounded "softened terrain" characteristic of the Martian midlatitudes.
In June, 2008, the Phoenix Lander returned data showing Martian soil to be slightly alkaline and containing vital nutrients such as magnesium, sodium, potassium and chloride, all of which are necessary for living organisms to grow. Scientists compared the soil near Mars' north pole to that of backyard gardens on Earth, and concluded that it could be suitable for growth of plants. However, in August, 2008, the Phoenix Lander conducted simple chemistry experiments, mixing water from Earth with Martian soil in an attempt to test its pH, and discovered traces of the salt perchlorate, while also confirming many scientists' theories that the Martian surface was considerably basic, measuring at 8.3. The presence of the perchlorate, if confirmed, would make Martian soil more exotic than previously believed. Further testing is necessary to eliminate the possibility of the perchlorate readings being caused by terrestrial sources, which may have migrated from the spacecraft either into samples or the instrumentation.

"Sutton Inlier" soil on Mars - target of ChemCam's laser - Curiosity rover (May 11, 2013).

While our understanding of Martian soils is extremely rudimentary, their diversity may raise the question of how we might compare them with our Earth-based soils. Applying an Earth-based system is largely debatable but a simple option is to distinguish the (largely) biotic Earth from the abiotic Solar System, and include all non-Earth soils in a new World Reference Base for Soil Resources Reference Group or USDA soil taxonomy Order, which might be tentatively called Astrosols.

On October 17, 2012 (Curiosity rover at "Rocknest"), the first X-ray diffraction analysis of Martian soil was performed. The results revealed the presence of several minerals, including feldspar, pyroxenes and olivine, and suggested that the Martian soil in the sample was similar to the "weathered basaltic soils" of Hawaiian volcanoes. Hawaiian volcanic ash has been used as Martian regolith simulant by researchers since 1998.

In December 2012, scientists working on the Mars Science Laboratory mission announced that an extensive soil analysis of Martian soil performed by the Curiosity rover showed evidence of water molecules, sulphur and chlorine, as well as hints of organic compounds. However, terrestrial contamination, as the source of the organic compounds, could not be ruled out.

On September 26, 2013, NASA scientists reported the Mars Curiosity rover detected "abundant, easily accessible" water (1.5 to 3 weight percent) in soil samples at the Rocknest region of Aeolis Palus in Gale Crater. In addition, NASA reported that the Curiosity rover found two principal soil types: a fine-grained mafic type and a locally derived, coarse-grained felsic type. The mafic type, similar to other martian soils and martian dust, was associated with hydration of the amorphous phases of the soil. Also, perchlorates, the presence of which may make detection of life-related organic molecules difficult, were found at the Curiosity rover landing site (and earlier at the more polar site of the Phoenix lander) suggesting a "global distribution of these salts". NASA also reported that Jake M rock, a rock encountered by Curiosity on the way to Glenelg, was a mugearite and very similar to terrestrial mugearite rocks.

Atmospheric dust

Martian Dust Devil - in Amazonis Planitia (April 10, 2001).

 

Dust storms on Mars.

 

June 6, 2018.

 

November 25, 2012

 

November 18, 2012

Locations of Opportunity and Curiosity rovers are noted (MRO).
 

Similarly sized dust will settle from the thinner Martian atmosphere sooner than it would on Earth. For example, the dust suspended by the 2001 global dust storms on Mars only remained in the Martian atmosphere for 0.6 years, while the dust from Mt. Pinatubo took about 2 years to settle. However, under current Martian conditions, the mass movements involved are generally much smaller than on Earth. Even the 2001 global dust storms on Mars moved only the equivalent of a very thin dust layer – about 3 µm thick if deposited with uniform thickness between 58° north and south of the equator. Dust deposition at the two rover sites has proceeded at a rate of about the thickness of a grain every 100 sols.

The difference in the concentration of dust in Earth's atmosphere and that of Mars stems from a key factor. On Earth, dust that leaves atmospheric suspension usually gets aggregated into larger particles through the action of soil moisture or gets suspended in oceanic waters. It helps that most of earth's surface is covered by liquid water. Neither process occurs on Mars, leaving deposited dust available for suspension back into the Martian atmosphere. In fact, the composition of Martian atmospheric dust – very similar to surface dust – as observed by the Mars Global Surveyor Thermal Emission Spectrometer, may be volumetrically dominated by composites of plagioclase feldspar and zeolite which can be mechanically derived from Martian basaltic rocks without chemical alteration. Observations of the Mars Exploration Rovers’ magnetic dust traps suggest that about 45% of the elemental iron in atmospheric dust is maximally (3+) oxidized and that nearly half exists in titanomagnetite, both consistent with mechanical derivation of dust with aqueous alteration limited to just thin films of water. Collectively, these observations support the absence of water-driven dust aggregation processes on Mars. Furthermore, wind activity dominates the surface of Mars at present, and the abundant dune fields of Mars can easily yield particles into atmospheric suspension through effects such as larger grains disaggregating fine particles through collisions.

The Martian atmospheric dust particles are generally 3 µm in diameter. It is important to note that while the atmosphere of Mars is thinner, Mars also has a lower gravitational acceleration, so the size of particles that will remain in suspension cannot be estimated with atmospheric thickness alone. Electrostatic and van der Waals forces acting among fine particles introduce additional complexities to calculations. Rigorous modeling of all relevant variables suggests that 3 µm diameter particles can remain in suspension indefinitely at most wind speeds, while particles as large as 20 µm diameter can enter suspension from rest at surface wind turbulence as low as 2 ms⁻¹ or remain in suspension at 0.8 ms⁻¹.

In July 2018, researchers reported that the largest single source of dust on the planet Mars comes from the Medusae Fossae Formation.

Mars (before/after) dust storm (July 2018)

 

Mars without a dust storm in June 2001 (on left) and with a

global dust storm in July 2001 (on right), as seen by Mars

Global Surveyor

 

Namib sand dune (downwind side) on Mars
(Curiosity rover; December 17, 2015).

Gallery

• 

  Martian sand and boulders photographed by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit (April 13, 2006).
  
  
• 

  "Hottah" rock outcrop (close-up; 3D) (September 12, 2012).
  
  
• 

  "Rocknest" sand on Mars – scoffmark made by the Curiosity rover (MAHLI, October 4, 2012).
  
  
• 

  "Rocknest 3" rock on Mars – as viewed by the MastCam on Curiosity (October 5, 2012).
  
  
• 

  Tracks of the Curiosity rover in the sands of "Hidden Valley" (August 4, 2014).
  
  
• 

  Wheel of the Curiosity rover partially submerged in sand at Hidden Valley (August 6, 2014).
  

• 

  Sand moving on Mars – as viewed by Curiosity (January 23, 2017).
  
  
• 

  Blue dune on Mars
  (January 24, 2018).
  
  
• 

  Blue dune on Mars>
  (Enhanced color; January 24, 2018)