Footprints on Mars: Humankind’s Next Giant Step
The Mars Exploration Vehicle (MEV) puts tire tracks on Mars. Courtesy NASA
The meeting of the Mission Planning Committee of the International Astronautics Society (IAS) just released its approved recommendations for the first human exploratory spaceflight to the planet Mars. The IAS was formed by astronauts and scientists from all the many space-exploration dedicated nations. Its purpose is to advise and, in many instances, direct the course of the research and development of space exploration programs. Additionally the Society has a major goal of keeping, to a minimum, political interventions in the space planning and activation process.
The Society has grown to become the recognized authority on the planning and activation of all space exploration programs by its member nations. In this regard, NASA’s Walter Engelund of its Langley Research Center wisely observed that..”… I think there is tremendous potential to send humans to Mars — and what better way to do it than with a global campaign allowing many nations to work together?“ The following are key excerpts from this “global team’s“ Mars Exploration Directive.
The Deep Space Exploration Vehicle (DSEV) based on Nautilus-X concept. Courtesy NASA
Mission Goals: The primary goal of this first human spaceflight to the planet Mars is to successfully and safely navigate the course from Earth to Mars in a reasonable time. This accomplishment is followed by a safe launch and landing of the Mars exploration vehicle (MEV) and its crew onto the surface of Mars. The team will then conduct a 90 day roving exploration of the immediate landing area (not to exceed a radius of 50 miles) and to construct a preliminary research module in support of follow-on Mars Missions. Once completed the team will board the MEV’s escape capsule and launch their return to the DSEV.
Mars Team Composition: The first human exploration of the planet Mars calls for a very specialized mix of astronaut skills and experience. A key factor that must prevail in both team selection and Ground Control staffing is a firm application of the Apollo13 Paradigm. “Failure is not an option” is much more than philosophy, it is a core operational ethic. This is not just examples of incredible courage and bold innovation, it is about leadership on both Earth and in space. This is the most important and vital element that must be strongly present in the entire Mars exploration mission.
Astronaut and robonaut meet, greet and become an amazing team. Courtesy NASA
Because this is the first human investigation of a neighboring planet (the Moon notwithstanding), the mission must include in its astronaut team a strong combination of bold, “let’s get it done” drive of the traditional and successful astronauts with the deeply curious, preciseness of the scientist. Sometimes this mix can be counter-productive as the scientists often plead for both delays and alternate actions as their investigations reveal unexpected discoveries. This mission, the first of its kind, simply cannot tolerate any conflicts between the science mission and the overall program mission. At the same time, the science mission is the prime goal of this first visit to Mars.
The Committee, after considerable research and direct interviews with the astronaut team, made the decision to use highly effective and efficient, science-instrumented, robonauts as the investigative scientists for this critical exploration program. This decision was not an easy one, and there were lengthy and sometimes heated discussions with many space-scientists. In the end all parties reached agreement on the robonaut decision with the space-scientists working to program and enable the robotic investigators to effectively conduct an initial scientific exploration of Mars.
The communication links between ground based scientists with the robonauts and direct communication between the robonauts and the Curiosity rover will enable a highly efficient research protocol. At the same time, the astronaut team will relate with the science robonauts as they would with highly critical research systems that they carefully deploy and sustain. With this approach, personalities and goal oriented conflicts will not become an issue.
The main reason for acceptance and agreement of this model by the space scientists is that the research and reports that will come from the robonauts will produce the groundwork for future live astro-scientist missions to Mars. This approach insures, that on future missions, astro-scientists do not waste time with preliminary investigations, but go directly to examine and expand upon specific discoveries made by the robonauts during this first Mars mission.
TO BE CONTINUED…
[...] us, with a surface temperature hot enough to melt zinc. A little further out on the other side is Mars which is, perhaps, too cold to support life. Venus is a good comparison to Earth and is often [...]