QuickFacts

Quick Facts on Mars Exploration
and the Mars Society

This document provides some background on Mars exploration and the Mars Society. It is meant as a quick reference for Mars Society members and other space activists who interact with politicians, commissions, media representatives, or the general public. It makes it easy to provide consistent, factual information on core issues.

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Why Human Space Exploration?

◊ We should pursue manned space exploration for economic reasons.

o Of course, technology development and the use of spin-offs is fairly obvious, as is the access to new resources and markets that space flight entails.

o Dollars spent on space are dollars spent right here on Earth, in the high-tech sector of our nation’s industry.

o Technological superiority translates to economic power, which in today’s world is the basis for political might.

o The appeal of cutting-edge technology and the fascination for humans in space draw many youth towards pursuing related careers, which in turn ensures a new generation of scientists and engineers.

◊ Another important reason is the cultural aspect of human space exploration. This includes direct contributions to what we usually think of as culture, by inspiring writers, painters and philosophers. But there is much more to it: Exploring the unknown is a basic human desire, and it is as much linked to our common survival now as it was hundreds of thousands of years ago when our ancestors left the African savannah to spread across the world. Enabled by our technology, we humans now are the only species that can follow this imperative of life beyond the boundaries of our home planet.

◊ Why go to space, and not first abolish injustice, fix the ecosystem, cure cancer and establish Paradise-on-Earth™? Those are indeed worthy goals, but not having a manned space program will not cause us to reach them any time sooner. Quite the opposite: exploring the unknown and establishing human outposts at the frontier and beyond has always benefited the evolution of civilization as a whole. A frontier draws the best and brightest, and challenges them to apply their creativity and skills in order to profit from the results. Many of these noble goals will in fact directly benefit from manned space exploration:

o Getting the invaluable scientific return that human exploration of our sister planets will yield will help us better understand planetary ecology, and thus actually improve the chances of fixing the Earth’s ecosystem.

o Discovering remnants of life in space will advance our understanding of biology and biochemistry, and thus increase the odds of curing many diseases.

o Expanding the reach of human civilization will give us a testing ground for new systems of governance, and will push applied technology and agricultural science towards robustness and self-sufficiency – applicable in the deserts of Mars as well as in those on Earth.

Why Mars?

◊ Mars has readily available resources that will reduce the mass and therefore the cost of manned missions:

o Its atmosphere is mainly carbon dioxide, from which Methane and Oxygen can be produced using a straightforward chemical process.

o Its poles contain open water ice, and water ice might also be present in other locations below the surface, yielding water, hydrogen and oxygen for life support, energy production and as a rocket fuel.

◊ The Mars rovers confirmed that Mars once had plenty of open water. Of all the destinations that we can reach within the next several decades, only Mars might have harbored life at some point.

◊ Mars temperatures are less extreme than for example those on the Moon or on Venus, making survival on the surface and exploration activities much easier.

Mars Society Objectives

From the Mars Society website at http://www.marssociety.org: “The purpose of the Mars Society is to further the goal of the exploration and settlement of the Red Planet. This will be done by:

◊ Broad public outreach to instill the vision of pioneering Mars.

◊ Support of ever more aggressive government funded Mars exploration programs around the world.

◊ Conducting Mars exploration on a private basis.“

Mars Society Stats

◊ Founded in 1998 by engineers, scientists and others interested in advancing “humans to Mars”

◊ Over 6000 current and former members

◊ Over 70 chapters in the US, and over 40 international chapters

Mars Society Achievements and Contributions

◊ The Mars Society designed, built and operates the only integrated planetary base simulation facilities available today: the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS) on Devon Island near the North Pole, and the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in southern Utah. Two more such facilities will be built in the coming years by the European and Australian chapters of the Mars Society.

◊ These facilities provide a unique environment where scientists and engineers can test and develop procedures, observe crews in action performing actual field research under simulated space conditions, and thus generate invaluable “lessons learned” that will one day help the first astronauts on Mars make their mission a success. For example, Mars Society researchers have found that:

o Only the on-site crew has all information needed to make critical decisions, therefore “Mission Control” becomes “Mission Support”.

o Mobility and redundancy during extravehicular activities is greatly enhanced by crew members using unpressurized, ATV-style individual rovers.

o Humans are needed to find and examine the most scientifically valuable surface locations on Mars. If there are traces of life past or present on Mars, they are more likely to be found in rocky, steep terrain that rovers cannot negotiate, and will require experienced scientists on-site to find and dig out.

◊ However, MDRS and FMARS are definitely not ready to be put on Mars, nor are they meant to be. It is important to realize that the habs, associated rovers and other mission elements are simulation facilities, not prototype flight hardware. They give us the unique capability to analyze and optimize the integration of all mission-related elements (hardware, exploration ops, crew dynamics, procedures,...), which is the core element of the requirements engineering process that has to take place before the real deal is designed. They therefore represent a crucial first step but of course they are not supposed to be space-rated or be accurate models at the detailed technology level.

◊ Another project initiated by the Mars Society is life sciences research at a Martian level of gravity. This “TransLife” project will send a crew of mice into space to live in a centrifuge set to 38% of Earth gravity, so scientist can observe how mammals react to reduced gravity. Even though we all live under Earth gravity, and astronauts experience zero gravity, except for the brief lunar forays of the Apollo astronauts there is no familiarity with the gravity levels in between, which of course is an issue crucial to the survival of future crews on Mars. However, even though TransLife started out as a Mars Society idea, due to funding issues the project is now supported by other sources and is now a separate effort.

The Mars Society’s Official Position on the New National Space Exploration Policy

1. THE GOAL – MARS BY 2020. We heartily welcome the stated purpose of the human exploration of space. We believe that our destination should be Mars, and that we should aim to get there by 2020.

2. ONGOING INDEPENDENT CONSULTATION AND REVIEW. We believe that a panel of competent reviewers independent of NASA and its contractors will be vital to sustain the effort long-term with minimal political add-ons and minimal organizational (inter-agency and intra-agency) conflict.

3. DEVELOP FOR MARS. We can lower costs, and accelerate development progress, by committing to a coherent mission architecture across all destinations. We urge that the focus of technology development be human missions to Mars, with appropriate adaptations for work on the Moon.

4. MODEST COST. We believe this can be accomplished with very modest expenditures, as exemplified by the Mars Direct Plan ($30B) and by the original NASA Mars Reference Mission plan ($55B). The vast sums floated by some commentators are irresponsible and wrong.

5. TECHNOLOGY. We commend the re-directed investment of NASA resources into technology development for human exploration. We especially endorse two technologies: (1) nuclear power for Moon and Mars on-ground operations, and (2) in-situ resource utilization processes.

6. ROBOTICS. We urge the inclusion of human exploration research requirements in the design of robotic missions. This likely will require modifying missions already in the pipeline for this decade.

7. HEAVY LIFT. We urge the production of heavy-lift boosters using existing technology – the shuttle launch stack and/or modular medium-lift boosters. This saves aerospace jobs, avoids or minimizes assembly in orbit, and greatly reduces overall cost and schedule. While we should plan for advances in propulsion systems, we do not need to wait for upstream technologies to mature.

8. REGULATION. We believe in a strong role in space by private enterprise. We urge Congress to reduce the regulatory burden on the commercial development, use and enjoyment of space.

9. HUBBLE. We urge NASA to reverse immediately its decision to abandon the planned upgrade and reboost of the Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble is one of the outstanding examples of the need for, and benefits of, humans in space. The benefits far outweigh the incremental cost.

Mars Direct Mission Sequence

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