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Europe joins the race to put a man on Mars
Reuters ^
| 2.3.04
| Reuters
Posted on 02/03/2004 10:51:50 AM PST by ambrose
03 Feb 2004 15:50
Europe joins the race to put a man on Mars
By Jeremy Lovell
LONDON (Reuters) - A European could step out onto the surface of Mars within three decades, under European Space Agency (ESA) plans spelled out on Tuesday.
The plans are more precise than the broad U.S. goals of sending a man back to the moon by 2020 and to Mars by 2030, revealed last month by President George W. Bush.
"We think it is technically feasible to have a manned mission to the moon between 2020 and 2025 and then to Mars between 2030 and 2035," said Franco Ongaro, project manager of the ESA's fledgling Aurora space exploration programme.
"We need to go back to the moon before we can go to Mars," he told an audience of space scientists, academics and industrialists.
"None of the people who worked on the Apollo programme are around now. We need to learn how to walk before we can run," he added.
Ongaro denied there was open competition with the U.S. space agency NASA, and said he expected the Americans, Europeans and Russians -- all of whom have Martian goals -- to be in contact with each other.
Under ESA plans, there will be a mission in 2007 to test a vehicle that can withstand far higher re-entry speeds than currently experienced by those returning from the moon.
This will be followed two years later by ExoMars, a robot mission to Mars in search of life -- past and present -- and in 2014 by a mission to bring Martian material back to earth.
Colin Pillinger, the chief scientist behind the missing Beagle 2 Mars probe that was supposed to land on the planet on Christmas day but was never heard from, said it was crucial to find out if there was life there before a human arrives.
"You can sterilise a robot. But you cannot do the same to an astronaut. Inevitably a human will introduce microbes to the planet...and contaminate it," he told the meeting.
Having established whether there is or was life on Mars and proved the landing, take-off and re-entry technology, ESA then plans within a decade to send a manned mission to the moon to test new life-support systems.
It will also look closely at the physiological and psychological aspects of long duration space missions -- a worthwhile round trip to Mars would take nearly four years.
By 2026 the manned mission to the Red Planet will be nearly ready -- with a final robot mission to replicate the trip and test all the technologies -- followed in 2030 by a cargo mission carrying supplies ahead of the manned shot.
Then, if everything goes according to plan, in 2033 the ESA's manned Mars shot will take off.
"This is a roadmap, a plan and plans change. But this is the most exciting space adventure," Ongaro said.
TOPICS: Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: copycats; eu; europeans; mars; martians; moon; nasa; newimprovedslingshot; scientists; space
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To: reformedliberal
Aren't they the ones whose Beagle is stranded?
Hehehhheh...can you say BEAGLE REDUX?!! bawhahahhaha!
To: ambrose
Yet, right after his proposal comes out, we see a flood of these "mee too!" articles from Europe, China, and Russia..
I think you are wrong there. First was China and then the "me too!" stuff from US, Russia and Europe.
The whole thing started with the Chinese putting a man in orbit and their plan to build a moon base within 2015.
22
posted on
02/03/2004 11:43:34 AM PST
by
SkyRat
(If privacy wasn't of value, we wouldn't have doors on bathrooms.)
To: ambrose
I think it's funny. We announce we're going to do it, so they harrumph and carry on and finally say they intend to do exactly the same thing, lol. Just can't stand American greatness.
I'm actually quite pleased by all this. It'll be good for space exploration and space travel, and perhaps make up for 30 years of foot dragging.
23
posted on
02/03/2004 1:01:35 PM PST
by
LibWhacker
(<a href="http://www.michaelmoore.com/">Miserable Failure</a>)
To: SkyRat
the Chinese putting a man in orbit and their plan to build a moon base within 2015 Robotics should be a huge part of the American base-building. Both the moon base and the eventual Mars base will probably be built by robots before humans show up. The race is more of a robot race than a rocket race. That is where we'll see the most advances in tech--nearly autonomous robots with assigned tasks.
24
posted on
02/03/2004 1:06:10 PM PST
by
RightWhale
(Repeal the Law of the Excluded Middle)
To: ambrose
Europe is going to do a mars mission without even having a manned space ship?!
Thats even crazier than the "privatize space people" who think Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne is going to do a moon landing and start up the lunar Hilton. (SpaceShipOne is suborbital, its like a great big model rocket with people in it, only it has an innovative way of landing.)
To: xm177e2; XBob; wirestripper; whattajoke; VOR78; Virginia-American; Vinnie_Vidi_Vici; VadeRetro; ...
If you'd like to be on or off this MARS ping list please FRail me
26
posted on
02/03/2004 5:17:12 PM PST
by
Phil V.
To: KarlInOhio
"Which is more likely in 30 years?:" B
27
posted on
02/03/2004 5:28:26 PM PST
by
blam
To: reformedliberal
Aren't they the ones whose Beagle is stranded? Stranded implies being left behind, like you stranded your kid at his hockey game.
Beagle is DEAD! As in lost contact; never to be seen or heard from again.
28
posted on
02/03/2004 5:30:39 PM PST
by
AFreeBird
(your mileage may vary)
To: ambrose
We need to go back to the moon before we can go to Mars," What's this we stuff, Americans went to the moon, not Europeans.
29
posted on
02/03/2004 5:37:38 PM PST
by
jpsb
(Nominated 1994 "Worst writer on the net")
To: unibrowshift9b20
Thats even crazier than the "privatize space people" who think Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne is going to do a moon landing and start up the lunar Hilton. (SpaceShipOne is suborbital, its like a great big model rocket with people in it, only it has an innovative way of landing.) Spaceship One is a proof of concept vehicle. And sub orbital is nothing to sneeze at coming from a "private" enterprise. After all, Alan Sheperd's government sponsored Mercury/Redstone flight was suborbital, and that was just the begining.
If they can do it first, and they appear to be further along than others; it's a 10 mil payday from the X-Prize organization.
30
posted on
02/03/2004 5:53:27 PM PST
by
AFreeBird
(your mileage may vary)
To: AFreeBird
Stranded implies being left behind, like you stranded your kid at his hockey game. Beagle is DEAD! As in lost contact; never to be seen or heard from again.
============================================
Unless we decide to find it and bring it back so they can repair it and try again!
To: Destructor
Three decades? By that time, the Euro wussinauts will be greeted by American realtors on Mars. ROFLMAO All Your Mars Are Belong To USA.
32
posted on
02/03/2004 6:22:22 PM PST
by
Professional Engineer
(Spirit/Opportunity~0.002acres of sovereign US territory~All Your Mars Are Belong To US)
To: AFreeBird
"Spaceship One is a proof of concept vehicle. And sub orbital is nothing to sneeze at coming from a "private" enterprise. After all, Alan Sheperd's government sponsored Mercury/Redstone flight was suborbital, and that was just the begining.
If they can do it first, and they appear to be further along than others; it's a 10 mil payday from the X-Prize organization."
Yeah, I have to give him credit, but I don't see how his design is different enough from a conventional rocket to be able to make it affordable enough commercially. The only real difference is the White Knight to lift it and the interesting reentry wing conversion. Its a good start but not enough to make it a technology that you can take vacations on.
To: ambrose
Is it possible to get FROG volunteers to go to the Moon or Mars? If so, please have them provide names and civil servant rankings.....so the biggest dimwits go FIRST.
34
posted on
02/03/2004 6:33:08 PM PST
by
pointsal
To: jjw
Robotics is the new tech. NASA already has robotics in the FY 05 budget and they will be looking for expertise. While the space race 40 years ago was mostly rockets, the new space race will be robotics.
35
posted on
02/03/2004 6:40:13 PM PST
by
RightWhale
(Repeal the Law of the Excluded Middle)
To: Phil V.
Thanks for the ping!
To: Professional Engineer
"ROFLMAO All Your Mars Are Belong To USA."
You nailed it!
To: Destructor
Three decades? By that time, the Euro wussinauts will be greeted by American realtors on Mars.The French are going to be royally pissed to land on Mars and find a Dairy Queen or McDonald's every 10 or 15 miles :-)
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