Human Mission To Mars: The Second Aurora Working Meeting

spacedaily.com ^ | 6 Jun 03 | staff

[RightWhale]

Human Mission To Mars: The Second Aurora Working Meeting Paris ( ESA ) Jun 04, 2003

While final preparations continue for the launch of ESA's Mars Express -- the Agency's first mission to explore the Red Planet -- European scientists and engineers are also looking towards the future, to a time when humans are able to set foot on the rust-red sands of our neighbouring world. Preliminary planning for this giant leap in space exploration is well underway as part of ESA's Aurora Programme, and some 60 members of industry, national space agencies and ESA came together on 14-15 May to receive a progress report on current activities and discuss the way forward.

During the first session, representatives of the four contractors (EADS, Alenia Spazio, Astrium and Alcatel) gave brief updates about their ongoing parametric analyses of a human mission to Mars, including studies undertaken by other agencies. By combining these companies' expertise in space technologies with earlier human mission reference designs and other studies, it is expected that ESA will be able to identify the essential 'trade-offs' in mass, crew number, mission duration etc. for such an expedition, before beginning the first tentative studies of mission architecture.

"ESA is mediating and integrating the design effort, but the companies are doing independent studies and evaluations of the technologies for a human mission, based on their existing expertise," said Loredana Bessone, ESA's Human Mission Design Study/Manager. "Obviously there are a number of major constraints that must be taken into account," she said, "one of these is cost; the more mass we have to carry to orbit, the more costly the mission. Mission duration and crew size are important factors because they affect the consumables and power we need, but they also have an impact on the mass of the spacecraft."

The second session included a presentation by astronaut Jean-Pierre Haigneré, a veteran of two spaceflights, about the importance of human spaceflight in the exploration of the solar system. This was followed by an animated discussion about the objectives of the first human mission to Mars.

"We are trying to get a clear idea of what will be required and what we can contribute to an international project to send humans to Mars," said Franco Ongaro, head of the Aurora Programme. "In order to do this, we must investigate how far Europe's present day assets in human spaceflight can be advanced so that it can make important contributions to international exploration missions to the Moon and Mars in the decades to come."

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There are 16 parametric studies related to the human Mars mission currently being undertaken by four industrial contractors. These are:

the Martian logistic infrastructure (rovers, trucks, labs etc.)
required resources needed by the crew (water, oxygen, food etc.)
power for the Mars base
crew environment (radiation, dust, microgravity)
launchers
assembly in orbit
trajectories for journeys to and from Mars
type of propulsion and power for the transfer
strategy to arrive at Mars
entry, descent and landing
communications
navigation
ascent from Mars surface
quarantine/Planetary protection
Earth re-entry
robotics and automation

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[RightWhale]

Looked for NASA mention of this, didn't see it. Didn't see NASA mentioned here, either.

[AntiGuv]

Looked for NASA mention of this, didn't see it. Didn't see NASA mentioned here, either.

That's because NASA is a cumbersome, visionless, incompetent bureaucracy which would have a difficult time organizing a manned mission to break out of a wet paper bag.. Look for either the Euros or the Chinese to be the first to Mars, probably in a joint mission - with an honorary Russian thrown in for PR purposes..

[anguish]

Sounds like something ESA, NASA and the Russians should do together. This is in the interest of mankind, and does not need to be a competitve race between national and international agencies. Besides, such a project would surely consume enormous amounts of cash. I look forward to the day when man finally makes it to another planet anyway.

[KellyAdmirer]

If anyone but NASA is first to Mars, then NASA should just be disbanded and private enterprise and the military given full responsiblity for space exploration. It is just a rathole of wasted money. And if NASA does go to Mars but cops out and makes it an "international" expedition, then NASA should be replaced by an agency that understand how to do things right and in the American, not the French or German, interest.

[RightWhale]

Russia is naturally a part of Euroland: it's just a matter of time until ESA and RSA join up in a limited partnership. Look for China and America to link up later on.

[newgeezer]

My-pork's-better-than-your-pork ping.

[hopespringseternal]

NASA's working model collapses without some form out outside political support. They need competition from the Chinese to stimulate political support for national security reasons. Even then, the minute the "threat" is perceived to be over, they will scale back to bureaucracy maintenance mode.

NASA is simply not capable of building the infrastructure necessary for meaningful space exploration, or even encourage its development. Heck, you think DOD is bad with $2000 dollar toilet seats? With NASA every detail is a multi-million dollar publicity stunt. The fictional legend of the NASA pen and Russian pencil hits on a greater truth.

[RightWhale]

such a project would surely consume enormous amounts of cash

This is important as economic theory and needs to be developed. Investing in a Mars settlement would seem to be the same as welfare for scientists according to some, and it has a similar topology in the initial statement of definitions. However, employing the best and brightest in such manner should have huge benefits for the cost, while welfare as we have seen it practiced has limited benefits. It should create a new category of industry, one that dwarfs most other sectors other than automobile manufacture and agriculture. Look for massive economic expansion.

[RightWhale]

if NASA does go to Mars but cops out and makes it an "international" expedition

NASA should team with Japan and China. The natural competition would be ESA/RSA.

[AntiGuv]

The CNSA and the ESA are already beginning to link up - with the imminent Galileo satellite network - and the RKA is the lynchpin between the two. I think you underestimate the significance of political implications and military capabilities that will push the trio together - and away from NASA - so long as the USA is increasingly viewed as an aspiring global hegemon..

[RightWhale]

That is a valid point. However, there is also a behavioral tendency to want to join up with a winner. If NASA can get an act together it will have the resources to take on all others in space development even if all the others join together against NASA. Russia will sell to anyone, so their loyalty is not in the equation. China wants to build a sense of national pride, which means they will act on their own until they feel comfortable with their own capability, but at that point they might accept an invitation as an equal partner with NASA to gain the quantum leap in capability. Japan will be very pleased to contribute meaningfully to a joint China/America conquest of space. Euroland will remain fiercely independent because they are so culturally advanced and cosmopolitan and cannot chance diluting their highly-evolved sensibilities.

[AntiGuv]

Should be interesting to find out how the Mars Express mission stacks up against the Mars Rovers, and vice versa. Should also be interesting to find out whether the commercial future belongs with GPS or Galileo - and their successors.

[RightWhale]

whether the commercial future belongs with GPS or Galileo

Invest in both. Whether it will be a Beta versus VHS contest, who knows. Identify services and hardware manufacturers that use GPS. They are already in cars, parolees, and trucks and probably library books and dogs.

[Gary Boldwater]

The "Russian pencil tip" may break off and lodge in electronic gear, shorting it. It also gives off a conductive graphite dust, the same stuff the military uses in bombs to short out power plants.

[hopespringseternal]

The "Russian pencil tip" may break off and lodge in electronic gear, shorting it.

Uh, since the anecdote is fictional to begin with, the details are irrelevent.

But if you have to go down that road, it would be a lot smarter to proof your equipment against conductive flotsam than try to police it.

It is amazing that NASA must reinvent every last detail every time they do anything, yet blithely assume that a major change like foam suddenly falling off the ET or O-ring burn through isn't worth investigating.

[Gary Boldwater]

I understand your "point" and agree completely. I just had to "point" out the "tip" though, I couldn't "resist".