[Ruatha]

Technology for manned mission to mars?

Urlorama (whoa, am I even beating Thermo on amount quoted???):

Soviet plans for manned mission to Mars

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/876112.stm
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary...mars_crew.html

http://ares.jsc.nasa.gov/HumanExplor...CS/EIC036.HTML


[7]....of the late 1940s when he and his fellow specialists from the German rocket program worked for the U.S. Army at Fort Bliss, Texas, and White Sands Providing Ground, New Mexico, testing improved Versions of the V-2 missile, von Braun wrote a lengthy essay outlinings a manned Mars exploration program. Published first in 1952 as "Das Marsprojekt; Studie einer interplanetarischen Expedition" in a special issue of the journal Weltraumfahrt, von Braun's ideas were made available in America the following year. 4

Believing that nearly anything was technologically possible given adequate resources and enthusiasm, von Braun noted in The Mars Project that the mission he proposed would be large and expensive, "but neither the scale nor the expense would seem out of proportion to the capabilities of the expedition or to the results anticipated.'' Von Braun thought it was feasible to consider reaching Mars using conventional chemical propellants, nitric acid and hydrazine. One of his major fears was that spaceflight would be delayed until more advanced fuels became available, and he was reluctant to wait for cryogenic propellants or nuclear propulsion systems to be developed. He believed that existing technology was sufficient to build the launch vehicles and spacecraft needed for a voyage to Mars in his lifetime.



[105] A key component of early Space Shuttle plans was its linkage to a possible mission to Mars as the next major NASA undertaking. During 1967 and 1968, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) reached key milestones in propulsion on the road to Mars. In tests in Nevada, the AEC conducted successful demonstrations of nuclear reactors built for use in rocket propulsion and showed that its contractors were ready to develop a flight-rated engine suitable for piloted missions to that planet.


One morning in early September 1969 I had to leave the senior staff meeting early to go see the Vice President. Peter Flanigan had alerted me that Agnew's Space Advisory Committee [sic] was about to make some recommendations to the President that Flanigan knew Nixon could not live with. Peter had been unsuccessful in dissuading the President's science advisor, Lee DuBridge, from agreeing with the staff of Agnew's Advisory Committee that there should be a very costly manned mission to the planet Mars in 1981. So Flanigan had asked for a meeting with Agnew, the ex-officio chairman of the committee, in the hope that we could persuade him to kill it.

Sketches of Von Brauns Mras expedition proposal.

In the 1960's, as NASA was designing spaceships to go to the moon, more Mars mission designs continued to be studied including a "Concept for a Manned Mars Expedition with Electrically Propelled Vehicles" devised in 1962, by scientists at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama.

This mission, planned for the 1980s, included five ships and a crew of fifteen. The scientists and engineers planning this mission considered the possible loss of some of the ships during the voyage, believing the mission could continue even if two of the five ships were lost. This way of thinking about risk is reminiscent of early long sea voyages and the fleets sent to make them. One of the Mars ships could even be used as an emergency return vehicle with the entire crew onboard (albeit "under crowded conditions"). This ship design utilized nuclear electric propulsion and the radiation shelter was made of graphite and metal. For more shielding the scientists placed water and oxygen tanks around the crew module as well as the fuel tanks, an idea still under consideration today!


In 1986, another Mars mission scenario was designed for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This plan was called 'The Case for Mars: Concept Development for a Mars Research Station'. This mission had as its overall goal a permanently manned scientific base using Martian resources to supply consumables, including propellant. This mission used a heavy lifting launch vehicle and three modules that would create artificial gravity. The spacecraft is constructed in Earth orbit and is a "cycler" continually going between the two planets. The Mars trip takes an average of six months with each crew living on the surface for about 25 months at a time. Each crew is relieved by another crew ensuring a permanent habitation of the planet

In 1993, The NASA Exploration Program Office launched the Mars Exploration Study Project and produced a Mars Design Reference Mission, that owes much to the Mars Direct mission plan. The spacecraft are not built in Earth orbit and there is no prior lunar base built for testing. This mission employs a heavy-lift launch vehicle to send the crew and cargo to Mars. The transit times are short and there are long Mars surface stays. In-situ resources are used to make fuel for the return journey and the habitat used to travel to Mars is the same as the one the crew lives in on the surface.

In 1997, a second reference mission, The Human Exploration of Mars, was prepared by the Mars Exploration study team at the NASA Johnson Space Center after the possible discovery of microbial life on the Martian meteorite was announced. Based on the previous reference mission, it called for the establishment of a Mars Program Office; the development of human quarantine and sample handling protocols (to protect Earth from contamination by possible Martian microorganisms); and making the program international from its inception.

In 2001, human Mars exploration plans were put on hold and NASA refocused on the space shuttle, the construction of the International space station and research on lunar exploration.

A number of studies have outlined vigorous space programs, many quite similar to the President's recent initiative. While these programs differ somewhat in content and schedule, they are surprisingly consistent regarding the near-term level of funding required. Based on our own review, we believe that a reinvigorated space program will require real growth in the NASA budget of approximately 10 percent per year (through the year 2000) reaching a peak spending level of about $30 billion per year (in constant 1990 dollars) by about the year 2000. Such a program will:

* provide for the basic infrastructure to operate NASA, the recommended Science program, the recommended and expanded Technology program, a Mission to Planet Earth, a new start on a phased and evolutionary heavy lift launch vehicle and a reconfigured Space Station; and
* provide sufficient funds to begin laying the foundation for lunar and Mars missions on a schedule that will permit real progress and significant periodic technical achievements leading to a manned Mars mission in approximately 30 years, i.e., Mission from Planet Earth.

China denies plans on manned misison to Mars (Why did I include this link? I don't know)

[ August 09, 2003, 14:38: Message edited by: Ruatha ]