The announcement today of an ambitious new project to launch the first private manned mission to Mars in 2018 may suggest to some that NASA has lost a step in the pursuit of deep-space exploration. But the U.S. space agency is forging ahead with plans for a flexible new spaceship and rocket to send astronauts deeper into space than ever before.
The nonprofit Inspiration Mars Foundation unveiled plans for a private Mars flyby mission today (Feb. 27) that calls for a January 2018 launch of a two-person crew — a man and woman, possibly a married couple — on a 501-day trip to the Red Planet and back. The mission would not land on Mars but bring a capsule and inflatable module within 100 miles (160 kilometers) of the Martian surface before zooming away back to Earth.
Just one hour after the Inspiration Mars Foundation announcement in Washington, D.C., NASA officials here at the Kennedy Space Center briefed reporters about the agency’s own plans for deep-space missions, including an eventual Mars trek.
NASA Deep-Space Missions Take Aim at Mars
Mars Sample-Return Goal Drives NASA’s Exploration of Red Planet
The next steps in NASA’s Mars exploration strategy should build toward returning Martian rocks and dirt to Earth to search for signs of past life, a new report by the space agency’s Red Planet planning group finds.
The report, released September 25th, 2012 by the Mars Program Planning Group (MPPG), lays out a series of options that NASA could employ to get pieces of the Red Planet in scientists’ hands here on Earth. The space agency is now mulling those options and could announce its chosen path by early next year, when the White House releases its proposed budget for fiscal year 2014.
“The first public release of what plans, you know, we definitively have would not be until the president presents that budget to Congress in February of 2013,” John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, told reporters today.
How a Mars Sample Return Mission Can Go Electric
Solving the mystery of life on Mars requires robots to collect Martian samples for a return to Earth — a mission that may come with the astronomical price tag of $5 billion to $10 billion. That round trip to the Red Planet could become cheaper by using electric propulsion.
The Mars sample return (MSR) mission would require powerful electric thrusters and efficient solar panels which are presently under development worldwide or even already existing. Such technology would allow the Mars mission to lighten the load of chemical propellant carried by traditional rockets and spacecraft — and it’s within reach for a mission to try recovering Martian rocks and soil in the next decade or two.
Mars Rover’s ‘Voice’ Captured During Nail-Biting Landing
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity may seem like the strong, silent type, but the 1-ton robot was making a lot of noise during its harrowing Red Planet touchdown on Aug. 5.
Curiosity phoned home throughout its daring and unprecedented landing sequence that night, giving its nervous handlers step-by-step status and health updates. The European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter recorded some of this chatter, and now we can hear what Curiosity had to say.
Sort of. ESA scientists have processed Curiosity’s radio signals, shifting them to frequencies the human ear can hear.
John Glenn, 1st American in Orbit, Pushes for Manned Mars Missions
As the 50th anniversary of his historic spaceflight approaches, former NASA astronaut John Glenn is pushing for manned exploration of Mars and other farflung destinations.
On Feb. 20, 1962, Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth when his Friendship 7 capsule zipped around our planet three times, then splashed down safely in the Atlantic Ocean. Glenn’s flight put the United States back on even footing with the Soviet Union, which had launched the first manned orbital flight in April 1961.
The U.S.-Soviet space race in the 1960s got much of the American public excited about space science and exploration. That enthusiasm has since flagged, but sending astronauts to the Red Planet could help rekindle it, Glenn said. “We’re accustomed to the new things and get used to them, and it’s hard to get excited about something new,” Glenn said today (Feb. 17) during a NASA event commemorating his orbital flight, citing the rapid march of technological innovation as a sort of numbing agent. “I’m sure if we establish bases someplace else, or if we make that flight to Mars, that’ll re-galvanize people again.”
NASA’s Mars Rover Curiosity Had Planetary Protection Slip-Up
All NASA spacecraft sent to other planets must undergo meticulous procedures to make sure they don’t carry biological contamination from Earth to their destinations.
However, a step in these planetary protection measures wasn’t adhered to for NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity, now en route to the Red Planet, SPACE.com has learned.
The incident has become a lessons-learned example of miscommunication in assuring that planetary protection procedures are strictly adhered to.
Record Crowds Expected at NASA Mars Rover Launch
NASA is expecting throngs of people to attend the launch of its newest Mars rover on Saturday (Nov. 26), according to agency officials.
The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), or Curiosity rover, is scheduled to lift off on Saturday at 10:02 a.m. EST (1502 GMT) from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The car-size rover will launch into space atop an unmanned Atlas 5 rocket.
The crowd size is expected to break previous records for the launch of a robotic spacecraft, NASA officials have said.
6 Mock Mars Explorers Emerge from 520-Day Virtual Mission
After being isolated from the rest of the world for nearly a year and a half, sealed away in a mock spacecraft, six volunteer astronauts “returned” to Earth today (Nov. 4) to end a simulated mission to Mars and back.
The hatch of the pretend Mars500 spaceship, which is actually a special isolation facility at the Russian Institute for Biomedical Problems in Moscow, was opened at 6 a.m. EDT (1000 GMT) this morning to mark the successful completion of a 520-day simulated journey to the Red Planet. The six volunteer crew members had been living and working in the Mars500 facility since June 2010.
The international Mars500 crew is made up of Italian engineer Diego Urbina, French engineer Romain Charles, Russian physiologist Alexandr Smoleevski, Russian surgeon Sukhrob Kamolov, Russian engineer Alexey Sitev and Chinese astronaut trainer Wang Yue.
Volunteer Astronauts ‘Return’ Home This Week After Mock Mars Mission
After spending nearly a year-and-a-half isolated from the rest of the world on a simulated mission to Mars, six volunteer astronauts are set to “return” home to Earth this week.
The hatch of the spacecraft, which is really an isolation facility housed at the Russian Institute for Biomedical Problems in Moscow, will be opened on Nov. 4 for the first time since June 2010, when the six-person crew embarked on their mock 520-day journey to the Red Planet and back.
Huge Mars Crater an ‘Intriguing’ Target for Next NASA Rover
A giant crater on Mars destined to be the stomping ground for NASA’s next rover could provide a treasure trove of intriguing science finds, researchers say.
NASA’s car-size, $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, also known as Curiosity, is slated to blast off in late November and arrive at the Red Planet in August 2012. It’ll touch down near the foot of a 3-mile (5-kilometer) high mountain in a massive crater called Gale.
Curiosity’s traverses around Gale Crater and its central mountain should reveal a great deal about Martian history and the planet’s past potential to host life, scientists say.