Our IEEE Paper is an attempt to show the feasibility of the simplest possible Mars flyby mission. We chose a simple Mars flyby trajectory (the one from the Patel reference), and will choose a simple ECLSS, heat shield, etc., using existing designs and technologies on a single launch. We may eventually deviate from these assumptions, but only when we have proven that we must.
The paper is not an attempt to flush out every feasible technology that could be made available in the next 5 years nor does it contain all analysis that has been done by the Inspiration Mars team. Our paper represents the work-in-progress that had been done when the paper’s deadline for peer-review came. We added additional details for the IEEE conference last week, and more will come out in the following weeks. We intend for our process to be open and public, and invite input from all sources.
Inspiration Mars: Some Thoughts About Our Plan
Shallow Groundwater Reservoirs May Have Been Common on Mars
An international research team led by the Planetary Science Institute has found evidence for reservoirs of liquid water on Mars at shallow crustal depths of as little as tens of meters.
J. Alexis Palmero Rodriguez, research scientist at PSI, and the research team came to this conclusion after studying collapsed terrains that occur within some of the solar system’s largest channels.
Investigations of similar but vastly larger zones of collapse located where these channels initiate have led previous investigations to postulate that the upper crust of Mars contained vast aquifer systems concealed underneath a global frozen layer kilometers in thickness. However, these zones of large-scale collapse are rare on Mars and their formation most likely took place under exceptional hydrogeologic conditions. The PSI-led team’s work documents the distribution of groundwater within crustal zones located beyond these regions.
John Kerry on Space 2004
Of course, the only comments from a Democratic presidential candidate in 2004 that have come to have any real relevance to the future progress of Bush’s new space policy (should Bush lose) are those of John Kerry, the Democratic Party’s 2004 nominee. The day after Bush’s speech, the San Francisco Chronicle quoted Kerry as saying, “Rather than sending Americans to Mars or the Moon right now, these people would be better off trying to figure out how to get Americans back from Iraq.”
Association of Mars Explorers names new President: Congratulates Bush on Vision for Moon and Mars
The Association of Mars Explorers has named its new President for 2004-2006. Andrew C. Schuerger, PhD, with the University of Florida and the NASA Kennedy Space Center will take over as President at the Association s biennial dinner to be held in San Jose in March next year. Schuerger has had a long-term involvement in developing advanced life support systems for human space travel and more recently has undertaken important work to understand the survival of microorganisms during robotic and human missions to Mars.
STA and SpaceRef to Sponsor Human Exploration Forum on Capitol Hill
SpaceRef Interactive Inc and the Space Transportation Association (STA) are pleased to announce their sponsorship of a “Human Exploration Forum” to be held on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on March 4th, 2003. The aim of this space policy event is to afford representatives from national space agencies an opportunity to describe current and future space exploration efforts aimed at the human exploration of space.
Arthur Clarke Mars Greenhouse (ACMG): Frequently Asked Questions
In July 2002 SpaceRef Interactive installed a greenhouse (the Arthur Clarke Mars Greenhouse) on Devon Island as a contribution to the NASA-SETI Institute Haughton Mars Project (HMP). The greenhouse is dedicated to noted author Sir Arthur C. Clarke. The ACMG is intended to further the biological science and life support technology required to eventually support humans on Mars. What follows is an overview of why we have decided to pursue this project, what we hope it will accomplish, and the people and organizations that have joined together to make it happen.