Mission to Mars (22 page)

One other point—and it’s a bit of a catch-22. The fact is that human beings harbor large microbial populations in and on their bodies, and these microbes are constantly reproducing. Even with advances in space suits and habitat construction, it appears impossible that all human-associated activity on Mars
would not
foul the Martian environment. That prompts the rationale that human missions should be sent only to sites where this is tolerable. But that also means avoiding astrobiologically interesting sites on Mars. Once again, use of sterilized equipment, operated either from a distant, crewed Mars outpost or by astronauts posted at a Mars moon, is likely to be necessary.

Mars researchers Chris McKay and Carol Stoker at NASA’s Ames Research Center, along with Robert Haberle and Dale Andersen of the SETI Institute, have long pondered a science strategy for human exploration of Mars. In their view the region containing the Coprates Quadrangle and adjacent areas should be the site of the first human base on Mars. This region is festooned with volcanoes, ancient cratered terrain, and numerous outflow channels; it includes the NASA Viking 1 landing site. That spacecraft settled in on Mars on July 20, 1976, and was the first attempt by the United States at a robotic landing on the red planet.

Exploring Mars: a blend of humans and robots

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Illustration Credit 7.5
)

The main base will occupy the Coprates Quadrangle region, these scientists suggest, and other reachable spots can be maintained as remote field outposts. Orchestrated as an “emplacement phase,” crews would survey the landing site area to determine the state and distribution of volatiles, especially water. Martian atmospheric gases could be sucked into machinery to supply breathable air for crews, even for cranking out propellants for launching vehicles from the surface of Mars. Resource extraction units would be primed to start stockpiling useful resources. Such stockpiles can provide safety backup to reserves a crew would bring from Earth, supplementing what’s available for future arrivals that make their way to Mars.

Crew members set up test equipment for polar exploration on Mars
.

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Illustration Credit 7.6
)

Long-range thinking has begun on a Mars Homestead Project, one that is identifying the core technologies needed for an economical, growing Mars Base built primarily with local materials.

Bruce Mackenzie, co-founder and executive director of the Mars Foundation of Reading, Massachusetts, along with an active team of like-minded individuals, has plotted out how to build and operate the first permanent settlement on Mars. Some locally derived materials on Mars have been singled out for initial settlement construction, like fiberglass, metals, and masonry, either for unpressurized shelter or covered with Martian regolith
to hold the pressurized volume. Polyethylene and other polymers can be made from ethylene extracted from Mars’s carbon dioxide–rich atmosphere.

The ultimate goal of the project is to build a growing, permanent settlement beyond Earth, thus allowing civilization to spread beyond the limits of our small planet.

Mackenzie explains there are subtle differences in the technologies required for human settlements on Mars, compared to preliminary human exploration of the red planet. Obviously, duration and reliability of life-support systems is one such difference. So, too, is the need for long-range surface mobility to gain access to a variety of locations on the planet. Lastly, building off experiences gained from the International Space Station, astronauts exploring Mars will need to fabricate hydroponic growth labs where vegetables can be grown. These crops will provide Mars settlers with added nutrition and variety.

An initial goal of a settlement is to build up an infrastructure at one location, Mackenzie reported in 2012 at the 15th annual International Mars Society Convention. “Assuming the settlement is located near the resources it needs, such as an ice deposit, we only need mobility to get to those resources. A variety of spare parts are needed for exploration missions. But a settlement should have manufacturing facilities. Since we can manufacture replacement parts, fewer spare parts are needed.”

Mackenzie stressed that the mind-set of Mars homesteaders versus those taking up short-term residence there is completely different. Explorers plan to return to their families and Earth while settlers are there to start a new community and new families. His research conclusion is that there may be noteworthy
inefficiencies if we design systems only for human exploration, only to later adapt those systems for settlement. “We should not waste resources developing equipment only used for exploration—other than mobility systems. It would be unfortunate if settlement were delayed forever due to a perceived need to develop technologies which are needed for exploration … but not needed for settlement,” he suggested.

Those who take the “deposit, no return” voyages to Mars can begin, I believe, to ascertain what can be done in the way of “terraforming” the red planet. That process would alter the face of Mars, intentionally changing its environment to make it a less hostile, highly livable place for humans and to support homesteading the planet. If feasible, and being such a long-term initiative for those on Mars, actions taken must be in concert with informed opinion here on Earth. Specialists, assessing data available, would advise on projected enabling steps if terraforming is to proceed.

The surface area of Mars is equivalent to the land area of Earth. Once a human presence on the red planet is established, a second home for humankind is possible. A growing settlement on Mars is, in essence, an “assurance” policy. Not only is the survival of the human race then assured, but the ability to reach from Mars into the resource-rich bounty of the Martian satellites and the nearby asteroids is also possible. These invaluable resources can be tapped to sustain increasing numbers of Martian settlers, as well as to foster expanded interplanetary commerce and large-scale industrial activities to benefit the home planet—Earth. Of course, some will insist on building outer solar system cyclers as humanity continues bounding into the universe at large.

These words are from Robert Zubrin, a creative astronautical engineer and president of the Mars Society, a group dedicated to further the exploration and settlement of the planet Mars. He is an energetic, effervescent, vocal, and steadfast spokesperson for putting into high gear what he terms the Mars Direct approach—a sustained humans-to-Mars plan that he has scripted.

As author of the pioneering and highly detailed book
The Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must
, Zubrin advocates a minimalist, live-off-the-land approach to space exploration, allowing for maximum results with minimum investment.

Although I differ with aspects of Mars Direct—favoring use of cyclers, pre-placement of Mars habitation modules via teleoperation from Phobos—I applaud Zubrin’s spirited nature that is part of a movement that is hastening the day for human settlement of Mars.

Zubrin’s blueprint for the red planet uses existing launch technology and makes use of the Martian atmosphere to generate rocket fuel, extracting water from the Martian soil, and eventually using the abundant mineral supplies of Mars for construction purposes. As scripted, the Zubrin plan drastically lowers the amount of material that must be launched from Earth to
Mars. That’s a key factor to any practical plan for Mars exploration and homesteading.

The general outline of Mars Direct is straightforward, as outlined on the Mars Society’s informative website,
www.marssociety.org
.

In the first year of implementation, an Earth return vehicle (ERV) is launched to Mars, arriving six months later. Upon landing on the surface, a rover is deployed that contains the nuclear reactors necessary to generate rocket fuel for the return trip. After 13 months, a fully fueled ERV will be sitting on the surface of Mars.

During the next launch window, 26 months after the ERV launches, two more craft are sent up: a second ERV and a habitat module—“hab” for short, which is the astronauts’ ship. This time the ERV is sent on a low-power trajectory, designed to arrive at Mars in eight months—so that it can land at the same site as the hab, in the event the first ERV experiences any problems.

Assuming that the first ERV works as planned, the second ERV is landed at a different site, thus opening up another area of Mars for exploration by the next crew.

After a year and a half on the Martian surface, the first crew returns to Earth, leaving behind the hab, the rovers associated with it, and any ongoing experiments conducted there. They land on Earth six months later to a hero’s welcome, with the next ERV/hab already on course for the red planet.

With two launches during each launch window—one ERV and one hab—more and more of Mars will be ready for human occupancy. Eventually multiple habs can be sent to the same site
and linked together, allowing for the beginning of a permanent human settlement on the planet Mars.

To explore these possibilities, the Mars Society has been running simulated Mars missions in order to test supply requirements, mission hardware, and the ability of crew members to work together under Mars-like settings. Over the years, volunteers have peopled the society’s Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station, located on Devon Island in the Canadian Arctic, and a Mars Desert Research Station, set up near the southern Utah
town of Hanksville. Other outposts are in position in the Australian outback and Iceland.

Simulating Mars exploration on Earth

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Illustration Credit 7.7
)

The Mars Society’s call to attract volunteers to take part in simulated life on Mars scenarios is as direct as Zubrin’s plan for settlement of the far-off world: “Hard work, no pay, eternal glory.”

Mars Society activists sense, as I do, the untapped reservoir of individuals who value the psychology of becoming a pioneering settler, ready to jump at the opportunity to leave Earth and reside on the red planet. History shows us that people
are
willing to risk their lives for great exploits of exploration. Consider the founding of Jamestown in Virginia or the Pilgrims setting foot in Plymouth, Massachusetts—these were daring one-way journeys that led to establishment of permanent settlements.

Why, then, should the call of a New World Mars settlement be any different?