Mission to Mars Page 11

  I’m not alone in valuing the Martian moons as fundamental to opening up Mars to human visitation.

  Similar in thought is S. Fred Singer, an emeritus professor of environmental science at the University of Virginia. He was the founding director of the National Weather Bureau’s Satellite Service Center back in 1962 and has a long pedigree of building and flying space instruments. Moreover, he has advocated his PH-D project for decades, PH-D standing for Phobos-Deimos.

  Singer and I were accomplices in early Case for Mars conferences, staged in Boulder, Colorado, starting in 1981 and convened by maverick and passionate members of the “Mars Underground”—motivated largely by wanting to push the throttle forward on reactivating humans-to-Mars planning.

  Singer has had an enduring enthrallment with Phobos and Deimos and yet he remains perplexed as to how and why the Mars moons came to be. He favors Deimos as the place to establish a human-tended laboratory. Being higher above Mars, it’s easier to get to and is nearly in synchronous orbit, a far better situation from which to observe and operate equipment on the planet below, he suggests.

  We agree on the plan for teleoperation of Mars machinery from either Phobos or Deimos. The light-speed distance, even coupled with relay satellites circling Mars, is far shorter than what takes place now between Earth ground control and the NASA Curiosity and Opportunity rovers. Getting closer to Mars permits nearly real-time, fraction-of-a-second teledirection of robotic surface equipment on the planet. There’s very little delay, within human reaction time.

  The grandest of canyons on Mars: Valles Marineris

  (Illustration Credit 6.2)

  An added bonus is that the moons of Mars are airless. It’s a free vacuum provided by Mother Nature, a real advantage as an environment in which to carry out scientific research on site. For one, specimens collected and rocketed off Mars could be assessed on a Martian moon, thereby curbing forward- and back-contamination worries. That is, you lessen the scene of humans fouling the samples snared on Mars and diminish the risk of nasty Martian biology doing harm to Earth’s biosphere when specimens are lugged back to a Mars moon only—in essence, it becomes a bio-barrier between the two planets.

  By placing a crew-occupied laboratory/control station on either Phobos or Deimos, an assortment of probes, penetrators, and rovers can be controlled on Mars. Far more of the planet can be reconnoitered, more so than a landed crew could achieve. After all, Mars is vast. It’s a huge planet with a lot of real estate, some of it very hazardous in terms of crevasses, caves, steep hills, giant canyons, and high mountains. Better to lose a robot or two than have a person face a deadly predicament.

  This is exemplified by new research from the University of California, Los Angeles. In 2012 An Yin, a professor of earth and space sciences, unveiled new data that inform our understanding of plate tectonics on Mars. Using information and images from Mars orbiters, he announced that Mars is at a primitive stage of plate tectonics, pointing to two plates divided by Mars’s Valles Marineris, calling them Valles Marineris North and Valles Marineris South. That geologic feature is the longest and deepest system of canyons in our solar system. If the existence of plate tectonics on Mars holds true, it may well bolster the odds that the planet was an extraterrestrial address for life at some point in its past. Therefore, close-up study of this area is warranted, plausibly by low-flying robotic craft that could deploy seismometers, as the site may be rife with landslides, even Mars-quakes.

  Setting up a lab/control center on one moon of Mars also allows humans to voyage to the other. This sortie by space taxi would be of great value scientifically, enabling a comparative sampling of both moons. Are they made of the same stuff? Do they have a common origin? As Singer suggests, we simply don’t know. Phobos and Deimos are probably the cheapest source of raw materials in the solar system, because the Delta-v penalty is so low. This means that a small, propulsive effort is needed to change from one trajectory to another by making an orbital maneuver. It takes relatively little rocket thrust to transport resources from these mini-worlds due to their small size and, therefore, low gravity.

  From a Distance: Tele-exploration

  In early August 2012 the one-ton, nuclear-powered Curiosity robot successfully made Mars its home. This car-size rover is NASA’s most advanced precursor mechanized system yet, factory equipped with scientific instruments, cameras, and a robot arm and ready to roll on six wheels for years.

  Curiosity’s parts are parallel to what a human brings to Mars: body, brains, eyes, arms, and legs. The robot uses antennas for “speaking” and “listening.” The one-way communication delay with Earth varies from 4 to 22 minutes, depending on the relative position of our planet and Mars: 12.5 minutes is the average. Curiosity can attain a roaring top speed on flat, hard ground of 1.5 inches a second, equating to some 450 feet an hour.

  On one hand, robots are able to cope with the surly climes of Mars while carrying out boring, risky, or dull jobs. On the other hand, humans bring perception, speed and mobility, dexterity, and an inquisitive nature.

  Combining the two is opening up a new paradigm in space exploration. “Telepresence” makes use of low-latency communication links that can put human cognition on other worlds. Low-latency yields the appearance of “being there” in a way that is near real-time believable.

  The ability to extend human cognition to the moon, Mars, near-Earth objects, and other accessible bodies helps limit the challenges, cost, and risk of placing humans on perilous surfaces or within deep gravity wells.

  Let me point out the advances in telerobotics here on Earth. Human cognition and dexterity are already reaching the deepest oceans, pulling out resources from dangerous mines, performing high-precision surgery from a distance—all this as aerial drones, piloted by humans in far-off command centers, fly overhead.

  NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover takes a self-portrait.

  (Illustration Credit 6.3)

  My close friends Robert Ballard and James Cameron can attest to telepresence-enabled undersea exploration, operating vehicles outfitted with high-definition video cameras, sensors, and manipulator arms—run from a mission control. Teleoperation of underwater equipment is also a routine task performed by those maintaining deep-sea oil rigs.

  The counterpart in space, albeit showcasing low-quality telepresence, was used decades ago by controllers in the Soviet Union. They wheeled about their automated Lunokhods on the moon. More recently, recall the plucky Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers run by NASA, precursors to the now-on-Mars Curiosity mega-robot.

  Telepresence, low-latency telerobotics, and human spaceflight are leading to redefining what constitutes an “explorer.”

  A leading champion of exploration telepresence is Dan Lester of the Department of Astronomy at the University of Texas in Austin. Lester tackles the serious concern about how this strategy meshes with our historical concept of “exploration.” Telepresence may be effective, and it may be cheap, but if it’s not seen as “out there” exploration, it’s not going to take hold. Lester’s perspective, however, is that putting human cognition in faraway places—if not human flesh, boots on the ground—is a key new capability.

  Lester has observed that decades ago when Neil Armstrong and I reached the moon’s surface, the only way to put human cognition there was to dig our boots into the ground. That’s what we did. But it’s no longer the only option.

  A piloted craft designed for deep-sea exploration faces challenges similar to those of crafts designed for outer space.

  (Illustration Credit 6.4)

  High-quality telepresence from an Earth-moon Lagrangian point allows a high degree of human cognition and dexterity to be expressed via lunar surface telerobotic surrogates. Lester sees even more significant advantages at Mars, due to the vastly longer two-way latency between Earth and the red planet. Putting humans close enough to an exploration site to ensure cognition—that is, in many respects, what human spaceflight is for.

  What is more, telepresence/on-
orbit telerobotics is not destination specific. We’ll first need to earn our telepresence stripes at the moon and on Mars, using these technologies to explore, scout out mining opportunities, and pre-position habitats without need of on-site, space-suited astronauts. That first Mars base built before human occupancy should not offer sparse living conditions. It should be regal, well thought out, fail-safe; and it should be assembled with care, thanks to distantly operated telerobotics.

  Teleoperation at Mars will prepare us. Mars simply tops the list of future destinations to explore. There are plenty of spots ripe for human cognition to encounter, like roaming across hellish Venus and sunbaked Mercury—perhaps even “teleboating” across the liquid ethane and methane lakes of Saturn’s moon Titan.

  We begin the challenge with our mission to Phobos or Deimos, then Mars.

  Red Rocks Mission

  Plans for the march to Mars have been percolating within the larger space engineering community. Lockheed Martin has shaped one, based on their Orion spacecraft design. The result is a wished-for undertaking called Project Red Rocks to explore the outermost moon of Mars, Deimos. The aerospace firm sees the proposal as the penultimate stride before boot prints adorn the red planet.

  A Project Red Rocks fact sheet from the firm suggests: “Sending astronauts to Deimos will demonstrate key technologies that will be needed for subsequent human Mars landings.” The best near-term opportunities to send humans toward Mars, based on Project Red Rocks, would be in 2033 and 2035, thanks to a melding of orbital mechanics, propulsion needs, and a lessening of crew exposure to cosmic radiation. For a 2033 mission, according to company experts, equipment and supplies can be launched in January 2031 and deployed to Mars orbit ahead of time. A Deimos-bound crew would then say goodbye to Earth in 2033, spend 18 months orbiting Mars, and then return to their home planet in November 2035.

  Why Deimos? Lockheed Martin space officials see that moon as having a sweet spot, a site near the “arctic circle” on Deimos that offers ten months of continuous sunlight during the Martian summer, enabling the use of simple solar power systems. Astronauts would have direct line of sight to Earth and to rovers on the surface of Mars, simplifying communications, according to the aerospace company.

  The view of Mars from Deimos would be stunning. For instance, Olympus Mons alone, the great volcanic mountain on the planet, would be roughly three times wider than the full moon seen from Earth.

  Sending astronauts to Deimos will demonstrate key technologies that will be needed for subsequent human Mars landings, such as reliable life-support recycling systems, long-term cryogenic propellant storage, and the biomedical technology to protect astronauts from the effects of microgravity and space radiation, according to Josh Hopkins, principal investigator at Lockheed Martin for advanced human exploration missions. There are things required for the interplanetary trip in space from Earth to Mars and back, he adds, and then there are the challenges specific to actually landing and operating on Mars itself. A journey to Deimos is very similar to the in-space parts of a trip to Mars in terms of distance, duration, and environment.

  Project Red Rocks would explore Deimos, the outermost moon of Mars.

  (Illustration Credit 6.5)

  The Red Rocks mission would lay the groundwork for landing crews on Mars, contends Hopkins. Planners would have to learn how to guard astronauts from the effects of long-term zero gravity exposure and radiation, build trustworthy water recycling systems, and keep astronauts in high spirits when living in the isolated confines of a small habitat far from Earth.

  Library of Alexandria of Mars

  Another activist for Phobos and Deimos as stepping-stones for human space exploration is Pascal Lee, co-founder and chairman of the Mars Institute, a planetary scientist at the SETI Institute, and the principal investigator of the Haughton-Mars Project at the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California.

  Lee believes that the Martian moons are emerging as new targets for human exploration, objects that could be visited well before humans reach the surface of Mars itself. Lee and his colleagues have plotted out various science goals to probe the dual moons best done by on-the-scene crews, such as deep drilling and extraction of subsurface samples, 3-D imaging of the interior of each moon via seismic tomography, and searching the regolith of Phobos and Deimos for bits and pieces of asteroids, comets, and maybe the planet Mars itself.

  Lee is quick to point out that a human march to Phobos and Deimos can’t be supported on science alone. However, if human missions into Mars orbit are part of a logical, stepwise strategy on the way to a human landing on Mars, then the two moons are excellent candidates for the medium term, he says. Furthermore, Phobos, in particular, is ideally positioned to host teleoperated robotic scouts for an in-depth and aseptic reconnaissance of Mars. On that moon, modest infrastructure could be established to process, quarantine, and screen Martian samples brought up from Mars before sending them to eager scientists on Earth.

  Lee and his team members suggested several years ago that there’s the chance of finding signs of life from Mars ejecta captured by Phobos, a prospect less likely for the outermost moon, Deimos. Consequently, Phobos, he senses, could be the “Library of Alexandria” of Mars. Akin to the ancient Library in Alexandria, Egypt, this Martian moon could likely be a treasure trove, rife with knowledge and record keeping that documents all of Martian history.

  Phobos landing sites were once charted for a Russian robotic lander, but no craft made it there.

  (Illustration Credit 6.6)

  The idea of finding “little green microbes” on Phobos gained support in 2012 from Jay Melosh, a distinguished professor of earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences and physics and aerospace engineering at Purdue University. A specimen from the moon Phobos, which is much easier to reach than the red planet itself, he pointed out, would almost surely contain Martian material blasted off Mars from large asteroid impacts. If life on Mars exists or existed within the last ten million years, a mission to Phobos could yield the first evidence of life beyond Earth.

  Melosh led a team chosen by NASA’s Planetary Protection Office to evaluate if a sample from Phobos could include enough recent material from Mars to carry viable Martian organisms. Combining their expertise in impact cratering and orbital mechanics, Melosh and his associates ran a series of computer simulations.

  Their findings support the view that Phobos would have been on the receiving end of Mars material, flung out by large impact events that have happened on the planet over the past ten million years—a relatively recent event in geologic time, in other words. The team plotted more than ten million trajectories and evaluated which would intercept Phobos and where they might land on the moon during its nearly eight-hour orbit around Mars.

  When President Obama made his space exploration speech in April 2010, I happened to have with me a small replica of Phobos. I showed the President my Martian moon model, and reiterated my perspective that Phobos is the key to establishing human permanence on another planet in the solar system.

  Human adventurers taking root on Phobos is technically achievable. Making use of this moon reduces risk in what must be a step-by-step assault on Mars. There is evolving belief that Phobos enables a steady tempo of exploration and scientific discovery. This moon will not disappoint. As an offshore world of Mars, it allows us to flex our interplanetary muscles, perfect our technological tool kit, and hone astronaut proficiency on the way to our decisive dive onto the beckoning Mars landscape, humankind’s future home.

  Human habitation and exploration on Mars are within our reach.

  (Illustration Credit 6.7)

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  HOMESTEADING THE RED PLANET

  The red planet has long drawn our curiosity—and now there’s a rover prowling about Mars named just that. We first made eye contact with the world that holds its secrets tight thanks to Earth-based telescopes.

  Mars is an intellectual magnet provoking thought. Consider the view of astr
onomer Percival Lowell, writing in his 1908 book, Mars as the Abode of Life:

  Thus, not only do the observations we have scanned lead us to the conclusion that Mars at this moment is inhabited, but they land us at the further one that these denizens are of an order whose acquaintance was worth the making. Whether we ever shall come to converse with them in any more instant way is a question upon which science at present has no data to decide.

  But science about Mars has proceeded ever since, and since 1960, telescopic-driven talk about life on Mars has been augmented by voyages of numbers of automated spacecraft—sent there by multiple nations. Mars has been flown by, orbited, smacked into, radar examined, and rocketed onto, as well as bounced upon, rolled over, shoveled, drilled into, baked, and even laser blasted. Still to come: Mars being stepped on.

  Now and in the near future, robotic exploration of Mars is providing a window on a world that can be a true home away from home for future colonists.

  The first footfalls on Mars will mark a historic milestone, an enterprise that requires human tenacity matched with technology to anchor ourselves on another world. Exploring Mars is a far different venture from Apollo expeditions to the moon; it necessitates leaving our home planet on lengthy missions with a constrained return capability. Once humans are at distant Mars, there is a very narrow window within which it’s feasible to return to Earth—a fundamental distinction between our reaching Earth’s moon in the 1960s and stretching outward to Mars in the decades to come.