Nasa could send a crew to orbit Mars in 2033 and land the first astronauts on the red planet in 2039, new report claims

  • Planetary Society analysed the feasibility and cost of missions
  • Crewed mission to orbit the Martian moon Phobos in 2033 first step
  • will lead up to a crewed landing on the Red Planet in 2039
  • Report says missions fit within NASA's human space exploration budget

By Mark Prigg For Dailymail.com

Published: 13:30 EST, 3 April 2015 | Updated: 14:50 EST, 3 April 2015

Nasa could afford to send US astronauts to Mars orbit by 2033 and onto the Red Planet's surface by 2039, a new report has claimed. 

The Planetary Society analysed the feasibility and cost of a crewed mission to orbit the Martian moon Phobos in 2033, leading up to a crewed landing on the Red Planet in 2039.

It concluded that such a plan could indeed fit within NASA's human space exploration budget - but that politics is holding the decision back.

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The Planetary Society says Nasa can afford a crewed mission to orbit the Martian moon Phobos in 2033, leading up to a crewed landing on the Red Planet in 2039

The Planetary Society says Nasa can afford a crewed mission to orbit the Martian moon Phobos in 2033, leading up to a crewed landing on the Red Planet in 2039

HOW THE MISSIONS WILL WORK 

The Phobos orbital mission would last approximately 30 months, with nine months of travel each way and 12 months in orbit, the panelists said. 

Crewmembers would be able to study Phobos and Deimos, Mars' other moon, and potentially teleoperate rovers on the Martian surface. 

The panel said the current plan would use an Orion spacecraft to move crewmembers from Earth into orbit and back down.

'We believe we now have an example of a long-term, cost-constrained, executable humans-to-Mars program,' Scott Hubbard, a professor in the Stanford University Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a member of The Planetary Society's board of directors, said.

'This workshop was an important step in community-building among the many groups interested in Mars science and exploration.'  

The Society's CEO (and former TV 'Science Guy') Bill Nye, said: 'Getting humans to Mars is far more complex than getting to Earth's Moon,' said Nye. 

'But space exploration brings out the best in us. 

'By reaching consensus on the right set of missions, we can send humans to Mars without breaking the bank.' 

The workshop's 70 attendees discussed the technical feasibility, affordability and benefits of a proposed schedule to get humans into orbit around Mars and eventually onto the planet's surface, using a detailed plan was not created by The Planetary Society, but was proposed in a separate report co-created by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Phobos is the larger and inner of the two natural satellites of Mars, the other being Deimos. Both moons were discovered in 1877.

Phobos is the larger and inner of the two natural satellites of Mars, the other being Deimos. Both moons were discovered in 1877.

The workshop 'reached a consensus' on a series of key points, including that an orbital mission would be required prior to a crewed mission to the surface of Mars, and an independent cost estimate showed that the program would fit into the NASA budget, assuming the agency 'ends its lead role in the International Space Station.'

The 2033 orbital mission was identified as the crucial first step of the plan, comparing it to NASA's Apollo 8 mission, which took astronauts into orbit around the moon before humans landed on the satellite's surface. 

The Phobos orbital mission would last approximately 30 months, with nine months of travel each way and 12 months in orbit, the panelists said. 

Crewmembers would be able to study Phobos and Deimos, Mars' other moon, and potentially teleoperate rovers on the Martian surface. 

The panel said the current plan would use an Orion spacecraft to move crewmembers from Earth into orbit and back down.

'While the conditions for another Apollo-era Kennedy moment don't exist, we have a highly skilled scientific engineering and policy community that is eager to get going on sending humans to Mars,' said Dr. John Logsdon, workshop co-chair and professor emeritus, Space Policy Institute, Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University. 

'We believe the consensus points achieved during this workshop can get us moving down the path to the Red Planet.'

The 'Humans Orbiting Mars' workshop took place in Washington, D.C.

Various forms of propulsion have been touted for a mission to Mars, including chemical, ion (electric) and nuclear. But while nuclear is often said to be the 'holy grail', the team found it did not noticeably shorten the mission over other versions. Shown is an illustration of a concept Mars Transfer Vehicle

Various forms of propulsion have been touted for a mission to Mars, including chemical, ion (electric) and nuclear. But while nuclear is often said to be the 'holy grail', the team found it did not noticeably shorten the mission over other versions. Shown is an illustration of a concept Mars Transfer Vehicle

Logsdon said he thinks a decision on whether to adopt the plan is 'an issue for the next president.'

Hubbard said that, in the past, Mars missions may have been limited by technological or scientific challenges, but that no longer appears to be the case.

'In the past, when the question of humans to Mars came up, I would typically cite a number of major hurdles: biomedical, launch systems and so forth,' he said. 'And as of today, I think that those risks have either been reduced or you know how to minimize them, and so I am at the same place that John [Logsdon] and Bill [Nye] [are], that I think the issue now is […] political will.' 

THE JOURNEY TO MARS 

Shown is a graph of the different types of propulsion for a mission to Mars, how much they would weigh and their travel time. CECE is a type of chemical propulsion, Nerva is nuclear propulsion, RIT-XT is ion (electric) propulsion and PEMT is Pure Electro-Magnetic Thrust

Shown is a graph of the different types of propulsion for a mission to Mars, how much they would weigh and their travel time. CECE is a type of chemical propulsion, Nerva is nuclear propulsion, RIT-XT is ion (electric) propulsion and PEMT is Pure Electro-Magnetic Thrust

Owing to the orbits of Earth and Mars there are specific windows of opportunity when a mission can take place.

Our planets come as close to each other as 33.9 million miles (54.6 million km), but can be as distant as 250 million miles (400 million km).

For this reason spacecraft to Mars, such as the Curiosity rover, have to launch in certain windows when the planets are aligned.

The next window is open from January 2016 to April 2016, and will see the launch of two more missions to the red planet.

For a future manned mission, they will need to launch out in one of the windows and return in one, which will take two years in total.

Just getting there will take up to nine months. The astronauts will be there waiting for a year until they can come back - a total of around three years.

 

 

 

 

 

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