A TRIP TO MARS 1

A Trip to Mars - Can it be Done? By Jason E.M. Smith

While looking up in the night sky, the amount of stars you may say can be overwhelming. Depending on how much light is around you here on Earth, you might see some constellations made of distant stars alongside the Earths moon. Some of those lights, however, are not just stars; some are planets that are millions, if not billions of miles away. Mars is one such planet that is close enough that not only can it be seen in the night sky if youre in the right place at the right time, but we have sent robotic rovers and laboratories to go and explore Mars till we can get there one day for ourselves. We have discovered water and evidence of vast oceans that could of once existed on the now barren surface (McSween 135). By continuing our search, we could not only gain a better understanding of how our planet may have been created, but we can now get ready to send a manned flight to Mars carrying a team of astronauts that can study first hand this strange planet that we have only been able to experience through photographs. This poses the seemingly simple question of, How do we get there? The answer seems easy since we have been to the Moon, right? The Moon, however, is only a small step in comparison to Mars. We must also ask ourselves, is it safe to go that far and why should we go instead of sending the robots? Let us look at a few ways we can achieve this mission and get to Mars.

A TRIP TO MARS 2 So how will we get to Mars? The last space shuttle mission was in July 2011, and nothing else is set to take its place by NASA. There are several options in development by private companies and by NASA which may eventually take us back to the moon and perhaps our celestial neighbor, Mars. New technologies are in constant development to help expedite the process by making it cheaper, faster and safer than the Space Shuttle program. One of these many creations that can help get us to Mars will have us there in no time. On Sept. 30, 2009, Ad Astras VX-200, a two-stage, 200-kw prototype of the VASMIR plasma rocket, reached full-power plasma thrust under the control of a superconducting magnet in vacuum conditions similar to those in space. The achievement marked a critical milestone in an ongoing effort by Chang-Diaz, a plasma physicist and retired astronaut, to develop an electric propulsion drive that could one day transport humans to Mars (Carreau). According to ChangDiaz, the trip would take only 39 days instead of nearly a year that current rockets run at. To put this in perspective, say you decide to go visit your relatives that are about 300 miles away; this would probably take you around four hours at 75mph. 75mph is a safe speed, and fast for that sort of trip, but the VASMIR rocket could get you there in about 24 minutes as long as you dont hit anything. At that kind of speed, the exposure the astronauts would have to things like ionic radiation and microgravity would be minimized, leaving us with healthier, stronger, and more capable astronauts when they land on Mars. There is still the problem of micro-gravity and the toll it can take on our body. One possible solution is to develop an artificial gravity chamber that the Astronauts could exercise in for a few hours every day. This would be similar to the way astronauts in the International Space Station fight off the symptoms associated with musculoskeletal atrophy and vestibular-vegetative dysfunction with their resistive training (Kotovskaya 1609). While your body works out with the

A TRIP TO MARS 3 rubber band like resistance training equipment, you are only working with the muscles and tendons. There is no actual weight to your internal organs despite the fact of how you are experiencing a similar effect of gravity through the pressure on your feet and limbs. A.R. Kotovskaya proposes that a short-arm centrifuge (SAC) can generate artificial gravity for shortterm use. Now this short arm centrifuge straps you into a harness, attached to a table, which attaches to a spinning motor in the center of a big round room. The SAC then spins you fast enough here on earth, that it imitates high gravitational force that is experienced during a rocket launch. Having one of these machines in space would aide in the counter measure necessary to combat the effects of extended exposure to microgravity. Symptoms such as loss of hydrostatic blood pressure and weakness that occur when astronauts return to a gravitational environment like on Earth or Mars, would be minimized and require less re-adjustment time. This way when the astronauts do arrive on Mars, they would be able to withstand the effects of the gravity on the planet and work safely without the severe symptoms they may experience during the long trip. They can then complete the mission faster than any robot ever could. Now that we have figured out how we might get there, how will we provision such a trip? It wouldnt do you much good if you spend all that time in space but get to mars without any food, water, shelter or an adequate amount of air. The supplies for such a mission have to come from somewhere and the cheaper, the better. Much of what NASA used for the Shuttle missions was made in house so the costs were very high. With the current trend of commercializing space travel, the costs are being greatly reduced due to a competitive market and outsourcing to different suppliers instead of one company trying to make everything themselves. One company that has made a name for itself with the first ever commercialized rocket launch to dock with the International Space Station is Spacex, founded by the co-creator of PayPal Elon

A TRIP TO MARS 4 Musk. On May 25th 2012, the Dragon capsule launched by the Falcon 9 system by Spacex, made history by being the first commercial spacecraft to dock and deliver supplies to the International Space Station. Spacex has since been awarded $900 million over the next five years to support small launch services and larger-scale space lift missions (Albon). This makes it cost effective for the flight there. Now what about food, water and oxygen? Couldnt we just grow food on Mars? The Mars rovers and landers that have been sent previously to Mars, confirms that it is possible to plant food on the planet which would be able to sustain longer missions. We would only need to cover the food and water to get there and for a few months until a resupply comes and the food starts growing. The food would be grown and prepared on Mars by the astronauts for the return trip home. Now, if you have an apple tree planted in a bucket, its not going to grow in your garage; it needs water and sunlight. So where do we get the water? Asteroids are excellent sources of water, not to mention the ice caps on Mars. You would then have water for your team of astronauts and the food you have planted. The water could also be broken down into Oxygen and Hydrogen to provide air and a hydrogen fuel source to power the spacecraft back. Since we can plant crops on Mars, harvest the water from the ice, and enough plants could eventually start to produce more oxygen, why not see if anyone would like to just live on Mars? It would save money on return trips back, and I am sure we can find enough people willing to go live there and be the first settlers in an unknown frontier. There might be a way for people to do so according to Spacex founder Elon Musk. Elon Musk proposed to send volunteers willing to spend $500,000 a piece to Mars in effort to help start a colony. Ignoring that cost for a moment, we can see the possibility for a large colony on Mars that would be essentially terra-forming the surface for further habitation of

A TRIP TO MARS 5 humans and animals. The last major thing left that we would have to worry about is the HZE radiation from the Sun. We have figured out how to get there, how to supply the trip, how to sustain the mission, and how to combat the effects of microgravity, so what about the ionized radiation particles that can hinder the astronauts on the way there? Here on Earth we are protected from much of the Suns radiation by the planets magnetic field and its atmosphere. Once we cross that threshold in which we are no longer in that protective field, we need to safeguard ourselves from the harmful radiation. One type of radiation in particular that we are having difficulty with is the highenergy, high charge radiation (HZE). These particles are thrown across the galaxy by stars and there are only a few ways to protect ourselves from them. One easily known source is with thick slabs of lead and or concrete. That unfortunately would be impossible to get off the ground and who would want to travel the stars in a big piece of concrete and lead with no windows? A better solution might be something many of us drink every day, water. Water is another source that can block these particles and we can get it off the ground easier than a few hundred tons of rock and metal. Don Hassler from Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado suggests we could store the water needed for the trip in the walls surrounding the astronauts (Halvorson). This would be made safe to drink with the regenerative water recovery system similar to the one used on the International Space Station (Halvorson). It would almost be like we arent adding any weight to the mission at all! We will need the water anyways so the fact that it can double up is like going to work but getting paid to breathe air as a bonus. New developments are constantly being made to further human kinds knowledge of the stars and universe. We have only been as far as the Earths moon in nearly 40 years of space exploration. Although we can send robots anywhere in the Galaxy, there will always be that

A TRIP TO MARS 6 human need for discovery. There will always be someone willing to take a risk to further our collective knowledge as the human race. The need for exploration and discovery is how the New World was discovered and how we have created societies all over our planet. The further we can reach out into the universe, the further our knowledge will grow. Perhaps one day we will find out how the universe came to be and if we are the only ones out in this massive void we call the universe.

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Works Cited Albon, Courtney. "Spacex President: Company Moving Closer to USAF Launch Certification." Inside the Pentagon's Inside the Air Force 23.50 (2012) Carreau, Mark. "Close Encounter." Aviation Week & Space Technology 172.23 (2010): 80. Halvorson, Todd. "Landing people on Mars: 5 obstacles." USA Today. (2012): 1. Kotovskaya, A.R.. "The problem of artificial gravity in piloted space exploration missions." IAA Humans in Space Symposium.68.9-10 (2011): 1608-1613. McSween, Harry Y.. "Water on Mars." Elements. 2.3 (2006): 135-137.