Why Mars Can Be Affordable And Achievable

11/11/2016 10:17 am ET
Scott Audette / Reuters





Once all the elements arrive in Mars orbit, the final two pieces of the mission come into play. Improved entry, descent, and landing (EDL) approaches will safely and precisely land larger payloads on the surface. The largest payload elements, such as the surface habitat and the ascent vehicle to return the crew to Mars orbit, weigh 30 to 40 metric tons. Today we know how to land only one metric ton on Mars, so this is one of the challenges that still need to be overcome.  However, NASA is already working on improved decelerators and other techniques such as supersonic retro propulsion. Such technologies need to be perfected within the next ten years, because the most massive payload elements will need about four years to be prepositioned. Once all of these are safely in Mars orbit, the crew can launch for the roughly seven-month transfer to Mars using cryogenic chemical propulsion stages to propel Orion and the deep space transit habitat.

The power of this approach is that we can use in-space technologies that we already know work well and scale them up to accomplish the first Mars missions. Other technologies, such as on-orbit refueling or nuclear thermal propulsion, can be proven and incorporated later as they are matured.  The ultimate goal of manufacturing propellant from space resources, however, requires several steps before we can utilize such methods.  First, we must locate the resources and determine their abundance.  Next, methods of extracting and processing the material must be developed.  Then the process of manufacturing the desired propellant, such as oxygen and methane, in the quantities required must be proven in either deep space or on the planetary surface.  Therefore, while in-situ propellant production is a very attractive ultimate goal, it does not make sense to place in the critical path for the first missions.

Mars is within our grasp. With a sustained program of risk reduction activities over the next 10 to 15 years, we will eliminate the knowledge gaps that still remain and we will build up an infrastructure that is capable of sustaining human missions of ever-increasing capability.  As we mature approaches that improve upon this architecture, we will incorporate them into the overall structure.  We need to take the first step that proves the possibility.  Mars beckons us and we may be living now at the perfect time – a combination of technology readiness, public interest, and political will – to answer that call.

Joe Cassady is Executive Director, Space, Aerojet Rocketdyne
