Dennis Tito plans to send people to Mars in 2018
Another serious player joined the race for Mars.
Yesterday, a press conference was held of the recently created non-commercial foundation of the Inspiration Mars Foundation, which presented its project of a nonstop manned flight around Mars in 2018.
Let me remind you that NASA is planning a manned flight to Mars in the 30s of the 21st century, the program of the European Aurora space agency suggests a manned flight in 2033. Roscosmos is more streamlined in preparing a manned flight to Mars in the first half of the century. Until recently, government projects had a shortage of finances, leading to a reduction in previously planned programs.
Since 1990, the topic of the colonization of Mars has been actively developed by the non-profit organization The Mars Society of Robert Zubrin , which has established test scientific stations on Earth, where various aspects important for a successful mission to the Red Planet are being worked out.
Since the beginning of the century, the private company SpaceX has joined in the creation of a relatively cheap booster rocket capable of providing a flight to Mars.
In 2012, the private project of the European company Mars One , which gathered to overtake all state space agencies and send the first colonialists to Mars in 2022, became a sensation.
And now the Americans again declared the first manned flight to Mars.
This time the initiator was the American billionaire and the first space tourist Dennis Tito, who is planning a nonstop expedition to Mars in 2018. According to the plan, the spacecraft should start on January 5, 2018, reach Mars on August 20, 2018 and return to Earth on May 21, 2019.
')
Unlike other companies that require significant investments from outside to fly to Mars, the American multimillionaire takes the bulk of the costs and acts as a donor for the development necessary for the success of this mission. It is also planned to attract private donations and participation of charitable foundations. Tito at the conference said that he had already allocated money, which “will be enough for the first couple of years of work - until the end of 2014”. At the conference, the fundraising began, and they report that the first 10 dollars were made by a 6-year-old boy, who called the mission “My Apollo”.
The main stated goal of the “Mission America” is “to generate new knowledge, experience and give impetus to the next great era of space exploration. It is designed to encourage all Americans to believe in the greatness of the nation through hard actions, while at the same time inspiring and motivating young people to get an education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). ” Therefore, Tito is important that this will be "an American project, and the crew members must be US citizens." Jonathan Clark, a specialist in space medicine, said that "it is preferable that the crew consists of a married couple."
On March 3, at the IEEE Aerospace Conference, Dennis Tito and his team will present an extensive report “A Feasibility Study for a Manned Free Returning Mission to Mars in 2018,” which is already available online at the Foundation’s website .
The mission is based on the use of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch vehicle to launch a space capsule.
.
Flying to Mars and returning to Earth is expected along an optimized return gravity trajectory.
.
The crew will fly around Mars, and within 10 hours will observe its night side from the closest distance of about 100 km.
This principle was successfully used for the first manned mission to the moon. “The peculiarity of this mission is its simplicity. It does not provide for great risks and dangerous maneuvers of a spacecraft that will not enter the Martian atmosphere, ”said Tito at the conference.
To return the capsule for the first time for a manned mission, the principle of aerodynamic drag on the Earth’s atmosphere will be used. Ten days after aerodynamic braking, the Dragon capsule would return to Earth at a speed of 14.2 km / s - the fastest descent of a spacecraft crew in history. Therefore, the mission will require some additional research of the protection system, first of all - thermal protection. To this end, Paragon and the Inspiration Mars Foundation have already signed an agreement with NASA Ames Research Space Center, paying $ 100,000 for the start of work.
The mission is based on existing developments and available in the near future, and is planned to be very ascetic: “it is supposed to satisfy only basic human needs in order to maintain the metabolic processes of two 70 kg people, with a metabolic rate of 11.82 MJ / day. The comfort of the crew is limited to the needs of survival ... a minimum of clothing and hygiene. " The final mission architecture has not yet been approved. It may be possible to use an inflatable module in the bow of the capsule - similar to the one that the private company Bigelow Aerospace will install on the International Space Station (ISS).
The flight does not involve spacesuits and the exit of the spacecraft, which requires the installation of all life support systems inside, and possibly makes the addition of external inflatable modules problematic. Whatever design is adopted, in any case the ship will be cramped. The entire apparatus must be put into orbit from one launch, which significantly limits the payload. A mission that requires more than one launch increases dramatically in price and complexity.
The cost of the mission has not yet been finalized and is estimated at $ 500 million, experts talk about a billion (the cost of the Curiosity mission is $ 2.5 billion). And unlike other space projects, Tito is a very rich man, ready to write some pretty big checks, which increases the credibility of the mission. For Dennis Tito, this is not the first investment in space. He became the first space tourist in 2001, paying $ 20 million for this.
This mission is not intended to make a profit. As written in the IEEE document: “Sending a man on an expedition to Mars will be a defining event for all of humanity, as well as an inspiration for our young people. Social media will enable people to meaningfully participate in the mission, which probably makes it the most attractive human activity in modern history. The mission will be engaged in one of the most fundamental technical tasks facing man in the exploration of outer space, the preservation of life and productivity of people in deep space. "
But the time factor is not on the side of the project, and it requires a very tight schedule. To launch in January 2018, the project must be completed in just a year, including the choice of launch vehicle, which must be ordered and built by the beginning of the mission. The launch window is an objective thing and cannot be delayed. It is associated with such a phenomenon as the confrontation of Mars - the smallest distance between our planets.
A simple online program allows you to visually observe the mutual position of the Earth and Mars, depending on the calendar.
It is for 2018 that the Great Opposition falls - when Mars is as close to Earth as possible. The previous such confrontation was in 2003, and the next window suitable for such a flight will be only in 2031. Therefore, testing of the systems will most likely be very limited, and it is impossible to check in advance all their activities. As soon as the device starts, there will be no way back; the interplanetary mission has only one variant of the trajectory that has the Earth as its final destination. Therefore, a lot of time in the document is devoted to discussing the safety and life-support aspects of the station and the requirements for reliability of equipment maintenance and repair, which suggests some of its uniqueness for this mission. Perhaps saving on weight, abandon some of the backup systems, and the private crew will agree to this risk for the sake of primacy to see Mars with my own eyes.
The founder of the fund itself is not going to fly to Mars, but I would like to wait for the historic journey to the Red Planet, the next most important stage in the exploration of human space. NASA plans to carry out such a flight only in the early 2030s. “I can't wait so long,” said Dennis Tito, who is now 72 years old.
It is assumed that the crew will be a married couple, not of childbearing age. Among the first candidates are Taber McCallum and Jane Pointer, members of the Foundation team, already familiar with prolonged isolation, when they participated in the Biosphere-2 experiment in 1991-1993, now they are around 50 years old.
The main risk is associated with radiation hazard during the flight, from which people on Earth are protected by a magnetic field. In addition, the flight falls on a minimum of 11-year cycle of solar activity during the period of the quiet Sun. Moreover, some forecasts suggest the lowest level of solar activity during the entire epoch of space exploration during the flight period, which means that the level of solar radiation will be minimal, but the maximum effect of galactic cosmic rays on the Solar System. Protection requires mass and volume, which is precious for a given mission. Most likely, water screens will be used as radiation protection.
Long-term weightlessness in 50 years of manned flights has already been learned to cope, both with the help of special physical exercises and pharmacologically. Today, the longest space flight was 437 days, and 501 days for just a couple of months more, which is no longer a problem.
As for the psychological problems of prolonged isolation in a tight capsule in the middle of outer space, the mission involves ground-based modeling of flight conditions for at least six months, and the crew will be prepared for launch one year before the flight. In any case, the crew will have no time for reflection - all the time of the flight will be filled with scientific research for NASA and other institutes - for the first time a man leaves the Earth’s magnetic field and goes into deep space, to which scientists have many questions.
And the implementation of this mission, albeit a deadly risk, will provide many answers to the question about the possibility of humanity's exit from the cradle of the Earth, and stimulates a new round of aerospace development, both private and public.
It is not yet clear how the potential collision of comet C / 2013 A1 with Mars that may occur in October 2014, which is unlikely, but rather ambitious in its hypothetical consequences, will actively affect the outlook for the flight.
In my recent post, there was a discussion about the prospects of private space exploration. Note that both this individual and the expedition are financed by a private individual, and a significant proportion of the companies playing a leading role in its implementation, both Paragon and SpaceX, and Bigelow Aerospace are private companies.
What the state space agencies cannot do now, postponing and stretching their space programs for decades, private corporations plan to implement in record time. And we can observe the entire process from the start of the project to the launch of a manned spacecraft to Mars in the foreseeable future.
According to the materials ( http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=1699 and others.)
Yesterday, a press conference was held of the recently created non-commercial foundation of the Inspiration Mars Foundation, which presented its project of a nonstop manned flight around Mars in 2018.
Let me remind you that NASA is planning a manned flight to Mars in the 30s of the 21st century, the program of the European Aurora space agency suggests a manned flight in 2033. Roscosmos is more streamlined in preparing a manned flight to Mars in the first half of the century. Until recently, government projects had a shortage of finances, leading to a reduction in previously planned programs.
Since 1990, the topic of the colonization of Mars has been actively developed by the non-profit organization The Mars Society of Robert Zubrin , which has established test scientific stations on Earth, where various aspects important for a successful mission to the Red Planet are being worked out.
Since the beginning of the century, the private company SpaceX has joined in the creation of a relatively cheap booster rocket capable of providing a flight to Mars.
In 2012, the private project of the European company Mars One , which gathered to overtake all state space agencies and send the first colonialists to Mars in 2022, became a sensation.
And now the Americans again declared the first manned flight to Mars.
This time the initiator was the American billionaire and the first space tourist Dennis Tito, who is planning a nonstop expedition to Mars in 2018. According to the plan, the spacecraft should start on January 5, 2018, reach Mars on August 20, 2018 and return to Earth on May 21, 2019.
')
Unlike other companies that require significant investments from outside to fly to Mars, the American multimillionaire takes the bulk of the costs and acts as a donor for the development necessary for the success of this mission. It is also planned to attract private donations and participation of charitable foundations. Tito at the conference said that he had already allocated money, which “will be enough for the first couple of years of work - until the end of 2014”. At the conference, the fundraising began, and they report that the first 10 dollars were made by a 6-year-old boy, who called the mission “My Apollo”.
The main stated goal of the “Mission America” is “to generate new knowledge, experience and give impetus to the next great era of space exploration. It is designed to encourage all Americans to believe in the greatness of the nation through hard actions, while at the same time inspiring and motivating young people to get an education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). ” Therefore, Tito is important that this will be "an American project, and the crew members must be US citizens." Jonathan Clark, a specialist in space medicine, said that "it is preferable that the crew consists of a married couple."
On March 3, at the IEEE Aerospace Conference, Dennis Tito and his team will present an extensive report “A Feasibility Study for a Manned Free Returning Mission to Mars in 2018,” which is already available online at the Foundation’s website .
The mission is based on the use of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch vehicle to launch a space capsule.
.Flying to Mars and returning to Earth is expected along an optimized return gravity trajectory.
.The crew will fly around Mars, and within 10 hours will observe its night side from the closest distance of about 100 km.
This principle was successfully used for the first manned mission to the moon. “The peculiarity of this mission is its simplicity. It does not provide for great risks and dangerous maneuvers of a spacecraft that will not enter the Martian atmosphere, ”said Tito at the conference.
To return the capsule for the first time for a manned mission, the principle of aerodynamic drag on the Earth’s atmosphere will be used. Ten days after aerodynamic braking, the Dragon capsule would return to Earth at a speed of 14.2 km / s - the fastest descent of a spacecraft crew in history. Therefore, the mission will require some additional research of the protection system, first of all - thermal protection. To this end, Paragon and the Inspiration Mars Foundation have already signed an agreement with NASA Ames Research Space Center, paying $ 100,000 for the start of work.
The mission is based on existing developments and available in the near future, and is planned to be very ascetic: “it is supposed to satisfy only basic human needs in order to maintain the metabolic processes of two 70 kg people, with a metabolic rate of 11.82 MJ / day. The comfort of the crew is limited to the needs of survival ... a minimum of clothing and hygiene. " The final mission architecture has not yet been approved. It may be possible to use an inflatable module in the bow of the capsule - similar to the one that the private company Bigelow Aerospace will install on the International Space Station (ISS).
The flight does not involve spacesuits and the exit of the spacecraft, which requires the installation of all life support systems inside, and possibly makes the addition of external inflatable modules problematic. Whatever design is adopted, in any case the ship will be cramped. The entire apparatus must be put into orbit from one launch, which significantly limits the payload. A mission that requires more than one launch increases dramatically in price and complexity.
The cost of the mission has not yet been finalized and is estimated at $ 500 million, experts talk about a billion (the cost of the Curiosity mission is $ 2.5 billion). And unlike other space projects, Tito is a very rich man, ready to write some pretty big checks, which increases the credibility of the mission. For Dennis Tito, this is not the first investment in space. He became the first space tourist in 2001, paying $ 20 million for this.
This mission is not intended to make a profit. As written in the IEEE document: “Sending a man on an expedition to Mars will be a defining event for all of humanity, as well as an inspiration for our young people. Social media will enable people to meaningfully participate in the mission, which probably makes it the most attractive human activity in modern history. The mission will be engaged in one of the most fundamental technical tasks facing man in the exploration of outer space, the preservation of life and productivity of people in deep space. "
But the time factor is not on the side of the project, and it requires a very tight schedule. To launch in January 2018, the project must be completed in just a year, including the choice of launch vehicle, which must be ordered and built by the beginning of the mission. The launch window is an objective thing and cannot be delayed. It is associated with such a phenomenon as the confrontation of Mars - the smallest distance between our planets.
A simple online program allows you to visually observe the mutual position of the Earth and Mars, depending on the calendar.
It is for 2018 that the Great Opposition falls - when Mars is as close to Earth as possible. The previous such confrontation was in 2003, and the next window suitable for such a flight will be only in 2031. Therefore, testing of the systems will most likely be very limited, and it is impossible to check in advance all their activities. As soon as the device starts, there will be no way back; the interplanetary mission has only one variant of the trajectory that has the Earth as its final destination. Therefore, a lot of time in the document is devoted to discussing the safety and life-support aspects of the station and the requirements for reliability of equipment maintenance and repair, which suggests some of its uniqueness for this mission. Perhaps saving on weight, abandon some of the backup systems, and the private crew will agree to this risk for the sake of primacy to see Mars with my own eyes.
The founder of the fund itself is not going to fly to Mars, but I would like to wait for the historic journey to the Red Planet, the next most important stage in the exploration of human space. NASA plans to carry out such a flight only in the early 2030s. “I can't wait so long,” said Dennis Tito, who is now 72 years old.
It is assumed that the crew will be a married couple, not of childbearing age. Among the first candidates are Taber McCallum and Jane Pointer, members of the Foundation team, already familiar with prolonged isolation, when they participated in the Biosphere-2 experiment in 1991-1993, now they are around 50 years old.
The main risk is associated with radiation hazard during the flight, from which people on Earth are protected by a magnetic field. In addition, the flight falls on a minimum of 11-year cycle of solar activity during the period of the quiet Sun. Moreover, some forecasts suggest the lowest level of solar activity during the entire epoch of space exploration during the flight period, which means that the level of solar radiation will be minimal, but the maximum effect of galactic cosmic rays on the Solar System. Protection requires mass and volume, which is precious for a given mission. Most likely, water screens will be used as radiation protection.
Long-term weightlessness in 50 years of manned flights has already been learned to cope, both with the help of special physical exercises and pharmacologically. Today, the longest space flight was 437 days, and 501 days for just a couple of months more, which is no longer a problem.
As for the psychological problems of prolonged isolation in a tight capsule in the middle of outer space, the mission involves ground-based modeling of flight conditions for at least six months, and the crew will be prepared for launch one year before the flight. In any case, the crew will have no time for reflection - all the time of the flight will be filled with scientific research for NASA and other institutes - for the first time a man leaves the Earth’s magnetic field and goes into deep space, to which scientists have many questions.
And the implementation of this mission, albeit a deadly risk, will provide many answers to the question about the possibility of humanity's exit from the cradle of the Earth, and stimulates a new round of aerospace development, both private and public.
It is not yet clear how the potential collision of comet C / 2013 A1 with Mars that may occur in October 2014, which is unlikely, but rather ambitious in its hypothetical consequences, will actively affect the outlook for the flight.
In my recent post, there was a discussion about the prospects of private space exploration. Note that both this individual and the expedition are financed by a private individual, and a significant proportion of the companies playing a leading role in its implementation, both Paragon and SpaceX, and Bigelow Aerospace are private companies.
What the state space agencies cannot do now, postponing and stretching their space programs for decades, private corporations plan to implement in record time. And we can observe the entire process from the start of the project to the launch of a manned spacecraft to Mars in the foreseeable future.
According to the materials ( http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=1699 and others.)
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/171077/
All Articles