Human Missions to Mars

Human Missions to Mars
Author: Donald Rapp
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 604
Release: 2015-10-31
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 331922249X

A mission to send humans to explore the surface of Mars has been the ultimate goal of planetary exploration since the 1950s, when von Braun conjectured a flotilla of 10 interplanetary vessels carrying a crew of at least 70 humans. Since then, more than 1,000 studies were carried out on human missions to Mars, but after 60 years of study, we remain in the early planning stages. The second edition of this book now includes an annotated history of Mars mission studies, with quantitative data wherever possible. Retained from the first edition, Donald Rapp looks at human missions to Mars from an engineering perspective. He divides the mission into a number of stages: Earth’s surface to low-Earth orbit (LEO); departing from LEO toward Mars; Mars orbit insertion and entry, descent and landing; ascent from Mars; trans-Earth injection from Mars orbit and Earth return. For each segment, he analyzes requirements for candidate technologies. In this connection, he discusses the status and potential of a wide range of elements critical to a human Mars mission, including life support consumables, radiation effects and shielding, microgravity effects, abort options and mission safety, possible habitats on the Martian surface and aero-assisted orbit entry decent and landing. For any human mission to the Red Planet the possible utilization of any resources indigenous to Mars would be of great value and such possibilities, the use of indigenous resources is discussed at length. He also discusses the relationship of lunar exploratio n to Mars exploration. Detailed appendices describe the availability of solar energy on the Moon and Mars, and the potential for utilizing indigenous water on Mars. The second edition provides extensive updating and additions to the first edition, including many new figures and tables, and more than 70 new references, as of 2015.

Safe on Mars

Safe on Mars
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 65
Release: 2002-05-29
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309169593

This study, commissioned by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), examines the role of robotic exploration missions in assessing the risks to the first human missions to Mars. Only those hazards arising from exposure to environmental, chemical, and biological agents on the planet are assessed. To ensure that it was including all previously identified hazards in its study, the Committee on Precursor Measurements Necessary to Support Human Operations on the Surface of Mars referred to the most recent report from NASA's Mars Exploration Program/ Payload Analysis Group (MEPAG) (Greeley, 2001). The committee concluded that the requirements identified in the present NRC report are indeed the only ones essential for NASA to pursue in order to mitigate potential hazards to the first human missions to Mars.

Mars Exploration

Mars Exploration
Author: Giuseppe Pezzella
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
Total Pages: 194
Release: 2020-09-09
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1839623624

More than 50 years after the Mariner 4 flyby on 15 July 1965, Mars still represents the next frontier of space explorations. Of particular focus nowadays is crewed missions to the red planet. Over three sections, this book explores missions to Mars, in situ operations, and human-rated missions. Chapters address elements of design and possible psychological effects related to human-rated missions. The information contained herein will allow for the development of safe and efficient exploration missions to Mars.

Preventing the Forward Contamination of Mars

Preventing the Forward Contamination of Mars
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 166
Release: 2006-04-22
Genre: Science
ISBN: 030909724X

Recent spacecraft and robotic probes to Mars have yielded data that are changing our understanding significantly about the possibility of existing or past life on that planet. Coupled with advances in biology and life-detection techniques, these developments place increasing importance on the need to protect Mars from contamination by Earth-borne organisms. To help with this effort, NASA requested that the NRC examine existing planetary protection measures for Mars and recommend changes and further research to improve such measures. This report discusses policies, requirements, and techniques to protect Mars from organisms originating on Earth that could interfere with scientific investigations. It provides recommendations on cleanliness and biological burden levels of Mars-bound spacecraft, methods to reach those levels, and research to reduce uncertainties in preventing forward contamination of Mars.

Why Mars

Why Mars
Author: W. Henry Lambright
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 334
Release: 2014-06-10
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1421412802

Traces NASA’s torturous journey to Mars from the fly-bys of the 1960s to landing rovers and seeking life today. Mars has captured the human imagination for decades. Since NASA’s establishment in 1958, the space agency has looked to Mars as a compelling prize, the one place, beyond the Moon, where robotic and human exploration could converge. Remarkably successful with its roaming multi-billion-dollar robot, Curiosity, NASA’s Mars program represents one of the agency’s greatest achievements. Why Mars analyzes the history of the robotic Mars exploration program from its origins to today. W. Henry Lambright examines the politics and policies behind NASA's multi-decade quest, illuminating the roles of key individuals and institutions along with their triumphs and defeats. Lambright outlines the ebbs and flows of policy evolution, focusing on critical points of change and factors that spurred strategic reorientation. He explains Mars exploration as a striking example of “big science” and describes the ways a powerful advocacy coalition—composed of NASA decision makers, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Mars academic science community, and many others—has influenced governmental decisions on Mars exploration, making it, at times, a national priority. The quest for Mars stretches over many years and involves billions of dollars. What does it take to mount and give coherence to a multi-mission, big science program? How do advocates and decision makers maintain goals and adapt their programs in the face of opposition and budgetary stringency? Where do they succeed in their strategies? Where do they fall short? Lambright’s insightful book suggests that from Mars exploration we can learn lessons that apply to other large-scale national endeavors in science and technology.

The Human Factor in a Mission to Mars

The Human Factor in a Mission to Mars
Author: Konrad Szocik
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2019-06-23
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9783030020583

A manned mission to Mars is faced with challenges and topics that may not be obvious but of great importance and challenging for such a mission. This is the first book that collects contributions from scholars in various fields, from astronomy and medicine, to theology and philosophy, addressing such topics. The discussion goes beyond medical and technological challenges of such a deep-space mission. The focus is on human nature, human emotions and biases in such a new environment. The primary audience for this book are all researchers interested in the human factor in a space mission including philosophers, social scientists, astronomers, and others. This volume will also be of high interest for a much wider audience like the non-academic world, or for students.

Humans to Mars

Humans to Mars
Author: David S. F. Portree
Publisher:
Total Pages: 164
Release: 2001
Genre: Space flight to Mars
ISBN:

NASA's Journey to Mars: Pioneering Next Steps in Space Exploration

NASA's Journey to Mars: Pioneering Next Steps in Space Exploration
Author: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Publisher: Government Printing Office
Total Pages: 36
Release: 2016-02-05
Genre: Science
ISBN:

This document communicates NASA’s strategy and progress to learn about the Red Planet, to inform us more about our Earth’s past and future, and may help answer whether life exists beyond our home planet. Together with NASA’s partners in academia and commercial enterprises, NASA’s vision is to pioneer Mars and answer some of humanity’s fundamental questions: • Was Mars home to microbial life? Is it today? • Could it be a safe home for humans one day? • What can it teach us about life elsewhere in the cosmos or how life began on Earth? • What can it teach us about Earth’s past, present, and future?

Dust in the Atmosphere of Mars and its Impact on Human Exploration

Dust in the Atmosphere of Mars and its Impact on Human Exploration
Author: Joel S. Levine
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 293
Release: 2018-10-12
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1527519155

A major surprise of the Apollo Moon missions was the deleterious impact of lunar dust on the astronauts, their spacesuits and other equipment, and even inside the Command/Service Module during their return to Earth. Lunar dust permeated everything and impacted mechanical systems. The dust on the Moon’s surface was disturbed and became airborne by the routine actions of the astronauts as they walked and performed their exploration of the lunar surface. Over the last decade, as NASA’s plans for the human exploration of Mars have developed and matured, a major concern has been the possible negative impacts of Mars surface and atmospheric dust on human health and on the human surface systems and surface operations on the Red Planet. In this book, 41 Mars scientists, mission engineers and planners and medical researchers have reviewed our current understanding and identified the knowledge gaps in a wide range of areas, including the chemical, physical and electrical properties of Mars atmospheric dust; the evolution and occurrence of localized, regional and planetary-scale dust storms; the human health effects of Mars atmospheric dust, including inhalation of and potential toxicity of dust particles; and the impact of Mars atmospheric dust on surface systems and on surface operations, among others.

The Mars Project

The Mars Project
Author: Wernher Von Braun
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 116
Release: 1953
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780252062278

This classic on space travel was first published in 1953, when interplanetary space flight was considered science fiction by most of those who considered it at all. Here the German-born scientist Wernher von Braun detailed what he believed were the problems and possibilities inherent in a projected expedition to Mars. Today von Braun is recognized as the person most responsible for laying the groundwork for public acceptance of America's space program. When President Bush directed NASA in 1989 to prepare plans for an orbiting space station, lunar research bases, and human exploration of Mars, he was largely echoing what von Braun proposed in The Mars Project.