The triumphant landing of the Perseverance rover has inspired all Americans, and indeed much of the world. President Biden should follow it up by launching a program to send humans to Mars.
While robotic rovers are wonderful, they cannot resolve the fundamental scientific question that Mars poses to humanity, which relate to the potential prevalence and diversity of life in the universe. The early Mars was very much like the early Earth; a rocky, warm and wet planet with a carbon dioxidedominated atmosphere. Life appeared on Earth virtually as soon as our planet was cool enough for liquid water. Did it appear on Mars too? If so, did it use the same DNA-RNA information system underlying all life on Earth, or something else? We now know that billions of stars have planets. Is life likely to found everywhere? Is life as we know it on Earth what life is, or is it just a particular example drawn for a vast tapestry of possibilities?
These are questions that thinking men and women have wondered about for thousands of years. They can only be resolved by sending humans.
Finding evidence of past life requires fossil hunting. Perseverance will make a stab at that, but human rock hounds, capable of traveling far over difficult terrain, climbing, digging, doing delicate work and intuitively following up clues, can do that job vastly better. Finding extant life to determine its nature will require drilling down hundreds of meters to reach underground water where life might still thrive, bringing up samples, culturing them and subjecting them to analysis. That is light-years beyond the ability of robotic rovers.
If we dont go, we wont know.
Some say that sending humans to Mars is a task for the far future, far beyond our abilities. In fact, the means to do such a mission are close at hand.
Sending humans to Mars does not require building gigantic nuclear-powered ion-drive science-fiction spaceships in a futuristic world of orbital spaceports. It requires sending a payload of 10 tons or more capable of supporting a small group of people from Earth to Mars, landing it and then sending that or a comparable payload back.
The currently operational SpaceX Falcon Heavy could throw a 10-ton class lander to Mars. The soon to be operational NASA SLS and SpaceX Starship booster will be able to send a 20-ton lander. So, we have that part covered. The next thing we need is the lander.
The Perseverance landing system can deliver one ton to the surface of Mars. To get started with human exploration, we need a 10-ton class lander. There are a number of ways to create such a system. For example, we could use aeroshells, parachutes and landing jets, or perhaps a miniature version of Starship. I wont go into the details. But the bottom line is if we can land one ton on Mars, we can land 10. It requires no scientific breakthroughs, just engineering.
Once we have a 10-ton lander, we can use it send large robotic expeditions to Mars. Instead of landing one rover, we land a platoon of robots. These could include science explorers like Perseverance, and much bigger versions of the Ingenuity helicopter capable of broad-ranging reconnaissance. A team of smaller rovers armed with high resolution cameras could create a high-definition map of the area and transmit it to Earth, allowing millions of people here to walk the landscape with virtual-reality gear, directly assisting the robots in exploration by calling their attention to features of interest.
But the expedition would also include construction robots, possibly humanoid in form with arms and legs, capable of building a Mars base. These would set up a power system and put in operation units for converting Martian carbon dioxide and water ice into methane and oxygen rocket propellant, which would be stored in tanks. With such a base set up and fully equipped with housing, power, a lab, a workshop and supplies in advance, all astronauts will need to do is show up with a credit card, and check in. Everything they need to live and work on Mars, and return from Mars, will be there waiting for them.
The is nothing in this plan that is beyond our capability, either technically or financially. Joe Biden could take the key step that would allow America to once again to astonish with world with what free people can do. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the importance of science to our lives. Science comes from scientists, who come from children who want to become scientists. Youth loves adventure. As during the Apollo days, a bold space program would make science the great adventure, inspiring millions of young people to want to become scientists, engineers, inventors, medical researchers and technological entrepreneursthe ultimate resource we will need to meet whatever challenges the future may bring.
Seize the moment, Joe.
More here:
President Biden Should Push for the Human Exploration of Mars - Scientific American
- NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover Reached the South Side of Pinnacle Ridge What's Next? - SciTechDaily - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- One Horse Spun and Three Withdrawals at MARS Badminton Final Horse Inspection - Eventing Nation - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Get ready for the Jupiter and Mars conjunction before dawn - EarthSky - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- "Mars One Thousand One" at the City of Science of Tunis - US Embassy in Tunisia - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- The 2024 Humans to Mars Summit is happening now. Here's how to watch live. - Space.com - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- These Rocks Formed in an Ancient Lake on Mars - Universe Today - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- NASA's Plans for Next-Generation Mars Helicopters Are Up in the Air - Scientific American - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Venus looked a lot like Earth when they first formed - NPR - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- A journey to Mars in just two months: a revolutionary rocket engine is invented - The Universe. Space. Tech - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- New Thomas Mars Chess Bot On Chess.com - Chess.com - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- We Need to Consider Conservation Efforts on Mars - Universe Today - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- How fungi and bacteria could help build habitats on Mars - Modern Ghana - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- A Laser Zapped the Rocks on Mars and Revealed a Long-Lost Water World - Popular Mechanics - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Mayan Intercropping Could Be Key to Food on Mars - Newser - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Jared Leto on 'emotional time travel' of singing Thirty Seconds to Mars hits on new tour - ABC News - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Mars Hill seeks input from residents on new bike and pedestrian path - Citizen Times - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- T-Minus: New SpaceX fashion, a Mars mystery, and more - Freethink - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Nasa reveals rocket that can travel to Mars in 2 months - The News International - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- NASA wants to build a new rocket that could get to Mars in just 2 months - Quartz - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- This is how NASA is preparing to protect its astronauts on Mars from solar flares - Deseret News - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- MICK MARS Wanted To Do Something 'Different' With His Debut Solo Album: I Didn't Want It To Sound Like '1980s Music' - BLABBERMOUTH.NET - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Mars invests $47 million in sustainable dairy initiative - Food Business News - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Will SpaceX's Innovation Save NASA's Mars Mission? - SciTechDaily - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- The 2024 MARS Badminton Field: At A Glance - Eventing Nation - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Mars may have been more Earth-like than we thought, discovery of oxygen-rich rocks reveals - Livescience.com - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- ENs Ultimate Guide to the 2024 MARS Badminton Horse Trials - Eventing Nation - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Abigail Allwood Doing Mars Rover Astrobiology Fieldwork in Greenland - Astrobiology - Astrobiology News - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- See Ingenuitys Flight Map: 72 Helicopter Flights on Mars - Science@NASA - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Bob Jones, Hartselle and Mars Hill baseball advance to state championship series - WHNT News 19 - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- EXOs D.O. Turns Up the Passion on Mars: Song Review - Rolling Stone India - May 13th, 2024 [May 13th, 2024]
- Scientist explains the weird stuff that would happen to the first humans who live on Mars - UNILAD - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Heating Mars On The Cheap - Hackaday - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Elon Musk just gave another Mars speechthis time the vision seems tangible - Ars Technica - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Thousands of strange white rocks found on Mars. Will they ever be brought to Earth? - Space.com - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Could microbes feed astronauts on Mars? - Sciworthy - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Elon Musk to send a million people to Mars - AzerNews.Az - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Bruno Mars Announced as L.A.s Intuit Dome Grand Opening Performer - Hollywood Reporter - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- L.A. Clippers New Intuit Dome Will See Bruno Mars As Its Opening Act - Deadline - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- NASA's Curiosity Mars rover begins exploring possible dried-up Red Planet river - Space.com - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- NASA`s Perseverance rover spots thousands of `unusual` white rocks on Mars - WION - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- For Elon Musk and His Disciples, Mars Is Heaven - The Catholic Thing - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Mission to Mars? Vertical Future to develop prototype for growing crops in space - BusinessGreen - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- SpaceX plans to leave the first humans on Mars stranded with no way home - TweakTown - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Astrophysicist called the colonization of Mars a dangerous illusion - The Universe. Space. Tech - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Bruno Mars Announced as Intuit Dome's Grand Opening Performer With Two Shows in Los Angeles on August 15 and 16 - Business Wire - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Mars may not have had liquid water long enough for life to form - Ars Technica - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- NASA Crashed a Spacecraft Into an Asteroid and There Could Be Some Consequences - Popular Mechanics - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Madison board to vote on Mars Hill wedding venue, 1st since event venue moratorium - Citizen Times - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Want to Start a Farm on Mars? This Rover Will Find Out if it's Possible - Universe Today - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Bruno Mars will open the new Intuit Dome in Inglewood with 2 shows in August - Daily Breeze - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- The Vanguard of the Red Planet: Understanding the Drive Behind Mars Colonization - yTech - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- New insights into Mars' vanishing water mystery from Curiosity rover - Earth.com - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Bruno Mars announced as grand opening act of Inglewood's new Intuit Dome - FOX 11 Los Angeles - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Mars and FAO Food Safety Partnership Targets Mycotoxins - Food Digital - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Preparing for the Psychological Journey to Mars: Innovative Research on Astronaut Well-being - yTech - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- NASA May Have Inadvertently Redirected An Asteroid At Mars - IFLScience - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- NASA mission sparks 'space billiards' as boulders head toward Mars - Gwinnettdailypost.com - April 8th, 2024 [April 8th, 2024]
- Giant Mars asteroid impact creates vast field of destruction with 2 billion craters - Space.com - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- NASA's attempt to bring home part of Mars is unprecedented: The mission's problems are not - Phys.org - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Mars Spacecraft Marks 25,000 Orbits With Volcanoes, Clouds And A Moon - Forbes - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- NASA smashed an asteroid with a rocket. The debris could hit Mars. - National Geographic - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Elon Musk Says 'Almost Anyone' Can Afford A $100,000 Ticket To Mars By Working And Saving But 57% Of People ... - Yahoo Finance - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Mars Mysteries: Unveiling the Icy Craters - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Future Mars plane could help solve Red Planet methane mystery (exclusive) - Space.com - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Sols 4137-4138: Fascinated by Fascination Turret! NASA Mars Exploration - NASA Mars Exploration - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Drilling for water ice on Mars: How close are we to making it happen? - Space.com - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- This Summer, Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Grateful Deads From the Mars Hotel - Rolling Stone - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Bruno Mars and Las Vegas from those MGM debt rumours to his new bar - Style - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Mars using Ansys software to transform packaging development - Recycling Today - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Mars as a Driver of Deep-Sea Erosion - Eos - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- A Song of Ice and Tectonics - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Mars Hill students, faculty join residents to mourn 10 campus trees ahead of removal - Citizen Times - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Grateful Dead From The Mars Hotel (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) - Shore Fire Media - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Texas will be the launchpad for Mars: Governor announces board of directors for Texas Space Commission - KWTX - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- M&Ms and Snickers parent company Mars spending $70M to open an 'innovation lab' in NJ - NorthJersey.com - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Historic water bomber, Hawaii Martin Mars, to be displayed in BC museum - The Nelson Daily - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals (SHERLOC) - NASA - NASA Mars Exploration - March 29th, 2024 [March 29th, 2024]
- This little rover will ride shotgun on Japan's ambitious Mars moon sample-return mission - Space.com - March 6th, 2024 [March 6th, 2024]
- Lawmakers announce caucus focused on space and planetary science - NBC News - March 6th, 2024 [March 6th, 2024]
- The science value of Mars Sample Return - The Planetary Society - March 6th, 2024 [March 6th, 2024]