MISSIONS TO MARS

The 2030s is the decade in which humans finally land on Mars – using a technology strategy already decades old. Back in 1990 a team of engineers led by Robert Zubrin presented NASA with a new plan to get people to Mars, called ‘Mars Direct’. The core of it was a scheme to manufacture rocket fuel on Mars, by using the Red Planet’s carbon dioxide air to make methane. Removing the need to carry the propellant for a return journey all the way to Mars reduces the mission size and cuts costs. The mission unfolds across several launch windows. First, an uncrewed Earth Return Vehicle (ERV) is sent to Mars, along with an automated factory for manufacturing the methane propellant. The stratagem is designed for safety. The human crew do not launch until their return ship is safely on Mars and fuelled up.

At last, on 4 April 2038, a crew drawn from four nations – the US, Russia, China, and the European Federation – travelling in a ship assembled at Lagrange Station in Earth orbit, lands on Mars. (Turn the page for more information on Lagrange Station.) And Zubrin lives to see his vision fulfilled. The landing site is in the Ares Vallis, close to the remains of NASA’s Pathfinder probe. This echoes the achievement of Apollo 12 on the Moon in 1969, which had tested navigation techniques by landing within walking distance of an inert Surveyor probe. It is necessary for ERV and lander to touch down close to each other – and Pathfinder is as good a marker to aim for as any. There are other scientific objectives, such as in examining the behaviour of materials on Mars.

Just as reaching the Surveyor was a mission highlight for the Apollo astronauts, it is a cultural feat to visit the monument. A shot of mission commander Martha Ono cradling Pathfinder’s tiny Sojourner rover in her arms is the most forwarded post in social media history. Space archaeologists, however, howl with anguish.

“THE LANDING SITE ON MARS IS IN THE ARES VALLIS”