Mars: Are Dreams of Human Habitation and exploration achievable?

NASA and private sector experts now agree that a man or woman could be sent on a mission to Mars over the next 20 years, despite huge challenges.

The biggest names in space exploration, among them top officials from the US space agency and Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, will discuss the latest projects at a three-day conference starting Monday in the US capital.

Renewed interest in the red planet has triggered the launch of several initiatives in recent months, including one proposing a simple one-way trip to cut costs.

The American public also favours sending astronauts to Mars, according to a survey by non-profit group Explore Mars and US aerospace giant, Boeing.

The poll in March of more than a thousand people published in March found that 71 percent of Americans expect that humans will land on Mars by 2033.

Seventy-five percent say NASA’s budget should be doubled to one percent of the federal budget to fund a mission to Mars and other initiatives.

Buzz Aldrin

NASA receives only 0.5 percent of the US federal budget, compared to four percent during the Apollo project to conquer the moon in the 1960s.

The US space agency’s chief, and ex-astronaut, Charles Bolden has stressed that ‘a human mission to Mars is a priority.’

But the US financial crisis is a major obstacle to such a project.

‘If we started today, it’s possible to land on Mars in 20 years,’ said G. Scott Hubbard of Stanford University.

‘It doesn’t require miracles, it requires money and a plan to address the technological engineering challenges,’ added Hubbard, who served as NASA’s first Mars program director and successfully restructured the entire Mars program in the wake of mission failures.

Scott Hubbard

Placing a mass of 30-40 tonnes — the amount estimated to be necessary to make a habitat on the red planet — would be one of the greatest challenges, along with the well-known problem of carrying or producing enough fuel to get back, Hubbard stressed.

The Curiosity rover took a nail-biting seven minutes in August to make its descent on Mars, but it only weighed one tonne.

The $2.5 billion Curiosity mission, which is set to last at least two years, aims to study the Martian environment and to hunt for evidence of water in preparation for a possible future manned mission.

Robotic missions will therefore be necessary to prove the system works before scientists can even contemplate sending humans aboard.

NASA is currently developing a Space Launch System (SLS) and the Orion Crew transport capsule for distant space exploration.

The Orion Transportation Capsule, shown below, will be powered by the European ATV power unit, part of a long-standing collaborative agreement with ESA.