Major Research Project Manned Mars Mission

docx

School

Columbus State Community College *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

2367

Subject

English

Date

Apr 3, 2024

Type

docx

Pages

Uploaded by ChiefProton12149

ENGL2367 – Major Research Project - 1 Essay 3 - Major Research Paper Rockets are simply controlled explosions. They are also extremely expensive and inherently dangerous. A Falcon 9 Heavy, which is a partially reusable heavy lifter offered by a private American company, costs ninety mission dollars a launch and taking about sixty four thousand kilograms to low earth orbit (LEO) (SpaceX). National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has spent twenty three billion dollars or about two hundred and fifty Falcon 9 Heavy launches developing their heavy lifter that is fully expendable and can lift about seventy thousand kilograms to LEO called Space Launch System (SLS) ("NASA's Plan" 3). As a mission requires more launches the risk of losing a rocket and its payload increases, and even worse the chance of a crew. NASA's current plans for their crewed missions to Mars is very expensive, complicated, and requires a high number of launches. Their first step is setting up a lunar space station to test reliability of new life support systems and act as a port for the second step, which is an interplanetary habitat to house astronauts on their way to and from mars. These two steps will likely take a minimum of five SLS launches. The third step is to land a new mars rover to search for a landing area that also has underground frozen water for the robotic lander after that to extract and make fuel for an ascent vehicle. Fourth and final step is to land a crew habitat and launch the crew to the lunar space station. In total at least ten heavy lift launches minimum for NASA's currently planned crewed mission to mars ("NASA's Journey"). By redesigning the mission architecture of the journey to Mars can become not only feasible but also sustainable missions, so NASA should redesign their mission to Mars because it would reduce cost, simplify, and open up possibility for international partners as well. A simplified mission architecture will better focus NASA's resources to the essential steps of a sustainable Mars mission, reduce the number of launches needed and speed up mission

ENGL2367 – Major Research Project - 2 planning. A successful mission needs to be direct and trimmed to the essentials like the Apollo mission, with as little waste as possible. Robert Zubrin is aerospace engineer, and a well known advocate for landing humans on mars. Zubrin proposes a Mars mission that first sends a return to earth vehicle with a rover to convert resources into fuel, water, and oxygen, as well as a second launch to send astronauts in a lander/habitat to spend the remainder of the mission living inside of ("Sending Humans"). His Mars mission architecture not only can reduce the number of launches required down to just two super heavy lift launches, which are rockets comparable to the Saturn Five, but also cuts down on the technologies that need to be developed to just a small rover, mars ascent vehicle, and Mars lander/habitat. There are currently no super heavy lifters in operation, but SpaceX is developing a fully reusable one and both The United States of America and Russia has flown super heavy lifters in the past with more primitive technology. Reducing NASA's crewed Mars mission to this simplified form would reduce development time, reduce the overall launches required, and drastically reduce the cost of the mission to make it not only affordable but achievable in a single presidential term. Lowering the cost for a crewed Mars mission is key to a sustainable mission architecture because NASA's budget is distributed over many missions, so for a continued mission plan the cost must be reasonable to the tax payers who cover the bill. A core key to reducing the cost of a Mars mission is the ability to harvest the local resources on mars such as; rocket fuels, oxygen, and water. The Journal of Aerospace Engineering is a technical publication of research papers and advanced systems development papers. In a prototype development paper of a mars resource processing unit that unlocks mission which require "space mining and resource utilization technology will help open the solar system to a broad spectrum of missions and capabilities once mission planners realize they can liveoff the land instead of bringing everything (power, water,

ENGL2367 – Major Research Project - 3 propellant, breathable air)" (Interbartolo 58). The ability to harvest water, power, fuel, and oxygen locally on Mars reduces the cost of a crewed mission to a point that is feasible for NASA. As stated in the previous paragraph that reducing the number of launches can also have a drastic effect on the cost. With Zubrin's mission plan of two super heavy launches per four astronauts would also greatly cut the cost per mission. SpaceX is currently designing a super heavy lifter that will sell launches for a very low cost, which has only been officially stated to be under sixty million. This low launch cost coupled will only needing two super heavy launches because of resource harvesting on mars could make the whole mission architecture incredible affordable and sustainable for an United States of America mission before international partners also help with the costs. International partners can not only help share some of the costs of such a large space mission like the International Space Station, Orion, and a crewed Mars mission, but also help strengthen foreign relationships. While the first human Mars mission does not have to be an international endeavor it should be to help manage the massive cost of the mission. James Beggs was the administrator of NASA who fought for the human mars mission and partnering with other nations to do it. Beggs gave a speech about NASA planning on a crewed Mars mission going forward where he said, " this epochal step in human exploration to a planet which could become the first self-sufficient home for human beings, should be cooperative international effort" (Beggs 51). Even though he does support the mission of humans to mars being an international effort he does go on to say that should other nations choose not to participate the mission should still be carried out unilaterally if necessary. Although reducing the cost of such an expensive mission can be a huge bonus it is important to remember working together with other nations helps strengthen the ties of alliances. Carl Sagan was a famous astrophysicist who

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

ENGL2367 – Major Research Project - 4 was a well known advocate for getting humans to mars for the better of human kind. In a paper Sagan wrote he supported international partners for a crewed mission to Mars saying that " benign shared objectives extending decades into the future are still very important for the well- being of the global civilization" (81). He does admit that though this does not completely financially justify a crewed Mars mission it does definitely bring up a valid point. NASA's current mission only international partner is the European Space Agency (ESA) that helps construct a part of the Orion, but for the current mission architecture to succeed it needs more partners that are also more involved. My solution to fixing NASA's current mission plan is to adopt a more simplified and direct mission plan like Mars direct. The technologies for this architecture have already been realized and many parts even tested. We know how to make and launch super heavy lifters, make useful rovers, long mission duration living quarters, and retro-purposively landings. The reduction to only two launches helps mitigate the chance of launch failures, which would not only increase the cost of the mission but can also impact social support for a mission. This architecture would also reduce the overall cost by a substantial amount paired with the right use of private aerospace companies, SpaceX's new super heavy lifter. The shortening of development time for the technologies meaning the execution of the mission is speed to the within a decade instead of the current couple decades away, which could enable more realistic international partnership agreements to participate in much sooner and more affordable Mars mission. The other crewed Mars missions are NASA, and SpaceX's own plan. SpaceX plan is very simple, low cost, reusable, and feasible, but while effectively can get humans to mars and back has not planned out what the astronauts will do for food and clean water. Every mission has its own

ENGL2367 – Major Research Project - 5 drawbacks and benefits, but a successful mission must be able to justify to the tax payers its drawbacks with what benefits it brings to the table. This solution solves many problems with NASA's mission plan, but has some criticisms. Some say that the radiation outside of low earth orbit is too dangerous for astronauts without further testing. This criticism has two problems in my view, one which is that the Apollo astronauts experienced this level of radiation for the majority of their missions, and the second is astronauts are made aware of the dangers of their line of working from sitting on top of controlled explosions and being the first to go where others haven't. Another point advocates of the NASA mission architecture argue that the new life support systems and radiation shielding needs to be tested in lunar orbit before implemented in the mission for mars. This argument is uninformed in my opinion because we've had a constant human presents in space for over a decade aboard the ISS, and if next generation life support systems are needed than simply implement them aboard the ISS for very cheap launching on a LEO launcher from a private company instead of creating an expensive lunar orbiting station. Some may also argue that depending on a private company to develop a super heavy lifter for the mission is not reliable enough because they might no longer find it profitable to develop it. SpaceX has proven to be reliable in accomplishing goals they set, as they've greatly lowered the cost to LEO, landed and reused first stage cores, and reused crew capsules. My opinion is that yes SpaceX could back out, but with a government contract to develop and produce this launch vehicle it actually increases their ability to follow through with the cheap super heavy lifter. Although some criticisms have more weight than others these are the major arguments against simplifying NASA's current mission.

ENGL2367 – Major Research Project - 6 With everything taken into account it is not hard to justify to anyone why a simplified version of NASA's mars mission's benefits could easily outweigh the drawbacks. Robert Zubrin has once written that "Mars is a harsher place than any on Earth. But provided one can survive the regimen, it is the toughest schools that are the best. The Martians shall do well" ("The Case"). The desire to reach Mars has transcended human kind for generations. NASA is a government program funded solely by tax payers money that is distributed to them by the President of the United States of America and Congress. As such NASA and the politicians responsible for giving them money are beholden to the public's desire and influence. To push the crewed Mars mission to be refined, simplified, and possible the public must let not only NASA, but also the politicians holding the money bag, that we don't just want to reach Mars but we need to. Letting NASA know what you think about their current Mars mission is fairly straight forward you can send a letter to any of the NASA headquarters around the United States. The most simple and effective way to influence congress to give NASA increased funding to afford a crewed Mars mission is to call your congress man/women and plead your case that getting to mars is reachable and affordable. Mars is out there, hurting through space, waiting and we are on our way.

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

ENGL2367 – Major Research Project - 7 Works Cited Beggs, James M. "Humans to Mars-Why?." Vital Speeches of the Day , vol. 52, no. 2, 11/1/85, pp. 51-52. Interbartolo, Michael A., et al. "Prototype Development of an Integrated Mars Atmosphere and Soil-Processing System." Journal of Aerospace Engineering , vol. 26, no. 1, Jan. 2013, pp. 57-66. NASA. (2015). NASA's Journey to Mars (NP-2015-08-2018-HQ). https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/journey-to-mars-next-steps- 20151008_508.pdf NASA. (2017). NASA's Plans for Human Exploration Beyond Low Earth Orbit (A-16-015-00). https://oig.nasa.gov/audits/reports/FY17/IG-17-017.pdf Sagan, Carl. "Why Send Humans to Mars? (Cover Story)." Issues in Science & Technology , vol. 7, no. 3, Spring91, p. 80. SpaceX. http://www.spacex.com/about/capabilities. 19/11/2017 Zubrin, Robert. "The Case for Colonizing Mars." National Space Society, http://www.nss.org/settlement/mars/zubrin-colonize.html. 20/11/2017 Zubrin, Robert. "Sending Humans to Mars." Scientific American Presents , Apr. 1999, pp. 46-51.

Major Research Project Manned Mars Mission

Related Documents