Final Project

Thilini R.

Legislator:  Robert E. Talton, Representative

Onward to Mars

          Mars, the red planet, our neighbor, and the planet that is most like ours.  NASA has hopes of sending a manned mission to Mars.  But why should we go to Mars and what is the best way of getting there? 

For centuries, explorers have risked their lives traveling to the unknown for many different reasons.  However, all these explorers have achieved some noteworthy science just by going where no other scientist had gone before.  Columbus brought back information about the native people and the wealth that America had in store.  The Apollo program brought back new information about the moon that we use now to understand its geological history.  Mars, well, Mars can give us things that will forever change our lives.  For the entire history of our existence as a civilization, we've been explorers, pushing outward literally and figuratively. By its very nature, our species is expansionist; we survive and thrive by settling new places and new concepts.  In order to do that, we cannot be afraid or reluctant in traveling to Mars.

Although going to Mars will be extremely expensive and will cost lots of time and commitment, the benefits will far outweigh the drawbacks.  We need the Martian frontier to satisfy our natural curiosity, teach us more about international cooperation & provide a springboard for exploration & colonization deeper into the solar system & beyond. Young people will be motivated to study science & math once they have a goal to aim for.  Mars exploration will provide that goal & motivation.  We have explored most of our own planet.  Now it is time to venture out into the unknown again.  Mars will present us a challenge.  A challenge to escape from the Earth’s orbit and explore a planet that could have been very much like ours.  Mars is a timeline.  If we can figure out the past of Mars, then we can predict the future of Earth.  However, we will not be able to do that effectively without sending humans.  By using the Venusian atmospheric studies, we have discovered the potential threat of global warming by greenhouse gases.  Mars, the planet most like Earth, will have even more to teach us about our home world.

In the face of giant asteroids and other potential global hazards, we exist in the company of an amazing stroke of luck - another habitable planet, with nearly all the materials needed for a new branch of human civilization.  If we can just explore Mars and dig a little further to maybe even find a source of water, then we have a great possibility of colonizing Mars.  In fact, given the depletion of fossil fuels, the erosion of over- farmed arable land, and a global economy that offers little prospects for salvation for the Third World, a humanity that does not venture into space, it has a little chance of ever fixing its own problems. That's because most cheap technologies for clean energy, organic life support systems, low cost medical treatments, etc. -- which are absolutely vital to the survival of any space colony -- are humanity's best hope for cheaply curing the global problems of poverty, hunger, widespread disease, and environmental destruction everywhere on Earth.  A self-sufficient Mars settlement would be a testing ground for new technologies that would solve these problems cheaply and to everyone's benefit.

In order to travel to Mars, we have to have the right technology.  Developing this technology would in turn give us benefits.  During the Apollo program, we gained many spin-offs, which in turn boosted our economy.  The technology that we require to travel to Mars will reward us with many products and innovations to boost our economy.  The technology gained will prove to be a vital advantage in investing on Mars. 

A current trip to Mars is estimated to take about ten months.  Time constraints are a big problem in the voyage to Mars.  A trip that long is just not acceptable when sending humans to Mars mainly because of the health risks exposed to humans in space.  So, for us to send a manned flight to Mars we need a shorter time frame, which requires a better propulsion method.  From the technologies that are researched now and have strong possibilities, there is one method that stands out.  It is the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR).  VASIMR uses plasma as its propellant and the estimated trip would take approximately three months.  The VASIMR rocket is now being researched and developed at Johnson Space Center’s Advanced Space Propulsion Laboratory (ASPL).   Dr. Franklin Chang-Diaz directs ASPL currently.  Chang-Diaz developed the VASIMR concept in 1979 at MIT’s Charles Stark Draper Laboratory.  Plasma, the propellant is often referred to as the fourth state of matter.  It is created when a gas is heated up to extremely high temperatures, and the neutral atoms lose electrons and become positively charged, or ionized.  99% of our universe is said to be made up of plasma, including the stars. 

The VASIMR system is composed of three magnetic cells:  the forward cell, the central cell, and the aft cell.  The electromagnets are arranged as an asymmetric mirror.  In the forward cell, the propellant gas, typically hydrogen is injected into this cell. The radio waves heat the gas and strip away electrons from the hydrogen atoms, creating a gas of positively charged protons and negatively charged electrons otherwise known as plasma.  Then the central cell acts as an amplifier to heat the plasma with electromagnetic energy.  Radio waves are used to add energy to the plasma.  In the aft cell, a magnetic nozzle converts the energy of the plasma into the velocity of the jet exhaust.  The exhaust that escapes is at a speed of up to 1.05 million kilometers per hour, sixty times as fast as the exhaust from the chemical rockets.  By altering the magnetic fields, the engine's nozzle can be opened up for more thrust as the spaceship enters or leaves orbit and can be throttled back for better fuel efficiency during the trip.

Hydrogen will be the fuel for the engine.  This is efficient because in the Space Station, NASA converts H₂O to oxygen by using electrolysis.  Since each molecule of water contains two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, running a current through water causes these atoms to separate and recombine as gaseous hydrogen (H₂) and oxygen (O₂).  Right now, the Space Station discards the hydrogen but on a trip to Mars they can use it for fuel.  With the VASIMR technology and our ambition, Mars serves as a stepping stone to the universe.

Mars not only promises to be a challenge for us but also a key to new discoveries. Instead of stagnating, we should delve into the exploration of Mars by continuing research into the various propulsion possibilities, especially the VASIMR system, and planning on a mission for the future.  As long as we keep moving onward, the future will be a sea of new discoveries – discoveries about ourselves, our world, and our forthcoming.

Works Cited:

The Mars Society UK - Why Mars

http://www.marssociety.org.uk/whymars.htm

The VASIMR Magnetoplasma Rocket

http://www.media.mit.edu/~rahulb/theArts/text/papers/VASIMR.pdf

Advanced Rocketry NASA Works On Powerful Plasma Rockets

http://www.spaceassembly.com/businesstechnology/technology/plasma_propulsion_000616.html

Breathing Easy on the Space Station

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast13nov_1.htm

The Universe Today - Special Report Rocket Science for the 21st Century

http://www.universetoday.com/html/special/plasmarocket.html

Moving Forward

http://128.138.129.27/aerie/crtp/projects/alamosa/present/report-oct-95/earth1.jpg

Astronomy Picture of the Day

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/9703/mars97_hst_big.jpg

Last Updated: 07/13/01