Tycoon proposes to send married couple around Mars
WASHINGTON (AP) - In less than five years, a married couple could be on their way toward Mars in an audacious but bare-bones private mission that would slingshot them around the red planet, under a plan announced Wednesday by a financial tycoon and his team.
The voyage to Mars and back would be a cosmic no-frills flight that would take the husband-and-wife astronauts as close as 100 miles to the planet, but it would also mean being cooped up for 16 months in a cramped space capsule half the size of an RV.
The private, nonprofit project, called Inspiration Mars, will get initial money from multimillionaire investment consultant Dennis Tito, the first space tourist. The team would not say how much the overall flight would cost, but outsiders put it at more than $1 billion.
NASA will not be involved. Instead, the project's backers intend to use a private rocket and space capsule and some kind of habitat that might be inflatable, employing an austere design that could take people to Mars for a fraction of what it would cost NASA to do with robots, officials said.
The crew members will have no lander to go down to the planet, and no spacesuits to go out for any spacewalk. They will have minimal food and clothing, and their urine will be recycled into drinking water.
"This is not going to be an easy mission," chief technical officer and potential crew member Taber MacCallum said in an interview. "We called it the Lewis and Clark trip to Mars."
It also involves a huge risk, more than a government agency like NASA would normally permit, officials concede.
"It's a risk well worth taking," MacCallum said. He said it harkens back to the days when people took risks when it was meaningful, and he said it could be an inspiration, especially to students.
As for why a couple will make the flight, "this is very symbolic and we really need it to represent humanity with a man and a woman," MacCallum said.
He said if it is a man and a woman on such a long, close-quarters voyage, it makes sense for them to be married so that they can give each other the emotional support that will probably need when they look out the window and see Earth get smaller and more distant: "If that's not scary, I don't know what is."
The project aims to capitalize on the once-in-a-generation close approach of the two planets' orbits. The timeline for the 501-day mission is set out in a technical paper to be presented next month at a scientific meeting. It calls for a launch on Jan. 5, 2018, a Mars flyby on Aug. 20, 2018, and a return to Earth on May 21, 2019.
In a statement, NASA spokesman David Steitz said the venture validates President Barack Obama's decision to rely more on private sector ingenuity to explore space, and is "a testament to the audacity of America's commercial aerospace industry and the adventurous spirit of America's citizen-explorers."
He said "NASA will continue discussions with Inspiration Mars to see how the agency might collaborate on mutually beneficial activities."
Stanford University professor Scott Hubbard, NASA's former Mars mission chief, said that the team's technical paper is "long on inspiration, short on technical details. What is there is correct."
"It's sort of an audacious thing to say, 'I'm going to fly by Mars in five years,'" said MacCallum, who was part of a team that lived for two years in Biosphere 2, a sort of giant terrarium on Earth that was supposed to replicate a mission on another planet.
The voyage to Mars and back would be a cosmic no-frills flight that would take the husband-and-wife astronauts as close as 100 miles to the planet, but it would also mean being cooped up for 16 months in a cramped space capsule half the size of an RV.
The private, nonprofit project, called Inspiration Mars, will get initial money from multimillionaire investment consultant Dennis Tito, the first space tourist. The team would not say how much the overall flight would cost, but outsiders put it at more than $1 billion.
NASA will not be involved. Instead, the project's backers intend to use a private rocket and space capsule and some kind of habitat that might be inflatable, employing an austere design that could take people to Mars for a fraction of what it would cost NASA to do with robots, officials said.
The crew members will have no lander to go down to the planet, and no spacesuits to go out for any spacewalk. They will have minimal food and clothing, and their urine will be recycled into drinking water.
"This is not going to be an easy mission," chief technical officer and potential crew member Taber MacCallum said in an interview. "We called it the Lewis and Clark trip to Mars."
It also involves a huge risk, more than a government agency like NASA would normally permit, officials concede.
"It's a risk well worth taking," MacCallum said. He said it harkens back to the days when people took risks when it was meaningful, and he said it could be an inspiration, especially to students.
As for why a couple will make the flight, "this is very symbolic and we really need it to represent humanity with a man and a woman," MacCallum said.
He said if it is a man and a woman on such a long, close-quarters voyage, it makes sense for them to be married so that they can give each other the emotional support that will probably need when they look out the window and see Earth get smaller and more distant: "If that's not scary, I don't know what is."
The project aims to capitalize on the once-in-a-generation close approach of the two planets' orbits. The timeline for the 501-day mission is set out in a technical paper to be presented next month at a scientific meeting. It calls for a launch on Jan. 5, 2018, a Mars flyby on Aug. 20, 2018, and a return to Earth on May 21, 2019.
In a statement, NASA spokesman David Steitz said the venture validates President Barack Obama's decision to rely more on private sector ingenuity to explore space, and is "a testament to the audacity of America's commercial aerospace industry and the adventurous spirit of America's citizen-explorers."
He said "NASA will continue discussions with Inspiration Mars to see how the agency might collaborate on mutually beneficial activities."
Stanford University professor Scott Hubbard, NASA's former Mars mission chief, said that the team's technical paper is "long on inspiration, short on technical details. What is there is correct."
"It's sort of an audacious thing to say, 'I'm going to fly by Mars in five years,'" said MacCallum, who was part of a team that lived for two years in Biosphere 2, a sort of giant terrarium on Earth that was supposed to replicate a mission on another planet.
We could be there in 2 mins once they figure out warp drive technology.Â
is that a flyer or a shake weight?... that is some expensive cab fare ...
Overheard at Mission Control, Mission Day 16:
"THAT'S IT! I WANT A DIVORCE! GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU CRAZY [redacted]!"
I can't be the only one to notice the resemblance between the vessel image and a popular home personal massager.
More like Lois and Clark:)
Lets see... Nearly two years cooped up in a small camper like vehicle with someone that at first you care for and as time goes on not so much as you cannot get away from them.Â
One thing is for sure is that whoever builds it should not outsource the engineering and construction like Boeing did with the 787. Otherwise it will likely fall apart before it leaves earth orbit.
After going to the moon in the 60's we should have been on Mars in the 80's. We put all our resources into the shuttle program for 30 years that could only get us to a low orbit. Now we have to hitch a ride on a Russian rocket just to get into space. NASA needs a goal and timeline or else they just fritter money away on random projects that never get finished.
Shouldnt be any problem with time in space, a Russian was in space for over 400 days and Ive heard of no ill effects since his return.
@SkaBobSkaBob wrote:Â "a Russian was in space for over 400 days and Ive heard of no ill effects since his return."
All of those "longest time in space" records have been set in low orbit, protected by the Earth's magnetic field. Conditions beyond the Van Allen belts are much more hazardous to life.
@Sutekh @SkaBob And the Russian in question suffered from some pretty serious loss in muscle tone. It was over three weeks before he could walk on his own, despite daily workouts.Â
IIRC [and I might be wrong on this one] I thought that there was some bone calcium issues as well.
The most difficult problem facing planners of Mars voyages is keeping the astronauts safe from ionizing radiation. Currently, the only way to lessen this risk is to reduce the exposure by making the trip as quick as possible. A 16-month cosmic ray bath is not my idea of a honeymoon.
It sounds cool, but I have my doubts... It's like all those flying cars on the cover of Popular Mechanics magazine since the 60's... reality seems to get in the way, and it never seems to come to fruition.
Risk IS the main thing of this mission. Â What is the projected solar index for this time period? Â Are the electronics hardened? Â What kind of shielding will the ship have in the event of a major solar eruption? Â CO2 equipment alone will have to compete with the major space requirements for food storage on 501 day duration joyride. Â Dang, I can think of MANY reasons why, but I'm too tired from work to type a 20 page critique.
One thing, construction quality for a build of this length is CRUCIAL.
@K. Coleman Right on about quality. WSDOT is totally out.Â
This reminds of that old 1960's movie Way...Way Out with Jerry Lewis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Way...Way_Out
Hopefully they succeed. Human space travel has really stagnated since going to the moon.
@Paddy The reason for that is everything is so far away.  We can learn much more from here on earth by reading Radio waves, X-Rays and  Gamma Rays as well as from things like Hubble and other satellites and rovers.  16 months to Mars and back and it is the closes planet.  There are billions upon billions of galaxies in the univers and our alone is 100,000 light years across.  That means it would take you 100,000 years to get to the other side of our very own galaxy and that would be if you were traveling at the speed of light.  Human space travel is a thing of the past. Â
@The206 @Paddy I hope they succeed as well.Â
There was a great cover of Scientific American a few months ago with Buzz Aldrin showing that stony face of his... The cover read:
"They promised us space colonies... What we got was FaceBook."
If NASA wants the public to get excited about space again, they need to quit baby-stepping it and actually get serious about putting a manned mission to Mars together. Heck, even returning to the Moon would be an achievement at this point.
Until we figure out how to travel faster than light.. Warp speed.. LOL ... where did I leave those plans for the warp field generator?? I hate it when I do that..
The idea sounds good but why just orbit the planet and use 16 months to do it. First build a modular ship so the people will have some living space. Carry a lander that can return to the mother ship and send a minimum of 4 people on the trip. Two people would not posses enough skills but four would. Using the modular approach we launch two or more segments and link them with a thruster unit. Doing the same with extra fuel for the return journey. Next link them all together and then launch it into orbit with the thruster unit. To me going all the way there and not landing is a waste of time. This is not a moon orbital shot that takes weeks. We have all the necessary tools and skills to do it and if several aspiring space companies join we then would have the funds. By doing this we may be able to determine if Mars is habitual or what it would take to make it so. It would be nice to have a place to go if these crazies here decide to nuke each other to death.Â
@LongBeachBum I think the point of this mission is to take baby steps toward eventually landing on Mars. Also, it seems like the overall objective is to do this as cheaply as possible. Landing would add a lot of expenses and risks when the goal is just to approach the planet. Once this is achieved, I bet a lot of funding and increased interest will help fund future landings.Â
Seems to me, we already know the approach to the planet,... we have sent how many rovers there? That, is already established.. it makes sense to go ahead and land there, since we are there...
I think we need to work with colonizing the moon first.. then the lessons learned from that, could be applied to Mars..
In a Hitachi Magic Wand?
Good one.
Now that would be a honeymoon, I wonder how many would come back wanting a divorce?
Wonder if we send two out, three will return...LOL