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A concept render of the Inspiration Mars craft
(by Ned Potter, ABC News) – In 2001 millionaire Dennis Tito became the first private space tourist — he bought a flight to the International Space Station from the Russian space agency.
Now he’s aiming higher. He and a group of fellow space entrepreneurs announced on Wednesday that they will try to mount the first-ever flight to Mars, sending a man and a woman to fly past the red planet and return safely in 501 days.
And they say they hope to pull it off by 2018 — just five years from now, and decades earlier than NASA or anyone else has even contemplated.
Tito, now 72, says he does not plan to fly himself, but he does plan to bankroll part of the mission himself. A former NASA engineer who went into finance to make his fortune, he says the flight would be possible because it would use privately designed spacecraft already in development — perhaps a rocket and conical space capsule built by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company, with an inflatable module made by Robert Bigelow’s firm for extra room.
“It’s not a commercial mission, it’s a philanthropic mission,” said Tito in an interview with ABC News.
It would be a tough, dangerous, lonely trip, which is why Tito’s group, Inspiration Mars, suggests the crew be a married couple. [Mr. Tito explained: “We’re proposing a man and a woman, because this is humanity’s first flight out to Mars, and humanity should be represented by both genders. We hope that we can find a married couple. When you’re out that far and the Earth is a tiny blue pinpoint, you’re going to need someone you can hug.”] The spacecraft would not even land on Mars — too complicated to organize for now — just speed by, perhaps getting a look at it from an altitude of 100 miles.
But Inspiration Mars says the excitement of that first foray to another planet would change the world. “It’s a great step for humanity,” said Tito. “I think it would be really exciting, not only to our generation, but younger generations as well.”
Is it possible, or crazy? Doctors have worried about radiation in deep space [which can damage organs and raise the risk of cancer and Alzheimer’s disease]; psychologists have fretted about the stress on astronauts alone for more than a year in a cramped ship; [also, the human body adapts to space by losing muscle and bone, and astronauts need daily exercise on resistance machines to slow down the wasting. Finding room for those machines is crucial.] And Tito concedes the technical challenges are daunting: “We’d better start burning the midnight oil” to make the flight happen in time.
It so happens that in 2018, Earth and Mars would align in such a way that the round-trip could be made with relatively little fuel. Another chance like this would not happen until 2031. Insipration Mars says in a paper that the ship would leave on Jan. 5, 2018, pass Mars on Aug. 20, and be home on May 21, 2019.
That is, if everything works. Can it? Would you and your spouse want to be alone in deep space for a year?
“This ‘Mission for America’ will generate new knowledge, experience and momentum for the next great era of space exploration,” wrote the organizers. “It is intended to encourage all Americans to believe again in doing the hard things that make our nation great.”
Reprinted here for educational purposes only. May not be reproduced on other websites without permission from ABC News. Visit the website at abcnews.com.
Questions
1. a) Why does millionaire Dennis Tito say his proposed Mars trip is feasible decades ahead of any mission NASA would make?
b) Why would the spaceship traveling to Mars only orbit the planet and not land?
2. Why does Inspiration Mars think the crew should be a married couple?
3. What are the main challenges the mission faces?
4. a) How long will the round-trip to Mars take?
b) Why will the trip be made using relatively little fuel?
5. What is the goal for the mission, according to Mr. Tito?
6. Would you take the risk of making a flight to Mars? Explain your answer.
Background
How far is Mars from Earth?
Mars and Earth orbit the sun at different speeds: Earth has an inside track and gets around the sun more quickly. Plus, both have elliptical orbits, rather than perfect circles. So the distance to Mars from Earth is constantly changing. In theory, the closest the planets could come together would be when Mars is at itsclosest point to the sun (perihelion) and Earth is at its farthest point (aphelion). In that situation, the planets would be 33.9 million miles (54.6 million kilometers) from each other. But that has never happened in recorded history. The closest known approach was 34.8 million miles (56 million km) in 2003. (from space.com)
FUNDING FOR THE MISSION: Many experts say the mission will stand or fall on Tito’s ability to raise funds. Tito said the cost would be similar to that of a mission to low Earth orbit – the realm of space occupied by the International Space Station – but did not give a full costing. But it is almost certain that he will not get rich from the mission. He said: “Let me be clear, I will come out a lot poorer as a result of this mission but my grandchildren will come out a lot richer for the inspiration it will give them.”
SPACE.com interviewed Dennis Tito about the new private Mars mission:
SPACE.com: Would you consider going on this mission yourself?
Dennis Tito: Absolutely not. First of all, I’m 72 years old. Even if I were 30 years younger, I wouldn’t, because the one criterion that’s very important for this crew is they will have to be really mechanically inclined. They will be overhauling this life support system if it breaks.
SPACE.com: So who do you think would make good candidates?
Tito: We’re proposing a man and a woman, because this is humanity’s first flight out to Mars, and humanity should be represented by both genders. We hope that we can find a married couple. When you’re out that far and the Earth is a tiny blue pinpoint, you’re going to need someone you can hug. What better solution to the psychological problems you’re going to encounter with that isolation?
SPACE.com: Do you think it will be difficult to find people willing to undertake the mission?
Tito: Over 600,000 people have applied over the prior 40 years to be astronauts, so I’m sure there will be a lot of applications for this mission. You really have to select the best qualified people.
SPACE.com: What do you think the conditions will be like for the crew?
Tito: There are cramped quarters for the crew. It’s a Spartan mission. It’s a bold mission. What we’re doing is adding significant embellishments to the spacecraft so that it’s capable of sustaining two people for 500 days. We have a lot of work to do. But we’d use existing launch vehicles and we have several ideas about that, we’re talking to industry about that.
SPACE.com: Have you decided yet whether you’ll use SpaceX’s Dragon capsule and Falcon Heavy rocket for the mission?
Tito: We used SpaceX as a reference in our study, but there’s a lot we don’t know about whether Dragon’s going to be selected by NASA as a commercial crew vehicle. Falcon heavy hasn’t been launched yet. There are a lot of unknowns. We don’t want to put all our eggs in one basket.
SPACE.com: What is the scientific value of a manned mission to Mars, if the crew won’t be landing on the planet?
Tito: At first, I thought this is not a science mission. This is for inspiration; it’s a test flight to show we can get there. You’re going to learn a lot about the engineering problems. But then as I started learning more about the life sciences, apparently [the benefits] are huge. There hasn’t been really any information on human behavior in this kind of environment. The impact of radiation, the isolation – the academics are all very excited. It’d be a huge scientific valuein the life sciences.
SPACE.com: But you’re really aiming for inspiration?
Tito: My younger years were during the Apollo missions. The ’60s for me were just really exciting times. It had a whole impact on my generation. I know the space program caused me to get my engineering degree. But what happened to the interests of this generation in science? It’s really on a decline. And I think if we have this first mission to Mars, even though it’s far from our goal of landing, I could see it jumpstarting interest in space. I could see the potential of recreating what existed 50 years ago during the space race. I think it will be a big step in America’sleadership role in the world.
SPACE.com: Is NASA involved in this mission?
Tito: We just signed a Space Act Agreement with them for at least one of the critical path areas. Rather than NASA funding us, we’re funding NASA. That showed us that they’re really willing to endorse the idea of public-private partnerships. They’re not endorsing this mission, at this point, but they’re certainly open to the idea of helping us with the technology, because that technology is going to benefit them.
SPACE.com: How likely is it that you’ll actually be able to launch this mission in 2018?
Tito: I give it a good chance. We’re seeing a lot of positive response from people. I can’t make it happen by myself. It isn’t like I can just write a check for the whole thing, or force the engineering to come out the way I want it to. But unless we run into showstoppers, I don’t see why not. We can do this if we want to. I can’t tell you how excited I am. It’s hard to sleep at night. My gut feeling is, we’re going to make it.
Resources
Visit the Inspiration Mars website for more information about the mission: inspirationmars.org
Watch a news report:
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