The Future of Mars
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Mars is about 1,000 times farther away than the moon. In the year 1989 the 20th anniversary after the first moon landing. President Bush ( The father of President George W. Bush ) asked Nasa to get people on Mars. What Nasa came up with a 30 year plan. Nasa’s plan was to use methods similar to earlier Apollo missions. They planned to build a massive interplanetary spacecraft. They would have to build it outside of the Earth’s atmosphere. But the real problem was that building this massive spacecraft would cost $450 billion.
The Mars direct plan missions use Mars soil for returning back to Earth. In doing this we can save lots of fuel. So we can make smaller spacecraft which are lighter so in then in the long stretch we can save money. Reusing rockets that propelled current space shuttles or using existing Russian Energy rockets would reduce the cost of the mission. This would result in 5 Mars direct missions that would cost only $40 billion. Compare that to Nasa’s original 30 year plan that would cost us $450 billion.
The Habitation Module is a home for astronauts during their missions to the red planet. The Habitation Module can live 4 astronauts at once. The upstairs of the Habitation Module will have sleeping quarters for each crew member, a gallery kitchen, a laboratory, and a place to excursive. (And you can’t forget about the bathrooms!) All of this is built around an airlock in the center. The airlock can also be used double as a solar flare in case of emergencies.
The astronauts can make the Habitation Module bigger by attaching and tying down lightweight but tough inflatable modules to the main module.
When the astronauts complete their mission they will take their 6 month trip home using fuel generated by the propellant plant. The ERV (Earth Return vehicle, the vehicle that will take the astronauts home) will probably weigh about 29 tons. A small nuclear reactor will be on on board producing 100 kilowatts to help with their journey home. The Habitation Module and probably another ERV will be left on Mars for the next crew.