NASA AND MARS!

azam145

New Member
We need to learn about Mars. As the most life-friendly extraterrestrial planet, Mars is the Rosetta Stone for letting us know whether the phenomenon of life is something unique to the Earth, or prevalent in the Universe.

No one goes outside unless they are in a suit
The nearest planet with all the resources required for technological civilization, Mars will also be the decisive testing ground that will determine whether humanity can expand from its globe of origin to enjoy the unlimited prospects open to a spacefaring species.

Up to now, we have scanned Mars with telescopes and robotic probes, but our most potent instrument for scouting new worlds, the human explorer, has for the most part been left on the bench.

That has begun to change.

No, piloted spacecraft are not set to lift off for Mars. But starting in the summer of 2000, a group of scientists began the process of learning how to explore the Red Planet by engaging in a mission to one of the most Mars-like places on Earth.

North to Mars

Devon Island is located circa 75 degrees north in Canada's Nunavut Territory.

Consisting largely of polar desert with a 15-mile (24 km) diameter meteorite impact crater, the island is completely uninhabited and unvegetated.

The impact, which occurred 23 million years ago, destroyed all life on the island and created a variety of shocked terrains which are believed to be very similar to those found on Mars.


When venturing into the unknown, the unexpected will happen. But a resourceful crew can deal with it
For that reason, in 1997, US space agency (Nasa) scientists started exploring the area in order to learn about Mars by geologic comparison.

Then, in 1998 the Mars Society was founded, with the goal of promoting the exploration of the Red Planet.

We decided that, for our first project, the society should build a simulated human Mars exploration station on the island.

The purpose of the station would be to continue the geologic exploration of Devon, but do it in the same style and under many of the same constraints as would be involved in conducting such activities on Mars.

By doing so, researchers would be forced to confront some of the real problems of human Mars exploration and begin the process of developing appropriate field tactics.

Benefits from the field

Such research is vitally necessary. For example, it is one thing to walk around a factory test area in a new spacesuit prototype and show that a wearer can pick up a wrench; it is entirely another to subject that same suit to two months of real field work.

Water use is a key variable in defining Mars mission logistics requirements, yet are unknown, and will remain unknown until assessed in the context of a programme of active field exploration.

Psychological studies of human factor issues, including isolation and habitat architecture, are nearly useless unless the crew being studied is attempting to do real work.

The impacts on crew operations of candidate subsystem maintenance requirements, or various proposed procedures, can also only be measured if the crew is really operating.

Furthermore, there is an operations design problem of considerable complexity to be solved.

A human Mars mission will involve diverse players with different capabilities, strengths and weaknesses, including the crew of the Mars habitat, pedestrian astronauts outside, astronauts on unpressurised but highly nimble light vehicles operating at moderate distances from the habitat, astronauts operating at great distances from the habitat using clumsy but long-endurance vehicles such as pressurised rovers, mission control on Earth, the terrestrial scientific community at large, robots, etc.

Taking these different assets and making them work in symphony to achieve the maximum possible exploration effect will require developing an art of combined operations for Mars missions.

The Mars Arctic Research Station project would begin the critical task of developing this art.

Construction of Flashline Station

So, starting in the fall of 1998, a volunteer Mars Society task force was formed to define the project further, and during 1999 private funds were raised allowing the project to be initiated in earnest.

In January 2000, a contract for fabrication was let to Infracomp, of Commerce City Colorado, whose unique ultrastrong, comparatively lightweight, and weatherproof fibreglass honeycomb technology provided an attractive option for the Devon Island Station.

The knowledge gained will be taken to Mars when we go for real
Since Devon has no air strip capable of landing items as large as the station's primary components, we arranged with the US Marine Corps to paradrop our materials in using C-130 Hercules aircraft.

That's when things started to go wrong. The first five paradrops carrying the walls, legs and some of the dome sections of the habitat occurred on 5 July.

Despite adverse gusty winds, these delivered their payloads safely to the ground, but fell wide of the Haynes Ridge target construction site.

The sixth drop, on 8 July, carrying the remaining domes and other equipment, went well. However, 8 July's seventh and final drop was a disaster.

Human resourcefulness

The payload separated from the parachute at an altitude of 1,000 feet (300 metres), causing the complete destruction of the habitat fibreglass floors, a trailer that had been shipped to the Arctic to help move the 800-lb (360 kg) fibreglass wall panels in the event they did drop wide of the target site, and a crane required to construct the station.

With the loss of the trailer, the floors, and the crane, the construction crew that the Mars Society had paid to fly to Devon to assemble the station declared that building it was impossible, and fled the island.

Human ingenuity could be the key to survival
At this point, it seemed to most observers that the project was doomed. Indeed, one journalist covering the events went so far as to ask me: "Dr Zubrin, do you see a parallel between the failure of your programme and that of the Mars Polar Lander?"

I replied: "There's a parallel in that we both hit a rock. But the difference is that we have a human crew here, and we are going to find a way out of this."

Refusing to give up, we assembled a new makeshift construction crew consisting of a combination of Mars Society scientists, Inuit, and journalists.

We built a new trailer out of wood and parts of a wrecked baggage cart found at the Resolute Bay airport.

We acquired a rickety old scaffold and block and tackle from Resolute Bay as well, and with the help of these items, the rag-tag team of volunteers managed to improvise its way through two weeks of fifteen-hour workdays to get the station up.

Thus was bravely born the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station.

Learning Lessons for Mars

As a result of the delays caused by the paradrop accident and its difficult sequel, we did not have time in 2000 for much in the way of mission simulations.

But starting in the summer of 2001, a series of six-person crews occupied the station, conducting sustained programmes of field exploration in geology and microbiology while operating under many Mars mission constraints.

No one is allowed to go outside without wearing bulky spacesuit simulators which limit the users' agility, mobility, dexterity, and situational awareness in ways comparable to that imposed by a real spacesuit, and force teams of extravehicular explorers to communicate with each other by radio.

Limited to their own resources, the crews need to perform all the required fieldwork, lab work, repair of equipment, mundane chores, and get along, all while sending comprehensive science and engineering reports to our Mission Support centre in Denver.

This operations research programme was then expanded substantially in February 2002, when we opened our second station, the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in southern Utah.

A third station, the European Mars Arctic Research Station, or EuroMars, has been fabricated and, funding permitting, will be deployed to Iceland in the summer of 2004.

Between the Flashline Station and the MDRS a huge amount of research has already been done.

Plans to improvise

We have fielded 26 different crews, comprising some 150 different individuals drawn from 20 nations.

Over 2,000 person-days of field experience has been acquired. We have tested out crews with a variety of age, skill, gender, nationality, and character mixes.

We have tested different kinds of field mobility systems, scientific instruments, and robotic assistants. We have tried commanding the mission from Denver and from the field (the later works better - the Mars mission will have to be led from the front.)

Telescopes and robotic probes can tell us only so much
We have experimented with ancillary systems ranging from astronomical observatories to bioregenerative waste reprocessing greenhouses, and investigated a variety of alternative mission operational protocols.

Many scientific conclusions have been derived from this experience base, covering areas ranging from crew water and power requirements to the scheduling of sleep cycles, resulting so far in the publication of over 25 scientific papers and three books.

But perhaps the most important lesson was learned during the stormy building of Flashline Station itself.

Everything did not go right on Devon Island during the summer of 2000. Neither, however, can we expect everything to go right on the first human mission to Mars.

The military has a saying: "All plans fail upon contact with the enemy."

In the wild Arctic, all plans fail on contact with reality. The same will be even truer on Mars.

When venturing into the unknown, the unexpected will happen. But a resourceful crew can deal with it.

On the piloted Mars mission, the human crew will be the strongest link in the chain.

Dr Robert Zubrin is an astronautical engineer and president of the Mars Society. He details the Arctic and desert research experiences of his organisation in his new book Mars On Earth, (Tarcher Penguin, 2003.)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3342083.stm
 

suleman

New Member
Mars is certainly centre of atraction for NASA.They really did some strange advancements in that research.They found proofs of ice and water on that planet and some sighns which shows that life cud have existed there.If they find some proofs of it then its certainly a big breakthrough,and help us understand the history of life and distors that a planet face.As scientists fairly believe that earth also have a life after which it will also become deserted.
 

azam145

New Member
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #3
Re: Exploring Mars on Earth

Well NASA and ESA are interested in Mars and space in general because there is tremendous potential for finding commercial opportunities as well as adavancing our knowledge of basic science. Some ntural resources found in abundance on the moon for instance are very rare on earth and could form the basis of future fuel supply to replace oil. As it is well known that oil reserves are limited and are likely to run out in the next 100 years if not further major discoveries are made of oil.
 

suleman

New Member
can u plzz elborate it a bit what type of materials they using for alternate energy sources?
Thanks.
 

suleman

New Member
Re: Exploring Mars on Earth

Mars Exploration Rover Mission Status



Navigators for NASA's Spirit Mars Exploration Rover put the spacecraft so close to a bull's-eye with earlier maneuvers that mission managers chose to skip the final two optional maneuvers for adjusting course before arrival at Mars.

With less than four hours of flight time remaining, Spirit was on course to land within a targeted ellipse 62 kilometers long by 3 kilometers wide (39 miles by 2 miles) within Mars' Gusev Crater. A trajectory correction maneuver scheduled for four hours before landing was cancelled.

"The navigation status is truly excellent," said Dr. Lou D'Amario, the mission's navigation team chief at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. A slight trajectory adjustment on Dec. 26 was the fourth and final for the flight.

Preparations in the past two days for arrival at Mars have included an adjustment that will open Spirit's parachute about two seconds earlier than it would have been without the change, in order to compensate for recent weather on Mars. "A dust storm seen on the other side of the planet has caused global heating and thinning of the atmosphere at high altitudes" said JPL's Dr. Mark Adler, Spirit mission manager.

Also, engineers sent commands today to alter the timing when several pyro devices (explosive bolts) will be put into an enabled condition prior to firing. Enabling will begin 40 minutes earlier than it would have under previous commands. These pyro devices will be fired to carry out necessary steps of descent and landing, such as deploying the parachute and jettisoning the heat shield.

Mars is 170 million kilometers (106 million miles) away from Earth today, a distance that takes nearly 10 minutes for radio signals to cross at the speed of light. Counting that communication delay, Spirit will hit the top of Mars' atmosphere at about 04:29 Jan. 4, Universal Time (8:29 p.m. Jan. 3, Pacific Standard Time), and reach the surface six minutes later.

 

suleman

New Member
Re: Exploring Mars on Earth

Mars photos
04/01/2004 13:18 - (SA)


Pasadena - Nasa scientists are celebrating after accomplishing the most difficult part of the Martian adventure, landing the first of two twin robots on the red planet for the most ambitious scientific exploration of earth's neighbour ever undertaken.

The rover space probe plunged through the fiery Martian atmosphere for six minutes, bounced along the planet's rocky surface and came to a standstill.

"We're on Mars. It's an absolutely incredible accomplishment," said Nasa administrator Sean O'Keefe.

"We never get it right when we practice this, but this went to perfection," said Mars programme chief engineer Rob Manning. "Everything happened right when we expected it to happen."

The landing procedure began when the probe successfully rotated its thermal shield forward to protect it from the heat of the Martian atmosphere.

Before taking the plunge, Spirit separated from the cruising stage rocket that carried it for seven months.

Landing procedure


Just less than two minutes before landing, the engine opened its parachute and, 20 seconds later, the probe jettisoned the spent lead edge of its heat shield, exposing the rover's protective cone, encased in uninflated air cushions.

Six seconds before hitting the surface, the cushions inflated, and rockets on the upper shell of the shield fired to stabilise the engine. At about 15 metres from the surface, the tether to the parachute was cut.

The robot then fell freely, bouncing a dozen times on the surface before coming to rest about a kilometre away.

"You have no idea how this feels. This is a tremendous day," said mission manager Pete Theisinger, who like his colleagues seemed almost in disbelief that the process had unfolded as envisioned.

But much remains to be accomplished, the scientists pointed out.

The air cushions must deflate, the three segments of Spirit's protective cone must open and the rover must deploy the solar panels that are to power its onboard equipment and protect it from the Martian cold -- estimated at minus 50 degrees Celsius at the time of landing.

When night falls on Mars, the temperature could fall to minus 100 degrees C.

If all continues to go well, NASA engineers plan soon to deploy the rover's panoramic camera, capable of transmitting back to earth 360-degree high-resolution colour photos of the Martian landscape.

Failed Beagle attempt


This latest and most sophisticated effort to unlock the secrets of the red planet is beginning just days after the planned December 25 arrival of the ill-fated European robot Beagle 2, which has not been heard from since that date.

A second rover, Opportunity, is scheduled to land on Mars on January 25.

The Mars mission, at a record cost of $820m, will involve about 250 NASA specialists and researchers who over three months will micro-manage the two six-wheeled rovers, weighing 180 kg, roughly the size of a small car.
 

suleman

New Member
This is really a great achievement.Its years of hard work from soo many devoted people in NASA.
Congrates to all the NASA people involved in it and to the American people too for this great achievement.
I hope that this proves gealpful for humanity.
 

The Watcher

New Member
Spirit Lands On Mars and Sends Postcards

:smokingc:

A traveling robotic geologist from NASA has landed on Mars and returned stunning images of the area around its landing site in Gusev Crater.

Mars Exploration Rover Spirit successfully sent a radio signal after the spacecraft had bounced and rolled for several minutes following its initial impact at 11:35 p.m. EST (8:35 p.m. Pacific Standard Time) on January 3.

"This is a big night for NASA," said NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe. "We're back. I am very, very proud of this team, and we're on Mars."

Members of the mission's flight team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., cheered and clapped when they learned that NASA's Deep Space Network had received a post-landing signal from Spirit. The cheering resumed about three hours later when the rover transmitted its first images to Earth, relaying them through NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter.

"We've got many steps to go before this mission is over, but we've retired a lot of risk with this landing," said JPL's Pete Theisinger, project manager for the Mars Exploration Rover Project.

Deputy project manager for the rovers, JPL's Richard Cook, said, "We're certainly looking forward to Opportunity landing three weeks from now." Opportunity is Spirit's twin rover, headed for the opposite side of Mars.

Dr. Charles Elachi, JPL director, said, "To achieve this mission, we have assembled the best team of young women and men this country can put together. Essential work was done by other NASA centers and by our industrial and academic partners.

Spirit stopped rolling with its base petal down, though that favorable position could change as airbags deflate, said JPL's Rob Manning, development manager for the rover's descent through Mars' atmosphere and landing on the surface.

NASA chose Spirit's landing site, within Gusev Crater, based on evidence from Mars orbiters that this crater may have held a lake long ago. A long, deep valley, apparently carved by ancient flows of water, leads into Gusev. The crater itself is basin the size of Connecticut created by an asteroid or comet impact early in Mars' history. Spirit's task is to spend the next three months exploring for clues in rocks and soil about whether the past environment at this part of Mars was ever watery and suitable to sustain life.

Spirit traveled 487 million kilometers (302.6 million) miles to reach Mars after its launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on June 10, 2003. Its twin, Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, was launched July 7, 2003, and is on course for a landing on the opposite side of Mars on Jan. 25 (Universal Time and EST; 9:05 p.m. on Jan. 24, PST).

The flight team expects to spend more than a week directing Spirit through a series of steps in unfolding, standing up and other preparations necessary before the rover rolls off of its lander platform to get its wheels onto the ground. Meanwhile, Spirit's cameras and a mineral-identifying infrared instrument will begin examining the surrounding terrain. That information will help engineers and scientists decide which direction to send the rover first.

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, manages the Mars Exploration Rover project for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington. Additional information about the project is available from JPL at: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov and from Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., at: http://athena.cornell.edu .

Some Pictures:


This image taken by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's descent image motion estimation system shows a view of Gusev Crater during the rover's descent to the planet on January 3, 2004. The picture was taken at an altitude of 1400 meters and shows numerous impact craters on the surface of the planet. The photo was released at NASA (news - web sites)'s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California January 4. REUTERS/NASA/JPL-Handout NO SALES



This image taken by the Mars Global Surveyor highlights the same cluster of craters captured by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit as it descended to Mars on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2004. (AP Photo/NASA (news - web sites)/JPL, Mars Global Surveyor)



This is one of the first images beamed back to Earth shortly after the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit landed on the red planet. Spirit took the picture right after successfully landing on the surface of Mars.(AFP/NASA (news - web sites)/JPL-HO)


This image taken on the surface of Mars by the hazard avoidance camera on the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows the rover's rear lander petal and, in the background, the Martian horizon. Spirit took the picture right after successfully landing on the surface of Mars.



This image, taken by the descent image motion estimation system camera located on the bottom of the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's lander, shows a view of Gusev Crater as the lander descends to Mars, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2004. The picture is taken at an altitude of 1690 meters. Numerous small impact craters can be seen on the surface of the planet.

For more B/W pictures, GO HERE

NASA is still awaiting for COLOR Pictures to arrive... Which is why, I cannot post them here until they get them. :D
 

suleman

New Member
Re: Spirit Lands On Mars and Sends Postcards

I AM MERGING THIS THREAD WITH OLDER THRED REGARDING MARS AND NASA.PLEASE POST YOUR POSTS AND LATEST NEWS REGARDING NASA'S MARS VENTURE IN MERGED THREAD.
 

azam145

New Member
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #13
Time for new space focus
By Dr David Whitehouse
BBC News Online science editor

After months of speculation it now seems that President Bush will announce next week plans to revitalise and refocus the US space effort, bringing back the Moon and Mars into reach of a manned programme.

Harrison Schmitt and Eugene Cernan were the last humans to walk on the lunar surface
It is an initiative he has been discussing for a while, but has waited until the successful landing of the Spirit rover on the Red Planet to make it public.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said that after the Columbia tragedy Mr Bush made clear his desire for US space exploration to continue, but not in the same way.

"The president directed his administration to do a comprehensive review of our space policy, including our priorities and the future direction of the programme, and the president will have more to say on it next week."

But McClellan would not say more. Some US space agency (Nasa) officials have said privately they are excited at the prospect of a new direction. Others will not be so pleased.

Back to the Moon, back to stay?

As President Bush's father demonstrated, when standing on the steps of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington in 1989 - at a ceremony to mark 20 years since the first moonlanding - fine speeches do not a space programme make.

His speech was inspiring and well-received. But President Bush senior's "back to Mars" initiative was so costly it sunk under its own weight.

This time, however, it could be different. Many are fed up with the International Space Station (ISS) and the space shuttle.

Some commentators regard the ISS as too costly and unfocused; and politically it has failed to grasp the US public's imagination.

Over the years the space shuttle has been a growing problem, chiefly because it consumes so much of the US space effort's resources.

For some, given the current level of funding, it has become an obstacle. It's good that it can get astronauts into space, they say, but what happens next?

A plan comes together

The problem, it has been argued, is that the ISS and the space shuttle do not go anywhere. Many are saying that to fire up the public's imagination and support, space needs a destination - and there are only two options.

Those options are the Moon and Mars. But how do you get there?

Going to Mars would be an altogether more daunting prospect
First, streamline the current effort and release much-needed money.

This will mean scaling down the ISS and putting the troubled space shuttle into early retirement.

This would mean Nasa finally having to get its act together regarding a space shuttle replacement - an on-off drama that has staggered on for years, consuming billions of dollars, and generally getting nowhere.

The first destination will be the Moon, just a three-day space trip away, as opposed to three years to Mars using conventional rockets.

Back to the Moon would provide a focus and a destination for the US manned space effort that could be achievable within 10 years.

A manned mission to Mars would be far more costly and difficult. But if it is dependent upon going back to the Moon - where technologies could be tested - it would be politically acceptable, as the public payoff would come relatively soon.

A major turning point

In recent years, when Nasa's Mars scientists have been asked about manned missions, their response has always been to talk about their programme of robotic reconnaissance.

On one level this will not change - such reconnaissance would be necessary ahead of any manned mission to the Red planet. But I understand the emphasis will soon change.



In depth guide: Columbia's last mission
Officially supported manned missions, to the Moon and Mars, will become the overtly stated talking point.

And perhaps this way, the US space initiative will regain some of the verve it lost when the last man left the Moon in 1972.

Speculation about what presidents will say is a pointless pastime, especially for science correspondents, and we have been in the position before when politicians and space officials have said (without wanting to be named) that a new dawn is coming.

We will have to wait and see. But next Wednesday could mark a turning point in the manned exploration of space.
 

suleman

New Member
thats nice azam.Wha i am waiting is rhe news about proves of life on Mars.Believe me it would be one of the biggest achievements of human race.They can study the reasons and processes due to which life ended there and help us ubderstand earth as well and processes which lead to the death of a planet.All scientists accept it that earth is also nearing its end of life and one day this will also be a dead planet.
 

suleman

New Member

From its new location at the inner edge of the small crater surrounding it, the rover Opportunity was able to look out to the plains where its parachute, the white spot in the center, and backshell, the dark spot to the left of the chute, landed. The backshell carried the parachute and several instruments the rover used to enter the Martian atmosphere and land.


Opportunity's cam snapped this picture of part of the rock outcrop dubbed "Stone Mountain" on Mars. Scientists are examining the outcrop with instruments on the rover's arm in search of clues about its composition
 

virtual

New Member
Mars rover explores mineral trench


LOS ANGELES - (AP) -- NASA's Mars rover Spirit began investigating a trench Saturday to see if the minerals inside it can provide clues about whether there was once enough water in the area to support life.

The robot spent about two hours digging the three-inch trench Friday by running a front wheel back and forth over a stretch of ground in a depression.

On Saturday, it studied the trench with a microscopic imager and its Mossbauer spectrometer, a German-built instrument that measures the composition and abundance of iron-bearing minerals.

''Some minerals will be made out of one type of iron or another, and the type of mineral will change based on whether or not there was liquid water in the environment,'' mission manager Jim Erickson said Saturday during a teleconference from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.

Spirit was to further investigate the trench today and Monday, then continue toward a crater scientists have named ''Bonneville'' about 445 feet away.

On the other side of Mars, Spirit's twin rover, Opportunity, drove the final 33 centimeters Saturday to be in place to examine a rock called ''El Capitan,'' part of a rocky outcropping.

Studies of El Capitan with instruments that include the rover's rock abrasion tool will take place over several days.

NASA was expected to conduct the first test of the device Monday.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/nation/8011603.htm
 
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