José Antonio Rodríguez-Manfredi: "The cost and risk of manned missions to Mars are still high"

Manned missions to Mars will be "an unparalleled achievement in many ways", but the risks to carry them out successfully are still high, said Spanish researcher José Antonio Rodríguez-Manfredi, Mission manager of one of the instruments carried by the Curiosity rover and Head of Department of Instrumentation and Space Exploration of the Spanish Astrobiology Centre, in an interview with Zero Gravity. 

Rodríguez-Manfredi works on the development of spacial instruments to explore and characterize the geobiology of planets and satellites, as well as others used in the study of extreme environments on Earth. 

Regarding to Curiosity, he is the manager of the “Rover Environmental Monitoring Station” (REMS), designed by Spanish scientists, which measures the air and soil temperatures, pressure, humidity, wind speed, and ultraviolet radiation among other values. 

What is Curiosity currently working on? 

During these weeks we are in 'Planetary Conjunction', since Mars is on the other side of the sun, disrupting communications between Earth and Curiosity. In this situation, the team has decided to reduce the scientific activity to its minimum: only three instruments will be operating but minimally, while the rover remains motionless. During this time, we will not send any commands. For its part, the rover will also significantly reduce its transmissions to Earth, merely sending a signal that will tell us if it is OK. 

In recent weeks, we have been sending the work plan to be carried out during this period. Before this conjunction, Curiosity pierced for the first time in history the Martian surface and analyzed the samples obtained. 

Which other aspects of Mars are left to study by Curiosity? 

The project has set the exploration and characterization of Gale Crater as its scientific objectives because of its potential habitat for life. In that sense, Curiosity has answered many questions we had initially planned. However, Gale Crater has a wide range of environments and stores still many surprises for us. For each question we try to answer, many more arise. But ultimately, that's science. 

What are the main difficulties to overcome for a succesful manned mission to Mars? 

Apart from being extremely expensive, it is necessary to ensure the safety, health, and the return of the astronauts. During the trip, they would be subjected to extreme conditions, especially the radiation from the Sun. We are talking of between 9 and 10 month journey to Mars, a stay of a few more months to make the scientific mission profitable and the return trip. Today, we can still learn a lot of things about Mars via robotic missions, without having to assume these risks and high costs. However, sooner or later manned missions will be undertaken with no doubt. 

The scientific community seems to disagree on whether it is better to keep sending robots or focus the efforts on manned missions instead. What is your opinion? Which option offers better results? 

Undoubtedly, manned science missions could obtain tremendous results in much less time. However, the cost and the risk is high. To explain these concepts, I usually compare ground-remote robotic exploration of planets like Mars to trying to see the content of a room through a hole in the wall. Decades ago, the diameter of this hole through which we saw the room (conditioned by the tools and technology that we could send to the planet) was small compared with the much larger diameter of the hole we can see through now. It is the same in the case of Curiosity. The current scientific instruments are much more sophisticated and powerful than then. In this analogy, we now know much more about room than a few years ago. However, it would not be comparable to enter to the room and examine the inside with great detail. 

As I said before, sooner or later we will set foot on Mars. This will be an achievement unmatched in many ways. Until that point, we still have a long way to go, through robotic missions which will bring samples to Earth, for example. 

Curiosity can not detect life itself, but it can give us many clues about the possibilities of the existance of organisms on the planet. Should we focus our research on this direction before putting a man on Mars? 

Without a doubt. NASA is already considering, for future missions, the use of instrumentation directly aimed at the detection and characterization of life, past or present. The more we know of Mars before going in person, the better.

Could the U.S. carry out this effort by itself, as it did with the Moon, despite financial difficulties and within the deadline proposed by Obama? 

The titanic effort required by a mission of this magnitude is not available to any space agency alone, given the current situation. On the other hand, there have been successful examples of international collaborations in this regard, which show that these relationships work. 

What investment will be needed for a manned mission? By comparison with the cost of Curiosity or Phoenix, how much would it be? 

NASA has conducted a number of studies in this line. It has not disclose an exact figure of the investment needed, but stated that it would be a similar cost to the entire Apollo program, or about one hundred billion euros. However, it is a difficult question since it is still necessary to assess the cost of the infrastructure and development, and answer some questions that are unsolved yet... all aspects needed to launch a manned mission.

Could it be possible an international agreement for a cooperative mission among countries? Which countries might be interested in participating? 

From my point of view, I believe that an international mission would be the most reasonable way to address this challenge. The ESA (global or even national level agencies), NASA, JAXA, Roscosmos and the Canadian CSA have previously collaborated on other space projects. Moreover, the exploration of other planets is part of their programs, so at least a priori, we can expect an appropriate disposition.

How well is Spain positioned in the Mars research race? Have the crisis and the budget cuts in science undermined the Spanish participation in programs related to Mars? 

Spain occupies a consolidated position both in technological and industrial developments, as rocket science. Reaching this point has taken much time, effort, resources and investments. However, in order to maintain this position, we must keep investing in science and technology, something that is becoming increasingly difficult due to the crisis. The cuts are affecting very seriously many commitments already made as well as space programs -not just those related to Mars. This can make us lose that hard-won position.

According to several experts, the first manned mission to Mars will take place between the next 30 and 40 years. Is this feasible within the data available today? 

The global financial situation does not help to take this type of challenge. However, it is reasonable to think that man can set foot on our neighbouring planet within 30-40 years. In fact, some think that even before.

Will we see considerable progress in methods of propulsion in that period of time? Nowadays, it takes about 300 days to reach Mars, how could this time be reduced in the coming years? 

Since some years ago, we have seen how ion thrusters are breaking into the sector. Although they may not be comparable to chemical thrusters in terms of thrust, they can be used in weightlessness (once taken out of the Earth), being able to reach much greater speeds with them than with classical chemical propellants. 

Moreover, fuel efficiency in the case of ion thrusters is higher than in the case of the chemical. This could make them particularly useful in long space travel. In such cases, it is estimated that the maximum speed that a spacecraft propelled by such engines could acquire would be about 300,000 km / h. 

Some researchers such as PhD. Dirk Schulze-Makuch argue that it would be possible to establish a permanent settlement on Mars after several manned expeditions. These early settlers would extract groundwater from the poles and could grow food in greenhouses. Sounds like science fiction, but are scientists working in this direction? 

Yes, many researchers, universities and several agencies are working on all aspects of travel and colonization of Mars. A few years ago the Mars500 experiment was successful. It was led by the Russian Academy of Sciences and ESA, an its goal was to simulate a trip to Mars in all its phases, for 520 days. This is just one example of the many projects and research programs that aim to define the requirements, procedures and technologies needed to establish these settlements, location and use of available resources, etc.. 

How could the settlers prevent polutting Mars' environment and causing potential damage to microbial life such a thing exists? 

There are protocols collected in what we call "Planetary Protection" which cover not only those aspects, but also prevent Earthian life contamination when conducting sample return missions. These protocols define procedures for sterilization and monitoring everything that is sent out of our Earth. However, it is very difficult and expensive to ensure that the vehicles and the technology are absolutely free from biological contamination. Therefore, the most we can do is to reduce the likelihood of contamination everything as much as we could, but that value can never become 0.0%.

Tags: Mars, Planets, Space, Universe

Getting to Mars: the main challenges

The eagerness to get to Mars aboard a manned spacecraft in the next three decades, spurred after the discoveries made by Curiosity and its predecessors, has set the conquest of the red neighbour as the next "giant leap for mankind." However, there are still some challenges and questions to which science must find answers in order for the mission to succeed. 

- Methods of propulsion: when Mars and Earth are closest to each other, both planets distance 55 million miles. With current technology, this distance represents between 150 and 300 days of travel. Improved propulsion methods would shorten this path, and drive humans to further and more interesting places within the Solar System, such as the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. The last two rovers to land on the Martian surface, the Phoenix and the Curiosity, took 295 and 253 days, respectively. 

- Ionizing radiation: among the things that Mars might envy of the Earth there are two key needed to be understood better in order to thrive in the neighbouring planet: the atmosphere and the terrestrial magnetic field. Although Mars has both of them, they are much weaker. Thus, the level of radiation on the Martian surface exceed twice the level recorded in the International Space Station, and may increase even further depending on solar activity. What impact would have this radiation on the health of the astronauts? 

- Gravity: the red planet's gravity is 3.711 m/s², only the third of the Earth. Although higher than in the Moon (1.7 m/s²), it remains unknown whether settlers would suffered any health problems associated with weightlessness, such as loss of muscle mass and bone decalcification. 

- Wacht out, pollution!: Although the existence of life on Mars has not yet confirmed, some scientists, such as the Spanish researcher and expert in Planetary Geology Jesus Martínez Frías, warn that a manned mission should include precautions to avoid alter the new environment. 

- We have landed! So now what?: Some scientists, such as astrobiologist Dirk Schulze-Makuch of Washington State University and co-author of the book "A One Way Mission to Mars: Colonizing the Red Planet", imagine the colonization of Mars as a process that begins for manned missions which will return to Earth. However, these first trips will soon give way to a more permanent stay. The pioneers in staying on Mars would continue to receive supplies from Earth until they could support themselves (for what the International Space Station will play a key role). Mars settlers will inhabit a place certainly quirky. First, all structures or buildings should be equipped with cabin air pressure that would make its survival feasible. Measurements made so far suggest that the level of CO2 on Mars is 52 times that of the Earth, an amount that scientists believe may probably allow the cultivation of plants. Besides, the red planet's soil has proven to contain an abundant presence of minerals essential for life. 

Although supporters of the colonization of Mars argue that a human-managed scientific basis could provide valuable data for the advancement of space research, many other voices criticize the enormous expense required to put humans on the neighbouring planet, and argue that the same could be achieved for much less money using robots instead. The economic meltdown, the budget cuts in science and the success of Curiosity tips the balance in favour of the latter. The question is: for how long?

Tags: Mars, Planets, Space

The calendar to set foot on Mars

Human beings have dreamt of landing on Mars for over a century. In the last months, politicians and scientists have begun to outline a possible timetable for sending the first manned trip to the fourth planet of the Solar System in terms of distance from the Sun. While U.S. President Barack Obama has announced in 2012 that he expects the first mission of this kind to reach the red planet during the thirties, new voices now advocate this date. 

Buzz Aldrin, second man to ever walk on the Moon

These include the american astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who landed on the Moon with Neil Armstrong aboard the Apollo XI. He now says that humans will reach Mars between 2035 and 2045. Aldrin also advocates that the year 2040 should be considered the deadline for the establishment of the first permanent settlement on Mars. 

Manned missions to Mars began to be discussed in the fifties, and since then several space agencies have developed plans that address the establishment of bases on Mars as well as human's adaptation to its environmental conditions. Aldrin believes this will become the next "impossible dream” to come true, although the date on which humans could leave their first footprint on another planet for the first time still seems remote, mainly because of the very high radiation that astronauts would have to face, and the effects of long-term weightlessness. 

“Going to Mars is becoming an increasingly possible goal to achieve. I believe we will succeed in the decade 2035-2045," Aldrin said today at the European Parliament in Brussels, during the conference "100 years starship", which is part of a series of scientific seminars called "EU Science. Global Challenges and Global collaboration". 

"We're ready to send people beyond the Moon. Even during the period of economic difficulties we are experiencing, it is possible to achieve this goal" that Aldrin calls "the challenge of the century." 

In the book "Mission to Mars", to be published in May by National Geographic, Aldrin has collected the key points humankind should address to meet that deadline. 

According to the astronaut, setting foot on the red planet will require a large international investment and cooperation among countries, without letting any of them in front of the others. This is not the first time that Aldrin calls for a "unified leadership" to get to Mars. The astronaut is a strong advocate of a system of international cooperation for the promotion of the aerospacial sector which would work on a similar basis to the UN. 

In addition, the mission will require a leader that drives the project with determination, as did U.S. President John F. Kennedy when he set as a goal reaching the Moon before the decade of the 70s. In that case, the United States "did not have the expertise, but had a leader with the level of commitment necessary to get us there. We must succeed or fail, and no one was interested in failure, " added Aldrin. 

In his opinion, NASA should set 2040 as the deadline for a permanent human presence on Mars, an achievement that “will turn us into a two-planets species". A flow of manned missions would then be established between Earth and Mars, which reminds to that already proposed by the German aerospace engineer Wernher von Braun in the fifties. The chief designer of the Saturn V rocket, which carried this group of men to the Moon, devised a plan to get to Mars with the participation of ten space ships weighing about 4,000 tons and a crew of 70 passengers. 

Aldrin, the second man to ever walk on the Moon and therefore the star of some of the most iconic pictures of Earth's only satellite, also gave an overview of the most special times of the legendary Apollo XI mission. These memories are part of another of his books, "Magnificent desolation”, published in 2009. 

“I loved the idea of being a space traveller and sometimes achieve the impossible... becoming part of a team of people united by a single goal," he recalled with a hint of nostalgia, remembering his work as a NASA mechanical engineer and pilot of the Apollo XI Lunar Module. 

Buzz Aldrin, photographed by Neil Amstrong.

Only twelve men have set foot on the Moon so far. Since President Obama cancelled in 2010 the budget for the Constellation program, meant to return to the Moon with a manned spacecraft, it seems that the focus has shifted to Mars and some asteroids. 

Recently, billionaire and space tourist Dennis Tito announced a project to travel to Mars and come back to Earth with a duration of 501 days. He seemed confident that this would be the next milestone in space history. Tito, who became the first space tourist to visit the International Space Station in 2001, foresees that the project, dubbed "Mission America", would take place in 2018 -twelve years earlier than the one planned by Obama, and seventeen years before the one envisaged by Aldrin. Back in 2006, the British physicist Stephen Hawking said in a press conference in Hong Kong that a permanent base on the Moon could be established in twenty years time, while on Mars in forty years. 

"It is important for humanity to expand into the Universe in order to ensure the survival of their own species. Life on Earth faces an increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other pitfalls that we have not thought of yet" said Hawking back then.

Tags: Mars, Moon, Planets, Space