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Mars Direct is a proposal for a relatively low-cost manned mission to Mars with current rocket technology. The plan was originally detailed in a research paper by Robert Zubrin and David Baker in 1990. Robert Zubrin (born 19 April 1952) is an American Aerospace engineer and Author, best known for his Advocacy of manned Mars Year 1990 ( MCMXC) was a Common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar) The mission was expanded upon in Zubrin's 1996 book The Case for Mars. The Case for Mars The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must is a nonfiction science book by Robert Zubrin, first published in 1996 The plan is now a staple of Zubrin's speaking engagements and general advocacy as head of the Mars Society, an organization devoted to the colonization of Mars, and has been released in video format. The Mars Society is an international Space advocacy Non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging the exploration and settlement of Mars. Mars is the focus of much speculation and serious study about possible human colonization which might be possible

Contents

The proposal

The plan involves launching an unmanned Earth Return Vehicle (ERV) directly from Earth's surface to Mars using a heavy-lift booster (no bigger than the Saturn V used for the Apollo missions), containing a supply of hydrogen, a chemical plant and a small nuclear reactor. The Earth Return Vehicle (ERV forms a part of the Mars Direct humans-to-Mars mission concept first developed by Doctor The Saturn V (pronounced 'Saturn Five' popularly known as the Moon Rocket was a multistage liquid-fuel expendable Rocket used by NASA 's Hydrogen (ˈhaɪdrədʒən is the Chemical element with Atomic number 1 This article is a subarticle of Nuclear power. A nuclear reactor is a device in which Nuclear chain reactions are initiated controlled

The ERV would take some eight months to reach Mars. Once there, a relatively simple set of chemical reactions (the Sabatier reaction coupled with electrolysis) would combine a small amount of hydrogen carried by the ERV with the carbon dioxide of the Martian atmosphere to create up to 112 tonnes of methane and oxygen propellants, 96 tonnes of which would be needed to return the ERV to Earth at the end of the mission. The Sabatier reaction or Sabatier process involves the reaction of Hydrogen with Carbon dioxide at elevated temperatures and pressures in the presence of Carbon dioxide ( Chemical formula:) is a Chemical compound composed of two Oxygen Atoms covalently bonded to a single Methane is a Chemical compound with the molecular formula. It is the simplest Alkane, and the principal component of Natural gas. Oxygen (from the Greek roots ὀξύς (oxys (acid literally "sharp" from the taste of acids and -γενής (-genēs (producer literally begetteris the This process would take approximately ten months to complete.

Some 26 months after the ERV is originally launched from Earth, a second vehicle, the Mars Habitat Unit, would be launched on a high-energy transfer to Mars carrying a crew of four. The Mars Habitat Unit (MHU forms a part of the Mars Direct humans-to-Mars mission concept first developed by Doctor Robert Zubrin This vehicle would take some six months to reach Mars. During the trip, artificial gravity would be generated by tying the spent upper stage of the booster to the Habitat Unit, and setting them both rotating about a common axis. Artificial gravity is a simulation of gravity in Outer space or Free-fall.

On reaching Mars, the useless spent upper stage would be jettisoned, with the Habitat Unit aerobraking into Mars orbit before soft-landing in proximity to the ERV. Aerobraking is a Spaceflight maneuver that reduces the high point of an Elliptical orbit ( Apoapsis) by flying the vehicle through the Atmosphere

Once on Mars, the crew would spend 18 months on the surface, carrying out a range of scientific research, aided by a small rover vehicle carried aboard their Habitat Unit, and powered by excess methane produced by the ERV.

To return, they would use the ERV, leaving the habitat for the possible use of subsequent explorers. The propulsion stage of the ERV would be used as a counterweight to generate artificial gravity for the trip back. A counterweight is an equivalent counterbalancing weight that balances a load

The initial cost estimate for Mars Direct was put at $55 billion, to be paid over ten years.

Revisions

Since Mars Direct was initially conceived, it has undergone considerable review by the Mars Society, NASA and Stanford University. The Mars Society is an international Space advocacy Non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging the exploration and settlement of Mars. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA, ˈnæsə is an agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation's public space program Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly known as Stanford University or simply Stanford, is a private Research university located in

The NASA model, referred to as the Design Reference Mission, currently on version 3, calls for a significant upgrade in hardware (up to 3 launches per mission, not two), and sends the ERV to Mars fully fuelled, parking it in orbit above the planet, where it is reached by a small ascent craft.

The Mars Society and Stanford studies retain the original 2-vehicle mission profile of Mars Direct, but increase the crew size to six.

The Mars Society has demonstrated the viability of the Mars Habitat Unit concept through their Mars Analogue Research Station program. The Mars Analogue Research Station (MARS Programme is an international effort spearheaded by The Mars Society to establish a network of prototype

Mars Direct was featured on a Discovery Channel programs Mars: The Next Frontier in which were discussed, in part, issues surrounding NASA funding of the project, and on Mars Underground, where the plan is discussed more in-depth. Discovery Channel is an American Satellite and Cable TV channel (also delivered via IPTV, Terrestrial television and

Currently NASA is in the final stages of implementing a modified Mars Direct approach to both Lunar and Martian exploration. Zubrin's ultimate goal of a fully terraformed and colonized Mars is a long-term, multigenerational goal, but eventually, if NASA's 30 year architecture is carried to fruition, that end may be seen as plausible.

A modified proposal, "Mars for Less" [1], was developed by Grant Bonin and has been adopted as the design reference mission for a new umbrella group of advocates, the MarsDrive consortium [2]. Mars for Less (MFL is a proposal for a near-term human Mars expedition that involves the use of existing Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles (EELVs or alternatively Medium-Lift The design retains most of the essential features of Mars Direct, but uses multiple medium-lift rocket launchers that are commercially available today (such as the Ariane V or the Delta rocket) to launch the crew vehicles, and their propulsion, separately, and mate them in orbit. Ariane 5 is a European Expendable launch Delta is a family of Expendable launch systems that have provided space launch capability in the United States since 1960 By doing so, the multi-billion dollar development cost of a new launch vehicle is avoided.

In fiction

See also

External links

International Astronautical Federation (IAF is based in. It was founded in as a. The Case for Mars The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must is a nonfiction science book by Robert Zubrin, first published in 1996 In Space exploration, In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU describes the proposed use of resources found or manufactured on other planetary bodies (the Moon Mars etc
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