Landing on Mars is tough. This is well-known enough, and any mission architecture has to take into account that putting decent-sized payloads onto the planet will not be easy. For that reason, I’m strongly in favour of the establishment of an outpost for exploration, something not dissimilar in concept to the International Space Station, rather than attempting to construct a habitat for each mission. If something like SLS was available, then this would naturally be a game changer, but even then, I’d be prepared to fight for this concept.
I’ve got two reasons for this. The first is that we’re going to Mars to settle, ultimately. The goal is to found a new world – and that means constructing something that will last a long time, a nucleus for further development. The second – more realistically – is that budgets fall, especially once something has been accomplished. If the bulk of the hardware is already at Mars, then the call to make use of it is easier, if only on terms of amortization of cost. I’ve gone over my original plans again, and in the cold light of day, made some revisions. I now think that establishing the base is going to take two Falcon Heavy launches, and several smaller launches, Logistic Support flights.
As a primary model, I’ve taken the ‘Wet Workshop’ idea – the original concept for Skylab, to launch the upper stage of a Saturn V and refit it in space as a station. I don’t advocate that precisely, but certainly the astronauts will be able – to an extent – to build the base when they arrive. They don’t need a fully-functional facility, just something they can outfit with the equipment on hand. To that end, the cargo brought down by that first expedition will primarily be consumables – food, oxygen, water, sufficient to keep them going until they can get the base operational.
Using Falcon Heavy, we’re not talking about anything huge. The mission outline I’ve adopted calls for two launches in 2029 – Base Module One and ERV One, both to land reasonably close to each other, say a mile apart. You actually don’t want the ERV too close; it isn’t a good idea to launch a rocket only a few meters from your base, especially if you’re hoping to use it again. A mile apart is fine. ERV gets started, beginning the process of producing its fuel from the surface, filling its tanks to fulfil its ultimate destiny of getting a crew into orbit to begin the flight home. That’s pretty much as in Mars Direct.
Base Module One is something like a Sundancer module, around nine thousand pounds, not including landing weight. It lands deflated, only inflating two years later, before the first manned crew lands. There will be some fixed apparatus – the more, the better – and a pair of expandable modules attached to the bottom, analogous to that attached to Station right now. Those are for workshops, as a greenhouse, et cetera. You have two airlocks, also – though hopefully, you’ll only use a single one. At the same time, with smaller Falcon 9 launches, you put a trio of Logistic modules onto Mars, again within a mile of the base – carrying equipment, consumables, et cetera. Everything to outfit the base once the astronauts arrive.
A single base module isn’t going to be enough. Ideally, we’d want everything ready before the astronauts landed, but we’re going to need Base Module Two, and that will have to land with precision. Within, say twenty meters of Base Module One. The first module is still sealed, remember, at this stage. Base Module Two is guided into position by the astronauts themselves, once they are in Mars orbit, able to monitor the landing in real time. It needs real precision landing, and will be one of the most critical elements of the mission – as one of the Logistic landers will have the tunnel that connects the two modules together, forming an outpost that can house the entire crew. It’s identical to the first one – and theoretically, at a pinch, one would just about do – though it would be cramped. We’re out for maximum benefits, though.
Once the two modules are down, they can be inflated, checked, and the crew can land at a safe distance from them both, into what will now be a fairly crowded landing site. Remember that they have many months on the surface – they’ve got time to spend the first six weeks getting everything set up, installing equipment, rigging solar panels, getting everything online before beginning a serious exploration programme. This has the other advantage of giving the crew a through conditioning into work in Martian conditions while completing tasks that they will have thoroughly trained for down on Earth. Later, when they’re working far more independently, these skills will be extremely useful.
Every mission will be accompanied by a trio of Logistic vehicles – each delivering about two tons of supplies to the surface. The bulk of this will be food, but also scientific equipment, et cetera. Anything that the mission needs – though naturally, we plan one mission in advance, so the second crew will accept delivery of the supplies for the third, for example. It could be hoped that the greenhouse(s) might help with this, but for the first two expeditions, it would be best not to count too heavily on this.
A long range rover is another problem – that’s something that will definitely be needed, but not necessarily by the first expedition. I presume some sort of buggy, something similar to the lunar rover, will be available to the first team, but a later landing can provide a pair of Crew Exploration Vehicles to allow wider-ranged explorations. Of course – they could arrive in 2031 with what is becoming a significant Martian flotilla, and in an ideal world, they would, but it might be deemed wiser to spread out the cost a little.
To summarize, then. In 2027, the precursor mission lands – which sends down a series of probes to explore the local area and work out the best spot for a landing. Optionally, you might even send two or three of these, if you have some dispute over what represents the best site. In 2029, the real fun begins, with two large and two small launches – Base Module One and ERV One, as well as Logistic One and Logistic Two. Note that they can be sent up into orbit separately, over a longer period, but that they’ll have to leave at roughly the same time. This will be one of the most taxing parts of the mission – and the one with the least human intervention.
In 2030/1, seven launches are required. Base Module Two, ERV Two, two to put the MTV together (I still see no way of doing that in one launch) and three Logistic landers. That flotilla flies out to Mars, and with a little luck and a lot of work, by New Year’s Day 2032, you’ve built your Mars Surface Station. Future missions will only need five launches, at a considerably reduced cost – because you’ve already built your destination. You just have to get there, and a lot of the work has been done for you. Later crews can build on the work of the earlier, and really get to grips with one of the primary goals – living on Mars.
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