Five technologies being developed by NASA for Mars mission


Five technologies being developed by NASA for Mars mission
NASA has its eyes set on 2030s with respect to its Mission to Mars and it is certainly moving ahead with great sincerity and persistence. Owing to this, the space agency, released a report about its progress and plans for the Mars mission. Apart from other long term goals, the agency gave a peek into some amazing technologies, which it plans to develop in coming years, to make the Mars Mission a reality as soon as possible. Here are our favourite five:
1. New spacesuits: The very first thing that comes to mind when talking about a space mission is the spacesuit itself. Today’s spacesuits look more like inflated balloons than proper body hugging smart suits. Considering, astronauts going to Mars will have to spend nearly a year or more on the planet involving moving and roaming around, exploring and collecting data, the suit they wear should be such that it protects them from the damaging radiations of Mars and its cold thin atmosphere while still allowing them to move around freely in order to complete their work. The researchers want to make spacesuits that are easier to get around in. They may also incorporate augmented reality, self-healing materials, and interwoven bio-monitors. NASA plans to test a next-gen spacesuit when it sends astronauts to rendezvous with a boulder during the Asteroid Redirect Mission.

2. Deep Space Habitats: If we look at the mission we really can’t expect the astronauts to go to the Mars in a rocket and cram them in an Orion capsule for three years. So NASA wants a deep space habitat that attaches to the Orion capsule to provide more living space (and a bathroom) for the astronauts on board, as well as a habitat for them to live in on Mars. Such a habitat would need to provide life support, fire prevention, and radiation protection, in addition to giving the astronauts room to exercise and do their work.

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3. Huge rockets: The successor to the famous Space Shuttle is currently in making and is expected to be ready for lift off by 2018. This Space Launch System (SLS) will have the capability of carrying 70 metric tons of supplies into orbit. Later, it could send payloads of up to 130 metric tons into a trajectory towards Mars. At 382 feet tall, the SLS will eventually be the largest launch vehicle ever built, and even more powerful than the Saturn V rockets that carried the Apollo astronauts to the Moon. “This payload capacity far exceeds the capability of current and planned commercial launch vehicles,” says the report. Along with the Orion crew capsule (also in development at NASA), the SLS could eventually carry astronauts to Mars and other deep space destinations.

4. Propulsion using sun: The SLS derives its power by the combustion of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. But SLS is only meant to carry astronauts out of the orbit of the Earth. But for the purpose of completing the 7-month long journey to the Red planet, it would be very expensive to launch because using rocket fuel to propel a spacecraft requires a large gas tank. So NASA is planning to use the power of Sun to solve this problem. The method (which is being called Solar Electric Propulsion) would move the spacecraft by shooting ions out its rear. Electrons break down xenon gas into plasma, and an electric field accelerates the particles until they shoot the back of the engine at high speeds. Solar power provides the electrons to make it work. It is to be noted that while Solar Electric Propulsion doesn’t provide the humongous thrust of the rocket fuel, it does build up speed slowly, gradually propelling the spacecraft up to 200,000 miles per hour. And ion propulsion is very efficient too, using up to 10 times less propellant than rocket fuel. The technology is real but what needs to do now is to scale it up dramatically. To drive a heavier payload, the ion engines will need to be at least an order of magnitude more powerful.

Related Posts:
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5. Beaming lasers: Once astronauts hop on their journey to the Mars, the most important thing for them will be: Communication, as Mars is 33.9 million miles away from Earth even at its closest. So the internet connection needs to be strong enough to aid perpetual touch and communication with the astronauts. NASA’s new report notes that the Mars rovers can send and receive data at a rate of about two million bits per second. By comparison, the International Space Station’s data rate is 300 million bits per second. And in order to navigate to and land on Mars, NASA’s going to need a stronger connection–something on the order of a billion bits per second (1 Gigabit per second). Considering all this, the only solution that NASA considers to be feasible as well as effective is: Lasers! It is to be noted that during a 2013 test, a laser communication system allowed NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) to download information at 622 million bits per second. Other designs might be able to send data at a few billion bits per second out to the distance of Saturn but that is yet to be found out.

All these amazing technologies do make us optimistic about the feasibility of the Mission to Mars, but this is also true that these very technologies are going to be quite taxing for NASA in terms of time and money. But if everything turns out as planned then we will surely step onto the Red Planet fully prepared.
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