Red Dragon Mission to Mars

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Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), has developed a capsule that can take large payloads into space. On Nov. 30th 2011 they are launching one of their Dragon capsules and docking it with the International Space Station (ISS).

Dragon docked at International Space Station
Source: NASA

The CEO of SpaceX, Elon Musk, says that they are working on upgrading the capsule so that it could take even greater payloads all the way to Mars. They have been working in conjunction with NASA to determine the feasibility and cost of such a mission and the results have been staggering.
Usually the cost of a space mission is measured in billions of dollars, but using the Dragon capsule and Falcon Heavy rocket, the cost of a mission to Mars would only be $400 million. To put that in perspective, the cost the Mars Science Laboratory, Curiosity is $2.5 billion. For a fraction of that price, the Dragon capsule could take a much heavier payload to Mars.

Dragon Spacecraft with Solar Panels Deployed
SpaceX

The proposed mission, called Red Dragon, would send a drill to Mars in order to take an unprecedented look beneath the Martian surface. Red Dragon would drill approximately 3.3 feet underground and sample the water ice that lies just below the soil.

A still from a SpaceX mission concept video that shows a Dragon capsule landing on Mars.

NASA plans to send Red Dragon either to the landing site of Phoenix Lander or Viking 2, both of which are known to have subsurface water ice. Red Dragon would not launch until 2018 because they are still upgrading the Dragon capsule and running it through rigorous tests to ensure it can survive the trip to Mars and the harsh environment of The Red Planet itself.

Landing site of Viking 2 in 1976
Source: NASA

SpaceX is not stopping with Red Dragon; CEO Elon Musk announced earlier this year that they hope to send an astronaut to Mars within the next 10 to 20 years. This is much faster than NASA's plans, which has a goal of man on Mars no sooner than 2035.

One thing is for sure, the ambition of SpaceX and other commercial companies will help to further the exploration of Mars, and make space exploration cheaper than it has ever been.

"Ultimately, the thing that is super important in the grand scale of history is 'Are we on the path to becoming a multi-planet species or not?' And if we're not, that's not a very bright future, we'll simply be hanging out on Earth until some eventual calamity claims us." - Elon Musk (CEO of SpaceX) at a conference held on 02 August 2011 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Arguments for Life on Mars

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Was there ever life on Mars? Is there still life on Mars?

These are the questions that millions of people have asked since Percival Lowell first announced in 1895 that the deep ravines and 'canals' on Mars were created by intelligent beings. As humanity began studying The Red Planet they were ultimately able to refute this popular assertion, but whole generations grew up with tales of Martians and little green men. It led to fascination and hope that humanity was not alone in the universe.

The hope that intelligent beings lived on Mars was dashed in July 1965 when Mariner 4 flew past Mars and took the first close-up photographs of the Martian surface. Those pictures showed a desolate planet that resembles the Moon with its barren landscape and essential lack of atmosphere. 

For those that still had hope that intelligent life once existed on Mars they became excited by the clear pictures taken by Mariner 9 in 1972, which gave evidence that water had once been abundant on the Martian surface. In the years since photos from other satellites orbiting Mars also led scientists to the same conclusion, that liquid water had once covered much of the Martian surface, but that it was now unable to exist on the surface. So while it was concluded that intelligent life was not present on Mars, the scientific community and the world at large still held out hope that some form of life existed on The Red Planet.

Evidence that Liquid Water Once Existed on the Martian Surface.

More about Water on Mars

Evidence of Past Water Provides Hope

The evidence that water had one existed on the Martian surface gave scientists and the populous hope that life might have existed on Mars as well. However, scientists briefly had their hopes dashed when NASA's Viking Program brought soil samples from the Martian surface back to Earth. They could not discover any microbial life or evidence that life could actually exist in the soil of Mars. These findings were disputed though; many people believed that the method used to bring the samples back to Earth had killed any proof of life. Scientists and people everywhere were once again hopeful.
So if water had once existed on the Martian surface, perhaps it was possible that microbial life had existed as well. And if it was possible that microbial life had existed, why couldn't it still exist? Scientists were doubtful that it could still exist because the conditions are Mars were so severe that no known life could tolerate them.

The Discovery of New Life

This was the common consensus until a discovery on Earth led scientists to redefine the necessary parameters for life. In late 2010 NASA discovered bacteria in Mono Lake, California that did not use all the elements previously thought necessary to sustain life. The bacterium replaced phosphorous with arsenic, an element that was previously considered toxic and an impediment to life.

Credit: Washington Post

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NASA Ordered to Send Astronauts to an Asteroid Within 15 Years

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Reports from the Associated Press, the Daily Mail, and other media outlets claim that NASA was given a new objective. They were reportedly told by President Obama that they had to put astronauts on an asteroid within 15 years. They are to remain on that asteroid for an as of yet unspecified period of time.

The idea is that landing and living on an asteroid will take much of the same technology as landing and maintaining a permanent presence on Mars. So why don't we just go to Mars?

The asteroids are closer than Mars, so it would take less energy and fuel to get there. This project is considered a stepping stone in America's goal of setting man on Mars by 2035.

In order to get to the asteroid it is necessary to send a few unmanned craft carrying supplies to the asteroid. It would be improbable to send everything with the manned ship. The necessary devices are numerous and very similar to those detailed by Robert Zubrin,  President of Mars Society and the aerospace research and development firm Pioneer Astronautics, in his explanation of how we could easily send a man to Mars within a decade. These are detailed in an article about the ability for Manned Exploration of Mars Within a Decade and his book (below):

One of the goals of sending astronauts to an asteroid is to learn how to change its orbit. By experimenting on an asteroid that is not a danger to Earth, humanity will be better prepared to deal with an asteroid that is set to impact Earth.

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