Contact Made with Phobos-Grunt - Mission May Proceed

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ESA Tracking station in Perth, Australia
Image Credit: ESA

On Tuesday (Nov 22 2011) at 20:25 UT a tracking station based in Perth, Australia made contact with Phobos-Grunt. This was the first signal received on Earth from the spacecraft since it launched on November 8 2011. [Phobos-Grunt, Yinghuo-1, and LIFE Remain in Earth's Orbit]

Teams from the European Space Agency (ESA) that made the original contact are in discussions with Russian engineers to determine the best method for maintaining contact with Phobos-Grunt. According to Ria Novosti five attempts will be made to get telemetry from the spacecraft on Thursday. Each attempt will last for approximately 6-7 minutes.

If contact is made could the mission continue as planned?

While Ria Novosti and others report that the window to continue the mission passed on November 21 2011, some people like Dr. David Warmflash, lead investigator for the LIFE experiment on board the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft, says the mission could go on if Phobos-Grunt leaves Earth's orbit anytime well into December.

Why is this?

Current missions to Mars must fall within a specified launch window when travel between Earth and Mars is most optimal. Launch windows are calculated by determining a spacecrafts propulsion capabilities and the alignment of the concerned celestial bodies. Launch windows to get from Earth to Mars (or Mars to Earth) are around once every 26 months.

Phobos-Grunt could still make it to Mars within this launch window, but the issue is that by the time it collected samples from Phobos it would have missed the launch window for the trip back to Earth. That means that samples could not be returned until 2016, 26 months later than planned.

The two ride-along missions would still be fulfilled. 

Yinghuo-1 would be China's first foray to Mars. It would separate from the larger Russian probe in October 2012 (or maybe later now) and begin a year-long orbit of Mars. Its primary purpose is to collect data about the Martian atmosphere. On board it has a plasma package, a fluxgate magnetometer, a radio occultation sounder, and an optical imaging system. It also has two solar arrays to collect energy.

The Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment (LIFE), created by the Planetary Society is an astrobiological experiment containing ten types of organisms. It is an international venture, with cooperation from the Russian Space Research Institute, the Institute of Biomedical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Moscow State University, the American Type Culture Collection, and the Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Germany. The mission is to see what types of organisms can survive the harsh conditions of space travel. Please see the LIFE page for more information on their missions.

The two ride along missions would essentially be unaffected by an extended stay on Mars. Yinghuo-1 is only set to remain in orbit for a year regardless and the purpose of the LIFE is to determine whether life can survive the harsh conditions of deep space for an extended period of time, so prolonging the time would likely only help to the experiment.

It remains to be seen whether commands can be sent to Phobos-Grunt, but for now there is renewed hope that the mission can go on.

For the latest information on the Phobos-Grunt mission I highly recommend following Dr. David Warmflash, (@CosmicEvolution) on Twitter.

Europe and Russia Pledge to Send Man to Mars

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On Aug 17 2011 the head of the European Space Agency (ESA), Jean-Jacques Dordain, announced that they would partner with the Russian Federal Space Agency (RKA) to "carry out the first flight to Mars together." The head of the RKA, Vladimir Popovkin welcomed the pledge. 

This commitment comes as the Euro-Russian Mars500 experiment comes to completion in November. Dordain does not set a time frame, but says that the Mars500 experiment has been a factor in the decision for the ESA and RKA's pledge to send a manned mission to Mars. 

The Mars500 program was initiated on June 03 2010 by the Moscow Institute of Medical and Biological Problems in order to simulate a mission to Mars. The experiment simulates a 250 day journey to Mars, a 30 day stay on The Red Planet, and a 240 day return flight.  Mars500 simulates emergency situations that a manned mission to Mars might encounter and attempts to accurately determine how well humans can cope with a trip to and from Mars.

The spacecraft's crew is led by 38 year old engineer Alexei Sitev, and also includes Russian surgeon Sukhrob Kamolov, 32, and Russian general practitioner Alexander Smolevsky, 33. Non-Russian crew members include Italian Diego Urbina, 27, China's Wang Yue, 27, and the Roman Charles from France, 31.

The Crew of Mars500 in their mock spacecraft Source: ESA

Dordain's commitment to Mars travel is something to be expected, as the United States' NASA has set a goal of setting a man on Mars by the mid 2030s. The competition that this new announcement might bring could help increase the priority of a manned mission to Mars and push up the date. It would bring great prestige to the nation that could land the first man on Mars, much like the moon landing helped to solidify NASA's leadership in space.

A time frame for a joint Euro-Russian mission to Mars has yet to be set by the ESA or RKA, but as Mars500 culminates there will likely be an announcement on the matter. Igor Lisov, an analyst for the Moscow-based journal Novosti Kosmonavtike (Cosmonautic News) gave his own estimation of the time frame to the Voice of Russia saying "If they decide to implement an emergency program, the mission may be carried out in 10 years. If it is an ordinary one, then it will take 20 years. This is a long period of time." While this is not an official statement from either agency, it provides hope for those hoping to see a man on Mars in their lifetime. 

Cooperation between the two space agencies when it comes to Mars is not unprecedented. Both agencies, as well as NASA, have worked together since 2006 to develop EkzoMars (ExoMars), a Mars rover that will be launched from a Russian Proton Rocket in 2013 and supplied with both Russian and European equipment. 

ExoMars Rover

 It is firmly believed in Russian and Europe that future success with Mars travel and exploration will be made by working together. There are sure to be some exciting developments and/or announcements in the coming months as the Mars500 simulation comes to an end! 

Why NASA's Manned Mission to Mars Will Happen

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Most people know that NASA recently ended the shuttle program and abandoned all plans to return to the moon. but what you may not know is that NASA has launched a much more ambitious mission. a Manned Mission to Mars. Many people do not believe any such plans will ever come to fruition; they look at the recent cuts to NASA and feel that only more will come. Many people look at the scrapped lunar mission and fear that the same will become of any future attempts at manned Mars travel. So what is the difference? Why will the a manned mission to Mars become reality when so many other projects have gone out the window? And better yet, why travel to Mars?

Getting to Mars is More Important than Going Back to the Moon

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What's the point of taking a test that you already aced? What is there to prove by doing something you have already done? NASA going back to the Moon is the equivalent of you making your bed. You learned how to do that in your childhood, and it is expected that you should be able to do it now.

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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.