There's lots of buzz this weekend as some interesting statements coming out of NASA make their way into the writings of a few enthusiastic space and astronomy reporters. The general idea is that George Bush wants to make a Kennedyesque statement about putting an American on Mars and NASA is investigating nuclear propulsion which could cut the trip from six or seven months down to two months.
The juicy bit is from NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe (who replaced Daniel Golden when Bush was selected) who said "We're talking about doing something on a very aggressive schedule to not only develop the capabilities for nuclear propulsion and power generation but to have a mission using the new technology within this decade". That sounds an awful lot like a manned mission to mars and much sooner than I was expecting given some of the initial cuts to NASA's budget and programs under the first Bush budget.
I've been fascinated with Mars and an enthusiastic supporter of a manned mission since ALH 84001 and Pathfinder. I wasn't alone in developing an intense curiosity because of those events but I think that the media's over-reporting of the uncertainties around ALH 84001 and the two failed missions (Climate Orbiter and Polar Lander/DS2) did a lot to dampen that initial interest.
If you stuck around and continued to pay close attention to the bigger picture, the under-reported discoveries, and the successful missions, then you're probably still as enthusiastic as you were watching those first pictures from the Pathfinder and Sojourner cameras hitting your TV and the Web.
For those of you that didn't keep up with the news of the last few years, here's an update. The Mars Global Surveyor satellite is in its sixth year of mapping the Martian surface from a height of about 450 km (completing a full orbit once every two hours), taking pictures of clouds, dust devils, and more. The 2001 Mars Odyssey satellite is in its second year of orbit around Mars, mapping chemical elements and minerals, analyzing the radiation environment and searching for water. It will also provide a communications relay for the 2003 Mars Exploration Rovers. If you haven't seen any of the amazing hi-res images coming from THEMIS then you should take a look at the collection (high-speed connection recommended). Some of my favorites are pic1,pic2,pic3,pic4,pic5,pic6, pic7, pic8, pic9, and pic10.
And if that wasn't enough to pique your curiosity again then take a look at the upcoming NASA Mars Exploration Rover Missions scheduled for two launches this summer and touch down of a pair of rovers (image1, image2) on the Martian surface about one year from now. Check out the great animations. These rovers are robotic geologists able to travel nearly half a km carrying high-resolution color stereo panoramic cameras and infrared spectrometers. They have hammers and grinders and x-ray,alpha particle, and Moessbauer spectrometers ready to do some serious geologic investigations. And even closer at hand (by a month or so) than NASA's next mission is the ESA's Mars Express Mission scheduled to put the Mars Express spacecraft (image) in orbit and the Beagle 2 lander (image) on the surface late this year. The ESA orbiter will do all kinds of mapping from photo-geology and high-resolution mineralogy to permafrost and atmospheric measures. The lander will conduct detailed rock and soil analysis.
Just as the NASA and ESA crafts touch down and start sending sending back science word will arrive of the Stardust spacecraft's encounter with Comet Wilde 2 where the craft will gather comet dust and particles in an Aerogel foam and return the exotic payload to Earth 2 years later. And don't forget that a few months later, next summer, the Cassini-Huygens orbiter (image) and lander (image) will arrive at Saturn to begin some amazing science at one of the most intriguing and beautiful systems orbiting our Sun.
Will humans be conducting science on mars in a decade? I don't know. It seems unlikely given the current US economic climate (NYTimes subscription required). I'd cheer the day but while we're all waiting we've got some really exciting projects already underway. 2003 and 2004 promise to be as eventful and exciting as anything Mars enthusiasts have seen so far.
Posted by asa at January 18, 2003 05:24 PM
