NASA is not the only space agency with plans for Mars. Several other private and public companies around the world also want to lay their hands on the Red Planet. One could, of course, write about absolutely all such ideas, but most of them are either too far from reality, or are projects of a smaller scale. Today we will very briefly analyze what space missions to Mars await us in the next decade or two.
NASA programs
With the confirmation by the US Congress of the allocation of the necessary budget for manned missions to Mars, the NASA space agency began to seriously consider issues related to the plan to visit our closest space neighbor. The agency is faced with many questions and tasks that need to be solved before going to Mars. And one of the most important is the modernization and testing of life support systems technologies, as well as the completion of the Space Launch System (SLS) construction project - a multidisciplinary super-heavy launch vehicle that is going to be used for flights to the Moon and Mars. The first test launch of the system is planned for the end of 2018.
Before sending people to Mars, NASA plans to launch several more unmanned space missions. The first among them will be InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport), which is scheduled to launch under the Discovery program in 2018. The objective of the mission will be to deliver a research lander to Mars to study the internal structure and composition of the Red Planet.
Speaking of lander, one should also not forget NASA's plans to land a new rover on the Red Planet in 2020. The new rover, according to the US Aerospace Agency, "will be equipped with carefully selected advanced scientific equipment to perform unprecedented scientific missions."
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ExoMars mission: part two
After the unsuccessful landing of the module for the first part of the ExoMars space mission earlier this year, the European Space Agency (ESA) has not lost its desire to implement the second part of this program. In 2020, ESA intends to land a new rover on Mars, equipped with a drill and various scientific instruments that will help scientists figure out the structure of the Red Planet, as well as conduct exobiological and geochemical analyzes.
The Russian space agency Roskosmos, as in the first part of the mission, is a partner of the European Space Agency. Russia will be responsible for the "muscles" of the mission: the Proton-M launch vehicle with the Breeze-M upper stage, which will send the rover to the Red Planet. In addition, the Russian side will provide two scientific instruments of the rover - ISEM and ADRON-MR, which will become part of the rover's Pasteur scientific equipment.
In addition, the standard model of the Russian ground station for receiving information from the ExoMars-2016 mission devices, being developed at the MEI Design Bureau, will be put into operation at the end of 2017. The receiving complex will also include two ground stations for receiving information with 64-meter antennas: TNA-1500 and TNA-1500K.
SpaceX Martian Colony
Ever since SpaceX was founded in 2002, its CEO, Elon Musk, has expressed a desire to transform humanity into an interplanetary species and build a colony on Mars over the next 50-100 years.
To implement this idea, the company is currently developing an Interplanetary Transport System (ITS) launch vehicle - a spacecraft capable of lifting and delivering the first colonists to the Red Planet. The idea at first glance may seem overly ambitious. The way it is. However, fortunately, the company's desire is not limited to just one desire. SpaceX is not sitting idly by and is actively preparing for its first unmanned mission to Mars in 2018, with the prospect of a first manned mission in 2025.
Is Mars One project frozen?
SpaceX isn't the only private aerospace company looking to build a colony on Mars. Dutch non-profit organization Mars One wants to be the first company in the world to establish the first permanent Martian colony on the Red Planet.
The plan is going to be split into several parts. In 2020, 2022 and 2024, it is planned to send robotic explorers and construction workers to Mars, with the prospect of launching a manned mission in 2026 and landing a man on the Red Planet in 2027. Recently, the program has encountered some problems that threaten to disrupt several robotic missions. At the same time, Mars One continues to select candidates for the role of the first colonists and is developing space suits.
Boeing decided to take part
More recently, the American corporation Boeing expressed its interest in joining the space race for Mars. The veteran of the aircraft and rocket industry is about to beat SpaceX's newcomer to the Red Planet program and is currently collaborating with NASA on a program to bring astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
Despite the lack of any specific details from Boeing regarding the mission to Mars, many remembered the words of its chief executive Dennis Mulenberg:
"I am convinced that the first person to set foot on the surface of Mars will be flown there using a Boeing rocket."
Russia is out of the game. Until
Until 2015, Russia planned to send an unmanned vehicle to the Mars satellite - Phobos. Unfortunately, the launch, which took place in 2011, was unsuccessful. Despite a successful start, the Phobos-Grunt space probe failed to leave low-earth orbit. According to the available information, the re-launch of the Phobos-Grunt mission is planned for 2020-2021.
Nevertheless, although in the complete absence of approximate dates, Russia also expressed its desire to carry out a manned mission to Mars in the first half of the 21st century. At the moment, the federal agency Roscosmos is cooperating with the European Space Agency on the ExoMars mission. An imitation of a Martian flight called "Mars-500" was carried out, but that's all for now.
NIKOLAY KHIZHNYAK