Discussions are raging in the U.S. near-space community about what space strategy to pursue. Should we try to send a manned mission to Mars directly, or should we use the Moon as a “training ground” first.
Elon Musk and the flight to Mars
A dispute has erupted between Elon Musk and NASA experts over what should be the next big target for manned missions: the Moon or Mars. On January 2, the billionaire left a publication on his page on network X, in which he said that he was not interested in the presence of humans on our moon, and he immediately planned to send people to a neighboring planet.
This statement was a kind of response to an article by NASA engineers that anyway, before a much longer mission to Mars, we should work everything out on the Moon. And first and foremost: the technology to produce hydrogen and oxygen from lunar ice as fuel to return to Earth.
But the SpaceX owner, which has about $4 billion in contracts to build a lunar landing module, seems ready to give them up. Getting to Mars faster is much more important to him. Starship, according to his plan, should make an unmanned flight there during the next launch window in 2026, and a manned flight in 2028.
Why do we have to go to the Moon first?
All of these Musk’s statements were already criticized by NASA during a press conference that took place on January 7. Statements of experts can be essentially reduced to the thesis that the mission’s success is not ensured by the Starship’s ability to fly to Mars alone. There are many other issues, particularly human survival.
And it is not only about successful landing and takeoff from the surface of the red planet. We also need to make sure that the life support systems are reliable. Engineers now have experience using them on the ISS, but a mission to Mars requires more autonomy.
And the Moon would have to be a test site for them. In addition, we need to work out the logistics in practice. The provision of space bases only looks clear, but what problems may arise in practice no one knows. And again, the Artemis program would have to be a proving ground where, if there were any emergencies, they would be relatively easy to compensate for with additional launches from Earth.
Martian energy
Another important question is where the astronauts will get energy from on Mars. Recently, NASA has approved the design of a space nuclear reactor, which would be tested during the realization of Artemis and later used in other projects.
However, a number of changes would have to be made to the reactor design when adapting it after the Moon. This is particularly true for the structure of the radiator, which would have had to operate in an atmospheric environment. All these changes were planned to be made gradually based on the analysis of practical use. How this all will be realized in the case of a rapid “jump to Mars”, there are no answers.
According to spacenews.com
