While everyone is arguing about where to fly first: the Moon or Mars, scientists are proposing to visit both the red planet and the dwarf planet Ceres in one flight. They offered several options on how to do this.
Mars and Ceres!
Sending humans to Mars is a perennial dream of space exploration enthusiasts. However, while experts from NASA and their colleagues from different countries argue around the possibility of realizing this project in the coming decades, scientists have proposed an even more ambitious project: for one flight to visit not only the red planet, but also Ceres.
At least a publication about it was presented at the 56th Conference on Lunar and Planetary Exploration. According to the proposed plan, the researchers should visit both the red planet and the largest object of the asteroid belt in 4 years and seven months and return to Earth.
It sounds pretty fantastic, and a number of issues researchers simply haven’t considered. For example, the dose of radiation that the astronauts would receive during the flight was left out of their attention. But they have calculated the consumption of “delta v”, i.e. the amount of change in the vector of motion in detail.
The amount they got is very large, but the authors of the study say it is realistic to achieve even with chemical engines. Although it would be better, of course, to have a nuclear engine with a much higher rate of gas expulsion in the process of realization.
Project phases
Overall, the project involves a space mission for six crew members, which will be conducted in four phases. However, even before the first of them begins, the spacecraft will have to be built in Earth’s orbit, fueled, and astronauts will have to be brought aboard.
The first phase of the mission will be a crewed flight from low Earth orbit to Mars orbit. It is expected to last from 192 to 258 days. That is, if the launch takes place in July 2035, then already in March 2036, they will be near the red planet.
The second stage involves three astronauts descending to the surface of Mars and beginning exploring it. At the same time, the other three are expected to fly to Ceres for 574 days. In November 2037, they should arrive at the dwarf planet and begin exploring it.
After that, the third phase of the journey will come. The astronauts will spend 46 days exploring Ceres before flying another 574 days back to Mars, where they are expected to meet their colleagues in August 2039. After that, the fourth phase awaits them. In the spring of 2040, they are expected to return to Earth.
According to phys.org
