Independent Mars mission planned for 2018
February 25, 2013
Dennis Tito (credit: NASA/Wikimedia Commons)
The Inspiration Mars Foundation, led by Dennis Tito, the first space tourist, will announce on Wednesday Feb. 27 a planned mission to Mars in 2018.
The mission would take advantage of a unique window of opportunity; the orbits of Earth and Mars will be closely aligned. The round-trip journey would start in January 2018 and take 501 days.
No details are available yet on how they will get there and whether a Mars landing is planned.
Speakers lined up for the press conference give some clues, says New Scientist. Jonathan Clark of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute in Houston, Texas, a former NASA crew surgeon and recent advisor on Felix Baumgartner’s supersonic skydive from near the edge of space, will probably speak about the health risks of a long-term space mission, which hints at the possibility of a crewed mission.
Also speaking are Jane Poynter and Taber MacCallum of Paragon Space Development, a company with expertise in life support in extreme environments. The pair were both members of the Biosphere 2 mission, a controversial attempt at simulating a space colony two decades ago, and have previously proposed landing a greenhouse on the moon to grow flowers there.
Comments (19)
by GatorALLin
Can we use this as the theme song for the launch….?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFXiJjSvJa8
by GatorALLin
get your mars-one coffee cups and shirts here….
http://mars-one.com/en/merchandise
by Jackus
I wonder why no one mentions Frederich Pohl’s excellent SF book “Man Plus”. How much do we need to do to send a human to Mars?
by Major
Not impossible, however it won’t be cost effective before Skylon tech matures
by Dr. Richard
The trip is about 5 or 6 months, depending on how much fuel you can burn, and the Mars-Earth Opposition, which occurs every two years. Going there doesn’t make sense, If can’t land and walk around, and landing and walking around doesn’t make sense if you have not planed a way to breath eat and defecate, like you did on earth.
by Techisbest
The race is on!
http://mars-one.com/en/mars-one-news/press-releases/11-news/369-mars-one-secures-first-investments
by Erik
Dennis Tito will be 78 years 2018. He may not live much longer and maybe he wants really bad to be the first human to step on another planet.
by trakk
and be the first human to die on another planet?
by snake0
SpaceX were adamant that a trip to Mars would be a one way ticket which takes 5 years to get there, with this they are saying its possible to get there and back in a year and a half. Sure the orbits are aligned or whatever but the stories are completely different. What gives?
by crix
SpaceX I think was referring to a mission which lands and would be one-way. This announcement is probably “just” a flyby. Either are frickin’ awesome!
by Bob Vasquez
Let me know how it went….
by Mike M
They should be hooking up with http://www.mars-one.com
by SmartAndSober
That’s right. Why not make it a 1 way trip?
Stay for a little more than 10 years and it’s (according to Vinge) Singularity.
by Bri
That’s one tuff trip. The module is going to be really cramped. Far worse than an economy trip to Europe. That’s a long time alone. If you have two people they better like each other.. I’d bring a super large thumb to stick out if they break down. Maybe a passing UFO will give them a lift. So much to do near earth. It’s bold but is it really practical?
by Marcos Marin
Don’t forget your euthanasia pills.
by Roland
Don’t worry about pills mate, just open the hatch and go for a walk :)
it’s just not an expedition for pansies and folks after eternal existence.
by Marcos Marin
Obviously!
by Mike
You never know, maybe they’ll bump into a kindly ET who will give them the secret to eternal life. It used to happen on Star Trek at least once a season… :-)
by Bri
Or they get thrown into a time warp and when they get back it’s Planet of the Robots!!!!