* Space tourist Dennis Tito is behind the project
* Rare planetary alignment provides opportunity
* If something goes wrong, there’s no turning back
By Irene Klotz
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., – A nonprofit foundation wants to
recruit a man and a woman – possibly a married couple – for a
bare-bones, 501-day journey to Mars and back that would start in
less than five years, project organizers said on Wednesday.
The mission, expected to cost upwards of $1 billion, would
be privately financed by donations and sponsorships.
Project founder Dennis Tito, a multimillionaire who in 2001
paid $20 million for a trip to the International Space Station,
said he will pay start-up costs for two years to begin
development of life-support systems and other critical
technologies.
Currently, there are no U.S. human spaceships in operation,
but several are under development and expected to be flying by
2017.
That leaves little time to take advantage of a rare
planetary alignment that would allow a craft to loop around
Mars, coming as close as about 150 miles (241 kilometers) to the
planet’s surface, before returning to Earth.
The launch window for the mission opens on Jan. 5, 2018. The
next opportunity is not until 2031.
“If we don’t make 2018, we’re going to have some competition
in 2031,” Tito told Reuters.
“By that time, there will be many others that will be
reaching for this low-hanging fruit, and it really is
low-hanging fruit,” said Tito, who set up the nonprofit
Inspiration Mars Foundation to organize the mission.
Project chief technical officer Taber MacCallum said U.S.
industry is up for the challenge.
“That’s the kind of bold thing we used to be able to do,”
said MacCallum, who also oversees privately owned Paragon Space
Development Corp.
“We’ve shirked away from risk. I think just seriously
contemplating this mission recalibrates what we believe is a
risk worth taking for America,” he said.
TIGHT QUARTERS
The spacecraft will be bare-bones, with about 600 cubic feet
(17 cubic meters) of living space available for a two-person
crew. Mission planners would like to fly a man and a woman,
preferably a married couple who would be compatible during a
long period of isolation.
The capsule would be outfitted with a life-support system
similar to the one NASA uses on the space station, which
recycles air, water, urine and perspiration.
“This is going to be a very austere mission. You don’t
necessarily have to follow all of NASA’s guidelines for air
quality and water quality. This is going to be a Lewis and Clark
trip to Mars,” MacCallum said, referring to the explorers who
set out across the uncharted American Northwest in 1803.
If launch occurs on Jan. 5, 2018, the capsule would reach
Mars 228 days later, loop around its far side and slingshot back
toward Earth.
The return trip takes 273 days and ends with an
unprecedented 31,764-mph (51,119-kph) slam into Earth’s
atmosphere.
Once the spaceship is on its way, there is no turning back.
“If something goes wrong, they’re not coming back,”
MacCallum said.
The crew would spend much of their time maintaining their
habitat, conducting science experiments and keeping in touch
with people on Earth.
Tito said he expects the cost to be similar to a robotic
mission to Mars. NASA’s ongoing Curiosity rover mission cost
$2.5 billion. A follow-on mission scheduled to launch in 2020 is
expected to run $1.5 billion.
“You’re really flying this mission without a propulsion
system on the spacecraft. It’s in the most simple form,” Tito
said.
NASA is working on its own heavy-lift rocket and Orion space
capsule that could carry crews of four to an asteroid and
eventually to Mars.
“We can just barely, every 15 years, fly by Mars with the
systems we have right now,” MacCallum said. “We’re trying to be
a stepping-stone.”
(Editing by Jane Sutton and Xavier Briand)
