Travelling To Mars Just Got Easier

NASA wants to send astronauts to Mars regularly. A group of MIT researches now

has a revolutionary idea how to lower the cost of an expedition to Mars. What

still might sound like science fiction could soon be true - NASA plans to send

astronauts to the moon before they go to Mars. Researches from Keito University,

Japan, and California Institute of Technology’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Los

Angeles, United States, believe that expeditions to Mars could be a

routine soon. But why the moon?

NASA has currently two alternatives to choose from.

One is to send the spaceship from Earth directly to the

moon. Unfortunately, this attempt would cost a lot of

fuel because machines, fuel itself, and other goods

for the long journey to Mars must be brought out of

the gravitational force of earth. The second

alternative is to stop at the moon, get fuelled up

there and then head off to Mars. The spacecraft

would then be 68% lighter when leaving earth. The MIT

calculated that every kilogram of cargo would currently

cost NASA $10,000 – too much for NASA.

The lunar South pole might contain a large amount of water-ice reserves which

could be transformed into fuel. Unfortunately the ice is trapped in corners of

craters that never see the light of day. In order to mine the ice, new

technologies must be invented and tested. The Russian Federal Space Agency

as well as the European Space Agency already issued several research

programs.

Currently, the MIT believes that this could be the most cost efficient plan in order

to send humans to Mars on a regular basis:

1. Send equipment to the moon

2. Establish a mining base and fuelling facility on the moon

3. Send humans in spacecraft to moon in order to fuel up

4. Send them to Mars!

Moon © Leon Chaudhari Mars: 火星(mars)是 河系 http://news.k8008