NASA's Maven Enters Mars Orbit: What's Next?
Welcome to the start of a new space race to the Red Planet. Find out what's coming in Mars missions during the next decade, and when humans might set foot on the planet.
![](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt69509c9116440be8/blt4e8fb1d7dd1a1111/64cb579c425c914fd3041d4f/1-MAVEN.jpg?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
NASA's latest ship to research the Red Planet entered Martian orbit Sept. 21. Maven, short for Martian Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, will study Mars's atmosphere, which is disappearing into space.
The craft hopes to show how and why the Martian atmosphere is leaking into space and to study the solar winds that constantly bombard the planet and, according to one theory, may be responsible for the loss of atmosphere. Solar wind is caused by the sun's release of plasma that contains highly energetic particles. On planets (like Earth) with strong magnetic properties, the solar wind is "deflected." Mars doesn't have such a strong magnetic field.
Researchers are also hoping they can get a sense of what Mars used to be like. Scientists believe that it once had a very thick atmosphere that kept it very warm and possibly able to support life. As the atmosphere thinned, the planet became colder, dryer, and less hospitable to life.
What Mars used to be like fuels a very interesting scientific question -- did Mars once have life? And it could also answer a strange but reality-shifting question -- are we Martians? One theory of how life was seeded on Earth is that Mars once had conditions much more suitable for microbial life than Earth did. It is possible that an asteroid brought some of those Martian microbes to Earth, where they helped change our atmosphere and eventually evolved into the plants and animals (and people) we know. Maven is not designed to answer either of those questions specifically, but the information could add to a growing list of puzzle pieces that are emerging around the question of life on Mars.
Those puzzle pieces are coming from a series of missions that began in the 1990s. The pace of Martian exploration is growing quickly, and it would have grown even faster if not for a series of unfortunate failed missions. These missions are trying to build a case about whether there was once life on another planet.
And they also serve as building blocks toward putting people on Mars. There are many missions planned to arrive at Mars in the next 5-10 years that could culminate in setting foot on an extraterrestrial world for the first time, possibly as early as 2023. From missions to investigate the atmosphere to studies on the soil content all the way to plans to send ships to the surface and come back safely, it is a great time to study Mars. Click the slideshow to see what missions are planned for the near future, and learn how scientsts are working to put a person on Mars during our lifetime.
(Source: Nesnad)
Mangalyaan
Mangalyaan, another Mars mission, arrived in orbit Sept. 24 from a rather unlikely source: India, which made it to Mars for the bargain basement price of $74 million. The country likes to brag that that is half the budget for the Sandra Bullock space movie Gravity. Mangalyaan is not the most sophisticated of research vessels. Not to demean it; it is meant mainly as a proof of concept. Its six-month mission will attempt to answer the question of whether we're alone by looking for methane (a sign of excretions for living things) and study the loss of Martian atmosphere. This marks the first time an Asian country has gotten to Mars (a Chinese mission failed when its Russian vehicle failed to exit Earth orbit) and the first time any organization made it on the first try. It represents a massive achievement and sets up India as a potential space power.
(Source: JPL/NASA )
Mars InSight
Though 2015 will be a quiet year for Mars landings (I guess we're all too busy waiting for Star Wars Episode VII to do anything else), 2016 will bring NASA's highly anticipated Mars InSight mission. InSight will be the first mission to drill deep into the Martian surface. Most Martian missions up to this point have focused on the surface or the atmosphere. Using seismographs and drills, InSight will study the deep geological history of the planet. Because Mars has no active tectonic plates like Earth has, it is much easier to study, and it holds its history for us to see.
(Source: Thomas Hagemeyer)
ExoMars
The first of two European Union missions to Mars will launch in 2016. ExoMars will attempt to answer definitively whether Mars ever hosted life. The 2016 mission is unique because it will combine two different vehicles -- an orbital satellite and a rover -- that will work in tandem. The rover can acquire and test subsurface soil samples, and the orbiter will map the geology and atmosphere of Mars and seek trace amounts of gases that could point to life. The second mission, in 2018, will add a second rover with a ground-penetrating drill.
(Source: Inspiration Mars Foundation)
Inspiration Mars Foundation
If everything works out, the 2018 ExoMars mission will have company on its way to Mars, and it will be people. The billionaire space enthusiast Dennis Tito is attempting to raise funds through a nonprofit to send a married couple to orbit Mars and return safely to Earth. Why a married couple? Because they'll have to spend 501 days together in a cramped, inflatable spaceship. Tito also believes it's imperative to send a man and woman so that the mission represents all of Earth.
The mission needs to launch in January 2018 to take advantage of Mars and Earth being at their closest and shorten the mission. The next-best opportunity would be 2021, and that would add nearly three months to the timeline. Increasingly, 2021 seems like a more likely launch time. But the good news is that new technology from Dragon X and NASA might make the flight more feasible. But still, you're talking about 17 months inside a small, inflatable capsule. The radiation alone increases the chance by 3% that the couple will get cancer. That's not including the danger of space collision, going off course, re-entry, and many other issues.
(Source: NASA)
Mars 2020
If Inspiration Mars doesn't tag along with ExoMars, it could tag along with a NASA mission called Mars 2020. The 2020 mission will take advantage of the proximity to Mars to shorten the trip. It will also drop a new rover on to the surface. Details are still being worked out, but there's speculation that NASA may use many of the Curiosity Rover's (pictured) tried and true components to save money and increase reliability.
Though I'm quite certain that there are valid scientific reasons to continue sending rovers to Mars well beyond 2020, I'll admit it shows a general lack of ambition from NASA. If commercial space programs (or even Chinese or Russian programs, as some speculate) are sending people to orbit Mars by 2020, then where is the NASA mission? NASA has a new Orion space capsule and has committed $7 billion to its new heavy-lifting rocket to be tested in 2018 (by going to the moon and back with an unmanned flight). Surely by 2020, we'll be ready to get more ambitious.
(Source: NASA/Dmitri Gerondidakis)
SpaceX Sample Return
Once you get as far out as 2020, the missions don't have names (or sometime even confirmation they exist). But somewhere in the early 2020s, SpaceX is planning on sending an unmanned vehicle to land on Mars, collect samples of the soil, and return to Earth. It would be the first time anything returned from the surface of Mars (unless an unknown mission beats SpaceX to it) and would be a clear test run for landing people on the planet. Clearly, the advantage of sending an unmanned craft first is that machines don't mind the 500-plus-day trip in cramped compartments. They don't eat or excrete waste. They don't breathe, and they don't get cancer from radiation. If you can perfect the technology to get there and get back, all you would need (I say that as though it is a small thing) is the living quarters to get people there.
It's amazing that many of these planned missions (and always the most ambitious ones) are the ones not fueled by government agencies. Even if you can't get people there based on the mission, the idea of bringing back Martian soil for testing at the leisure of scientists is pretty cool, assuming we don't unleash some crazy Martian virus that wipes out the whole planet.
(Source: Mars One)
Mars One
Perhaps the most ambitious of all the plans is to build a permanent colony on Mars, starting in 2025. Also funded by a nonprofit with a billionaire space fan (Bas Lansdorp, in this case) at the head, Mars One plans to send about 40 people to live and work on Mars. The first round of colonists is scheduled to land in 2023 (though the mission is already behind schedule in picking them, which suggests a delay), with more flights going until at least 2033. The mission would begin by sending supplies and equipment to the planet starting in 2016. Life support and supplies would continue to be sent through 2022, when the first manned flight would take off. A 2018 mission will send a rover to Mars to try to demonstrate some of the technology that the colony will need. It will attempt to make fresh water and extract soil, for example. If Mars One succeeds, it will be the first time humans have lived off our planet on another piece of solid rock. Pretty impressive.
(Source: Don Davis)
Beyond The Horizon
There are other missions not mentioned here, either because they are too far out to be confirmed or because they're in jeopardy for one reason or another. China and Russia have expressed interest in landing people on Mars, but their plans are not firm or at least not public. NASA has been criticized for not having firmly focused on Mars enough, but it has made efforts (including the Orion capsule and heavy-lifting vehicle) that it claims will get the agency there first. It is very possible a nongovernment entity beats all governments to Mars. Whatever happens, it seems entirely possible a person sets foot on Mars before 2030. That would mean most of us will live to see it. Who knows? Maybe people will be terraforming the planet for some of us to visit.
What do you think? Will we get there? Who will get there first? Is 2030 a reasonable timeline? Which non-manned mission is most interesting to you? Comment below.
(Source: Don Davis)
Beyond The Horizon
There are other missions not mentioned here, either because they are too far out to be confirmed or because they're in jeopardy for one reason or another. China and Russia have expressed interest in landing people on Mars, but their plans are not firm or at least not public. NASA has been criticized for not having firmly focused on Mars enough, but it has made efforts (including the Orion capsule and heavy-lifting vehicle) that it claims will get the agency there first. It is very possible a nongovernment entity beats all governments to Mars. Whatever happens, it seems entirely possible a person sets foot on Mars before 2030. That would mean most of us will live to see it. Who knows? Maybe people will be terraforming the planet for some of us to visit.
What do you think? Will we get there? Who will get there first? Is 2030 a reasonable timeline? Which non-manned mission is most interesting to you? Comment below.
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