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European Space Agency

Press Release

Human mission to Mars: the second Aurora Working Meeting

2 June 2003
 
While final preparations continue for the launch of ESA's Mars
Express - the Agency's first mission to explore the Red Planet -
European scientists and engineers are also looking towards the
future, to a time when humans are able to set foot on the rust-red
sands of our neighbouring world. 
 
Preliminary planning for this giant leap in space exploration is well
underway as part of ESA's Aurora Programme, and some 60 members of
industry, national space agencies and ESA came together on 14-15 May
to receive a progress report on current activities and discuss the
way forward.

During the first session, representatives of the four contractors
(EADS, Alenia Spazio, Astrium and Alcatel) gave brief updates about
their ongoing parametric analyses of a human mission to Mars,
including studies undertaken by other agencies.*

By combining these companies' expertise in space technologies with
earlier human mission reference designs and other studies, it is
expected that ESA will be able to identify the essential 'trade-offs'
in mass, crew number, mission duration etc. for such an expedition,
before beginning the first tentative studies of mission architecture.

"ESA is mediating and integrating the design effort, but the
companies are doing independent studies and evaluations of the
technologies for a human mission, based on their existing expertise,"
said Loredana Bessone, ESA's Human Mission Design Study/Manager. 

"Obviously there are a number of major constraints that must be taken
into account," she said, "one of these is cost; the more mass we have
to carry to orbit, the more costly the mission. Mission duration and
crew size are important factors because they affect the consumables
and power we need, but they also have an impact on the mass of the
spacecraft." 

The second session included a presentation by astronaut Jean-Pierre
Haigneré, a veteran of two spaceflights, about the importance of
human spaceflight in the exploration of the solar system. This was
followed by an animated discussion about the objectives of the first
human mission to Mars.

"We are trying to get a clear idea of what will be required and what
we can contribute to an international project to send humans to
Mars," said Franco Ongaro, head of the Aurora Programme. 

"In order to do this, we must investigate how far Europe's present
day assets in human spaceflight can be advanced so that it can make
important contributions to international exploration missions to the
Moon and Mars in the decades to come." 

* Parametric studies There are 16 parametric studies related to the
human Mars mission currently being undertaken by four industrial
contractors. These are: 

    * the Martian logistic infrastructure (rovers, trucks, labs etc.) 
    * required resources needed by the crew (water, oxygen,food etc.)
    * power for the Mars base 
    * crew environment (radiation, dust, microgravity) 
    * launchers 
    * assembly in orbit 
    * trajectories for journeys to and from Mars 
    * type of propulsion and power for the transfer 
    * strategy to arrive at Mars 
    * entry, descent and landing 
    * communications 
    * navigation 
    * ascent from Mars surface 
    * quarantine/Planetary protection 
    * Earth re-entry 
    * robotics and automation

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