Mars has been the next stop for the human exploration of space ever since the Apollo missions. We have now come up with a mission concept that uses both robots and humans to get us to Mars and back. The robots will be sent to the northern plains of Mars, with a rocket to get back to Earth — but without fuel. Sending the tanks empty saves a huge amount of mass on launch. Instead, the robots will dig up ice on Mars. Once the ice is melted, we can use solar electricity to produce hydrogen and oxygen to fill the fuel tanks. Better still, combining hydrogen with the atmosphere can make powerful methane.
A three-man crew will then get from Earth to Mars, and in the nine months it takes to reach there, without weight from gravity, muscles weaken and bones become brittle — so they need artificial gravity. We can do this by splitting their spacecraft into two, tied together by a tether, and spinning the parts around each other. With the right spin speed, they will be fooled into thinking they feel gravity.
The landing on Mars will be an extreme ride lasting just a few minutes. The landing module will approach Mars at 14,000 mph. The atmosphere will cut the speed to 700 mph, then parachutes with rockets will slow the module, landing in the warmest place on Mars, near the equator. The mission will first focus on exploring their surroundings and collecting rocks.
To return, the crew will have to journey some 1,000 miles north via rover from their landing site to the return rocket. Such a mission will finally take us further than Apollo. We need not wait 60 years after Apollo 11 landed on the Moon to get the first human on Mars.
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