{"id":17183,"date":"2024-08-11T20:38:53","date_gmt":"2024-08-11T12:38:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/cybertrucks-on-mars-space-advocates-and-nasa-consider-ideas-for-sample-return\/"},"modified":"2024-08-11T20:38:53","modified_gmt":"2024-08-11T12:38:53","slug":"cybertrucks-on-mars-space-advocates-and-nasa-consider-ideas-for-sample-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/cybertrucks-on-mars-space-advocates-and-nasa-consider-ideas-for-sample-return\/","title":{"rendered":"Cybertrucks on Mars? Space advocates and NASA consider ideas for sample return"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
These AI images of a \u201cCybertruck on Mars\u201d were created by the Stable Diffusion image generation program, running on Tesla\u2019s Dojo supercomputer in 2022. (Tesla via YouTube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tesla\u2019s Cybertruck may look ungainly on Earth, but a pressurized version of the vehicle might be just the thing for gathering up samples of Martian rock and soil for return to Earth. That\u2019s one of the way-out concepts that was discussed in Seattle during the past week\u2019s convention of the Mars Society, a nonprofit advocacy group.<\/p>\n

Robotically controlled Cybertrucks could be part of a Mars exploration system that also includes SpaceX\u2019s Starship super-rocket as well as spaceworthy versions of all-terrain vehicles and humanoid robots built by Tesla, according to mission plans suggested by Mars Society co-founder Robert Zubrin, retired NASA engineer Tony Muscatello and business analyst Kent Nebergall.<\/p>\n

Zubrin said the Starship-based concept could even accelerate progress toward crewed missions to Mars. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe use Starship to deliver a robotic expedition that has already examined thousands of samples on Mars, gathered from hundreds of kilometers away by helicopters, and tens of kilometers away gathered by rovers, and then we land the crew to do follow-up exploration, including drilling in well-characterized sites to bring up water and see what the life on Mars is,\u201d he said during a Thursday night session at the convention.<\/p>\n

How way out is that? It sounds like science fiction, but theoretically, at least some elements of the plan could show up in SpaceX\u2019s proposal for reworking NASA\u2019s Mars sample return strategy.<\/p>\n

More than two dozen samples have been collected by NASA\u2019s Perseverance rover over the past three years, and they\u2019ll be stored for pickup and return during a future series of missions. In April, NASA acknowledged that its previous plan for returning the samples was unworkable. \u201cThe bottom line is, an $11 billion budget is too expensive, and a 2040 return date is too far away,\u201d said Bill Nelson, the space agency\u2019s administrator.<\/p>\n

\"\"
This NASA graphic shows elements of the space agency\u2019s previous plan for gathering up samples on Mars and sending them back to Earth, including a Mars Ascent Vehicle that would transfer the samples to an orbiting probe for eventual delivery. (NASA Illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In June, NASA said it would explore alternative concepts for Mars sample return missions and would fund concept studies by seven industry proposers. SpaceX is one of those companies, and it\u2019s planning to propose using Starship. (Other proposers include Jeff Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin space venture, Aerojet Rocketdyne, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Quantum Space and Whittinghill Aerospace.)<\/p>\n

But what about Martian Cybertrucks? In a 2019 posting to his X social-media platform, Elon Musk, who\u2019s the world\u2019s richest person as well as the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, said that a pressurized version of Tesla\u2019s Cybertruck would be the \u201cofficial truck of Mars.\u201d And in a 2022 AI Day presentation about Tesla\u2019s Dojo supercomputer, engineers said one of their test prompts for Dojo\u2019s generative-AI capabilities was \u201cCybertruck on Mars.\u201d All that suggests Musk has given the idea some thought.<\/p>\n

Muscatello told GeekWire that he\u2019s passed along his plan for Starship and Cybertrucks to a contact of his at SpaceX \u2014 but he doesn\u2019t know whether it\u2019ll show up in SpaceX\u2019s report to NASA. \u201cThey\u2019re welcome to it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The 90-day concept studies are due to be delivered to NASA this fall. \u201cWe\u2019ll assess the timeline from there, depending on what we see in the reports,\u201d Tiffany Morgan, deputy director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters, said during a Friday session. \u201cWe want something that is reduced risk, but reduced price.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not clear how much of SpaceX\u2019s specific proposal will be released after it\u2019s handed over to NASA, but Morgan wouldn\u2019t mind hearing more about the Cybertrucks. \u201cThat sounds awesome,\u201d she said when she was told about the idea. \u201cI haven\u2019t heard that one before. I would like to get a copy of that paper, because that sounds so intriguing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mini Wadhwa, a planetary scientist at Arizona State University who\u2019s also the principal scientist for the Mars sample return campaign, said she was also intrigued by the idea of having Cybertrucks driving around on Mars. But she favored using a more tried-and-true method for gathering up the samples already cached by Perseverance. \u201cProbably for the first time around, it would be great to just bring the samples back,\u201d Wadhwa said.<\/p>\n

A commercial role on Mars<\/h3>\n

In addition to the studies aimed at reimagining the procedure for bringing back Martian samples, NASA is funding a dozen industry studies looking into the feasibility of using commercial services to support missions to Mars.<\/p>\n

One of the studies is designed to lay out how the technology behind SpaceX\u2019s Starlink satellite constellation could be adapted for a Martian communication network. Two other studies are looking into adapting Blue Origin\u2019s Blue Ring orbital transfer vehicle for Mars-bound payloads and for communication relay services.<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s Mars Exploration Commercial Services program could use the agency\u2019s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, or CLPS, as a model. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have heard a lot of people talk about the \u2018Mars CLPS\u2019 program,\u201d Morgan said. \u201cRight now these studies are investigating whether that\u2019s feasible, whether there\u2019s enough interest at the surface of Mars,\u201d she said. \u201cIt certainly seems like there\u2019s a lot more interest than there ever has been in the past. But is there as much as there is at the moon? That\u2019s what we\u2019re doing the studies for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like the sample return studies, those early-stage \u201cMars CLPS\u201d studies are nearing completion. NASA promises to release summaries of the study later this year. <\/p>\n

When will NASA send humans?<\/h3>\n

What about crewed missions to Mars? NASA is currently focused on the Artemis program to send astronauts to the moon\u2019s surface starting as early as 2026, but mission planners say Artemis is meant to set the stage for Mars odysseys.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been studying Mars architecture for well over 50 years now \u2014 lots of different studies, lots of different ways that we can obviously send humans to Mars, but at some point we have to come together and make strategic decisions on some of these key things,\u201d said Patrick Chai, deputy Mars architecture lead in the Strategy and Architecture Office for NASA\u2019s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate. Chai said the next round of architecture definition documents, known as \u201cRev B,\u201d is likely to come out in the January time frame.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Zubrin and the Mars Society are pressing to accelerate the progress toward crewed missions. Zubrin said he plans to write a draft bill for Congress\u2019 consideration that would require NASA to present a plan to send humans to Mars and begin crewed exploration within 10 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bill does not require Congress to appropriate money,\u201d Zubrin said at a Saturday night banquet. \u201cThe bill has Congress demanding that NASA present it with an option. \u2026 And what we want to do is to mobilize Mars Society chapters in every part of the country, or individuals, to go and visit your congressman in their home offices and sit down and talk with them, and show them the bill and say, \u2018We want you to be a co-sponsor of this bill.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Zubrin argued that such a program would help answer the big questions about life on Mars and prepare the way for human settlement. And because the value of space exploration is typically an issue on which Democrats and Republicans agree, Zubrin said there\u2019s another potential benefit that\u2019s closer to home.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt also is potentially a means of healing this extremely toxic partisan rift that is now literally tearing this country apart \u2014 and must be cured,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

These AI images of a \u201cCybertruck on Mars\u201d were created by the Stable Diffusion image generation program, running on Tesla\u2019s Dojo supercomputer in 2022. (Tesla via YouTube) Tesla\u2019s Cybertruck may look ungainly on Earth, but a pressurized version of the vehicle might be just the thing for gathering up samples of Martian rock and soil […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4486,367,4484,190,316,4328,3086],"class_list":["post-17183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-cybertruck","tag-mars","tag-mars-society","tag-nasa","tag-spacex","tag-spacex-starship","tag-tesla"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17183"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17183\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}