{"id":18786,"date":"2017-09-29T00:56:41","date_gmt":"2017-09-28T16:56:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/lockheed-martin-adds-a-lander-to-its-picture-for-nasas-future-journeys-to-mars\/"},"modified":"2017-09-29T00:56:41","modified_gmt":"2017-09-28T16:56:41","slug":"lockheed-martin-adds-a-lander-to-its-picture-for-nasas-future-journeys-to-mars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/lockheed-martin-adds-a-lander-to-its-picture-for-nasas-future-journeys-to-mars\/","title":{"rendered":"Lockheed Martin adds a lander to its picture for NASA\u2019s future journeys to Mars"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Mars
An artist\u2019s conception shows Lockheed Martin\u2019s lander on Mars. (Lockheed Martin Illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lockheed Martin has fleshed out its picture for sending astronauts to the Red Planet by adding a refuelable lander and a water-based fuel supply chain to its \u201cMars Base Camp\u201d mission architecture.<\/p>\n

The system, updated today at the International Astronautical Congress in Australia, could make use of resources provided by asteroid mining companies such as Redmond, Wash.-based Planetary Resources.<\/p>\n

Danielle Richey, a space exploration architect at Lockheed Martin, said the updated Mars Base Camp concept could help NASA \u201cstart exploring the Martian system in about a decade.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although NASA has said it wants to start sending astronauts to Mars and its moons by the 2030s, the space agency isn\u2019t yet anywhere close to selecting any detailed plan to get there.<\/p>\n

Right now, NASA\u2019s farthest focus for human space exploration is the potential establishment of a Deep Space Gateway, which could be built in the 2020s in the vicinity of the moon and serve as a staging platform for missions to Mars. This week, NASA signed an agreement with Russia\u2019s space agency to study the idea.<\/p>\n

Lockheed Martin says its Mars Base Camp \u2014 basically, a space station that\u2019s equipped with a propulsion system \u2014 could be built at the Deep Space Gateway.<\/p>\n

\"Mars
This schematic provides details about components in Lockheed Martin\u2019s Mars Base Camp mission architecture. Click on the image for a larger version. (Lockheed Martin Graphic)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Robotic tugs powered by solar electric propulsion systems could pre-position key components and fuel in Martian orbit. Then the Mars Base Camp and a crew of six astronauts would make their months-long trip, spanning tens of millions of miles.<\/p>\n

The propellants for the Mars station\u2019s engines would be liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, produced by splitting water molecules. The required H2<\/sub>O could be sent up from Earth, or provided by mining operations on the moon or on near-Earth asteroids.<\/p>\n

Planetary Resources and another venture, Deep Space Industries, are both working on systems that could start harvesting water ice from suitable asteroids starting in the 2020s.<\/p>\n

\u201cWater is everywhere in the solar system,\u201d said Tim Cichan, another Lockheed Martin space exploration architect involved in today\u2019s presentation. \u201cAnywhere we want to send humans, water is there. It really is the fuel for exploration, and not just for making hydrogen and oxygen rocket fuel, but also for the astronauts to drink and to create oxygen for them to breathe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cichan said \u201cwe\u2019re really excited\u201d about fostering the kind of water-based space economy envisioned by Planetary Resources.<\/p>\n