Mars One plans unmanned mission for 2018

[bananas]

Source: CBS

A privately funded unmanned Mars mission will launch in 2018, officials with the non-profit Mars One foundation announced Tuesday. The mission will include an orbiting communications relay station, a lander equipped with a robotic arm, water generating gear, experimental thin-film solar panels and student experiments.

Dutch entrepreneur Bas Lansdorp, Mars One founder and CEO, told reporters the foundation has signed contracts with two major aerospace firms, Lockheed Martin and Surrey Satellite Technology, to develop mission concept studies, a first step toward eventual construction and launch.

The lander will be based on the design of the 2007 Phoenix Mars lander that Lockheed Martin developed for NASA. The communications satellite -- the first such "geostationary" comsat in orbit around the red planet -- will incorporate technologies developed by Surrey and used in a variety of operational spacecraft.

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The unmanned Mars One technology demonstration mission is a precursor to the foundation's seemingly quixotic long-range goal of launching humans to Mars starting in 2025, assuming funding and technology hurdles can be overcome. The foundation envisions launching follow-on crews of four astronauts every two years to establish a permanent outpost on the red planet.

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Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mars-one-plans-unmanned-mission-for-2018/

[awoke_in_2003]

1. Headed by a Dutchman?

Stands a good chance of being successful

[Victor_c3]

3. I'm sensing that you aren't at all sarcastic

Good point. The Dutch did a lot of early exploration and colonization in North America.

I live in the heart of the Hudson Valley region, about an hour north of New Amsterdam. Many of the names of places around here are Dutch.

[awoke_in_2003]

7. Nope, no sarcasm...

I used to work for a Dutch owned company. They are great people with an interesting history. Some Americans might actually remember the military aid we received from France during the Revolutionary War. Very few will know that the Dutch helped finance it.

[darkangel218]

2. Cool, but what will be the difference between this and Curiosity?

[bananas]

4. Many differences - this will test key technologies needed for colonists.

This will be the first private mission to Mars.

A water experiment will extract water from the Martian soil. This is the first test of in-situ resource utilization. Without this, all the water and oxygen needed by the colonists would have to be launched from earth and landed on Mars - that's a lot of mass, and would make the trip almost impossible. (oxygen can be extracted from the water)

A power experiment will demonstrate the deployment and operation of thin-film solar panels on the surface. The colonists will need fairly large solar arrays for electricity, which have to be packed tightly for launch, then unrolled on the surface.

There will be a continuous live video feed from the lander, relayed through a satellite in a synchronous orbit so it's always directly above the lander. This high-bandwidth continuous relay is needed for the reality tv show which funds the mission. This will be the first satellite in a synchronous orbit over Mars.

[darkangel218]

6. Awesome!!

Thanks for the clarification

I know that the human mission on Mars was announced to be a "one way mission". Scary, but exciting at the same time.

[penultimate]

5. So do they have the money to pull it off?

Sounds expensive. Isn't this the one that is funding itself from paypal donations on their website?