‘Unwise Pursuit of the Unknown’

It is easy enough, following Easterbrook, to dismiss the idea of a Mars expedition aimed at building a permanent settlement. It is even easier when we think of NASA as a fossilized bureaucracy that is looking for something to do. But I would not be so hasty.

To begin, we are viewing the Mars concept through the blinders of the failed space shuttle. But to think of a Mars mission based on the shuttle is like envisioning oil supertankers built as three-masted barks. The proper launch vehicle may be expected to emerge as an advanced jet aircraft, a follow-on to the Aerospaceplane effort now under way. The first experimental airplane of this type, the X-30, may be flying in the mid-1990s, reaching orbit as its test program proceeds. Freight-carrying successors then can follow.

Second, far from ruling out nuclear propulsion as Easterbrook does, we should regard such an attitude as nothing more than NASA’s wish to avoid anything that is controversial. Indeed, nuclear propulsion should be a focus of a Mars effort. Its feasibility, in the form of a rocket called Nerva, was amply demonstrated during the 1960s, only to fall to the budget-cutters in 1973.

Even in that 1960s-vintage version, nuclear propulsion would offer vast fuel savings for a Mars mission. Moreover, newer concepts may come to the fore. The “gas-core” nuclear rocket has never been adequately researched, but might fly to Mars in 30 days. Propulsion by laser fusion, as a speculative but possible spinoff of the Strategic Defense Initiative, might permit flights to Mars in as little as nine days.

Third, rather than carry all needed supplies to Mars and use only limited recycling, the focus should be on a completely closed-cycle environment for the Mars colony. Already, a privately funded Arizona program called Biosphere II is preparing just such a closed ecosystem, to support eight “bionauts” for two years, beginning in 1989, at a cost of $30 million.

Finally, there is always the question: will the astronauts have more to do than take care of the life-support system? We should be thinking about lightweight solar-powered airplanes for Mars, able to explore regions far from the base. Similarly, there should be battery-powered, all-terrain vehicles, rechargeable with solar energy. The operation of such craft could give the expedition plenty to do.

An international Mars expedition, with participation by the United States, the Soviets, Europe, Japan and possibly others, could be a great adventure of the human spirit. In this, it might be far more effective than Apollo, which was little more than a propaganda stunt.

It could be a focus for new technologies--Aerospaceplanes, nuclear propulsion, closed-cycle ecosystems, advanced robots. These will be essential if human activities in space are ever to go beyond what today amount to the counterpart of bathyscaphes, small temporary visitors to the ocean’s depths.

If pursued with vision and panache--not as merely a sop to NASA’s constituencies--then Mars could indeed prove to be the new focus that the space program has lacked.

T.A. HEPPENHEIMER

Fountain Valley