Posted June 18, 2001
Mars Society founder Robert Zubrin recently announced that Australia could be the recipient of hardware to be used to build a Mars analogue research station in the outback. Jennifer Laing reports on proposals for Mars-Oz, which could complement existing Mars research facilities in Canada and the United States, and form the backbone of the Mars Society Australia's research program known as Operation Red Centre.
"Mars is undoubtedly a treasure-chest of knowledge of the way the Universe functions," says Jason Hoogland, Technical Director of the Mars Society Australia (MSA). To unlock it will require a great deal of research, including simulations to test mission planning and subject humans to the type of scenarios and challenges they will face when exploring Mars. Australia could play an important part in this research work, according to Hoogland.
As a first step towards sending humans to Mars, creating Mars-like analogue environments for carrying out research programs and training will be crucial. The aim of the Mars Society's Mars Analogue Research Station Project is to build four field bases around the world, which will be used as laboratories for learning how to live and work on Mars. The international Mars Society initiated this Project, which they say will "inspire the public by making sensuous the vision of human exploration of Mars."
"In these Mars-like environments, we will launch a program of extensive long-duration geology and biology field exploration operations, conducted in the same style and under the same constraints as they would on the Red Planet. By doing so, we will start the process of learning how to explore on Mars."
The first of such facilities, the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station, is located on Devon Island in the Canadian Arctic. It will be followed by the development of a second facility in the American Southwest this year. Mars Society founder, Robert Zubrin, announced at the Australian Mars Exploration Conference (AMEC) in May that Australia has been chosen as the third of these four sites, and proposed that it be provided with the same hardware used for the United States Research Station.
"At least three members of each six member crew would be Australian," says Zubrin in reference to an Australian research facility. Australians would also be required for critical 'backroom' functions such as Mission Control, logistics support, and science support.
Zubrin told AMEC delegates via phone link-up from the United States that humans could get to Mars using technology already developed for the Apollo Program, but that Australia could help develop the technology needed for humans to survive there.
Research at the new facility would potentially cover a wide spectrum of activities, including testing of analogue spacesuits, growing crops and bio-regenerative life support, and simulating communication between a Mars base and Earth, with realistic time delays.
According to geologist Dr. Nick Hoffman of Latrobe University in Australia, a spokesman for MSA, "The first manned mission to Mars will occur within the next ten to fifteen years. Australia has a role to play in that mission, and will derive considerable benefits in technical development, political standing, and national identity from doing so."
The Australian involvement in Mars analogue research doesn't end with plans for a research station Down Under. Australian-born graduate student Katy Quinn, now based in the United States, has been participating in field exercises in Denver, Colorado, in preparation for joining a crew on Devon Island this summer. Quinn, a geophysicist specialising in remote sensing, says that the training has made her begin to "feel like an astronaut."
"We have been conducting simulated EVAs [extra-vehicular activities or spacewalks] in analogue spacesuits, for one and a half hours at a time, looking at the local geology, and interacting with 'Mission Control' in Boulder. I will be up there [Devon Island] for one rotation, as part of a crew of six. Devon Island seems like another world, so how much more fabulous would it feel to be on Mars! I'm really excited by this opportunity."
The Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station on Devon Island is 8.3 metres in diameter and 8.45 metres tall, with its walls and dome panels made of weatherproof tough fibreglass, supported on steel legs. It has two decks, and features living quarters, cooking areas, a laboratory, workshop, storage areas, EVA preparation areas, a bathroom and airlocks. An Australian version, which the MSA has dubbed 'Mars-Oz', is likely to be a similar construction.
The MSA has proposed to the international chapter that the hardware to construct Mars-Oz be shipped for receipt in Australia around late December, after completion in the U.S. factory in early November. This doesn't leave a great deal of time for planning and preparatory work. More volunteers and financial support will be needed to help construct the habitat upon arrival, says Jason Hoogland. "Technical skills will be required to fit-out Mars-Oz and prepare for the first crews, and we would seek donations of equipment such as laptop computers and four-wheel drives."
The most urgent task however is to select a suitable location for a facility like Mars-Oz. The MSA's Project Jarntimarra has involved experts in various scientific disciplines, such as geology and microbiology, setting up a database of information on Australian Mars analogue sites. In September, members of MSA are taking a field trip to parts of outback South Australia to examine suitable sites. The scientific team will be accompanied for part of the trip by noted Australian astrobiologist Dr. Malcolm Walter, whose NASA-funded research focuses on microbial life in high temperature ecosystems, and the search for life on Mars. Walter's book, The Search for Life on Mars, explores the places where life may have or still does exist on Mars, and he believes Australia may hold the key to solving this mystery.
"Places such as Devon Island are analogues for the present environment of Mars. But another category of analogues is also important: those places that resemble ancient environments that might have hosted life, such as former lakes and thermal springs. In Australia we have numerous such places, including gold deposits in central Queensland, a giant lead-zinc-silver deposit in the Northern Territory, Mount Painter in South Australia, and many sites in Western Australia. Some of these are also analogues for aspects of the current environment on Mars. Mount Painter is one such [environment]; it is one of the world's largest ancient thermal spring systems, has an active thermal spring nearby, and is flanked by arid plains, dunes and salt lakes. It is an excellent site for conducting simulation experiments."
An Australian analogue research station could also be used to test a series of vehicles intended to assist with the design of future Mars rovers. The Human Operations Prototype or HOP is the first stage of Project Marsupial, with the stated goal of designing, testing and operating "a high-fidelity rover for an actual human Mars mission, based on the experience gained from the HOP." The MSA was one of three organisations to receive a grant from the Mars Society International for Project Marsupial.
The three MSA projects, Jarntimarra, Mars-Oz and Marsupial, are part of a suite of Mars-related research programs run by MSA, known collectively as Operation Red Centre. The other two projects are Project Mars Skin, which will develop Mars surface suits for use in analogue research activities, and SAFMARS (Store and Forward Mars Analogue Research System), involving simulations of communications between Earth and a Mars base. "These projects are the bare minimum required to undertake a comprehensive range of integrated field exercises involving simulation crews, hardware, terrain and communications," says Jason Hoogland. All five projects would use the proposed new Australian research facility, to varying degrees.
Robert Zubrin responds to critics of his efforts to send people to Mars, who argue that the money could be better spent here on Earth, with the simple statement: "We have to deal with the problems of our day, but the future also has to be created." Indeed, he says, "It is our obligation to create the future." Australian-led research may contribute to a future for humankind which includes exploration of Mars. As Dr. Nick Hoffman puts it, "Australians are rolling up their shirt sleeves and trying things out. It's a unique opportunity to participate in the first great adventure of the 21st Century."
Jennifer Laing is a freelance space writer from Melbourne, Australia.