NASA's Mars rover Curiosity used its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) to snap a set of 55 high-resolution images on Oct. 31, 2012. Researchers stitched the pictures together to create this full-color self-portrait. CREDIT: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems
Contrary to rampant speculation, NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has not made an earth-shaking find just a few months into its Red Planet mission, agency officials said today (Nov. 29).
Rumors of a big discovery began swirling earlier this month, after an NPR story quoted Curiosity chief scientist John Grotzinger as saying that the rover's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument had recently gathered data "for the history books."
SAM is capable of identifying organic compounds, the carbon-containing building blocks of life as we know it. So many people assumed that Curiosity had detected organic compounds in the Martian soil.But that's not the case, officials said."Rumors and speculation that there are major new findings from the mission at this early stage are incorrect," officials at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., which manages Curiosity's mission, wrote in a mission update today. "At this point in the mission, the instruments on the rover have not detected any definitive evidence of Martian organics."
Grotzinger, who is a geologist at Caltech in Pasadena, and several other members of the Curiosity team will hold a press conference Monday (Dec. 3) at the annual fall meeting of the American
http://www.space.com/18599-what-did-curiosity-find-on-mars-video.html Geophysical Union in San Francisco.Don't expect a bombshell announcement."The news conference will be an update about first use of the rover's full array of analytical instruments to investigate a drift of sandy soil," JPL officials wrote.The $2.5 billionMars rover Curiosity landed inside Mars' huge Gale Crater on Aug. 5, kicking off a planned two-year mission to determine if the Red Planet could ever have supported microbial life. SAM is just one of 10 science instruments Curiosity carries to help it in its quest, along with an array of 17 cameras.
Curiosity scientists are currently scouting out potential targets for the first use of the rover's drill, which can bore 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) into solid rock. The six-wheeled robot has already analyzed scooped-up soil samples with SAM and another instrument on its body known as CheMin.
While no huge news is apparently in the offing on Monday, NASA has high hopes for Curiosity and its mission.
"The mission already has found an ancient riverbed on the Red Planet, and there is every expectation for remarkable discoveries still to come," JPL officials wrote.
A 'Curiosity' Quiz: How Well Do You Know NASA's Nex...
NASA's Curiosity rover — the centerpiece of NASA's $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission — landed on Mars Aug. 5. How much do you know about Curiosity and its mission?
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Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Graham Farmelo on Paul Dirac and Mathematical Beauty
Adjunct Professor of Physics at Northeastern University in Boston, Graham Farmelo, on Paul Dirac and the Religion of Mathematical Beauty. Apart from Einstein, Paul Dirac was probably the greatest theoretical physicist of the 20th century. Dirac, co-inventor of quantum mechanics, is now best known for conceiving of anti-matter and also for his deeply eccentric behavior. For him, the most important attribute of a fundamental theory was its mathematical beauty, an idea that he said was "almost a religion" to him.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
THE UNIVERSE: Microscopic Universe | S07E05
Particles are studied in an attempt to understand the universe
THE UNIVERSE: Our Place in the Milky Way | S07E03
An inside look at the Earth's position in the Milky Way galaxy.
Our corner of the universe is an ideal place to live, but how much do we really know about our galactic neighborhood? Meet some friends and foes on a tour of our place in the Milky Way.
The Universe - Season 1 Episode 07 - The Inner Planets
Examining Mercury and Venus. Included: exploring how the damages they've suffered from cosmic collisions and acid rain may serve as a warning for Earth.
Universe Season Show Documentary Space Science Physics Laws Gravity Newton Albert Einstein Stephen Hawking Newton's law of universal gravitation Sir Isaac Newton: The Universal Law of Gravitation Astronomy Comets Space Galileu Galilei Galaxy Constellation Orion Nebula Dark Matter Dark Energy Expansion Star Planet Solar System The Sun Mercury Venus Earth The Moon Lunar Spaceship Mars Speed of Light Phobos Deimos Jupiter Metis Adrastea Amalthea and Thebe Io Europa Ganymede Callisto Leda Himalia Lysithea Elara Ananke Carme Pasiphae and Sinope Recently discovered moons Saturn Pan and Atlas Prometheus and Pandora Epimetheus Janus Mimas Enceladus Tethys Telesto and Calypso Dione and Helene Rhea Titan Hyperion Iapetus Phoebe Recently discovered satellites Uranus Cordelia Ophelia Bianca Cressida Desdemona Juliet Portia Rosalind Belinda and Puck Miranda Ariel Umbriel Titania Oberon Caliban Sycorax Prospero Setebos Stephano and Trinculo Neptune Naiad Thalassa Despina and Galatea Larissa Proteus Triton Nereid Pluto Charon Nix and Hydra Dwarf Planets Pluto Ceres Eris Makemake and Haumea Small Bodies Comets Comet Halley Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 The Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud Sedna Asteroids 951 Gaspra 243 Ida 253 Mathilde 433 Eros Meteors Meteorites and Impacts The Interplanetary Medium Black Hole Red Giant Dwarf Planet Dwarf Remnants Atoms Atom The Big Bang Theory Theories Physics Astronomy Astrophysics Cosmology High Energy Physics Quantum Optics and Condensed Matter Physics Planetary Physics Physics Teaching Experimental Theoretical The Unknown seminar colloquium meeting Warp Planetary-sized object Planetary Size Sized wandering star celestial body orbiting Orbit star stellar remnant gravity thermonuclear fusion cleared neighbouring region planetesimal planetesimals International Astronomical Union Ptolemy deferent and epicycle Motion Astronomer Michio Kaku planets orbited the Sun Galileo Galilei Johannes Kepler elliptical astronomers Space Age probes volcanism Plate Tectonics Erosion Geology hurricane tectonic hydrology large low-density gas giants and smaller rocky terrestrials low density giant terrestrial Sun Mercury Venus Earth Mars four gas giants Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune natural satellites dwarf planets small Solar System bodies extrasolar planets exoplanets Milky Way Galaxy Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia 1 History Babylon Greco-Roman astronomy India Medieval Muslim astronomy European Renaissance 19th century 20th century 21st century Extrasolar planet definition 2006 definition Former classifications Mythology and naming Formation Solar System Planetary attributes Extrasolar planets Planetary-mass objects Rogue planets Sub-brown dwarfs Satellite planets and belt planets Attributes Dynamic characteristics Orbit Axial tilt Rotation Orbital clearing Physical characteristics Mass Internal differentiation Atmosphere Magnetosphere Secondary characteristics Wind Season The Kuiper Belt the Oort Cloud Ring Main Asteroid Belt Greek astronomy Neo Assyrian Babylonian Astronomy Venus Astrologer Astrologers Mercury Enuma anu enlil Mesopotamia mythology religious cosmology classical planets naked eye wandering star telescope Io Europa Ganymede Callisto Titan Iapetus Rhea Tethys Dione Pallas Juno Vesta Ceres Pluto Astrea Hebe Iris Flora Metis Hygeia Parthenope Victoria Egeria Irene Eunomia Week Day Ancient Greece Helios Selene Olympians Nergal Nabu Marduk Ares Cronus Titan Phosphoros Zeus Hermes Aphrodite Ishtar Empire Pantheon Mercurius Iuppiter Saturnus Poseidon Deity Anglo-saxon god Sub brown dwarf Kepler laws of planetary motion Mass Atmosphere Double planet Dwarf planet Exoplanet -- celestial body outside that solar system Mesoplanet Minor planet -- celestial body smaller than a planet Planetar (astronomy) Planetary mnemonic Planetesimal Protoplanet Rogue planet Extraterrestrial skies List of hypothetical Solar System objects Landings on other planets Space exploration List of planet-satellite systems Planetary habitability Planetary science Exoplanetology Theoretical planetology Planets in astrology Planets in science fiction Systema Saturnium trans-Neptunian The Big Splash List of comets Comet vintages Portal Energy Warp Hole Black Dark Time Space Matter Space Hubble Telescope Ultra Deep Field Radiation Gamma Beta Alpha Mayall II Andromeda Galaxy Milky Way Galaxy Omega Centauri Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy Virgo Stellar Stream Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy Starfish Galaxy Mayall's Object Small Magellanic Cloud Andromeda Galaxy Triangulum Galaxy Messier 101 Omega Centauri Triangulum Galaxy Centaurus A Bode's Galaxy Sculptor Galaxy Messier 83 Andromeda Andromedae
Astronomers using the W. M. Keck Observatory, the Hubble Space Telescope, and other telescopes on Mauna Kea have studied a giant filament of dark matter in 3D for the first time. Image released Oct. 17. 2012. CREDIT: Image by ESA; additional elements by K. Teramura, Univ. Hawaii Institute for Astronomy.
The hiding spots for the particles making up dark matter are narrowing, and the answer to this cosmic mystery could come within the next three or four years, scientists say.
Dark matter is an elusive substance that is invisible and almost never detected, except by its gravitational pull. Yet astronomers say it likely makes up a quarter of the entire universe and dwarfs the amount of normal matter (galaxies, stars and planets) out there in space.
Just last week, particle physics discovery from the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland cast doubt on a theory called supersymmetry, which predicts the existence of particles that are among the leading candidates for dark matter. That finding limited the types of supersymmetric particles that can exist, but didn't take the supersymmetryexplanation off the table completely.And supersymmetric particles are just one of a number of theorized particles that might account for dark matter. Searches for these and other undiscovered particles have been underway for decades, though none have been detected so far. [Twisted Physics: 7 Mind-Blowing Findings]
"I think we're looking in enough different ways that unless it's something that we just haven't thought of at all yet, it seems to me we're very likely to find it within the next decade," said Dan Bauer, a physicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois working on one of the experiments, called CDMS.
Dark matter on the run
The leading experiments aimed at detecting dark matter are just starting to operate at sensitivity levels thought to be sufficient to detect signals from these particles, and their results should be in within about three or four years, Bauer said.
"If we don’t find it in this next round of experiments, I think everyone will be a bit discouraged," Bauer told SPACE.com.
To be dark matter, the potential particles must all be neutral and stable, and interact very rarely with other types of matter.
Most of these fall into a category of heavy particles called weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). WIMPs are predicted by supersymmetry, posits the existence of heavier partner particles for all the known particles in the universe with the same electric charge but different spin. [NASA's Quest for Dark Matter (Video)]
Several experiments are underway to search for WIMPs by placing large masses of material, such as xenon or germanium, deep underground and shielded by many layers of protection aiming to keep all other particles out. If any particles do make it past these barriers and collide with the atoms in the xenon or germanium, they will very likely be WIMPs, the thinking goes.
CDMS (which stands for the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search), started in a tunnel underneath Stanford University in California, and a newer, more sensitive version of the project is now underway even deeper underground in Minnesota's Soudan Mine.
Another WIMP-hunting experiment is called XENON100, the latest iteration of a search based at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory in Italy. And a new project called LUX (the Large Underground Xenon experiment) under construction at the Homestake mine in South Dakota could be a big player, too.
Having all these competing projects is ultimately necessary, if any result is to be believed.
"Most people in the field agree you're going to need to see evidence of this in more than one experiment and more than one type before everyone's convinced," Bauer said.
Other possibilities
And WIMPs aren't the only candidate particles for dark matter. Another potential solution to the problem is called the axion. This is a theorized particle that is also neutral and weakly interacting, but might lighter than WIMPs. Therefore, if axions are dark matter, there would have to be a lot more of them around.
An experiment called the Axion Dark Matter Experiment (ADMX) at the University of Washington uses a large superconducting magnet to search for these particles. So far, that search has turned up empty as well.
And an even weirder explanation for dark matter comes from the idea that there are tiny hidden dimensionswrapped up inside the known four dimensions of space-time in our universe. If that's the case, there could be accompanying particles called Kaluza–Klein particles that account for dark matter. However, these would be even harder to detect.
And it's too soon to rule out even more the unlikely sounding explanations.
"The things we thought were higher probability haven't shown up yet, so we should keep an open mind," said theoretical physicist Lance Dixon of the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California.
Keep the dark matter hope alive
Despite the difficulty of finding dark matter, whatever it is, physicists say they're not discouraged.
"I'm pretty confident that dark matter is real, and it seems attractive for it to be carried by an elementary particle, although I could think it might not be exactly that way," Dixon said. "We might not be lucky that the elementary particle that is one that is within the realm of detection."
Bauer said he's been working on CDMS for a long time, and admitted to thinking, at first, that he would have found something by now.
"I guess it’s the natural optimism of physicists to think this is something we might actually be able to find," he said. But even if his experiment never detects dark matter, that in itself tells scientists something interesting.
"It would be more exciting if we saw it than if we didn’t, but it's an important result either way," Bauer said.
The Universe - Season 1 Episode 04 - Jupiter: The Giant Planet
The giant planet of Jupiter poses some of the most intriguing questions about our solar system. With a mini solar system of over sixty moons around Jupiter, is it possible that one could contain life.
Universe Season Show Documentary Space Science Physics Laws Gravity Newton Albert Einstein Stephen Hawking Newton's law of universal gravitation Sir Isaac Newton: The Universal Law of Gravitation Astronomy Comets Space Galileu Galilei Galaxy Constellation Orion Nebula Dark Matter Dark Energy Expansion Star Planet Solar System The Sun Mercury Venus Earth The Moon Lunar Spaceship Mars Speed of Light Phobos Deimos Jupiter Metis Adrastea Amalthea and Thebe Io Europa Ganymede Callisto Leda Himalia Lysithea Elara Ananke Carme Pasiphae and Sinope Recently discovered moons Saturn Pan and Atlas Prometheus and Pandora Epimetheus Janus Mimas Enceladus Tethys Telesto and Calypso Dione and Helene Rhea Titan Hyperion Iapetus Phoebe Recently discovered satellites Uranus Cordelia Ophelia Bianca Cressida Desdemona Juliet Portia Rosalind Belinda and Puck Miranda Ariel Umbriel Titania Oberon Caliban Sycorax Prospero Setebos Stephano and Trinculo Neptune Naiad Thalassa Despina and Galatea Larissa Proteus Triton Nereid Pluto Charon Nix and Hydra Dwarf Planets Pluto Ceres Eris Makemake and Haumea Small Bodies Comets Comet Halley Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 The Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud Sedna Asteroids 951 Gaspra 243 Ida 253 Mathilde 433 Eros Meteors Meteorites and Impacts The Interplanetary Medium Black Hole Red Giant Dwarf Planet Dwarf Remnants Atoms Atom The Big Bang Theory Theories Physics Astronomy Astrophysics Cosmology High Energy Physics Quantum Optics and Condensed Matter Physics Planetary Physics Physics Teaching Experimental Theoretical The Unknown seminar colloquium meeting Warp Planetary-sized object Planetary Size Sized wandering star celestial body orbiting Orbit star stellar remnant gravity thermonuclear fusion cleared neighbouring region planetesimal planetesimals International Astronomical Union Ptolemy deferent and epicycle Motion Astronomer Michio Kaku planets orbited the Sun Galileo Galilei Johannes Kepler elliptical astronomers Space Age probes volcanism Plate Tectonics Erosion Geology hurricane tectonic hydrology large low-density gas giants and smaller rocky terrestrials low density giant terrestrial Sun Mercury Venus Earth Mars four gas giants Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune natural satellites dwarf planets small Solar System bodies extrasolar planets exoplanets Milky Way Galaxy Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia 1 History Babylon Greco-Roman astronomy India Medieval Muslim astronomy European Renaissance 19th century 20th century 21st century Extrasolar planet definition 2006 definition Former classifications Mythology and naming Formation Solar System Planetary attributes Extrasolar planets Planetary-mass objects Rogue planets Sub-brown dwarfs Satellite planets and belt planets Attributes Dynamic characteristics Orbit Axial tilt Rotation Orbital clearing Physical characteristics Mass Internal differentiation Atmosphere Magnetosphere Secondary characteristics Wind Season The Kuiper Belt the Oort Cloud Ring Main Asteroid Belt Greek astronomy Neo Assyrian Babylonian Astronomy Venus Astrologer Astrologers Mercury Enuma anu enlil Mesopotamia mythology religious cosmology classical planets naked eye wandering star telescope Io Europa Ganymede Callisto Titan Iapetus Rhea Tethys Dione Pallas Juno Vesta Ceres Pluto Astrea Hebe Iris Flora Metis Hygeia Parthenope Victoria Egeria Irene Eunomia Week Day Ancient Greece Helios Selene Olympians Nergal Nabu Marduk Ares Cronus Titan Phosphoros Zeus Hermes Aphrodite Ishtar Empire Pantheon Mercurius Iuppiter Saturnus Poseidon Deity Anglo-saxon god Sub brown dwarf Kepler laws of planetary motion Mass Atmosphere Double planet Dwarf planet Exoplanet -- celestial body outside that solar system Mesoplanet Minor planet -- celestial body smaller than a planet Planetar (astronomy) Planetary mnemonic Planetesimal Protoplanet Rogue planet Extraterrestrial skies List of hypothetical Solar System objects Landings on other planets Space exploration List of planet-satellite systems Planetary habitability Planetary science Exoplanetology Theoretical planetology Planets in astrology Planets in science fiction Systema Saturnium trans-Neptunian The Big Splash List of comets Comet vintages Portal Energy Warp Hole Black Dark Time Space Matter Space Hubble Telescope Ultra Deep Field Radiation Gamma Beta Alpha Mayall II Andromeda Galaxy Milky Way Galaxy Omega Centauri Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy Virgo Stellar Stream Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy Starfish Galaxy Mayall's Object Small Magellanic Cloud Andromeda Galaxy Triangulum Galaxy Messier 101 Omega Centauri Triangulum Galaxy Centaurus A Bode's Galaxy Sculptor Galaxy Messier 83 Andromeda Andromedae.
The Universe - Season 1 Episode 03 - End of the Earth
Asteroids, comets and gamma rays pose some of the most dangerous threats to the Earth. See how NASA's top scientists are arming themselves with the latest technology to help protect Earth from these threats. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Universe Season Show Documentary Space Science Physics Laws Gravity Newton Albert Einstein Stephen Hawking Newton's law of universal gravitation Sir Isaac Newton: The Universal Law of Gravitation Astronomy Comets Space Galileu Galilei Galaxy Constellation Orion Nebula Dark Matter Dark Energy Expansion Star Planet Solar System The Sun Mercury Venus Earth The Moon Lunar Spaceship Mars Speed of Light Phobos Deimos Jupiter Metis Adrastea Amalthea and Thebe Io Europa Ganymede Callisto Leda Himalia Lysithea Elara Ananke Carme Pasiphae and Sinope Recently discovered moons Saturn Pan and Atlas Prometheus and Pandora Epimetheus Janus Mimas Enceladus Tethys Telesto and Calypso Dione and Helene Rhea Titan Hyperion Iapetus Phoebe Recently discovered satellites Uranus Cordelia Ophelia Bianca Cressida Desdemona Juliet Portia Rosalind Belinda and Puck Miranda Ariel Umbriel Titania Oberon Caliban Sycorax Prospero Setebos Stephano and Trinculo Neptune Naiad Thalassa Despina and Galatea Larissa Proteus Triton Nereid Pluto Charon Nix and Hydra Dwarf Planets Pluto Ceres Eris Makemake and Haumea Small Bodies Comets Comet Halley Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 The Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud Sedna Asteroids 951 Gaspra 243 Ida 253 Mathilde 433 Eros Meteors Meteorites and Impacts The Interplanetary Medium Black Hole Red Giant Dwarf Planet Dwarf Remnants Atoms Atom The Big Bang Theory Theories Physics Astronomy Astrophysics Cosmology High Energy Physics Quantum Optics and Condensed Matter Physics Planetary Physics Physics Teaching Experimental Theoretical The Unknown seminar colloquium meeting Warp Planetary-sized object Planetary Size Sized wandering star celestial body orbiting Orbit star stellar remnant gravity thermonuclear fusion cleared neighbouring region planetesimal planetesimals International Astronomical Union Ptolemy deferent and epicycle Motion Astronomer Michio Kaku planets orbited the Sun Galileo Galilei Johannes Kepler elliptical astronomers Space Age probes volcanism Plate Tectonics Erosion Geology hurricane tectonic hydrology large low-density gas giants and smaller rocky terrestrials low density giant terrestrial Sun Mercury Venus Earth Mars four gas giants Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune natural satellites dwarf planets small Solar System bodies extrasolar planets exoplanets Milky Way Galaxy Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia 1 History Babylon Greco-Roman astronomy India Medieval Muslim astronomy European Renaissance 19th century 20th century 21st century Extrasolar planet definition 2006 definition Former classifications Mythology and naming Formation Solar System Planetary attributes Extrasolar planets Planetary-mass objects Rogue planets Sub-brown dwarfs Satellite planets and belt planets Attributes Dynamic characteristics Orbit Axial tilt Rotation Orbital clearing Physical characteristics Mass Internal differentiation Atmosphere Magnetosphere Secondary characteristics Wind Season The Kuiper Belt the Oort Cloud Ring Main Asteroid Belt Greek astronomy Neo Assyrian Babylonian Astronomy Venus Astrologer Astrologers Mercury Enuma anu enlil Mesopotamia mythology religious cosmology classical planets naked eye wandering star telescope Io Europa Ganymede Callisto Titan Iapetus Rhea Tethys Dione Pallas Juno Vesta Ceres Pluto Astrea Hebe Iris Flora Metis Hygeia Parthenope Victoria Egeria Irene Eunomia Week Day Ancient Greece Helios Selene Olympians Nergal Nabu Marduk Ares Cronus Titan Phosphoros Zeus Hermes Aphrodite Ishtar Empire Pantheon Mercurius Iuppiter Saturnus Poseidon Deity Anglo-saxon god Sub brown dwarf Kepler laws of planetary motion Mass Atmosphere Double planet Dwarf planet Exoplanet -- celestial body outside that solar system Mesoplanet Minor planet -- celestial body smaller than a planet Planetar (astronomy) Planetary mnemonic Planetesimal Protoplanet Rogue planet Extraterrestrial skies List of hypothetical Solar System objects Landings on other planets Space exploration List of planet-satellite systems Planetary habitability Planetary science Exoplanetology Theoretical planetology Planets in astrology Planets in science fiction Systema Saturnium trans-Neptunian The Big Splash List of comets Comet vintages Portal Energy Warp Hole Black Dark Time Space Matter Space Hubble Telescope Ultra Deep Field Radiation Gamma Beta Alpha Mayall II Andromeda Galaxy Milky Way Galaxy Omega Centauri Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy Virgo Stellar Stream Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy Starfish Galaxy Mayall's Object Small Magellanic Cloud Andromeda Galaxy Triangulum Galaxy Messier 101 Omega Centauri Triangulum Galaxy Centaurus A Bode's Galaxy Sculptor Galaxy Messier 83
This still from a SpaceX mission concept video shows a Dragon space capsule landing on the surface of Mars. SpaceX's Dragon is a privately built space capsule to carry unmanned payloads, and eventually astronauts, into space. CREDIT: SpaceX
Elon Musk, the billionaire founder and CEO of the private spaceflight company SpaceX, wants to help establish a Mars colony of up to 80,000 people by ferrying explorers to the Red Planet for perhaps $500,000 a trip.
In Musk's vision, the ambitious Mars settlement program would start with a pioneering group of fewer than 10 people, who would journey to the Red Planet aboard a huge reusable rocket powered by liquid oxygen and methane.
"At Mars, you can start a self-sustaining civilization and grow it into something really big," Musk told an audience at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London on Friday (Nov. 16). Musk was there to talk about his business plans, and to receive the Society’s gold medal for his contribution to the commercialization of space.
Mars pioneers
Accompanying the founders of the new Mars colony would be large amounts of equipment, including machines to produce fertilizer, methane and oxygen from Mars’ atmospheric nitrogen and carbon dioxide and the planet's subsurface water ice.
The Red Planet pioneers would also take construction materials to build transparent domes, which when pressurized with Mars’ atmospheric CO2 could grow Earth crops in Martian soil. As the Mars colony became more self sufficient, the big rocket would start to transport more people and fewer supplies and equipment. [Future Visions of Human Spaceflight]
Musk’s architecture for this human Mars exploration effort does not employ cyclers, reusable spacecraft that would travel back and forth constantly between the Red Planet and Earth — at least not at first
"Probably not a Mars cycler; the thing with the cyclers is, you need a lot of them," Musk told SPACE.com. "You have to have propellant to keep things aligned as [Mars and Earth’s] orbits aren’t [always] in the same plane. In the beginning you won’t have cyclers."
Musk also ruled out SpaceX's Dragon capsule, which the company is developing to ferry astronauts to and from low-Earth orbit, as the spacecraft that would land colonists on the Red Planet. When asked by SPACE.com what vehicle would be used, he said, "I think you just land the entire thing."
Asked if the "entire thing" is the huge new reusable rocket — which is rumored to bear the acronymic name MCT, short for Mass Cargo Transport or Mars Colony Transport — Musk said, "Maybe."
Musk has been thinking about what his colonist-carrying spacecraft would need, whatever it ends up being. He reckons the oxygen concentration inside should be 30 to 40 percent, and he envisions using the spacecraft’s liquid water store as a barrier between the Mars pioneers and the sun.
Mars Myths & Misconceptions: Quiz
No planet is more steeped in myth and misconception than Mars. This quiz will reveal how much you really know about some of the goofiest claims about the red planet.
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A $500,000 ticket
Musk’s $500,000 ticket price for a Mars trip was derived from what he thinks is affordable.
"The ticket price needs to be low enough that most people in advanced countries, in their mid-forties or something like that, could put together enough money to make the trip," he said, comparing the purchase to buying a house in California. [Photos: The First Space Tourists]
He also estimated that of the eight billion humans that will be living on Earth by the time the colony is possible, perhaps one in 100,000 would be prepared to go. That equates to potentially 80,000 migrants.
Musk figures the colony program — which he wants to be a collaboration between government and private enterprise — would end up costing about $36 billion. He arrived at that number by estimating that a colony that costs 0.25 percent or 0.5 percent of a nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) would be considered acceptable.
The United States' GDP in 2010 was $14.5 trillion; 0.25 percent of $14.5 trillion is $36 billion. If all 80,000 colonists paid $500,000 per seat for their Mars trip, $40 billion would be raised.
"Some money has to be spent on establishing a base on Mars. It’s about getting the basic fundamentals in place," Musk said. "That was true of the English colonies [in the Americas]; it took a significant expense to get things started. But once there are regular Mars flights, you can get the cost down to half a million dollars for someone to move to Mars. Then I think there are enough people who would buy that to have it be a reasonable business case."
The big reusable rocket
The fully reusable rocket that Musk wants to take colonists to Mars is an evolution of SpaceX's Falcon 9 booster, which launches Dragon.
"It’s going to be much bigger [than Falcon 9], but I don’t think we’re quite ready to state the payload. We’ll speak about that next year," Musk said, emphasizing that only fully reusable rockets and spacecraft would keep the ticket price for Mars migration as low as $500,000.
SpaceX is already testing what Musk calls a next-generation, reusable Falcon 9 rocket that can take off vertically and land vertically. The prototype, called Grasshopper, is a Falcon 9 first stage with landing legs.
Grasshoper has made two short flights. The first was on Sept. 21 and reached a height of 6 feet (2 meters); the second test, on Nov. 1, was to a height of 17.7 feet (5.4 m). A planned milestone for the Grasshopper project is to reach an altitude of 100 feet (30 m). [Grasshopper Rocket's 2-Story Test Flight (Video)]
"Over the next few months, we’ll gradually increase the altitude and speed," Musk said. "I do think there probably will be some craters along the way; we’ll be very lucky if there are no craters. Vertical landing is an extremely important breakthrough — extreme, rapid reusability. It’s as close to aircraft-like dispatch capability as one can achieve."
Musk wants to have a reusable Falcon 9 first stage, which uses Grasshopper technology, come back from orbit in "the next year or two." He then wants to use this vertical-landing technology for Falcon 9’s upper stage.
Musk hopes to have a fully reusable version of Falcon 9 in five or six years, but he acknowledged that those could be "famous last words."
A rocket stepping stone
Another stepping stone toward the planned reusable Mars rocket is SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy launcher. With a first flight planned for next year from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the Heavy is a Falcon 9 that has two Falcon 9 first stages bolted on either side.
Musk expects the Falcon Heavy to launch from Florida's Cape Canaveral eventually. This triple-first-stage rocket will be able to put 116,600 pounds (53,000 kilograms) into a 124-mile (200 kilometers) low-Earth orbit. But the Falcon Heavy is still much smaller than Musk’s fully reusable Mars rocket, which will also employ a new engine.
While Musk declines to state what the Mars rocket’s payload capability will be, he does say it will use a new staged combustion cycle engine called Raptor. The cycle involves two steps. Propellant — the fuel and oxidizer — is ignited in pre-burners to produce hot high-pressure gases that help pump propellant into the engine’s combustion chamber. The hot gases are then directed into the same chamber to aid in the combustion of the propellants.
Because Raptor is a staged combustion engine — like the main engines of NASA's now-retired space shuttle fleet — it is expected to be far more efficient than the open-cycle Merlin engines used by the Falcon 9.
While the Falcon 9’s engines use liquid oxygen (LOX) and kerosene, Raptor will use LOX and methane. Musk explained that "the energy cost of methane is the lowest, and it has a slight ISP [specific impulse] advantage over kerosene and doesn’t have any of the bad aspects of hydrogen." (Hydrogen is difficult to store at cryogenic temperatures, makes metal brittle and is very flammable.)
