Space Tourist to unveil private Mars voyage todayhttp://news.yahoo.com/space-tourist-unveil-private-mars-voyage-today-115543443.html (http://news.yahoo.com/space-tourist-unveil-private-mars-voyage-today-115543443.html)
By Clara Moskowitz | SPACE.com – 7 hrs ago.. .(http://media.zenfs.com/en_US/News/SPACE.com/Space_Tourist_to_Unveil_Private-8b9bcdb4168f5817e9dbc72c658463b4)
A millionaire space tourist plans to make a major announcement today about launching a trip to Mars in 2018.
American businessman Dennis Tito paid about $20 million to visit the International Space Station in 2001 aboard a Russian spacecraft. Now, Tito is launching a new nonprofit organization called the Inspiration Mars Foundation to plan another private trip to space.
Details about the private Mars voyage, including whether it will be manned or robotic, are set to be revealed during a press conference today at Washington, D.C.'s National Press Club. Speakers at the 1 p.m. EST (1800 GMT) event will include Tito, as well as longtime space journalist Miles O’Brien, former NASA flight surgeon Jonathan Clark, a professor of space medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, Taber MacCallum, chief executive officer and chief technology officer of Paragon Space Development Corporation, and Jane Poynter, Paragon's president and chairwoman.
The Inspiration Mars Foundation plans to mount a mission to "take advantage of a unique window of opportunity to launch an historic journey to Mars and back in 501 days," project officials wrote in a media advisory.
"This 'Mission for America' will generate new knowledge, experience and momentum for the next great era of space exploration. It is intended to encourage all Americans to believe again, in doing the hard things that make our nation great, while inspiring youth through Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education and motivation," they added.
Tito, an engineer who once worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., founded the investment firm Wilshire Associates, which eventually made him a millionaire. [Photos: The First Space Tourists]
Tito's eight-day trek to space in 2001 made him the first-ever space tourist. Since his trip, six others have followed in his footsteps, paying between $20 million and $35 million through the American firm Space Adventures, which brokers deals with the Russian Federal Space Agency.
No private company has yet launched people to space on commercially built vehicles, though numerous firms, such as Space Exploration Technologies Corp., are working toward that goal.
NASA itself is also pursuing the goal of sending humans to Mars. The space agency is developing a new capsule called Orion, and a new heavy-lift rocket called the Space Launch System (SLS), to take astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit and to new destinations in the solar system, including asteroids and the Red Planet.
To watch Tito's announcement live at 1 p.m. EST (1800 GMT), visit: http://www.inspirationmars.org/. (http://www.inspirationmars.org/.)
Wanted: Married Couple for Private Mars Voyage in 2018http://news.yahoo.com/wanted-married-couple-private-mars-voyage-2018-180850635.html (http://news.yahoo.com/wanted-married-couple-private-mars-voyage-2018-180850635.html)
By Clara Moskowitz | SPACE.com – 1 hr 47 mins ago.. .(http://media.zenfs.com/en_US/News/SPACE.com/Wanted_Married_Couple_for_Private-f5c33db19b689b60d8db6b387cd28164)
An artist's illustration of the Inspiration Mars Foundation's spacecraft for a 2018 mission to Mars by a two-person crew. The private Mars mission would be a flyby trip around the Red Planet.
WASHINGTON — A new nonprofit led by the world's first space tourist is mounting an ambitious plan to launch the first manned mission to Mars in 2018, a voyage that could include an adventurous married crew.
The project, led by American millionaire Dennis Tito — who paid his own way to space in 2001 — aims not to land people on the surface of the Red Planet, but to take advantage of a rare planetary alignment that would allow a relatively easy, quick flyby of Mars.
Tito announced the private Mars voyage plan today (Feb. 27) here at the National Press Club, where he held a press conference to launch his new organization, the Inspiration Mars Foundation, to back the mission.
Tito hopes to choose a space capsule and rocket from among those already on the market, and modify them to carry two people to Mars and back in 501 days.
And to combat the loneliness and isolation that would doubtless set in during such a mission, Tito is proposing something that's never been tried before: sending one male and one female, preferably a married couple.
"When you're out that far and the Earth is a tiny, blue pinpoint, you're going to need someone you can hug," Tito told SPACE.com. "What better solution to the psychological problems you're going to encounter with that isolation?" [9 Mars Mission Questions for Dennis Tito]
Rare Mars opportunity
The mission is designed to capitalize on a launch opportunity that opens in January 2018.
"There are rare opportunities to actually go out to Mars and come back in a relatively short time, about 1.4 years, or 500 or so days," Tito said. "If one misses those opportunities, then typical flight times would be two to three years."
Though he admits the plan faces numerous challenges, Tito says it's doable.
"I've seen others come out with fantasy missions that in no way will actually occur," he said. "I didn't want to fall into that."
Before forming the Inspiration Mars Foundation, Tito gathered a group of scientists and engineers to study the potential mission. He hired Paragon Space Development Corporation, which has expertise in life support systems, and space medicine expert Jonathan Clark of Baylor College of Medicine, to look into what would be needed to keep two crewmembers alive and functional in a small capsule for more than 500 days.
The team used the private Dragon space capsule, built by commercial firm Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), as a model, and found that the mission is feasible. There are caveats, however: For one, SpaceX has not yet launched people on the Dragon, only cargo.
Life support
For another, the mission will need novel life support systems and radiation protection technology to keep the crew alive and healthy.
Tito likened the challenges in equipping an existing spacecraft for the mission to outfitting an empty house.
"We can buy the house, but the walls are bare, and there's no furniture," he said.
Unlike the leaders of some private space endeavors, Tito said he doesn't expect to make any money off the expedition.
"This is a philanthropic mission," he said, adding that its primary goal was to inspire the nation with the excitement of space travel, and to test out some of the technologies that will be needed later for a Mars landing voyage."When this mission is completed, I don’t end up with a company. I'll end up a lot poorer actually."
Tito, who started off as an engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, and later made his fortune through an investment company he founded, plans to fund the Inspiration Mars Foundation himself for its first two years. To raise the rest of the necessary funds, including the cost of the rocket and space capsule, Tito hopes to enlist private donations.
Though he acknowledged that the entire project would be challenging, Tito said he was confident that he and his team would be able to pull it off.
"I think this is the real deal," Tito said."It doesn't mean it's not difficult. We've got a long way to go to make it happen. But it's certainly a doable thing. I'm absolutely committed to make this happen."
First space tourist
Tito himself made history in 2001 when he became the first space tourist. He reportedly paid $20 million to the Russian Federal Space Agency for a seat on a Soyuz space capsule bound for the International Space Station. Tito's eight days in space set the stage for six other space tourists to follow him, all through deals with Russia brokered by U.S. firm Space Adventures.
Meanwhile, NASA itself is chasing Mars, with a new space capsule called Orion and a new heavy-lift rocket called the Space Launch System (SLS) in development to carry astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit. The space agency has said it hopes to land people on Mars by the mid 2030s.
And other private outfits, such as the Dutch company Mars One, also hope to mount the first mission to the Red Planet. Mars One aims to land people on the planetin 2023, and eventually to establish a long-term colony there.
Married to Mars: 9 Questions for Dennis Tito on Private Martian Tripshttp://news.yahoo.com/married-mars-9-questions-dennis-tito-private-martian-180852871.html (http://news.yahoo.com/married-mars-9-questions-dennis-tito-private-martian-180852871.html)
By Clara Moskowitz | SPACE.com – 1 hr 51 mins ago.. .
The world's first space tourist, Dennis Tito, isn't done with space. The American entrepreneur has founded a new nonprofit organization to work toward launching the first manned mission to Mars in 2018.
The flyby mission, which wouldn't land on the Red Planet, would take advantage of a rare planetary alignment that would allow a speedy trajectory to Mars and back in about 500 days. Tito unveiled the mission today (Feb. 27) at the National Press Club in Washington during the launch of the new nonprofit Inspiration Mars Foundation, which will oversee the audacious project.
SPACE.com caught up with Tito to ask him some burning questions about the new private Mars mission.
SPACE.com: Would you consider going on this mission yourself?
Dennis Tito: Absolutely not.
First of all, I'm 72 years old. Even if I were 30 years younger, I wouldn't, because the one criterion that’s very important for this crew is they will have to be really mechanically inclined. They will be overhauling this life support system if it breaks. [Photos: The First Space Tourists]
SPACE.com: So who do you think would make good candidates?
Tito: We're proposing a man and a woman, because this is humanity's first flight out to Mars, and humanity should be represented by both genders.
We hope that we can find a married couple. When you're out that far and the Earth is a tiny blue pinpoint, you're going to need someone you can hug. What better solution to the psychological problems you're going to encounter with that isolation?
SPACE.com: Do you think it will be difficult to find people willing to undertake the mission?
Tito: Over 600,000 people have applied over the prior 40 years to be astronauts, so I'm sure there will be a lot of applications for this mission. You really have to select the best qualified people.
SPACE.com: What do you think the conditions will be like for the crew?
Tito: There are cramped quarters for the crew. It's a Spartan mission. It's a bold mission. What we're doing is adding significant embellishments to the spacecraft so that it's capable of sustaining two people for 500 days. We have a lot of work to do.
But we'd use existing launch vehicles and we have several ideas about that, we're talking to industry about that.
SPACE.com: Have you decided yet whether you'll use SpaceX's Dragon capsule and Falcon Heavy rocket for the mission?
Tito: We used SpaceX as a reference in our study, but there's a lot we don't know about whether Dragon's going to be selected by NASA as a commercial crew vehicle. Falcon heavy hasn't been launched yet. There are a lot of unknowns. We don't want to put all our eggs in one basket.
SPACE.com: What is the scientific value of a manned mission to Mars, if the crew won't be landing on the planet?
Tito: At first, I thought this is not a science mission. This is for inspiration; it's a test flight to show we can get there. You're going to learn a lot about the engineering problems.
But then as I started learning more about the life sciences, apparently [the benefits] are huge. There hasn't been really any information on human behavior in this kind of environment. The impact of radiation, the isolation — the academics are all very excited. It'd be a huge scientific value in the life sciences.
SPACE.com: But you're really aiming for inspiration?
Tito: My younger years were during the Apollo missions. The '60s for me were just really exciting times. It had a whole impact on my generation. I know the space program caused me to get my engineering degree. But what happened to the interests of this generation in science? It's really on a decline. And I think if we have this first mission to Mars, even though it's far from our goal of landing, I could see it jumpstarting interest in space. I could see the potential of recreating what existed 50 years ago during the space race. I think it will be a big step in America'sleadership role in the world.
SPACE.com: Is NASA involved in this mission?
Tito: We just signed a Space Act Agreement with them for at least one of the critical path areas. Rather than NASA funding us, we're funding NASA. That showed us that they're really willing to endorse the idea of public-private partnerships. They're not endorsing this mission, at this point, but they're certainly open to the idea of helping us with the technology, because that technology is going to benefit them.
SPACE.com: How likely is it that you'll actually be able to launch this mission in 2018?
Tito: I give it a good chance. We're seeing a lot of positive response from people. I can't make it happen by myself. It isn't like I can just write a check for the whole thing, or force the engineering to come out the way I want it to. But unless we run into showstoppers, I don't see why not. We can do this if we want to.
I can't tell you how excited I am. It's hard to sleep at night. My gut feeling is, we're going to make it.
Private Mission to Mars in 2018: Who Should Go?http://news.yahoo.com/private-mission-mars-2018-151016167.html (http://news.yahoo.com/private-mission-mars-2018-151016167.html)
By Clara Moskowitz | SPACE.com – 5 hrs ago.. .(http://media.zenfs.com/en_US/News/SPACE.com/Private_Mission_to_Mars_in-c8690c8b13508f2b13a0174673cafdec)
WASHINGTON — A new, privately funded campaign is on to launch a manned mission to fly by Mars in 2018. Of the numerous open questions about the voyage, one of the most pressing is, who should go?
Space tourist Dennis Tito announced the plans Wednesday (Feb. 27) during a press conference in Washington, D.C., at which he described a new nonprofit organization he founded, the Inspiration Mars Foundation, to plan the mission.
Tito envisions sending two crewmembers on a roughly 500-day trip to Mars and back. To combat the isolation and loneliness that could set in, the Inspiration Mars team hopes to recruit a married male-female couple to make the private Mars mission in 2018 together.
"It's important that this is a man and a woman because they represent humanity," said Jane Poynter, president and chairwoman of Paragon Space Development Corporation, and a member of the Inspiration Mars team. "After all, we are more or less 50 percent men and 50 percent women [on Earth]. It represents our children — whether they are a girl or a boy, they see themselves reflected in that crew." [Dennis Tito's 2018 Human Mars Flyby Mission Explained (Infographic)]
Married couples
Poynter and her husband, Taber MacCallum, who is chief technology officer for Inspiration Mars, spent two years living inside the Biosphere 2 experiment, and learned the benefits of having a close companion to lean on.
"It was extremely helpful to have somebody that I could problem solve with," Poynter said. "It was also fantastic to have the opportunity to be there and share the experience when we had those wondrous moments."
Inspiration Mars plans to recruit highly qualified crewmembers with the technical background necessary to serve as space mechanics on all aspects of their vehicle, should it need repairs.
For their part, Poynter and MacCallum aren't just mission planners — they also plan to throw their hats in the ring as crew applicants.
Spartan conditions
The trip, which would capitalize on a rare planetary alignment that allows for a boomerang mission around the Red Planet much more quickly than normal trajectories, would largely use existing hardware, spacecraft and rockets, but with some modifications to support a crew for such an extended period.
Thus, whoever signs up for the trip will be in for some Spartan conditions.
"This going to be a very austere mission," MacCallum said, comparing the Mars voyagers to Lewis and Clark, blazing a trail through the unknown.
"It scares me a little bit," Poynter told SPACE.com. "I'd be lying if I said it didn't. But the opportunity to look back at the Earth from Mars — that's an experience not to miss."
The right stuff
Whoever undertakes the mission will need "the right stuff times 50," Tito said.
The successful applicants must be resilient, even-keel, and able to maintain a happy attitude in the face of adversity, Poynter said.
Despite the challenges, though, Inspiration Mars is expecting a flood of applications from people eager for the chance to make history by traveling farther into space than ever before.
The team's medical expert, Jonathan Clark of the Center for Space Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, said the crewmembers must also be prepared to face some health challenges. In addition to the havoc that a year and a half of microgravity will weak on the human body, the Mars travelers will face a strong dose of radiation, which could elevate their risk for cancer by about three percent.
"The crew would know about it, they would have to decide, 'I realize that I'm going to have an excess cancer risk," Clark said. "Ultimately it's going to have to be those personal decisions."