Mission to Mars Project

Introduction

A manned mission to Mars has been the subject of science fiction, engineering and scientific proposals throughout the 20th century and into the 21st century. The plans consist of proposals for not only landing, but also for settling and terraforming the Red Planet.

In 2010, a bill was signed in the United States discontinuing plans for a manned mission to the Moon by 2020, and instead, authorizing manned missions to an asteroid in 2025 and to the planet Mars by the 2030s. In 2012, a private project named Mars One was announced, aiming to establish a settlement on Mars in 2023.

The good news is that you have been selected to take part in the greatest space adventure of all time. You and your crew will be responsible for planning a mission to Mars that establishes the first off-world human colony.

On the other hand, according to Mary Roach in her book, Packing for Mars: “To the rocket scientist, you are a problem. You are the most irritating piece of machinery he or she will ever have to deal with. You and your fluctuating metabolism, your puny memory, your frame that comes in a million different configurations. You are unpredictable. You’re inconstant. You take weeks to fix. The engineer must worry about the water and oxygen and food you’ll need in space, about how much extra fuel it will take to launch your shrimp cocktail and irradiated beef tacos. A solar cell or a thruster nozzle is stable and undemanding. It does not excrete or panic or fall in love with the mission commander. It has no ego. Its structural elements don’t start to break down without gravity, and it works just fine without sleep.”

However, Mary Roach finishes by saying, “To me, you are the best thing to happen to rocket science.”

References:

•Manned Mission to Mars -

•Mars One -

Assignment

Overcoming the engineering difficulties getting to Mars and avoiding the dangers of living outside of Earth’s protective environment will required the collective ingenuity of many people. The tasks for your mission will address the short term goal of getting to Mars and the longer term goal of living on Mars. You will work with your selected group to do the necessary research, brainstorming and planning that will address the problems and solutions to achieve your goal. You will then prepare both a poster and a 10-slide PowerPoint presentation to share your plans.

Getting to Mars / Living on Mars
Hardware / Dangers of Space / Habitat / Sustainability
  • Spacecraft Design
  • Propulsion
  • Fuel Type & Amount
  • Air, Water & Food Supplies
  • Timeline
  • Launch Date(s)
  • Modeling Trajectory
  • Cost per Pound
/
  • Weightlessness
  • Cosmic Rays
  • Meteors & Space Debris
  • Psychological
/
  • Surface Environment
  • Structural Design
  • Layout
  • Location
  • Power Requirements
  • Power Source
  • Timeline
/
  • Creating fuel
  • Creating oxygen
  • Finding/creating water
  • Growing crops
  • Population of colony
  • Supplies Requirements
  • Obtaining supplies
  • Setting up manufacturing
  • Terraforming Mars
  • Timeline

Daily Work

In addition to the facts and existing proposals found in your research, your group should collectively add your own original ideas. You have 3 days to complete this assignment. As a result, you should be thinking about your presentation (which will be given on the 4th day) fairly soon into the process.

Mr. Pennington is the overall Project Manager for the Mission to Mars. Your group will need to review your progress with him daily and get his approval on any plans, designs and timelines.

Good luck on this momentous adventure!

Assessment of Your Project

Poor ( 0 - 55 pts ) / Good ( 56 - 71 pts ) / Excellent ( 72-80 pts )
Research:
Evidence of having collected sufficient information to make your decisions. You should show summaries of research you have found, along with links to the resources you used. /
  • incomplete
  • lacks organization
  • lacks citations
/
  • logically organized
  • presented in a clear format
  • complete
  • includes citations
/
  • shows evidence of self-exploration of the problem
  • many possible plans have been examined

Poor ( 0 - 13 pts ) / Good ( 14 - 17 pts ) / Excellent ( 18-20 pts )
Presentation:
You will present your findings to the rest of the class, both as a poster and as a PowerPoint presentation. (A 5-minuted video may be substituted for the PowerPoint presentation). /
  • disorganized
  • unappealing
  • presenters lack confidence
  • difficult to understand, lacks organization
  • lack of preparation evident
/
  • logically organized
  • interesting
  • presenters are confident
  • easy to understand
  • shows evidence of having practiced ahead of time
/
  • presentation is exciting
  • presentation uses media in a highly effective manner