MarsDrive

MDC Public Outreach Director, Hal Fulton, otherwise known as Quantum Clipper in Second Life, presented a lecture at the International Spaceflight Museum in Secondlife. MDC received excellent publicity within the virtual world. We were VERY excited.

 Hal's lecture was titled "Mars Opportunities and Challenges" and was delivered on November 19, 2006.

You can view Hal's lecture by clicking the Read More link below.

 MarsDrive now has a permanent presence in the International Spaceflight Museum. Go check it out! 

Mars: Opportunities and Challenges

by Hal E. Fulton

or "Quantum Clipper" in SL

I am fairly new to SL, so please excuse me • if my avatar is not very expressive. • Good morning, everyone. • It's Sunday morning in Second Life • though it's actually afternoon in Austin, Texas • where I am in Real Life. • Speaking of RL, my name there is Hal Fulton, • and I am Public Outreach Director of MarsDrive Consortium. • More on MDC a little later. • FYI, I am a computer programmer and author. • You can find my book The Ruby Way on Amazon • if you are interested in the Ruby language. • So I am not a "space person" as such; • but I have been an enthusiast and observer since childhood -- • like many of you, I'm sure. • As a person born in the 60s, I grew up believing • that the "lull" after Apollo was a temporary thing • and that we would get back on track eventually. • One day I woke up, and it had been 30 years • since anyone went to the moon. • Half of my friends were not even born then. • In the last couple of years, I have decided • that I would do whatever I could • to help get us back on track as a spacefaring civilization. • One person can't do much at all. • But as we have seen over and over, • a few thousand people banded together • can accomplish quite a bit • if they work hard and work together. • The title of my talk is "Mars: Opportunities and Challenges." • So, the first question is... • Why Mars? •

I would argue first that a society is a living thing. • And it doesn't matter much to me • whether we are talking about a nation such as my own • or about humanity as a whole. • A society is like a living thing; and living things • are not meant to stagnate. • They change, adapt, and grow; or they die. • The westward expansion in the US, • the trials of the frontier, • caused the pioneers to rise to the challenge. • They became greater than they were before, • and the nation became greater; and arguably • the rest of the world was enriched also. • It is, after all, one world. • As for science, I won't belabor that point too much. • If you believe in the importance of science at all, • you must agree that since the universe does not stop at our stratosphere, • then science should not stop there either. • One aspect of the science that is very interesting to me • is the concept of "comparative planetology." • Imagine that you were an entomologist • (that is, one who studies insects); • but all you had to study was one single cockroach. • That is the position we are in when we study the earth • because it is the only planet we have ever studied in detail. • By studying Mars more closely, • how it is like the earth and how it differs, • we will certainly learn more about the earth itself. • We already know some tantalizing facts about Mars • that were completely outside our knowledge 40 years ago. • Mars, for example, has little or no magnetic field; • your compass won't work there. • Have you ever looked at a Mars map and noticed • there are no mountain ranges? Mountains, but no ranges? • Mars has had volcanos, but apparently no plate tectonics; • there are no colliding continental plates • to produce mountain ranges like ours. • We can only imagine what more we could learn • by going there in person and living there a few decades. • I mentioned economic stimulus... I think it's important to realize • that many people have a misunderstanding of the financial aspect. • I had a friend who was ex-NASA who said, • "People talk as though we shot that money into space, • and it's just gone. Not at all. • That money was spent on earth, and it stayed here." • Now, that may be slightly over-simplified; • but in essence it is absolutely correct. • The money spent on Apollo certainly didn't go to the astronauts. • It didn't all go to the scientists and engineers and the PhDs. • It also went to the construction workers, the truck drivers, • the secretaries and administrators, the bookkeepers, • the security guards, the cafeteria workers, and the janitors. • Some of these people probably could barely read and write; • but they helped us get to the moon. • They did their part, and they got their share of the money. • And I'm not even talking about technological spinoffs here. • Those have a positive economic effect of their own. • I talk about the betterment of all mankind. • How can that be, when not every country will be spacefaring • in the imaginable future? • This goes back to the frontier mentality again, • the trial by fire that hones humans and makes us better. • I would argue that every time humanity has branched, • we have gained new perspectives from our new environment • and from looking back at the old one. • Our remotest ancestors came from Africa; • was the move from there to Asia a good idea or not? • What about the move from Asia to Europe? • This is what settling Mars is about; • it is about starting a new branch of humanity. • Of course, humans have a way • of taking their nature with them wherever they go. • Every society has things in its history • it should not be proud of; • but overall I believe in the human race. • And I believe that the frontier sharpens us, • and when we explore and grow, we change. • Who knows what the Martians will be like, • or what they will learn in the coming decades or centuries? • Perhaps it will be a Martian who discovers a cancer cure • or a way to extend human longevity. • Mars will never be a Utopia, humans being what they are; • but I believe that someday Martian knowledge • and Martian technology will be exported to earth, • to the benefit of everyone. • I mention that life may have existed on Mars, • in fact may even exist now • in the form of single-celled organisms or simple plants. • Can you imagine the headlines if we found it? • What would the implications be? • Conversely, what if we showed that Mars had always been sterile? • Would that have implications also? • Surely one of the most important questions humans can ask is, • "Are we alone in the universe or not?" • Either way, life, especially human life, is worth protecting. • That is another reason to colonize other worlds: • To avoid "putting all our eggs into one basket." • There are numerous ways the human race could be wiped out • by catastrophes of various kinds. • A single large asteroid of the kind that likely eradicated the dinosaurs • could also eradicate us as a species. • Until we colonize other worlds, we as a species • are vulnerable to wholesale extinction. • The final reason I would give to explore Mars • is the old mountain-climber's excuse: "Because it was there." • It is a fact that humans are exploring animals. • Since not all of our deepest instincts • are necessarily as useful or helpful as others, • let us nurture the ones that move us forward. • Exploration and curiosity are in our nature. Let us embrace that fact. • That brings us to a lengthy list of problems to be overcome • if we are to explore Mars. •

The trip to Mars will be dangerous. • First of all, it's a fact that we • have never been on a journey that long before. • This is on the order of months rather than days. • We need to be certain that we carry sufficient • food, water, and oxygen (obviously with safety margins). • To a limited extent, we can recycle water • and perhaps recover oxygen from carbon dioxide. • We need to be certain that the recycling equipment • does not fail, or at least we should have • backup equipment and contingency plans. • The same for the CO2 scrubbers and the heaters. • One catastrophic failure, and the crew would be • dead in a matter of hours. • We need to provide protection against radiation, • in particular solar flares (though these are rare). • Galactic cosmic radiation (GCR) is also dangerous; • the normal background radiation is less serious. • As for extended microgravity conditions, • the effects are known to be problematic • in terms of bone loss and muscle atrophy. • In addition, there are possible psychological effects • from being (as my friend put it) "cooped up in a big tin can • for three months or longer." • This can most likely be dealt with by • psychological screening of the astronauts in advance. • I know that I personally would not be good at this. • There's a strong chance that after a few weeks, • I would simply smile and announce, "I'm going out for a while. • No, I don't plan to take my helmet. • I am just going outside, and may be some time." • Once we get there, we face a new set of challenges... •

I won't go into the details of any specific mission profile. • There are many out there that have been proposed. • In many scenarios, there would be an unmanned mission • which preceded the manned flight. • This would give the arriving crew provisions and equipment • already waiting for them when they arrived, • even to the point of fuel manufactured robotically • before their arrival. • Most mission profiles involve some form of • in situ resource utilization • or "living off the land" as Lewis and Clark did. • We would get water and oxygen from the environment • to whatever extent possible; • we would also manufacture fuel for the return trip • from indigenous Martian materials. • There are still numerous challenges on the surface. • If you are not smart and careful, Mars will kill you. • Of course, the same is true of Mount Everest or Lake Michigan. • The atmosphere on Mars is very thin; we'll need pressure suits. • Fortunately, though it is thin, it will still afford • some protection against radiation. • Sand and rock being in abundance, • we will likely build structures of brick and stone, • much as the American pioneers did. • This will help protect against radiation still more. • (Of course, the interiors will have to be pressurized.) • The Martian atmosphere has little oxygen. • Whatever oxygen we need we will have to bring with us • or extract from the CO2 and the rocks and soil. • We know there is water on Mars. We are not certain • how plentiful it is or how easy to access. • We can use the water both in liquid form • and for extracting oxygen and hydrogen. • It will be cold there. • Much of the planet is below freezing most of the time. • We will need heat, and we will have to rely on • batteries, fuel cells, solar power, and perhaps generators. • But there are other obstacles that we must overcome. • The technical challenges, in many ways, are the easy ones. •

It goes without saying that much R&D will go into • a project of this magnitude. • But that, of course, takes money. • Contrary to popular belief, a Mars mission • need not be terribly expensive. • Over the last 15 years, numerous proposals have shown • that it can be done within a budget similar to the one • that landed us on the moon. • Don't be misled by the "90-day report" from 1989; • a cursory look at this shows that it is • unnecessarily bloated, filled with unneeded expenditures, • yielding a $450 billion price tag. • Other reliable estimates, inside and outside NASA, • have shown that a slim, efficient Mars mission • could be done for less than a tenth of that amount, • perhaps as low as ten billion dollars. • This sounds like a large amount to us, • Realize, however, that the US Gross National Product • is now over $13 trillion dollars, • or more than 1,300 times that amount. • Still, once we start talking billions of dollars, • we are talking about a huge project, • the kind that can only be undertaken by a government, • a large corporation, or one of the fifty richest people in the world. • I think a private Mars mission would be an excellent idea. • But I don't foresee it happening in the next twenty years. • And this is not necessarily a bad thing. • I saw a talk last year by a NASA official • who described NASA's role as that of "trailblazer." • A good analogy is the Lewis and Clark expedition, • which I mentioned earlier. • This exploration of the unknown territories west of the Mississippi • was a government sponsored program. • They traveled light, they lived off the land, • and they went out and scouted ahead. • Of course, it was not long after that (historically speaking) • that we had covered wagons traveling west by the dozens. • So I think that the first Mars expedition • will probably be a government expedition. • It could be the US, China, Russia, Japan, India, • or an international cooperative effort. • But I don't think it will happen • without the government's support. • Likewise, the government will not likely move forward on this • until the people themselves support it. • As I like to say, "If the people lead, the leaders will follow." • And that, of course, is where MarsDrive comes in. •

As you see, each of the points here starts with the word "outreach." • That, to me, is the essence of what MDC is about. • We're not the engine or even the gasoline. We're the oil. • We want to be facilitators, communicators, and educators. • We want to be part of the glue that holds it all together. • I'm really here to pitch Mars, • not to pitch this organization. • But naturally they are related in my mind. • MarsDrive exists precisely to promote Mars in public perception. • You are welcome to visit our website. • We hope you will sign up there • and perhaps even make a donation. • We're just about to get "off the ground" • in the next 60 days. •

I'll answer questions now, but of course • I've been cutting/pasting rather than typing. • My answers will be a little slower. • So: Are there any questions? • Thanks very much, and have a good day. • I hope to see you on Mars in a few decades. •

H. Fulton 19 Nov 2006