A reusable, water-powered Mars lander that will allow humans to explore the Red Planet from an orbiting ‘base camp’ as early as the 2030s was unveiled Friday by US defense giant Lockheed Martin.
Governments and private firms are collaborating on projects to send humans to new frontiers, with NASA planning missions next decade into the space between Earth and the Moon to prepare for trips to Mars.
Lockheed Martin has been working on its “Mars Base Camp”, a science laboratory that will orbit the planet, with the crewed lander set to descend to the surface on repeated missions.
“It looks a bit like Jules Verne, but it’s actually more like an aircraft that we’ve flown in the past,” Lockheed Martin’s human spaceflight strategy chief Rob Chambers said, at a gathering of the world’s leading space experts in the Australian city of Adelaide.
Up to four astronauts could join each two-week surface mission, while liquid hydrogen generated from water would fuel the spacecraft, he added.
“We can create that fuel. We can power this entire spacecraft system just with water,” said Chambers, describing it as a “water-based economy”.
Lockheed Martin is among several companies working on deep space habitats with NASA, which hopes to send the first astronauts to Mars in the 2030s.
Chambers called the Mars vision “a transformational event for our generation”, adding: “It’s literally (the) dawn of the new age of discovery about ourselves and about our solar system and about our place in it.”
The International Astronautical Congress concludes on Friday with a presentation by SpaceX’s Elon Musk, who will outline a new design for an interplanetary transport system to take humans to Mars
GMT 07:36 2018 Sunday ,21 January
Black NASA astronaut is replaced in sudden crew shuffleGMT 07:48 2018 Sunday ,14 January
Top takeaways from Consumers Electronics ShowGMT 09:06 2018 Thursday ,11 January
Travis the translator aims to make people understoodGMT 08:48 2018 Tuesday ,09 January
Tech faithful gather to worship at mecca of innovationGMT 10:56 2018 Friday ,05 January
Struggling Westinghouse Electric sold to Brookfield for $4.6 bnGMT 08:32 2018 Thursday ,04 January
High-tech ship en route to resume hunt for MH370GMT 08:20 2017 Sunday ,31 December
Apple apologizes for slowing iPhones, offers discounted batteriesGMT 08:33 2017 Friday ,29 December
Apple, Epson face French legal pressureMaintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2023 ©
Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2023 ©