posted 12-10-2013 09:35 AM               

Lockheed Martin and SSTL selected for Mars One's first Unmanned Mission to Mars

Mars One has secured lead suppliers for its first mission to Mars. The mission, slated for a 2018 launch, will include a robotic lander and a communications satellite. Mars One has contracted Lockheed Martin and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) to develop mission concept studies. The Mars lander will be built by Lockheed Martin and the communications satellite will be built by SSTL.

This 2018 mission will be a demonstration mission and will provide proof of concept for some of the technologies that are important for a permanent human settlement on Mars; the ultimate goal of the non-profit Mars One foundation.

Bas Lansdorp, M.Sc., Mars One Co-founder and CEO stated, "We're very excited to have contracted Lockheed Martin and SSTL for our first mission to Mars. Both are significant players in their field of expertise and have outstanding track records. These will be the first private spacecraft to Mars and their successful arrival and operation will be a historic accomplishment."

The Lockheed Martin lander will be based on the successful 2007 NASA Phoenix mission spacecraft and will demonstrate some of the technologies required for the manned mission. Lockheed Martin has a distinct legacy of participating in nearly every NASA mission to Mars. For the Phoenix mission, the company designed, built, tested and operated the lander for NASA.

"This will be the first private mission to Mars and Lockheed Martin is very excited to have been contracted by Mars One. This is an ambitious project and we're already working on the mission concept study, starting with the proven design of Phoenix," said Ed Sedivy, Civil Space chief engineer at Lockheed Martin Space Systems. "Having managed the Phoenix spacecraft development, I can tell you, landing on Mars is challenging and a thrill and this is going to be a very exciting mission."

The lander will have the ability to scoop up Martian soil with a robotic arm similar to the Phoenix mission. A water experiment will extract water from the Martian soil. A power experiment will demonstrate the deployment and operation of thin-film solar panels on the surface, and a camera on the lander will be used to make continuous video recordings.

The demonstration satellite will provide a high bandwidth communications system in a Mars synchronous orbit and will be used to relay data and a live video feed from the lander on the surface of Mars back to Earth. Sir Martin Sweeting, Executive Chairman of SSTL said: "SSTL believes that the commercialisation of space exploration is vital in order to bring down costs and schedules and fuel progress. This study gives us an unprecedented opportunity to take our tried and tested approach and apply it to Mars One's imaginative and exhilarating challenge of sending humans to Mars through private investment."

The lander will also carry the winner of a worldwide university challenge that Mars One will launch in 2014 and items from several Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education challenge winners.

Arno Wielders, Co-founder and CTO of Mars One, said, "With our 2018 missions, Mars One brings the settlement of Mars one step closer to reality. The demonstration of water production on Mars is crucial for manned missions. The live video feed from the surface camera will bring Mars closer to people on Earth. And with the STEM education challenges and university competitions planned on our lander, we will enthuse a whole new generation for Mars exploration, even before our first crew lands."

Mars One decided to launch the lander and communications satellite in 2018, two years later than Mars One's original schedule. This new schedule provides time for the development for the two spacecraft and for student participation in STEM and university challenges.

Mars One's mission will not be financed by government-funded organizations. Instead, means of funding the mission include sponsorships and exclusive partnerships. Mars One is in discussion with several partners interested to participate in specific components of the mission or to partner in the STEM and university challenges. Mars One is also launching an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign that enables people to participate in this mission to Mars. Among other things, contributors will be granted voting rights for several mission decisions up for vote in the future, including the winners of the STEM and University Challenges.

"Landing the first humans on Mars should be everyone's mission and not just the mission of one country or organization" said Lansdorp. "Our 2018 mission will change the way people view space exploration as they will have the opportunity to participate. They will not only be spectators, but also participants. We think it is important to involve people from all over the world in what we're doing, and crowdfunding and crowdsourcing activities are important means to do that."

posted 12-10-2013 10:09 AM               

Mars One Selects Lockheed Martin to Study First Private Unmanned Mission to Mars

Mars One has selected Lockheed Martin to develop a mission concept study for its Mars lander spacecraft. The lander will be based on the successful 2007 NASA Phoenix spacecraft and will be a technology demonstrator.

Slated for a 2018 launch, the mission will provide proof of concept for some of the technologies that are important for a permanent human settlement on Mars; the ultimate goal of the non-profit Mars One foundation.

"When we decided to move forward with the development of this private mission to Mars, we looked across the industry and determined Lockheed Martin was the obvious choice to build the lander," said Bas Lansdorp, M.Sc., Mars One Co-founder and CEO. "They have a distinct legacy of participating in nearly every NASA mission to Mars. This will be the first private mission to Mars and the lander's successful arrival and operation will be a historic accomplishment."

For the Phoenix mission, the company designed, built, tested and operated the lander for NASA. The Mars One lander study will evaluate the applicability of this design for the Mars One mission and identify any modifications that are necessary to meet their requirements. In addition, program cost and schedule estimates will be formulated to guide the execution of the Mars One unmanned mission to Mars.

"We are excited to have been selected by Mars One for this ambitious project and we're already working on the mission concept study, starting with the proven design of Phoenix," said Ed Sedivy, Civil Space chief engineer at Lockheed Martin Space Systems. "Having managed the Phoenix spacecraft development, I can tell you, landing on Mars is challenging and a thrill and this is going to be a very exciting mission."

In addition to technology demonstration experiments, Mars One plans for the lander to also carry an experiment from a worldwide university challenge and items from several Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) challenge winners.

Mars One also selected Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) to develop a mission concept study for a Mars communications orbiter that will be used in conjunction with the robotic lander. The satellite will be a high-bandwidth communications system in Mars orbit and will be used to relay the data from the surface of Mars to Earth. The orbiter will be in a Mars synchronous orbit to ensure the 2018 lander and future settlement can always communicate with it.

posted 12-10-2013 10:13 AM               

SSTL selected for first private Mars mission

Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) has been selected to carry out a concept study to develop an interplanetary communications system for Mars One, the privately funded project to establish a human settlement on Mars.

Sir Martin Sweeting, Executive Chairman of SSTL said: "SSTL believes that the commercialisation of space exploration is vital in order to bring down costs and schedules and fuel progress. This study gives us an unprecedented opportunity to take our tried and tested approach and apply it Mars One's imaginative and exhilarating challenge of sending humans to Mars through private investment."

During the course of the study, SSTL will analyse the mission requirements and concept design for communications satellites in a Mars synchronous orbit that would provide the back-bone of communications between the Mars settlers and Earth. The study will consider the technical specifications required for the communications satellites, the orbit, and the launch, transfer and injection scenarios that would put them into operation.

The study will also provide the technical specifications for a communications satellite that will be launched in 2018 together with a Mars lander from Lockheed Martin, as a demonstration mission for Mars One. The demonstration satellite will provide a high bandwidth communications system in a Mars synchronous orbit and will be used to relay data and a live video feed from the lander on the surface of Mars back to Earth.

Bas Lansdorp, M.Sc., Mars One Co-founder and CEO states: "We're very excited to have contracted Lockheed Martin and SSTL for our first mission to Mars. Both are significant players in their field of expertise and have outstanding track records. These will be the first private spacecraft to Mars and their successful arrival and operation will be a historic accomplishment."

posted 06-30-2014 07:59 AM               

Mars mission opens its doors to scientific community for 2018 lander

Mars One is extending a formal invitation to universities, research bodies, and companies to contribute to the payload of the 2018 unmanned Mars Lander. The best ideas will be chosen by a panel of experts. This mission will act as a staging point for the first-ever human mission to the red planet in 2025.

Mars One is soliciting proposals for four demonstration payloads that will demonstrate technologies for the human mission in 2025, proposals for one payload that will be elected in a world wide university competition, and proposals for two payloads that are for sale to the highest bidder. These last two payloads can be used for scientific experiments, marketing activities or anything inbetween.

"We are opening our doors to the scientific community in order to source the best ideas from around the world," said Arno Wielders, co-founder and chief technical officer of Mars One. "The ideas that are adopted will not only be used on the lander in 2018, but will quite possibly provide the foundation for the first human colony on Mars. For anyone motivated by human exploration, there can be no greater honor than contributing to a manned mission to Mars."

The payloads will be part of the Mars One lander that will be launched in August 2018. The lander will be built on the same platform that was used for the 2007 NASA Phoenix mission. Mars One contracted Lockheed Martin, who also built the Phoenix spacecraft, to develop the mission concept study for the 2018 lander.

The four demonstration payloads, university competition payload and two payloads for sale are as follows.

Demonstration payloads: Mars One will send four experiments to demonstrate some of the technologies that are important for the successful permanent human settlement of Mars:

• A soil acquisition experiment that will collect soil for water production;
  
• A water extraction experiment that will extract water from the Martian soil;
  
• A thin film solar panel will demonstrate the possibility of generating the settlement's energy by only using sunlight for power;
  
• A camera system which, in combination with a Mars-synchronous communications satellite, will enable Mars One to send a live video feed from Mars to Earth. Everyone on Earth will be able to take a 'real time' look on Mars.

University competition payload: One payload selected from the entries of universities worldwide will be sent to the surface of Mars on board of the 2018 Lander. Mars One invites teams from any university around the world to submit a payload proposal. Proposals can include scientific experiments, technology demonstrations or any other exciting idea. The Mars One community members will have an important vote in the selection of the competing university submissions and will elect the winning payload. University teams can submit their notice of intent to participate in this competition on the following page: community.mars-one.com/university-competition.

Bas Lansdorp, Co-founder & CEO of Mars One said, "The brightest young minds of our planet are being invited to participate in Mars One's first Mars lander. This is an opportunity for university teams to launch an experiment not just to space, but to the surface of Mars. We do this to inspire students to believe that anything is possible. We're not only looking for scientific proposals but also for outreach or educational ones. Mars One's community will determine which payload flies to Mars in an online vote."

Payloads for sale: Mars One offers two payload opportunities for paying mission contributors. Proposals can take the form of scientific experiments, technology demonstrations, marketing and publicity campaigns, or any other suggested payload. "Previously, the only payloads that have landed on Mars are those which NASA has selected," said Bas Lansdorp, "We want to open up the opportunity to the entire world to participate in our mission to Mars by sending a certain payload to the surface of Mars."

The launch of the lander will happen in less than four years time. This sets an ambitious schedule for the selection, development and delivery of the payloads. The schedule for the selection phase of the payloads and further information concerning the proposals can be found in the Request For Proposals (RFP) document, and the Proposal Information Package (PIP).

The evaluation process of all payloads will be performed by Mars One in close collaboration with its prime contractor, Lockheed Martin, and specific advisers of Mars One. Mars One will enlist the help of other experts as necessary to ensure viable payloads are selected.

posted 12-02-2014 12:25 AM               

Mars One announces ten potential university payloads to fly to Mars in 2018

Mars One is proud to present the ten Mars One University Competition finalists eligible to fly to Mars. One of these ten payloads will receive the once in a lifetime opportunity to fly on Mars One’s first unmanned Lander mission to Mars in 2018. For the first time ever the public will be able to decide which payload receives the extraordinary opportunity to fly to Mars.

The ten remaining projects from an initial 35 submissions were submitted by diverse universities worldwide. In order to get this far, the payload proposals needed to meet all requirements as described by Mars One supplier Lockheed Martin. Mars One community members, social media followers, and the general public will have the opportunity to vote on and select the winning payload. Voting opportunities for the public will be opened in the first weeks of December, 2014. Voting submission will be accepted until December 31st, 2014.

The winning university payload will be announced on January 5th, 2015. The winning payload needs to be feasible and meet the requirements and restrictions as outlined in the Proposal Information Package (PIP) and on-going discussions with Lockheed Martin, who will build the 2018 lander. Additionally, if in any case the winning team can not perform or adjust to additional requirements the runner-up will be chosen instead.

Arno Wielders, Co-founder & CTO of Mars One said, "These ten final projects are unique and creative and we are very happy with the payload proposals these teams have presented. It would be highly interesting to see each and every one of these projects being launched to Mars. Now it is up to the public to decide which project they would like to have on Mars."

Here are the ten finalists in the Mars One University competition with a brief payload description.

• Cyano Knights - Generating O2 out of CO2 (Germany)

  This project aim is to change a small amount of the 95% carbon dioxide Mars atmosphere into oxygen with the power of cyanobacteria. The Cyano Knights team would like to transport cyanobacteria to Mars that will deliver oxygen made out of their photosynthesis of carbon dioxide. The activities of the cyanobacteria will be monitored in different environmental conditions on plates in quarantined boxes in order to determine the best working solution for converting carbon dioxide into oxygen on Mars.

• HELENA - Oxygen Production & Art Time Capsule (Australia)

  The HELENA team plans to demonstrate oxygen production from water in the Martian soil through electrolysis. HELENA’s primary science payload is an electrolysis module housed in a custom made chassis unit designed to demonstrate key life-support technology; producing oxygen from water extracted out of the Martian soil.

• IHISS: In situ Habitat Improvement through Soil Strengthening (USA)

  The IHISS team will test in situ materials as a shield for the habitats on Mars. Soil will be collected with the soil acquisition payload and injected with a polyester resin in order to develop a new composite material. The composite material will be moved over a series of sensors which will be activated to obtain the control data, average radiation amount, and average temperature cycle. With the data collected from the experiment, IHISS will determine how useful a shield of this composite material will be for the human habitats on Mars.

• MARA-DS: Material Radiation Degradation Study (USA)

  The MARA-DS team designed a project to record the energy and impact events of Galactic Cosmic Ray (GCR) and Solar Energetic Particle (SEP) flux at the surface of Mars. The payload will establish a baseline control for the radiation environment while also measuring the massed radiation flux through the potential habitat structural material of JSC Mars-1: a Martian regolith simulant. The information collected will help plan for protective Martian habitat structures.

• Mars Micro-Greenhouse (United Kingdom)

  The Mars Micro-Greenhouse team intends to bring a small pressurised greenhouse utilising an aeroponic system to Mars. The team will try to demonstrate the ability to grow small plants with atmosphere obtained from the Martian environment, with a minimum of material imported from Earth. This will be demonstrated by growing lettuce in the growth chamber of the payload using an aeroponic system, obtaining a supply of carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere.

• MIDDAS: Mars Ice Deposit Detection by Application of Seismology (USA)

  The MIDDAS team intends to locate the presence of ice-water in a vertical column of regolith beneath the 2018 Mars lander. This will be done by using a seismic source on the Martian surface to allow sensors to record velocity changes in acoustic seismic waves that are transmitted through the shallow subsurface and are reflected back to the sensors. The payload will use this data to detect the presence of ice-water.

• PECR: PhotoElectroChemicalReduction of CO2 (India)

  The PECR team aims to convert CO2 to a useful state by activation/reduction. Photoelectrochemical and photoelectrocatalytic methods involving p-type semiconductor electrodes will be used for the sequestration of CO2. Additionally, solar energy will be used for the conversion. The project can be considered an artificial photosynthetic process.

• Seed (Portugal, Spain, and the Netherlands)

  The Seed team intends to grow the first plant on Mars. More specifically, the team would like to grow Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings in a container that includes growth medium, water delivery system, carbon filtering systems, light stimulation, and a small photographic camera. The mechanism is fully automatic and the available energy should be enough to maintain a proper temperature for plant growth.

• S.P.A.R.C.: Sensing Pressure and Atmospheric Research Console (USA)

  The S.P.A.R.C. team proposes to observe Martian weather patterns. Dust devils, dust storms, and clouds will be videotaped, and data such as pressure and temperature will be recorded from the atmosphere. From the visual and atmospheric data, it will hopefully be possible to characterize Martian weather patterns.

• Urine Greenbox: Urine to Water with Energy Recycle (USA)

  The Urine Greenbox team aims to evaluate the reliability and operation of a system to convert urine into clean water and hydrogen. Project Urine Greenbox consists of using synthetic urine to produce hydrogen/energy and clean water. The process uses a urea and urine electrolysis and will include the capability to measure the amount of clean water produced, hydrogen produced, and basic sensors to test the quality of the water.

posted 01-05-2015 10:12 AM               

The winner of the Mars One University Competition will bring life to Mars in 2018

Mars One is proud to present the winner of the Mars One University Competition: Seed. The Seed team is an important step closer to sending their payload to Mars. The winning payload will fly to the surface of Mars on Mars One's 2018 unmanned lander mission. Seed was selected by popular vote from an initial 35 university proposals and this is the first time the public has decided which payload receives the extraordinary opportunity to land on Mars.

"We were generally very pleased with the high quality of the university proposals and the amount of effort associated with preparing them," said Arno Wielders, co-founder and Chief Technical Officer of Mars One. "Seed itself is uniquely inspiring since this would be the first time a plant will be grown on Mars."

The Winning Team - Seed aims to germinate the first seed on Mars in order to contribute to the development of life support systems and provide a deeper understanding of plant growth on Mars. The payload will consist of an external container, which provides protection from the harsh environment, and interior container, which will hold several seed cassettes. The seeds will stem from the plant Arabidopsis thaliana, which is commonly used in space plant studies. After landing, the seeds inside the cassette will be provided with conditions for germination and seedling growth. The growth will then be recorded using images transmitted back to Earth.

"We are really pleased to be the selected project among so many excellent ideas. We are thrilled to be the first to send life to Mars! This will be a great journey that we hope to share with you all!" said Teresa Araújo, Seed team member.

Seed consists of four bioengineering students from the University of Porto and two PhD students from MIT Portugal and the University of Madrid. The team is supported by Dr. Maria Helena Carvalho, plant researcher at IBMC and Dr. Jack van Loon, from the VU Medical Center, VU-University in Amsterdam, and support scientist at ESTEC-ESA. Seed benefits from scientific and technical support from several advisers, whose expertise range from biological systems to spacecraft development and validation. Read more about Seed here.

An in-depth technical analysis of the winning proposal will be conducted to ensure that the winner has a feasible plan and that their payload can be integrated on the 2018 Mars lander. Mars One and its advisers will contribute to the analysis by thoroughly and critically examining the Seed proposal.

If Seed runs into any issues regarding feasibility or can not stick to the schedule, Mars One will fall back on the runner ups of the university competition. The second and third placed projects are Cyano Knights and Lettuce on Mars.