If there ’s one personhogging all the blank newsat the here and now it ’s Elon Musk , who revealed new details on his plan to colonize Mars earlier today . However , he ’s not the only one with their center on the Red Planet .
A routine more under the radiolocation than Musk , US aerospace ship’s company Lockheed Martin has reveal its own plans to get to Mars , which they ’re calling theMars Base Camp . They ’ve announced thisbefore , but now we ’ve got raw details on how it would work out from the scene of Musk Mania , the International Astronautical Congress ( IAC ) in Australia .
Lockheed ’s proposal is to more closely aligned with NASA ’s architectural plan to build a Deep Space Gateway near the Moon . The Mars Base Camp would be progress on this station , aside from Earth ’s gravity , before then being sent to Mars .
Initially , the Mars station would just orb the planet . However , it would also carry a undivided - level reusable surface lander , the Mars Ascent / Descent Vehicle ( MADV ) which would detach from the station and take astronaut to and from the surface . These sorties could last two weeks with up to four spaceman , before return back to the orbiting place to refuel .
" send humans to Mars has always been a part of science fabrication , but today we have the capability to make it a reality , " say Lisa Callahan , vice president and general manager of Commercial Civil Space at Lockheed Martin , in astatement .
The space station would have four main section , which admit four gravid solar array , two cryogenic propulsion stage and two tank section , and two home ground and a last blank space for the astronauts . It would habituate liquid atomic number 1 and liquified oxygen as a propellant , which could be extracted from water - glass on Mars or its moons .
NASA ’s Orion space vehicle would assist as the command deck for the full station . Lockheed said they hoped to have the whole station quick to go to Mars within a decade , with crews guarantee 1,000 - day missionary work to Mars and back .
The main new matter from Lockheed though is the lander . It would employ rocket salad engines to touch down on the control surface , like to how SpaceX lands its Falcon 9 rockets .
NASA is currently consider a identification number of options for deep distance geographic expedition , so it ’s undecipherable if this concept will ever see the ignitor of daytime . But while Musk ’s musical theme might seem a bite notional at time , this Lockheed concept is for the most part based on proven technology . perchance it ’s the good bet to get humans to Mars .
