Mars Rising
Season 1
Taking a look at how challenges are being handled to prepare for a manned flight to Mars.
Where to Watch Season 1
6 Episodes
- Journey to the Red Planet
E1Episode 1Journey to the Red PlanetDebut: The viability of a manned trip to Mars is examined by researchers, scientists and astronauts. First up: logistical challenges and technical obstacles faced by the international space community in sending a manned mission to Mars and bringing it back. William Shatner narrates. - Rocket Power
E2Episode 2Rocket PowerThe spacecraft that will take a crew, their equipment and enough fuel for the 56-million-kilometre journey to Mars will be assembled – in space. This requires a major leap of technology. The record of success isn’t good: between them, the U.S. and Russia have sent 38 unmanned probes and satellites to the Red Planet – and 22 have ended in failure. Once on its trajectory, the crew will not be able to re-engineer or modify any component of the plans and procedures for the flight to, the exploration of, or the return from Mars. Engineers must get it all right the first time. Or the astronauts will die. In 1957, famed scientist Werner Von Braun created a scenario for an exploratory voyage to Mars and, amazingly, current scientists still respect its basic architecture. Components of a Mars spaceship will be launched and then assembled in Earth’s orbit. Only when the spacecraft is completed will the crew be sent from Earth. When the spacecraft reaches the outer atmosphere of Mars, a transfer vehicle will take the astronauts on the short but terrifying final sprint to the surface of the Red Planet. The U.S. is developing the Ares V rocket to carry an estimated 100 metric tons of cargo per launch. It may take 10 rocket launches, each requiring 4.3 million kilograms of thrust and a velocity of 11 kilometres-per-second to send sufficient supplies. An alternate scenario has the tons of equipment and supplies needed to sustain the astronauts sent to Mars ahead of the manned spacecraft. Canadian Academy Award-winner James Cameron, a member of NASA’S advisory council, has a controversial proposal: reduce mass by taking only enough fuel to fly one way and manufacture fuel on Mars for the return trip. Other fuel system ideas currently being researched include thermo-nuclear propulsion systems and a laser-like beam of super-heated charged particles. Russian scientists are developing Klipper, a winged spacecraft to take the crew on the trip from Earth to - Staying Alive
E3Episode 3Staying AliveIn space zero gravity depletes muscle and bone mass, cosmic radiation can cause brain damage and cancer. For six astronauts in a confined and limited environment for up to three years - a voyage to Mars could be punishing even deadly for the human body. How will we protect it? This is the issue at hand for world renowned Doctors & scientists to ensure the astronauts remain alive. - The Human Factor
E4Episode 4The Human FactorThe greatest test of the human mind will be the projected almost three-year manned mission to Mars and back. Mental breakdown, sexual tension, near-suicide and mutiny have already taken place on shorter Earth orbit and space travel missions. The Achilles’ heel of the Mars mission may be the human factor. Crew selection is perhaps the most critical of choices. At the start of space exploration, NASA selected military test pilots for missions – in the 1960s, one died per week. In the 1980s, scientists and schoolteachers were chosen to orbit Earth. Today, psychiatrists delve into the human psyche to discover the necessary attributes for a successful 21st century astronaut. The Russians have the most experience in long missions. They test candidates by keeping them isolated and awake for days of non-stop repetitive tasks to duplicate the numbing mindless routine of months of space travel. Life onboard will be crowded, noisy and dirty. There will be no water for showering and astronauts will drink their own purified urine. Noise, workload and disrupted circadian rhythms all cause sleep deprivation. Boring and repetitive food saps psychological and physical energy. What’s NASA cooking up for its crews? Sex in space is a possibility with a mixed crew in close quarters. NASA says that is OK and natural, but different nationalities and customs may give rise to misunderstanding and friction. Isolation and confinement can bring out strong emotions, even violence. Sedation and restraint could be necessary. Family problems on Earth could affect an astronaut’s ability to function. New methods of psychological assessment such as software that examines facial movements for signs of emotional disturbance are being tested. Six months of boredom while travelling through space will be followed by six minutes of an astronaut’s life’s most intense activity and terror during the dangerous descent through Mars’ atmosphere. Training a crew to cope with the psychological pressure of his/her imminent death is a major hurdle. Four personality types have been identified as the most perfect for a Mars mission: the driver, the analyst, the motivator and the relationship builder. Thus far, there has only been a 50 per cent success rate for landing un-manned spacecraft on Mars. Landing a manned craft is even more dangerous. The crew must face that grim reality. - Six Minutes of Terror
E5Episode 5Six Minutes of TerrorThe most perilous part of the journey to the Red Planet is the six minutes it will take to travel from the top of the Mars atmosphere to its surface – the six minutes of terror. Landing on Mars is a complex three-step process: entry, descent and landing. Entry into Mars’ atmosphere begins 125 kms above the surface and lasts about two minutes, with the spacecraft hurtling towards Mars at about 16,000 kms an hour. Only a specially designed inflatable aeroshell outside the Mars Lander will protect the capsule and its occupants from a friction created temperature of 4,000 Celsius. The heat shield must also act as a brake. NASA Chief Engineer Rob Manning explains the particular problem of Mars – it does not have enough atmosphere for a spaceship to emulate a landing on Earth – and yet it has too much atmosphere to simulate a moon landing. Within the first two minutes of descent, the heat shield will reduce the craft’s kinetic energy by 90 per cent, and, typically, a parachute system is deployed to further decrease speed. But recent test results have not been good and designer Leonid Gorshkov at Russia’s Energia Space Corporation has decided parachutes are too risky. The Russians are experimenting with descent engines. At the final stage, the astronauts have about 90 seconds to find a landing site that is not only safe but has, or has had, water. Only on such a site can past or present life forms be discovered. In 2005, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took high-resolution images of the planet to help locate future landing sites. Bob Richards of Optech Industries in Toronto is testing a new generation guidance system, Lidar, which will help the Mars Lander spot obstacles within seconds with a colour-coding radar-like system. Most space agencies plan to send a 40-ton Habitat to Mars ahead of the crew. The astronauts must land close to that advance module, their supply base for 18 months. If they fail to do so, they will die. Filmmaker James Cameron offers an interesting solution. Every time an astronaut steps out of the Habitat, only their spacesuits will protect them from Mars’ hostile environment. A current prototype flexible suit has 20,000 parts, costs $10- million dollars and weighs 95 kilos – too heavy a load. It must protect the astronauts from organ-damaging radiation, penetrating fine dust, dangerous electrical storms and the carbon dioxide of the Mars atmosphere. It is only after the crew are safely on the planet’s surface that the real purpose of the mission can begin – the search for life on Mars - Search for Life
E6Episode 6Search for LifeThe journey to Mars and the search for life on another planet is the most dangerous and compelling mission in the history of space exploration. Bacteria are the most basic and the hardiest life form. And, either still living or now dead, bacteria are one of the things astronauts will be looking for on the Red Planet. In preparation for the challenges of Mars, scientists are searching for bacteria in the driest and most barren places on Earth. The temperature, valley networks and well-preserved large-impact craters on Devon Island in Canada’s Arctic echo those on Mars. And, 90 per cent of the rocks on Devon Island have bacteria growing on their underside. Canadian scientist Darlene Lim, a member of the NASA Haughton Mars Project Team, explains her contention that the most primitive forms of life to be discovered on Mars might be carbonate formations similar to those in British Columbia’s Pavilion Lake. Chile’s Atacama Desert has had little rain in the last 10 million years making it the oldest and driest desert on our planet. Yet the Atacama yields fluorescent minerals and organic matter. Might ultra-violet headlights on a Mars Rover illuminate life forms which are invisible to us in daylight? Geophysicist Pascal Lee theorizes that “it might merely be that we are members of the same family spread over two planets.” Canadian chemist Alison Skelley is searching for amino acids, one of the building blocks of life, with an ultra-sensitive Mars Organic Analyzer. Bacterial super bugs that once lived on the surface of Mars may have migrated underground, protected from dust and radiation, where only drilling can find them. In addition to drilling for liquid water, the astronauts will search the caves formed by volcanic lava tubes that have been identified on Mars’ surface. Similar tubes exist in New Mexico where, deep underground, Penelope Boston has discovered white bacterial formations living in near freezing droplets of water, feeding off rock. Martian bacteria may be hazardous to humans and cause contagion on Earth. Every precaution must be exercised while transporting samples from the Red Planet. After 18 months searching for life on Mars, the crew must return on a tight schedule with Earth and Mars in the proper alignment. Will their landing capsule be capable of returning the astronauts to the orbiting Mars mothership? If the capsule does not make its scheduled departure, its crew is doomed.
