[Series] Going to Mars Pt. 1
On May 25th, 1961, the United States’ President John F. Kennedy proclaimed before a Joint Session of Congress, “…I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.” On July 16th, 1969, merely 8 years, 1 month and 25 days later, astronaut Neil Armstrong, as a part of the Apollo 11 mission, would become the first human to set foot on another celestial body.
The American space program was undoubtedly motivated by their Soviet counterparts, struggling to keep ahead in a proxy race that marked clear progress on both rocketry and ICBM development. The world during the space race was one of simmering volatility. Tensions between the United States and Soviet Union served to greatly accelerate the research and development of rocketry as both nations rushed headlong to first send a man into space and subsequently land a man on the moon. With the current geopolitical climate and the lack of a world superpower flexing contest, we’re left to the private sector to generate the excitement of planning another exploration mission.
“…I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.” – John F. Kennedy
In 2012, a small private company, Mars One, proposed a mission to land a manned mission to Mars. The catch was that this would be a one-way trip in an attempt to setup a permanent human presence on the Red Planet. The proposal set out by the small Dutch firm would later prove to be fruitless as industry analysts commented on the feasibility and ethics of such a mission. While the proposal as laid out by Mars One failed to deliver, it did incite a renewed interest in space exploration. A flurry of activity began in the aerospace industry following the wave of media excitement that Mars One generated. Behind closed doors, Boeing would begin developing its plan for a series of incremental missions that would lead to Mars by the early 2030s.
In 2014, Boeing announced what they called the “Boeing Affordable Mission”, a chain of research and development goals that could, with adequate funding, see a Mars-shot mission coming to fruition sometime in the 2030s. Rocketry would be no new feat for the aerospace company, having designed the Saturn rockets that served as the backbone for the Apollo missions. It would be around this same time that SpaceX’s plans for Mars would start gaining more attention on the public stage. Formed in 2002, SpaceX’s mission was to reduce the costs of spaceflight through the development of reusable rockets and the subsequent colonization of Mars. Boeing’s CEO, Dennis Muilenburg, flexing the company’s pedigree from the Moon race would declare in 2016 “I’m convinced the first person to step foot on Mars will arrive there riding a Boeing rocket.”
“In 2024 we want to try to fly four ships [to Mars]. Two cargo and two crew.” – Elon Musk
Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX was quoted in 2017 saying “In 2024 we want to try to fly four ships [to Mars]. Two cargo and two crew.” Besides sparking an enormous amount of media attention and again raising space exploration to the forefront of the public consciousness, Musk caught the attention of those at Boeing who were also aiming for Mars.
Interest in space exploration has continued to grow. There are now multiple programs publicly declaring their intention on landing manned missions to Mars within the next few decades. In this series, we’ll begin exploring a few of the major candidates that have seemingly viable plans to reach Mars, and discuss some of their plans on achieving it.
