>> Thousands of years
ago, you know,
mankind has always looked at--
to the heavens trying to
understand where Mars is.
A small dot in the sky.
Even the Babylonians 400
years ago, I mean 400 BC.
They were trying to understand
what the Spaniards meant.
Then we had Copernicus.
We had Galileo.
Tycho Brahe from Denmark
also investigating Mars.
Now really what is the purpose
of all this and why Mars?
You know, what is the reason
we want to go to Mars?
And why did NASA
decide to embark
on this ambitious journey?
So when we asked some of the
people in NASA, they said.
"Well, Moon was a camping trip.
Now we are living and working in
the international space station.
So we know how to do this.
We've done that, been
there, done that, seen it.
So okay we are going
to go to Mars."
Really? Why Mars?
So why did Columbus sail west?
Why did Marco Polo head east?
It's in our DNA.
Exploration is always
in our DNA.
Real reason to embark on
this ambitious journey
to Mars is realisation of
our own dreams basically.
You know, just as
mankind, you know,
has always been curious
about the unknown.
So we try to find out what
is out there, you know.
And now, as you know we put
the windows to the universe
in Hubble Space Telescope.
And that really has done wonders
to tell us where we came from,
how old is Earth and
things like that.
Obviously study of Mars
also gives us an opportunity
to understand if
there is life on Mars.
Or life in our solar
system or anywhere else.
Last but not least, you
know, if you don't trust me.
And if you don't
trust NASA to go Mars,
just you trust Steven Hawkins.
Is that next 1,000 years
mankind cannot survive
if you don't explore.
And get off this planet and
find another place to live on.
So I'm sure you'll trust him.
So really, we just talked about
global warming and other issues.
I just came back from
Greenland about a few years ago.
And I really see
the glacier icebergs
and glaciers melting over there.
So that's the truth.
So really we need to find.
We don't want to be extinct
like the dinosaurs 65
million years before us.
So before we do that we
want to go and explore Mars.
So we'll give you
an overview of some
of the Mars surface features.
Or talk about, little bit talk
about strategy and obstacles.
Some habitat challenges we have.
Talk a little bit about
unmanned missions in the past.
And really NASA is
going to Mars guys.
You know we are going
to Mars by 2030.
That's for sure.
So with that introduction
let's go.
So Mars as you all know is
the 4th planet from the sun.
It's commonly referred to
as red planet obviously.
Lot of iron dioxide
in the system.
It's rust basically.
So we need to-- look
at our neighbour
and understand the environment
there before we go up there.
Mars was named after the
Roman god of war basically.
And it's you know was really
worshipped and revered.
So this was based on a lot
of military achievement
and stuff like that.
So they wanted to
name their gods after,
you know, various planets.
This is a beautiful picture
of Hubble Space Telescope
taken way back in the 90's.
And you can see some of the--
it powers very good
global coverage.
I think it was taken about
100 million kilometres away.
Amazing pictures.
So we earlier talked about
windows to the universe.
Really and Hubble is
doing a great job for us.
So how does a Mars terrain
or atmosphere look like?
There's a rocky, dry terrain.
A lot of volcanoes,
similar to Earth.
You know, we have similar
features with Mars and us.
The atmosphere is
much thinner there.
Comprised mainly of carbon
dioxide and stuff like that.
And gravity unlike Earth,
you know, unlike moon.
It's about 1/3 the gravity
of our own which is 1G here.
So Mars atmosphere really--
it's unbreathable right now.
So lots of dust storms you
see in the movie "Martian".
How many people have
seen "Martian" movie?
Great. I'm done here.
So you already know about Mars.
Yeah, we got-- we went
to Mars and we came back
and brought Matt
Damon back, right?
So-- yes, there is
very little water.
So as we try to embark
on missions to Mars.
And trying to give you a lot
of perspective on, you know,
what we find up there in
various Mars missions.
So let's take a look
at Mars features.
They're very similar to Earth.
Lot of craters, we have a
lot of volcanoes up there.
You know, we also have canyons.
You know and some of the canyons
are as big as United States.
Take a look at it.
So we have a lot of river
channels, lava rocks,
reddish volcano rocks
seeps through all this.
So the largest volcano in our
solar system is, you know,
is as big as state of
Arizona in the United States.
If you know about Arizona.
So it's very high, as
high as Mount Everest.
3 times higher than
Mount Everest in fact.
So now this particular
gigantic canyon we talked about.
It's a very vast canyon.
It's as long as the
United States.
It's very, very big.
And here is a map of the
United States you know put
on the same valley there.
So seasons on Mars.
So seasons are much
longer there.
Obviously you know we have a
lot of dust storms associated
with the seasons
and stuff like that.
Okay now as far as the
similarities and comparisons go.
That just gives you
a good understanding
of how large Mars is
compared to Earth.
And also how far we
are from the sun.
It's important for us to know
how far we are from the sun.
Because as we go
farther and farther away,
the climate gets very cold.
And closer to the sun obviously,
we are much, much hotter.
So the environment on Mars
probably is a very good
opportunity for NASA to have a
similar planet where, you know.
Humans can go and live.
So NASA's-- I mean
Mars has 2 moons.
So obviously, you know,
they're named like Panic
and Fear, how about that?
So well similar to Earth right?
We have-- a lot of times
we go into panic mode.
And we are fearful
of a lot of things.
So well fear has 2 meanings.
And forget everything
and run up the hill
or face everything and rise.
So NASA is looking at--
before landing on Mars.
We want to have a base
on one of its moons.
So really what are the obstacles
and what is NASA's strategy
to go to Mars basically?
Well as I said earlier,
we had, you know,
we have footprints on the moon.
So really sky was
the not limit, right?
So now we are going to Mars and
putting boot prints on Mars.
So some early exploration
concepts you know looked at--
looking at water really.
And you know once you
have this water, you know.
That says there is
some life forms.
And if the environment
is right or you know.
If the environment is
not right, you know.
We still can go and
live up there.
By the by, the European
Space Agency
in collaboration
with the Russians.
They sent ExoMars recently.
And Schiaparelli is
one of the probes
which is going to
be landing there.
So strategy for NASA is to
follow the water basically.
So the water is the main
ingredient for you know,
Maslow's Law of hierarchy.
Full water shelter, right?
Basically that's all
is required if you want
to have a habitat anywhere
in the world or the universe.
So getting to Mars really,
it's a big challenge.
It's nothing to sneeze
about really.
So you know when you want
to go into the Mars orbit.
You know it depends on
how fast you are going
or how slow you are going.
So if you are too high, you
know, you cannot slow down.
And you can crash land.
And if you go too
slow or too low.
The friction will
kill you basically.
So there is-- it's
very important for us
to go at the right speed.
And as just-- if you
haven't seen the video
of Mars Curiosity rover.
Called "7 minutes of terror."
It's a classic example
of what engineers can do
from jet propulsion lab up
in Pasadena, California.
They landed the Curiosity
rover at the precise area--
precise challenging environment.
And landed safely on Mars.
Well launch-- launching a rocket
to Mars itself is a big deal.
Launch-- I consider it as World
War III with the gravity really.
Cruising up there and having
the right orbit insertion
and breaking basically.
You know, has been used by
many different techniques.
Including Mars Curiosity.
So basically we have done--
not only landed on
Mars once but 7 times.
And NASA is the only entity to
date who has landed on Mars.
Obviously we didn't call Matt
Damon but-- Journey to Mars.
It's even tougher
for humans basically.
So what we have done
in the past,
as far as unmanned missions go.
We have-- and as you know,
when you're a baby you need
to crawl before you walk.
And you got to walk
before you run.
So NASA strategically
did many, many baby steps
like having flybys to understand
the Martian environment.
Having orbited and look at the
temperatures and other things.
Come up with a landing
mechanism where it can land.
And maybe not even go too far.
It penetrated to get some soil
samples and study the soil.
Then we had rovers to
go around basically.
You know, "Hey guys
and gals you know,
robots are taking
over, believe me".
So NASA is wanting to send
this army of robots to Mars.
So we better get smart
enough, you know.
Because otherwise
they will rule us,
you know, once we go to Mars.
They'll be our bosses so--
we don't want to let
them be our bosses.
So look at the missions here.
Amazing number of
missions on Mars, right?
So this really exemplifies
NASA's effort way back
from 1960's.
And going into even
today basically.
We started with Mariner
expeditions.
And then Viking 1 and 2.
Then we went into some
issues with better, faster,
cheaper kind of philosophy.
Where NASA didn't do a lot
of testing and other things.
Which cost us a lot of time
and effort and lost our probes.
In some of the entities
like Climate Observer,
Polar Lander and
stuff like that.
And finally, we had the 2
probes, Spirit and Opportunity,
On the Mars exploration rover.
Which landed on Mars.
So finally more recently we
used Mars science laboratory
and landed Curiosity rover.
So really, the green item there
shows how many times we have
landed on Mars.
So you know my idea is not
to really bore you with a lot
of this information on
various past missions.
But just want to
highlight you on some
of the things we have
done in the past.
So we'll look at--
start with Mariner
on the table we just
saw earlier.
So it was a flyby.
It did not really get
to Mars, you know.
We had a lot of issues with it.
As we were trying to launch
and then basically, you know.
It ended up a problem
because what happened was.
The solar panels didn't
want to work properly.
And it really didn't meet
our mission criteria.
Then we went to 1964,
we launched--
the dates are already there.
So we had the first
flyby of Mars.
You know, look at the pictures.
The amount of pictures
we took like 22 pictures.
Data size, 600 kilobyte.
I have a zip driver here--
thumb drive here which is like,
you know 34 gigabytes right now.
So amazing type of
technologies--
improvements in technology
since the last 50 years.
That's the direct influence
of what a space exploration
can do for you.
Completely transform you
quality of life on Earth.
So no intelligent life.
We got some first
deep space image.
So that's interesting for us.
Mariner 6 and 7 really they
were real missions in order
to make sure we go around
the polar aspect of it.
Including the equatorial area
and then we didn't find
any intelligent life
on Mars either, you know.
So but we got to
study the atmosphere.
So like you know any other
place, we are working right now
in Hawaii trying to
learn about Mars.
And hopefully a little
longer, sending man to Mars
and understanding the climate.
And understanding the
closeness of environment.
How to work psychological
and physiological issues
and stuff like that.
So this is really a precursor
to understanding what happened?
So Mariner 8 also had a problem.
Basically, it didn't
return the images.
But really we had
a launch failure
and loss of mission basically.
Because one of the
upper stages--
so what happens to the rock is
it can only go so far, right?
So basically rocket with
a chemical propulsion
like liquid oxygen, liquid
hydrogen and stuff like that.
Can take you to maybe 200,
300 kilometres up in space.
So how do you put satellites
up in space like tracking
and data relay satellites
and stuff like that?
We use what they call
inter-shell upper stage.
It's a boosting rocket.
So that put's your
satellite into 20,000,
30,000 kilometre orbit.
And they are more stable orbits.
That's why you get your cell
phone data quite accurately
on GPS and stuff like that.
So here one of the inter-shell
upper stage rockets failed
on this mission.
And basically, you know,
it created a problem.
So Mariner 9 again it
was attempted flyby,
first orbit a new planet.
Sent all the pictures now,
we are gaining ground now.
So we map many, many
large areas.
We photographed the
moon, you know
and things like that, you know.
Basically, a lot of times you
know not only hardware can fail.
But even software can fail.
So sometimes when software
interferes when we get up close.
We end up you know getting
you know the mission fails.
Costs us a lot of money,
tremendous amount of money
and work and things
going to just business.
So these are the areas where
the 7 successful landing stuff
by NASA basically.
So just to quote Werher Von
Braun, you know this is coming
from Apollo programme.
But you know, his famous
quote was, you know,
"With 9 women pregnant,
you know,
you can't get a baby
in 1 month".
So you know, this
takes a lot of effort.
You know this-- hard work,
it's very, very hard work.
Engineers ideas,
things like you know,
all the team working
together and stuff like that
to put something on here.
So now really the biggest
challenge we had was the
Viking missions.
They-- exactly almost 7
years of Apollo landing.
Way back in July 1969,
we had the opportunity
to land Viking missions on Mars.
And they were sending even
more pictures, you know.
Not only the orbiters
were sending pictures
but the landers were
sending pictures.
We checked for soil,
for life on Mars.
We also looked at if there are
any living organisms on Mars.
Well for both, 2 reasons.
One to understand life on Mars.
But also, if we send astronauts,
what happens to them, you know?
There may be some issues
with them, you know.
Dealing with microorganisms
and stuff like that you know.
They may get reactions
and stuff like that so.
While Viking 2 really followed
where Viking 1 left off.
And basically it operated
for more than 1,000 days.
And after certain
period of time, you know.
The Martian environment is
so difficult to work with.
That you know sometimes,
dust storms and stuff
like that can cover
up your rocket.
And then there is-- there's no
communication between Houston,
and some of the places.
You know some of the probes
which are up in space.
So Viking 1 and 2 landed in what
they call as Chryse Planitia.
You know place of
gold basically.
And you know it looks
like you know
because of the red dust
and stuff like that.
So Mars environment, as far
as Mars environment goes
Mars is self-sterilising.
You know, we have a lot of
ultraviolet radiation up there.
It saturates the surface.
We can't grow anything
there food wise.
So basically you know the
soil chemistry and life
on Mars really is
questionable right now.
And until we really
go and dig deep
into water surfaces
and stuff like that.
That's when we really find
out if there are any
living organisms on Mars.
Well, now comes the
real robotic part.
And where a lot of times you
know the philosophy of faster,
better, cheaper by NASA
management really led to some
of these failures, in the 90's.
So as you see most of these
are unmanned robotic probes.
And I said robots are going
to be even doing more
work on Mars in future.
So in this case, you know,
we had a fuel tank rupture
on one of these crafts.
And we lost the probe
and you know,
the mission was unsuccessful.
Global Surveyor took a lot
of pictures, mapped Mars.
And basically you know it gave
very high resolution images you
know of Mars basically.
And you know, getting
images was a big deal.
You know transferring
the-- you know.
You are talking about 4 to 20
minutes of communication gap
between here and Mars.
You know, 6 months
to go up there.
So really, we're
talking about very,
very difficult environment.
So Mars Pathfinder was another
lander rover combination.
It did use a balloon system if
you have seen pictures of that.
Because of the impact, you
know, we wanted to make sure
that the impact doesn't damage.
Not create vibration
during landing on Mars.
Then we could land
this balloon system
so that it shocks the impact.
You know reduces the loads
and then we have a probe
like in this case, Sojourner.
Which can go around
and try to do its job.
So basically I said landing
was the biggest deal.
And we'll show a little bit
about Mars Curiosity
a little bit later.
So little Sojourner that
was rover that could do it.
It was an instrument lander.
Basically it did go
on Mars and you know,
opened up the solar areas
and stuff like that.
And you know, it went
around giving us a
lot more information.
So you know, we need
to understand the environment
we are going to live in.
So sending robots
is a great idea.
Just by using a flyby or orbiter
you know, we are not going
to get a lot of data basically.
We have to learn-- land there
and understand what's going on.
Another orbiter, Mars
Climate Observer.
Again, launched in 98.
There was a unit
conversion error between some
of the NASA engineers and
Lockheed Martin engineers.
And basically this meant
that the probe failed.
And basically we lost
it-- we lost the probe.
It did a hard landing and
it was damaged upon arrival.
So now comes Mars Polar Lander.
Again, it's an attempted lander.
Again, this had another
problem when the thrusters
because of the softer air.
They shut down too soon.
So as the probe was
coming and trying to land.
It thought, "We had
already landed.
So I'm going to slow down now."
And then it came crash
landing basically.
And we lost the probe.
So another probe failure
which is a penetrator.
That also had hardware issue and
we lost the mission basically.
So in 1999, we started
working on the Mars Odyssey.
And basically it left--
it started where the Mars
Global Surveyor started.
And it really found
some caves and mapped.
Found some water near the
poles, things like that.
So basically we are trying
to understand the radiation
and some other issues
finding minerals.
Whether we could mine.
So right now at Kennedy
Space Centre we are looking
at what they call us
Institute Resource Utilisation.
Which is really helping us
to understand what minerals
we have on, you know, on Mars.
And how we can use it.
So now the 2 little
rovers, exploration--
I mean, Spirit and Opportunity.
Were sent with a Mars
Exploration rovers.
And this is the first really,
we've want to study the
water activity on Mars.
And how the planet's
environment was affected
over time basically.
For hundreds of thousands
of years.
So you know, obviously we
need to study the rocks also.
But also the samples,
our samples you know.
In future we'll have a
sample return mission.
But right now all we could
do is dig the ground.
And dig samples and
study the samples.
And then do the analysis right
there and send the data back.
So again, I don't want to
dwell too much on the lot
of instruments NASA is
sending on these missions.
But mainly you know
anywhere we find the craters
and you know areas where there
are microscopic you know cracks.
Big cracks or valleys, we
want to look for water.
You know and once we
find water, you know,
that's the main reason
why we are doing all this
robotic explorations.
Because we don't
want to carry water.
It cost me $10,000
per pound of--
pound of water to
send up in space.
One pound of apple
costs me $10,000 to send
to the international
space station.
So it's a tremendous
amount of cost.
So I don't want to be sending
water to Mars, you know.
We want to see whether
we can do it--
institute resource utilisation.
So again, we start work--
I mean we looked at the
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
I mean that was taking very
high resolution pictures now.
Also, they are sending more
and more data now, right?
Thousand DVD's it can
cover up to 1,000 DVD's.
And still the amount
of data coming
in from Mars is humongous.
And because these
pictures take long--
a large amount of-- you know.
And these are very high
resolution pictures.
So basically mapping the
area uses a lot of area.
About you know whether
there is water inside there.
Or what kind of minerals
we have basically.
So we had another mission, the
Phoenix Scout Lander basically.
And then this landed in
the frozen artic plain.
It dug for water
and stuff like that.
Again, you know,
we-- the whole idea
of sending this robotic
missions is to find water.
As we said earlier.
Now the real crisis came
when really NASA wanted
to send a bigger rover.
So all the rovers earlier,
we sent like Spirit
and Opportunity.
They were very tiny
compared to this big unit.
Which is Mars Curiosity rover.
And comparing size,
if the Mars Spirit
and Opportunity were
say 100 kilos.
Now we are talking about
Curiosity almost 1,000 kilos.
10 times bigger in size.
So remember how bigger size
we talked about capabilities
to land on Mars and
stuff like that.
So NASA came up with
a very unique device.
And if you-- if you
haven't seen it already.
I want you to see the 7 minutes
of terror video on the YouTube.
And it's free so
you can see that.
And that's the sequence of
operations up here basically.
So here we start entering
around 10 minutes.
The entry is about 8 minutes.
And we get into the velocity.
Particular velocity
we have to decelerate.
And as we decelerate
we deploy a parachute
around 11 kilometres up in sky.
Now, you know, the
rover is inside here.
So the heat shield
has to come out
and the parachute
still has to work.
And then as radar collects
the data on the ground.
You know, we keep
on coming and open.
You know we take this
whole system off.
And just dump the rover up here.
And we have a slow decent.
But then as the jets on
the rover work together.
The rover is still inside
here hiding behind the shell.
And if that particular thing
lands, the rover lands on here.
These plumes of the rocket
which is hiding the shell.
We call the sky crane manoeuvre.
It could burn off the rover.
So it was very important for
us to have all this sequence
of events very, very you know.
Precise to the millionth
of a second.
If you missed any of this
sequence of operations.
You would just crash
land or burn up.
So and then as it lands
basically, you know.
This whole sky crane
just has to take off.
So that the plumes
don't hit the rover.
And once they hit the
rover, we are done.
The mission fails up there.
So Curiosity landed in the
place we call the Gale Crater.
And it shows the
Gale Crater up there.
And also the location
of the Gale Crater,
very close to Spirit.
So we had-- when another
mission launched recently.
About a few years ago, 2013 to
study Martian atmosphere again.
This was an orbiter
and mainly, you know.
We have issues with
carbon dioxide.
Now NASA is looking at how
to use the carbon dioxide.
And convert it into portable
water for our astronauts.
So that I don't have
to send water.
And at Kennedy Space Centre,
we are developing the technology
right now as we speak.
So the future manned missions,
let's talk a little
bit about that.
So really, up to now NASA's only
sent unmanned probes to Mars.
And basically if you don't
understand the environment
and obviously like they say
in Maslow's law of hierarchy.
You need full water and
shelter for all of us to live.
And survive in an environment.
So basically the same
thing applies to Mars.
So we are talking about
very cold temperatures,
very thin atmosphere.
Radiation issues,
habitats, food, water.
These are all the
real challenges
for NASA's manned mission.
So if landing Curiosity
was a very difficult job,
now sending man will require or
entail a lot, a lot of issues.
And notwithstanding the
entry and decent landings.
So we cannot crash
land you know rovers--
I mean landers with
men in there.
And kill them basically.
So it's very, very important.
So really up to now NASA's
really gone beyond what we call
as-- you know.
We have gone to moon
6-- 5-- 6 times.
We have repaired
Hubble 7-- 5 times.
We are already living in space
on the international space
station for last 15 years.
So we know how to live
and work in lower orbit.
Which is about 200 to 300
kilometres up in space.
Now, really we want to
go beyond that orbit.
And that's what-- that's where
the next challenge is for us.
And so again, we want
to take baby steps.
We want to gather the technology
for a bigger and better rocket.
So go to moon and
work nearby moon.
And have an asteroid
capture mission.
So we understand how
to mine this asteroid.
And then use the same
techniques and tools we have.
You know doing work on asteroids
by sending men to
asteroid actually.
From moon or from the
international space station.
And then make sure that
we can send men to Mars.
So this is a phased approach
which NASA is taking.
And rightfully so.
So remember way back
in the 60's.
You know we went to moon using
the rocket on the left there.
That is a beautiful picture of
Apollo 11 which went to moon
from NASA Kennedy Space Centre.
Then we built what we call
The Cathedral of Technology.
Really spatial, it was a
totally reusable vehicle.
It did wonders for
NASA launching many,
many probes like Ulysses to sun.
And Galileo and things like that
and also putting
various telescopes.
Like Hubble Space Telescope,
content gamma ray
and Chandra X-ray.
And now obviously they are going
to put the new telescope,
the James Webb.
We can have the opportunity
to use the space shuttle.
But now we are developing
newer and better rockets.
May not be reusable but these
are even higher thrust than.
What we are doing on the
space shuttle programme
or the Apollo programme.
So the rocket on
the right most side,
that's the newer space
launch system, SLS.
That's the name of it.
And the probe which
will be sitting on top
of the rocket is
called the Orion.
So we already sent Orion
on what they call EFT1,
Experimental Flight Test 1.
And it went 2,000
miles above the earth.
And then came back
safely back to Earth.
So this is the first time
we have sent any probe
since the moon landings
in around 1970's.
More than 2,000 miles and that's
the-- reason to do that is.
We want to send man like that.
And so that's why are
testing these probes.
And then making sure
they'll come back safely.
So the architecture for-- it's
a building block basically.
It's slowly builds
upon the thrust levels.
Because remember we talked
about the Curiosity
rover being 1,000 kilos.
Compared to the other
2 rovers, you know,
Spirit and Opportunity.
Now we are going to
be putting men here.
Obviously we need supplies
and stuff like that.
So all those things are going to
cost us you know a big penalty.
So we are going to first start
with the asteroid
capture mission.
So really, the most
important thing we need to do
in asteroid capture mission.
Is to find an asteroid you know
very close to our environment.
And then redirect it, you know,
using solar electric
propulsion engines.
So chemical engines have a
limitation like liquid oxygen,
liquid hydrogen or even
solar rocket motors.
They cannot provide enough
thrust and they don't last long
for long journey to Mars.
Going to moon, it's okay.
Going to lower orbit, it's okay.
But not going to
Mars for 6 months.
And that's why NASA is
developing technologies for--
and propulsion engines like
using the xenon transfer ions.
To really make sure
that we are trying
to develop those technologies.
And then we want to explore it
by sending not only
robots to mine.
And also we want to bring the
mined you know material back
to Earth you know.
Via Orion or even
bring it back to moon
or bring it back to the station.
By 2024, the station is
going to be you know retired.
So we have to do some
things before that.
And definitely we'll be
looking at a moon base
to support a lot of
these activities.
Or Orion based activities.
So the asteroid redirect
mission will have a lot
of challenges for us also.
So as we go along, you know, we
are developing new technologies.
Not only robotic technologies
but also humans to go to Mars.
And that requires the
same challenges like,
you know, how to get there.
How to capture a--
asteroid, how to grab it.
You know, how to contain it
and slowly bring it
back to say-- a lower.
I mean cislunar space which
is very close to lunar space.
And then try to mine it.
And then try to make sure
that we can bring the
materials back safely.
So asteroid redirect missions
also have been planned
so asteroids could be
redirected to go near the moon.
Or even near the space station.
Again, you know,
the plan is you know
if they don't retire
the space station.
We will have the ability to have
astronauts right on the station.
So NASA is looking for funding
to continue the space station
until 2030 if possible.
So let's see how that goes.
So really what will it take
to send humans to Mars?
So here's a beautiful
picture of Earth and Mars.
2 worlds with 1 sun.
So I'm just turning
the propulsion systems
because we need high speed,
longer duration travel.
Martian resources, environmental
constraints, human limitations.
So really, what NASA's
philosophy is test what you fly.
Fly what you test.
And we've been doing that
since the Apollo days.
But now the challenges
are even insurmountable.
So Mars is cold.
It's farther away
from sun obviously.
So you know, as we go farther
and farther away from the sun.
You know, obviously
becomes very cold.
Temperatures are you know.
Much colder than what
we can survive now.
So there would be
a lot of issues
to make sure our
astronauts are safe.
So-- and don't forget, you know,
our goal is to have--
live and work there.
Just like we are living
at a lower orbit right now
on the international
space station.
So unlike Mars-- is
very thin atmosphere.
We talked about how to, you
know, if you come too high.
You are going to have a problem.
You come to low, you're going
to burn up in the atmosphere.
So oxygen is another problem.
We need that.
We are lucky to have
plenty of oxygen on Earth.
So now, how do we get
oxygen up to Mars?
So on the international space
station I am taking what they
call as Compression
Wrap Preservers.
These are aluminium
tanks and these tanks are
about 2 metres in diameter.
And we are putting
6,000 psi oxygen.
And taking up to
international space station.
So why do we need that?
You know, a lot of times
our astronauts have
to go outside the
international space station.
Like gravity, moving gravity
and they want to repair.
Or do some-- put an alpha
magnetic spectrometer
which is a beautiful
spectrometer.
To be sitting outside or look
for some materials outside the
space station to do testing.
So that we are learning--
developing new technologies.
So that we can use those
technologies for Mars.
So obviously I can't send these
6,000 psi tanks for 6 months.
If it blows up, we are
going to be in deep trouble.
So we have to think
about all those options.
And what are the
limitations as well.
So now, how do you protect your
organs and stuff like that?
You know we need to develop
new suits, you know basically.
Because of the gravitational
influence there.
Influence with radiation
basically.
All these space suit
technologies are being developed
as we speak.
And we have a good understanding
of how to go about that.
Every time an astronaut
spends a lot of time in space.
At lower orbit even including,
we are talking about losing 1%
to 1% of the bone
and muscle loss.
So how do we accommodate
for that?
So Scott Kelly just came
back staying about a year.
So he grew about 5 centimetres.
So basically after 3
months maybe he'll come back
to normal, maybe 6 months.
But we have issues
of making sure
that astronauts don't lose bone
and muscle mass as
we go to Mars.
So basically our mission will
be a failure if the health
of the astronauts
becomes a problem.
So we do exercise about
2 to 3 hours a day
on what we call air
radar [phonetic].
This is 2 exercises
so we have to push
against to make sure our bone
and muscle mass are active.
So well radiation is
also a big problem there.
Basically it's a big
potential health problem.
And even on the international
space station,
that gets much more radiation.
Than one of the flying
on the planes you know.
Which goes only up to 50--
50,000 feet or 60,000 feet
basically or 20,000 metres high.
So now we are 200
kilometres high.
So we have to worry
about radiation.
Obviously we need to shield the
housing for the radia-- I mean.
Housing for the astronauts has
to be shielded from radiation.
We are looking at a lot
of different technologies
including, you know.
Using hydrogen related
materials.
Basically trying to build
structures and stuff like that.
Where they can be shielded
from the radiation.
So gravitational
pull we talked about.
Obviously you know, on
moon is 1/6 the gravity.
And on Mars is 1/3.
So people will be able to jump
higher and lift more on Mars.
But the problem is you know.
How do we sustain this
for long duration?
We don't understand that yet.
Well, on moon we
understood and we knew what
to do and stuff like that.
So but not on Mars.
Obviously propulsion
technologies.
Radio communication takes
about 4 to 20 minutes.
So if you're going to
send a message to a rocket
to land properly on Mars.
By the time you get the message
back, would have crash landed.
So there's recourse for us.
So we have to develop
technologies.
Right now NASA is working with
ISA to develop technologies
like atomic clock ensembles.
Where we can precisely
tell exactly the time.
And so we can send
various signals very fast
by keeping some relays and
stuff like that in space.
So these are satellite relays
which will be put in space.
Well even though Mars is about
100 million kilometres away.
We need to understand
that you know we have the
technologies today.
That we can develop you know a
base for mankind to go up there.
And stay up there for longer,
long duration time frame.
So what kind of careers, you
know, I think earlier we talked
about careers, engineers.
We need engineers.
A lot of engineers,
different kinds of engineers.
And these engineers
could be civil,
structural, you know,
mechanical.
You know, all kinds of
engineers and scientists
and geologists to mine.
And understand what kind of--
and medical doctors,
things like that.
So not only engineers but there
are many, many types of careers.
Engineers, scientists,
to improve the quality
of life on Mars.
So in conclusion, we
have definitely had many,
many attempts to land on Mars.
Using you know, the phased
approach like flybys, orbiters.
Orbiters and landers you know.
Obviously, you know we have
lander rovers too as you saw.
Definitely the next
step is man on Mars.
And that's going to be
happening right around 2030.
So not too far from
where we are.
So now scientists from all over
the world are working together.
And trying to understand
the similarities
between Earth and Mars.
And see how we can capitalise
on what we have learnt on Earth.
Trying to see how
we can live on Mars.
So for a better community
you know.
These are some of the various
tenants we need and how
to communicate you know.
What kind of medical
devices you need to make sure
that we can take care of the
people when we go up there?
Obviously we need food.
So right now, NASA is
growing romaine lettuce
on the international
space station.
On a project called
Veggie, you know.
So basically we are
sending mice,
fruit flies to understand--
and stem cells.
Trying to understand the
changes in human you know,
physiology and you know.
Understand the aspects
of long duration travel
or stay in space.
Food we just talked
about Veggie.
But you know we are
working today,
right now at Kennedy
Space Centre.
Trying to develop or
use the soil basically.
Understand the-- understand
the chemistry of the soil.
To see whether we can grow,
you know, grow vegetables.
And self-sustaining
things up in Mars.
So we don't have
a big wait penalty
to send things up in Mars.
So just like your home, you
know, nothing different.
You know there are many, many
technological solutions we need.
Like water, power,
you know, shelters.
You know medical technologies
and stuff like that.
And these are the same things.
And there's tremendous
opportunities for new generation
of engineers and scientists.
So really science and math
are you know very important.
And engineering is a conduit
which uses the science
and math skills.
Which you learn in Curtin
and other universities.
Which will eventually
develop technologies.
Not only for Mars but what we
call a technological spinoff
which will benefit
the entire mankind.
So really we are working of--
for the benefit of Earth.
On the international
space station as well
as we'll be doing the
same thing on Mars.
So technologies which
need to support--
to go for the humans
to go to Mars.
Are outlined in this, robotics
is very important obviously.
Optical communications
is very important.
I put a probe on ISS recently.
It's called OPALS
about a year ago.
OPALS sends laser beam on
to a spot in California.
So as we are going
around the world.
As we come across
California, the space station
in California sends a
signal back to the station.
And they communicate and there's
large amount of data download
from the international
space station.
Only there, so amazing
technology.
We are sending probes to the
international space station
where the probe is pointing
towards the ocean waves.
Which can-- based on the height
of the waves we can predict the
weather and stuff like that.
So the first thing OPALS said
when it beamed back to Earth.
It said, "Hello Earth" so--
that's the first orbital
communication as far
as using lasers basically.
So the solar electric and
solar ion propulsion engines.
The current technology provides
the chemical propulsion engine
exhaust to go at mach 4, mach 3.
That's about close to several
thousand miles per hour.
Basically 2,000 to
3,000 miles per hour.
You know, about 3200
kilometres and excess of that.
So now we are looking at
ion propulsion engines
and exhaust coming
at an excess of more
than 3-2-- 100,000 kilometres.
You know per hour.
So these are the kinds
of solutions we need
to go up in space.
Cryogenic transfer, we are
already using cryogenics to work
on the international
space station.
As well as on the shuttle.
So the shuttle or the space
shuttle main engines use liquid
oxygen, liquid hydrogen.
Those are cryogenic engines.
And that-- that's what made
the space shuttle possible
to fly-- launch like a rocket.
And land like a plane.
And these are same technologies
required which we have already.
But the application will
be totally different
when we want to go to Mars.
So future exploration of
Mars as we talked earlier.
Definitely NASA is sending
not only robotic missions
but you know human
individuals to Mars.
And are we going
to colonise Mars?
May not be yet but we have
to make sure that you know.
We want to see how Mars
is going to benefit.
Benefit the quality-- or improve
the quality of life on Earth.
How does it do it?
How does exploration of going
to Mars benefit us on Earth?
Just take a look at the example
of the international
space station.
And all the technologies
we have developed
in the past last 50 years.
We have mobile phone
and internet technologies
and microwave ovens.
MRI's, brain surgery
and stuff like--
many, many technologies
developed on--
all developed by NASA.
But derived from
NASA technologies
on the commercial side
using what we call spinoffs.
So same thing, we'll be
developing using technologies we
are going to work with on Mars.
And there's profound
implications.
You haven't even seen
anything yet in terms
of technological innovations.
And one simple example
I wanted to give you.
Like international space
station, we built a living,
breathing monument that we
call "The Palace in the Sky".
Using the space shuttle
which is the centre
of technology basically
for all mankind.
It's the Earth observation
station.
We talked about climate change.
We talked about tsunamis
and earthquakes
and many, many issues on Earth.
Including forest fires or fires
from Perth All these
things can be observed
as we go every 90 minutes.
We start from Perth.
Every 90 minutes we go around
the world on the ISS at moch 25
or 28,000 kilometres per hour.
And we see 16 sunsets
and sunrises.
So we can monitor everything
happening on the Earth.
So this is like a-- you know,
like if you go to the beach.
You have a lifeguard.
You know, this ISS really
represents a lifeguard
for the whole world basically.
So your life is not in danger
because we are watching Earth.
And that is the only
place we have right now.
So the kind from man
official Mars missions.
Obviously we have plans to
send a lot of robotic machines.
But also you know
manned missions to Mars.
But right now our goal is to
have a sample return mission.
And there are several activities
which we are looking
at basically.
So ExoMars was one aspect of it.
You know, but we are
looking at MARVEL in future.
And we are looking at ARES
to understand the
environment in Mars.
Obviously we need to look at
the sample collection in return.
So all these things are
in the run, in future.
So where will all this lead?
Well, in my opinion, even if
mankind never goes to Mars.
Unlike you know we
landed on the moon.
Working on-- living and
working on the space station.
Just look at your
technological innovation.
Just 100 years ago, we
couldn't even fly in--
you know we couldn't fly.
You know, we couldn't even
fly 10 feet off the ground.
Now, a probe called Voyager
1 has gone beyond the Solar
System, beyond the bow shock, 16 billion miles
into solar space you know.
And it was designed to
go only beyond Mars.
But it did the grand
tour of the universe.
I mean our solar system and
went beyond the bow shock now.
So if I can do that,
anything is possible.
Thank you.
And we are ready
for some questions.
So I'm the real Martian.
[ Applause ]
[ Music ]
