Journey to Space Page #3

and work on Mars every day.

Once there, you'd be doing EVA,

walking outside on the planet

about every other day.

Once we have the hardware

in-house, we become the experts

of how that hardware works, what it does,

and how it meets the needs

for our next phase of our mission design.

We actually get into the suits,

because the best way

to understand how a spacesuit moves

is to be inside of it and work it yourself.

I'll be asking Richard

to perform specific tasks.

And what I'm looking at is:

What is his gait like?

And so I'm watching how

the bearings in the hip move

and how the bearings in the waist move.

And by comparing natural body

motion to suited body motion

we can start to tweak the design

of the suit to make it more natural.

So that's what we're

focusing on for exploration...

is how do you walk, how do you

bend, how do you kneel,

how do you do all

those geology-type tasks?

So, one of the big problems

they had in Apollo

was all of that dust on the lunar surface.

It stuck to everything.

When the guys would come back

inside of the lunar module

at the end of their EVAs,

taking off their suits,

there was dirt everywhere...

there was dirt on themselves.

It was just gross, right?

And that dirt is actually pretty

harmful... the lunar dirt...

specifically, to breathe in

for long periods of time,

so, long-duration missions,

we wouldn't want to

bring that dirt inside

with us all the time.

All right, Richard. Nice job.

Time to come on in.

So one of the key

concepts we're looking at

for lunar and even Martian missions

is using what we call a suit port.

The idea of a suit port

is that you have this plate

that becomes your pressure seal

between the vehicle

and your suit,

so when you're not using the suit,

it stays outside the entire time.

It is physically attached to the vehicle so

you can come in and out of your space suit

without ever having to physically

go into an air lock like we do today.

Welcome home, Richard.

How'd the suit feel?

Feels good.

Outstanding. Strong work out there.

Driving a space

exploration vehicle on dry land

is great training for deep-space

missions of the future.

But driving a mini-sub

was even more exacting.

No, there are no liquid oceans on Mars,

but before setting out for the Red Planet,

astronauts may make test

missions to nearby asteroids.

A mini-sub resembles the kind of craft

we will use to explore asteroids,

and the ocean matches

the zero gravity of space.

This NEEMO 16 mission marks

the 16th time NASA has trained

at the Aquarius lab,

which is anchored 60 feet underwater,

off Key Largo in Florida.

NASA aquanauts live in the lab

for up to two weeks

without coming to the surface.

This allows us to work the entire day

and only decompress once

at the end of the mission.

Any mistakes here

can have real consequences,

exactly as in deep, inhospitable space.

Since asteroids appear

to have changed very little

since they first formed,

they could tell us a lot

about our early solar system.

Ultimately, we may develop

space tools to capture

and reposition a small asteroid

to orbit our moon.

This would allow for easier study,

and also develop our ability

to deflect a larger asteroid

that was on a collision course with Earth.

This Olympus inflatable habitat,

designed by Bigelow Aerospace,

is a look at the future

of living in space.

Jay, this is amazing. How big is that?

Thanks. Yeah, it's really big.

It's about 2,250 cubic meters

interior volume, which is

a little over twice the size

of the International Space Station.

And it looks like it's, like,

40 feet tall or somethin'.

Yeah, it's probably 45 or 50.

It's really big.

Once you get into space,

you just inflate it with air?

Right, we bring up huge compressed air

tanks that bring up large volumes of air.

Um, this expands out so the

inside is about 16 meters

in diameter, and the outside's

a lot bigger than that.

It's surprising that an inflatable habitat

can protect its crew against

micrometeorites and radiation,

but that's what tests have shown.

The immense volume of Olympus

will provide ample work areas

as well as living space

to help maintain crew morale.

Supply craft to provide food, fuel,

and radiation-protective living

space will be landed on Mars

well before the first human

expedition is launched.

We don't know exactly what all

the spacecraft will look like,

but concepts are under active development.

Our infatuation with space exploration

is as limitless as space itself.

Without the shuttle, there would be

no International Space Station,

the vital test bed for a future

human expedition to Mars.

And that mission is closer

than you might imagine.

NASA projects we will get

to Mars in the 2030s.

In other words, within the career

of today's young astronauts.

So any of these movies that you see where

people survive even for 20 seconds...

Why go to Mars?

Why not just send more and more

sophisticated robotic vehicles?

I think to explore beyond what is known

is simply at the core of our DNA.

And only a human mission

can tell us definitively

if we can survive and establish

future settlements on Mars.

Astronauts exploring the planet may notice

and learn things robots could not,

things that could help take us

to the next frontiers beyond Mars.

Every 26 months,

there is an optimal window

for launching spacecraft to Mars.

But even using the planets'

orbits to shorten distance

and increase speed, with

currently planned propulsion,

the trip to and from Mars

will take six months...

each way.

Someday, even more exotic plasma

or fusion propulsion

could shorten the journey.

But the first explorers to Mars

will not have that luxury.

Orion can transport up to six passengers,

but for a first trip to Mars,

it would likely carry no more than four.

While going to and from the Red Planet,

Orion and the inflatable habitat

will be the astronauts' life

support home for flight control,

science, and that all-important

physical exercise.

Going to Mars...

getting there, working there,

coming back...

will take nearly three years.

I wonder how that will feel,

to be away from home and friends

and family for so long.

There is no 911 in space.

When Orion nears Mars,

the spacecraft is two years away

from any possibility of help from Earth.

Even radio communications

will take 40 minutes

to send and receive,

so any equipment failures

or other emergencies

must be solved by the crew alone.

Nearly four decades

of robotic exploration on Mars

has blazed a path for humans to follow...

...craft like Pathfinder and Curiosity.

Maybe I'll get to kick the dust

off their tires.

Though it will be incredibly

exciting to land on Mars,

our ongoing training

in sophisticated simulator labs

means it won't feel entirely

unfamiliar when we get there.

Later explorers to Mars might

travel hundreds of kilometers

to mine their own water and hydrogen to

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