Michael West’s Blog

In the end I did get quoted in the New Scientist article, which is pretty cool. The article can be found here: Mars’s tiny moons - one small step for mankind? The conference also got a mention in a few blogs here and here as well as in a piece by NASA’s Chief Historian, Steven Dick, entitled: Under the Moons of Mars. Bruce Betts, from the Planetary Society, also wrote a report about the conference for the Planetary Society Weblog. It is quite an interesting read and can be found here.
Also, one can find the extended abstract from my conference presentation here, if you are interested.

Today’s session was on the human exploration of Phobos and Deimos and included my presentation the engineering challenges and unique opportunities associated with such an endeavour. I will put up a PDF of my presentation later if you are interested. My presentation was well received and provoked some good questions and discussion, particularly about whether robotic precursor missions would be required before sending humans or if we know enough already to safely operate on their surface. From an engineering stand point, my big concerns are with the long term effects of the moons’ regolith on mechanical systems such as spacesuits and the challenges associated with affixing oneself to the surface and getting around on the moons. Since the gravity on Phobos, as an example, is 0.001G and varies as a result of its irregular shape conducting spacewalks and the like will require some careful consideration. Given the extensive experience gained from the Mir, Space Shuttle and International Space Station programs, in which spacewalks are conducted in near-zero G conditions, there is a legacy to build upon.

Other presentations during the day discussed the radiation environment in Mars orbit and the use of Phobos as a location for a cache of Martian material collected by sample return missions. Rob Landis from NASA Johnson Space Center gave a very interesting presentation about his study of a crewed mission to a Near Earth Object, such as an asteroid, using the crew exploration vehicle mission architecture as a prelude to human exploration of Phobos and Deimos. Following lunch was the poster session of which I have included some photos of below.

Later in the afternoon Pascal was interviewed by Michael Reilly from New Scientist magazine for an article that will hopefully come out online tomorrow about the conference. He also asked me a few questions about my presentation etc. Who knows, I might even get a mention

Pascal pointed out something quite humorous in his opening remarks at the conference today. Keraunothnetophobia is the fear of falling satellites and it is quite apt given that Phobos’ orbit around Mars is decaying. Don’t worry though, it will take at least another 3-4 million years until it crashes into the surface of Mars and that is provided that the increasing tidal forces don’t rip the moon apart first into small pieces that will burn up as they reach Mars’ atmosphere.

The conference got underway proper today. After some introductory remarks from Pascal Lee, Steven Dick, NASA’s Chief Historian, kicked off proceedings with a presentation about the discovery of Phobos and Deimos. It was really interesting and provided a good introduction and set the scene well for the rest of the conference. The rest of the morning consisted of several science presentations that discussed things such as the conundrums about the surfaces of the moons, what is known about their composition, their origin and evolution and Phobos and Deimos’ interactions with the solar wind. After these talks I got a real sense of how little we know about these two objects and the need for more data and more spacecraft exploring them.

Over lunch the Director of NASA Ames, Pete Worden, gave a keynote address about how human exploration of Phobos and Deimos could fit into NASA’s Vision for Space Exploration. He suggested that sending a manned mission to Phobos or Deimos may be possible, post the return to the Moon. This suggestion, which he clarified was far from NASA policy, was based on a recent study into using the Crew Exploration Vehicle mission architecture for a human mission to a Near Earth Object, such as an asteroid and the similarities between these type of missions.

(more…)

Posted in News - Space & Aeronautics, Travel - Overseas |