Will Mars Go Mute? NASA’s Aging Orbiters May Not Last Long Enough to Support Future Exploration
A cry for help has come from planetary scientists pleading for a Next Mars Orbiter—or NeMO for short.
Researchers say the spacecraft fleet currently orbiting the Red Planet is aging and there are no replacements in the works, imperiling future Mars landers, rovers and even possible human missions that will depend on orbiters to talk to Earth. “We are at a turning point in Mars exploration,” says Casey Dreier, director of space policy at The Planetary Society. “NASA declares itself on a ‘Journey to Mars,’ but it can’t even invest in the most basic infrastructure to ensure that goal moves forward.”
NeMO’s most pressing duty, in many eyes, is to take the baton from veteran NASA spacecraft—the 2001 Mars Odyssey as well as the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which has been on duty since March 2006—that are at risk of expiring of old age. If they are gone, Earth will be mute to all missions sent to Mars in coming years. And even if they hang on, their technology is becoming outdated. NeMO could offer, for instance, broadband Earth–Mars laser communications—a big plus to handle the projected communications traffic outpouring from the Red Planet down the line.
If equipped with radar, NeMO could also serve as a water-witching orbiter. It could scan Mars and map out subsurface pockets of water ice and even assist in X-marking a safe and sound landing zone for astronauts where they can draw on water for oxygen-sustaining needs as well as for concocting rocket fuel. Some scientists also call for NeMO to showcase new solar-electric ion thrusters and advanced solar arrays. With such capacities, the Mars orbiter is ripe for extra assignments such as helping to return precious samples from Mars to Earth or sauntering over and investigating Phobos and Deimos, the planet’s two moons.
For NASA, there is uncertainty about how NeMO fits into the grand scheme of Mars exploration, and at what cost. Indeed, the proposed 2018 fiscal year space agency budget asks for $19.1 billion for all things civil space. It includes funding for future Mars missions but does not call out NeMO by name. Asked about the situation, Jim Green, director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters says only, “We’re continuing to study our options for long-range support of communication for our rovers and landed assets on Mars.”
What is the interplanetary price tag of a new Mars orbiter? It depends. The low-end version would have the spacecraft confined to relaying communications. Things escalate dollar-wise if it will also make science observations and if it comes factory-loaded with new technologies to perform a larger to-do list of tasks. And any funds allocated to NeMO from the NASA budget must contend against other wish list items such as a mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa to search for life, not to mention human exploration of the moon or Mars.
Read more at Scientific American