Related papers: Human Mars Exploration and Expedition Challenges
Human influence on the biosphere has been evident at least since the development of widespread agriculture, and some stratigraphers have suggested that the activities of modern civilization indicate a geological epoch transition. The study…
In recent years, there has been a significant surge of interest in Mars exploration, driven by the planet's potential for human settlement and its proximity to Earth. In this paper, we explore the performance of the LoRaWAN technology on…
Future missions to Mars and Venus will make use of aerobraking and aerocapture in order to gain mass through the saving of fuel at planetary arrival. So far only aerobraking has been demonstrated, if the Mars Premier project has paved the…
The Ingenuity helicopter test flights on Mars in April 2021 marked the first time a powered aircraft has flown on another world. Students who have access to model helicopters and drones may wonder, how well could those hover on the Red…
Astrophysics spans an enormous range of questions on scales from individual planets to the entire cosmos. To address the richness of 21st century astrophysics requires a corresponding richness of telescopes spanning all bands and all…
Interstellar exploration will advance human knowledge and culture in multiple ways. Scientifically, it will advance our understanding of the interstellar medium, stellar astrophysics, planetary science and astrobiology. In addition,…
The potential future democratization of spaceflight reveals a need for design of experiences that extend beyond our current conceptualization of spaceflight. Research on career astronauts indicates that transformative experiences occur…
In this white paper, we present a cross-section of important scientific questions that remain partially or completely unanswered, ranging from Titan exosphere to the deep interior, and we detail which instrumentation and mission scenarios…
Space radiation is a major risk for humans, especially on long-duration missions to outer space, e.g., a manned mission to Mars. Galactic cosmic rays (GCR) contribute a predictable radiation background, the main risk is due to the highly…
Exoplanetary science has reached a historic moment. The James Webb Space Telescope will be capable of probing the atmospheres of rocky planets, and perhaps even search for biologically produced gases. However this is contingent on…
A Viking-class Europa Lander is a high-risk, high-cost venture. In its place, Europa should be explored by a series of low-cost scouts. These will be landers and small flyby craft. These missions will ascertain the nature of Europa's…
The global climate crisis poses new risks to humanity, and with them, new challenges to the practices of professional astronomy. Avoiding the more catastrophic consequences of global warming by more than 1.5 degrees requires an immediate…
Significant advances in the discovery and characterization of the planetary systems of nearby stars can be accomplished with a moderate aperture high performance coronagraphic space mission that could be started in the next decade. Its…
The field of autonomous navigation for unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) is in continuous growth and increasing levels of autonomy have been reached in the last few years. However, the task becomes more challenging when the focus is on the…
Energy harvesting is the fundamental activity in almost all forms of space exploration known to humans. So far, in most cases, it is not feasible to bring, along with probe, spacecraft or rover suitable supply of fuel to cover all mission's…
As we become aware of Earth's changing climate, and as we discover terrestrial planets in other solar systems, we gain ever more reasons to study the Earth's nearest neighbour and closest sibling, the only Earth-sized planet besides our own…
The diversity of patterns that emerge from complex systems motivates their use for scientific or artistic purposes. When exploring these systems, the challenges faced are the size of the parameter space and the strongly non-linear mapping…
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming domains from healthcare and agriculture to finance and industry. As progress on Earth meets growing constraints, the next frontier is outer space, where AI can enable autonomous, resilient…
Satellite network is the first step of interstellar voyages. It can provide global Internet connectivity everywhere on earth, where most areas cannot access the Internet by the terrestrial infrastructure due to the geographic accessibility…
We present the first calculation of saltation transport and dune formation on Mars and compare it to real dunes. We find that the rate at which grains are entrained into saltation on Mars is one order of magnitude higher than on Earth. With…