Hundred Year Starship announced by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and National Aeronautics and Space Administration

A new project had been announced involving DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and NASA. A spacecraft is to be intended that will take not only enough cargo, but also crew, to Mars. The project, which is called the Hundred Year Starship, isn’t too dissimilar to the Apollo moon landings, but with a slight catch. The catch is that the people on this mission won’t come back.

Visiting the DARPA and NASA on Mars

NASA and DARPA are working together on a project which had been announced at the Long Conversation conference in San Francisco by NASA Ames Research Center's Pete Worden. The Telegraph accounts the project is called the 100 Year Starship. The government agencies have asked for help from anyone who can give it to them. Co-founder of Google, Larry Page, had been just one of the many billionaires being asked for donations. Next year would be when the initial design is accessible. The project is a pretty big and hard 1, as opposed to the DARPA Challenge. The DARPA Challenge was a race of self-driving vehicles for them to test. The goal of this project is to come up with a spacecraft that can ferry a crew of astronauts and a large amount of cargo to Mars. However, unlike Apollo 11 or the International Space Station missions, these astronauts aren’t coming back.

Going one way only

It’s hard to make a ferry between Earth and other planets because of the distance. A journey to Mars would take nine months to complete. Anyone who lands there can have to be self sufficient. The project will cost around $10 billion, NASA estimated, although only $1 million is there to spend. To move one pound of equipment in space, based on Fox News, four pounds of fuel are required to do it. Getting to Mars in the first place is difficult enough, and a return journey that much closer to extremely hard.

Colonizing on Mars

Colonizing planets is what the plan is with the first space exploration plan with Mars. The plan would involve getting astronauts to live on Mars. This would lead them to be there permanently. The Mars lifestyle is what they will figure out. There has to be some way to do it. Our planet may die 1 day. It is most likely going to happen. Mankind, if it’s to survive, must find a way to live someplace else.

Citations

The Telegraph

telegraph.co.uk/science/space/8091965/Nasa-unveils-bold-plans-to-send-humans-one-way-to-Mars-to-colonise-planet.html

Fox News

foxnews.com/scitech/2010/10/29/nasa-cover-up-hundred-year-starship/print