Original subtitles

As the latest successes and failures come and go,

Mars continues to give up her secrets.

Invisible clouds are revealed with ultraviolet light

and the search for the source of methane continues with ExoMars.

As we prepare to land humans on the "Red Planet,"

getting there is one thing.

Staying long-term is another.

Can we really conquer this planet?

The joint European and Russian ExoMars made a successful launch

with great applause and journeyed uneventfully to Mars.

Our instrument is devoted to the measurement of trace gases

by measuring the solar radiation passing through the atmosphere of the Red Planet.

Some scientists are trying to determine the local origins

of methane gas.

Is it a sign of life?

We're interested in looking at where the trace gases may be coming from.

So, for example, if methane is there in abundance

and you see it locally coming from a particular place,

you'd like to know whether it's got a volcanic origin,

whether it might be old gases that have been trapped in ice

that's then released due to sublimation processes, things like that.

It doesn't have to be biology, and it's important to recognize here

that I'm a little bit of a sceptic. I don't go for this life business.

I try to keep the other guys honest.

ExoMars made a perfect orbit insertion around Mars

and commenced flexing its considerable technological muscle...

...returning high resolution images, and stereoscopic observations,

enabling highly detailed three-dimensional maps to be created.

However, the mission didn't go entirely to plan.

The lander half of the probe, the Schiaparelli lander,

made an ideal separation from the orbiter and commenced a textbook descent.

The heat shield functioned as expected. All systems go. The drogue chute, then the main were deployed correctly.

Then the curse of Mars struck.

One second's worth of erroneous data

was passed onto the onboard guidance and navigation control system.

When this odd data was merged into the computer's algorithm,

it generated a false altitude reading, placing the lander below ground level.

This triggered the premature release of the parachute and back shell.

Braking thrusters fired and the lander's on ground systems began operating,

thinking it had landed.

Unfortunately, it was still 3.7 kilometers in the air,

and the universal laws of gravity took over,

the lander smashing helplessly into the ground.

Satellites overhead soon located the parachute and back shell

and then the lander itself, looking like a squashed bug on a windscreen.

The lander was, however, a technology demonstrator,

and the problems that arose could be quickly remedied.

So ESA is still fully confident of the technology

and will proceed with the next lander containing the ExoMars 2020 Rover.

With the latest analytical technology,

the rover will drill down as far as two meters into the Martian soil,

looking for those elusive microbes.

This is the Interact Centaur rover from ESA.

It can be remotely controlled from orbit by ESA astronauts.

NASA has its own version.

They are one of the tools for future investigations on Mars.

The proof of concept in Earth orbit will make it a reliable tool on Mars.

Astronauts can maneuver the robot to a test table,

then perform very fine operations with a number of tools and devices.

It could even help assemble hardware and habitats on the Martian surface

while astronauts orbit overhead.

NASA's Curiosity rover continues its epic journey across Gale Crater,

covering over 14 kilometers in its three years of operation.

It will soon be replaced by its smarter big brother, Mars 2020 Rover.

Built on the same configuration,

the 2020 Rover looks strikingly similar to Curiosity with some improvements:

a landing hazard redirect feature to avoid any rocky landings,

new wheels and treads for better climbing,

audio microphones to hear what's going on,

and a rock core sampling drill.

One of the main goals of the Mars 2020 mission will be to determine

the potential habitability of the planet for human visitors.

Scientific instruments onboard include an advanced stereoscopic imager,

environmental sensors for temperature, wind speed and direction,

pressure, humidity and dust particle size and shape.

PIXL is an x-ray fluorescence spectrometer for chemical analysis of Martian soil,

RIMFAX, a ground-penetrating radar to study subsurface geology,

and SHERLOC, an ultraviolet laser spectrometer

for the study of fine scale mineralogy and organic compounds.

The final instrument package is MOXIE,

a technology demonstrator designed to generate oxygen

from the carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere,

a critical piece of kit if humans are going to survive on Mars.

It will generate oxygen for fuel and breathing.

Mars's atmosphere is predominantly carbon dioxide,

plus trace amounts of argon, nitrogen, oxygen and carbon monoxide.

Its mean pressure is 600 pascals.

That's about 0.6% of Earth's air pressure at sea level.

So another vital piece of equipment is the spacesuit.

In the future, I'm looking forward to spacesuits

that are much more of a tool for astronauts,

that is more integrated with the human,

and is less of an encumbrance, and more of a help.

Several spacesuit designs are underway.

There are many specific requirements:

the flexibility to walk and move on a low-gravity planet, for example,

and the ability to bend down and pick things up.

It must also be able to illuminate the way forward.

Ease of access for donning the suit is important.

as are, clearly, a pressure garment and thermal insulator

for the low pressure and temperatures on Mars.

The latest prototypes, like the Z2 and the PXS,

are going through extensive development for surface use.

The Z2 meets the walking and flexibility requirements.

The PXS is a more traditional style of suit, but is also quite flexible.

My main responsibility on the spacesuit

is the suit control assembly.

That's the box that sits right here on the front of the suit

and it allows the crew member to control their life support components,

such as their cooling and their pressure.

It also controls a lot of the electronics,

such as the radio and the volume,

and they can see some of the data

that's coming back and forth from the suit computer to that display.

So one of the great things about this job

is that after designing the box,

I'm able to get into the suit, since it's one of the smaller sizes,

and we can actually see what the limitations are,

you know, with my own hands and eyes

and not just hear that secondhand from another text subject

that would be looking at the same data

and then to take that back and then to go build the next prototype and incorporate the changes that need to be made,

so it works better the next time.

Another critical element for surviving on the Martian surface is power.

The sunlight reaching Mars

is just a little more than half of what we receive on Earth.

In addition, there are regular dust storms

and solar power may not be sufficient of itself.

It will have a role to play,

but other sources of electric power may be required.

NASA has been developing fission power plants for such requirements,

working on two systems.

The less-powerful Technology Demonstrator unit for spacecraft and surface operations

requires watts of power numbered in the tens or one-hundreds.

Kilopower addresses the need for surface power from one to ten kilowatts

for human habitats and scientific exploration

in the harsh environments of Mars and beyond.

The journey to Mars is a long one, not in kilometers as such,

but where the scientific, technical and engineering hurdles

that need to be overcome are concerned.

What are the things they need to know

to be able to safely land, live and return from Mars?

The scientific knowledge, the technologies that we need

that can make human exploration of Mars happen

are within our grasp.

In our lifetime, we actually can see humans land and work on Mars.

A major step in this direction of planning

has been the definition of what we call "human exploration zones."

This is a region where we will land, we will live,

we will use resources in many different ways,

and we want to go to a variety of scientifically exciting locations

and do it in ways that humans and only humans can do.

One drawback: humans are fragile.

To function correctly, they have a specific set of requirements.

Atmospheric pressure, air to breathe,

water and food for nourishment, rest and sleep,

and protection from radiation.

Mars offers very few,

but it does have an abundance of radiation.

Mars habitats have been the subject

of years of engineering and technical research.

NASA has even thrown open the doors to students and architects

to help design and develop suitable accommodation.

There are minimum requirements

around the number of occupants and length of stay.

With limits on payload weight and mass,

using local resources like sand, rock and ice to develop habitats

has been strongly recommended.

The 3D-print competition threw up some very good ideas and designs,

some of which NASA is developing further.

The three finalists were Team LavaHive...

Team Gamma...

and Team Space Exploration Architecture and Clouds Architecture

Office of New York.

Their ice house included all the components required

to assemble the habitat in-situ on Mars.

The vehicle lands at the designated site

and deploys several robots and water storage assets.

The robots set about building a secure base,

utilizing local sand sintered together with lasers.

An inflatable plastic membrane is then deployed, along with internal airlocks.

The robots source local water

which is used to 3D-print the inner lining of the membrane.

Water is an excellent shield for radiation

and being translucent, it allows sunlight in.

Hanging gardens and windows add a touch of home.

NASA Langley has developed the ice dome concept from this prize-winning concept.

Creating a colony on another planet

really is a mammoth task.

Leaving aside the training,

technology and traveling, not to mention the money,

building a functional self-sustaining village

will need people from all walks of life.

Apart from the scientists, geologists and prospectors there to do the primary job,

people will not cope with living in prefabricated temporary shelters.

A town will have to be built from local resources.

Engineers, builders, fabricators,

electricians, plumbers and mechanics will all be in great demand.

So will I.T. and communications experts,

doctors, nurses, pilots, farmers, botanists...

and the list goes on.

On the other hand,

not everyone gets the chance to colonize an entirely new planet.

So that is one draw card.

If Mars One is any example,

it seems there will be plenty of volunteers for this dangerous work.

One question hasn't been asked yet and it's of fundamental importance.

Can humans live long-term in space or on another planet with reduced gravity,

less sunlight and lower atmospheric protection?

One proposal before NASA at the moment

is the Multigenerational Independent Colony

for Extraterrestrial Habitation, Autonomy and Behavior,

which contracts nicely to "MICEHAB"

and it's exactly what that name suggests.

MICEHAB is a spacecraft and autonomous support system

to study the long-term generational health of mice in Martian gravity.

The vehicle would be placed in a stable orbit close enough to the moon

to be within easy reach by manned missions.

The MICEHAB would be deployed and spun up to Mars-like gravity.

It would then support the growth of a large mouse colony for a year or longer,

studying reproduction and maturation of lab mice through multiple generations,

which is to say, much faster than human subjects.

The vehicle would house multiple levels of mouse enclosures

designed to be serviced and cleaned by an onboard robot.

The system would take care of feeding, watering and cleaning the mice,

including their medical care.

Breeding would be selectively controlled over generations in the low gravity.

The mice would also be studied for any physical, behavioral or metabolic changes.

The project would also collect data on deep space radiation

and the hazards posed to humans.

The robotic systems would also provide an in-situ demonstration

of autonomous activities like maintenance for long-duration deep-space missions.

From time to time, astronauts would dock with the habitat

to collect data and specimens.

MICEHAB will allow humans to prepare to live independently from Earth

in space and on the surface of Mars,

and help answer that critical question we started with.

Could humans survive long term in low