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- [Narrator] For over 50 years,

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we have bombarded Mars with
our probes and landers,

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spying from orbit to map the terrain,

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finding her strengths and weaknesses.

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On the surface, probing for her resources

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and learning of her defenses.

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The next generation of
robots are readying to

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establish the beachhead.

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The time is approaching for the

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full scale invasion of the planet when

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humans walk on Mars and
claim it for their own.

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(energetic orchestral music)

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(exploding)

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The conquest of this
enigmatic planet so far away,

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has been both challenging and rewarding.

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ESA has delivered the latest conspirator,

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the Exomars trace gas orbiter,

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to search out the source of
Methane in the atmosphere.

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Its landing craft, the Scaparelli Lander,

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failed and crashed, yet another
victim of Mar's defenses.

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The Exomars orbiter, now
captured by Mar's gravity,

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has begun the challenging
process of adjusting

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to a circular orbit without fuel.

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This involved using the
shifting Martian atmosphere

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to gradually slow the satellite

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in a process known as aero-braking.

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With Exomars, ESA is going
to use for the first time

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a method called aero-braking
for a spacecraft

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in orbit around Mars,
to decrease the orbit by

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letting it fly through the atmosphere

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and using the atmospheric
density to slow it down

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instead of using fuel for the engines.

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- We have to take a lot
of margin to be sure that

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even if we go for a moment
where the atmosphere is

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more dense at the altitude
where we are flying,

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we are still safe with the spacecraft.

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- [Narrator] That aero-braking process

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took more than a year to complete.

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It was complicated by
the changing nature of

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the Marian atmosphere.

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- The transgas orbiter is really
looking at active processes

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ongoing on Mars today
and life, present life,

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is one of the possible explanations.

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So it will be really a
Sherlock Holmes work to try to

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put together a case for
whether it's geological

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or biological activity that is
responsible for the methane.

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- [Narrator] Meanwhile,
plans are well advanced

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for the Exomars 2020 mission
with the final design

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of the rover nearing completion.

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And scientists have
short-listed two possible

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landing sites to put it to use,

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Oxyar Planum and Mawrth Vallis.

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Both are short-listed
because they have had

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an abundance of water in
the plant's early history,

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the main building block for life.

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- First of all, we want a landing site

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that is ancient because
the hypothesis is that

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conditions on the surface of Mars,

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4.3 to 3.9 billion years ago
were similar to those on Earth

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when life started here.

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So the site has to be old.

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The second condition is we want a site

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where we had liquid water present

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over hundreds of millions of years and

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we want this liquid
water to be what we call

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low energy or slow flowing water,

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like on the canals in Amsterdam.

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(humming)

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- [Narrator] The rover
then scouts around for

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the ideal locations and
with its driller apparatus,

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digs deep into the earth
to extract soil samples

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which will be placed into its on board

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chemical analysis equipment,

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hoping to find ancient signs of life.

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(whirring)

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Beginning this year, the
next wave of spacecraft

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begin their sorjun to the red planet.

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NASA's inside mission, the
first to be launched from

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Vandenberg Air Force base in California,

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for another planet, is
preparing for lift off.

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The vehicle had already been
through its pre-flight tests

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and had been shipped
to the launch facility.

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It is crucial that all
aspects of the lander

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are in perfect operational readiness.

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The probe is destined for
the equatorial region of Mars

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and will look deep into
the heart of the planet.

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- The inside mission is a
geo-physical mission to Mars.

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It's going to go to Mars
and take its vital signs.

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It's going to take its heartbeat,

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the seismic activity of the planet.

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So we're going to be doing
that using a seismometer,

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a very high precision seismometer,

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using techniques that
have been well developed

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on Earth to get the understanding
of the crust, mantle,

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and core and sort of the
relationship between those.

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It's going to take its
temperature by measuring

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the thermal gradient of the surface

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which tells how much heat is coming out.

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- We also have a heat
flow probe called HPQ

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and what that does is gonna basically

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take the temperature of Mars and from that

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it will be able to understand what the

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thermal flux is over the
course of a full Martian year.

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- And it's going to sort of measure its

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reflexes by looking at
how the rotation wobbles

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with the tiled effects of the sun.

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- Our final experiment is called rise and

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that's going to be looking at the,

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basically the wobble of
Mars to help understand

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what the core size may be and composition.

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Insight isn't just a Mars mission,

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it's really a mission to the
terrestrial planet interior.

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So Mars is kind of the Goldilocks planet.

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It's not too big, it's not
too small, it's just right.

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If it was too big, it would have retained

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a lot of activity and
erased all the evidence

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that we're looking for.

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If it was too small, it never would have

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undergone the same processes
that formed the Earth

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and so it's really just right.

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- [Woman] Mars will give
us this insight into early

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planet formation and
early planetary processes.

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- [Man] Understanding the
details of the structure

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of the interior of Mars
will allow us to address

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questions of planetary
formation that we've only

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been able to guess at before.

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- We are missing cold
hard data and this is what

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this mission will provide.

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- [Narrator] Meanwhile,
NASA, ESA, and the Russians

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are continuing their programs.

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Soon, new missions from
China, Japan, India,

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and the United Arab Emirates will begin.

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(dramatic orchestral music)

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Getting humans to Mars
is the pressing goal

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of NASA and other adventurous parties.

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Many big aerospace
corporations contractors

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have all been at the drawing board,

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working out the immense engineering

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and the logistical challenges.

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They all concur that to get to Mars

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you need more than a big rocket.

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NASA's SLS and Orion spacecraft are only

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two of many components
that will be needed.

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With some more political emphasis,

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NASA, in concert with other agencies

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including ESA, Canada, and
the Russian space agencies,

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are able to push ahead with
a gateway facility concept.

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Effectively building a space station

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in SIS lunar orbit between
the moon and Earth,

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it would be a staging post
for a return to the moon,

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the gathering of resources
from the lunar surface

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and an assembly point for
a Mars flight and beyond.

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Orbital ATK is one of
six companies selected

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for NASA's Next Step Two program,

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a public, private partnership
for commercial development

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of deep space exploration.

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Not the first to suggest
the moon be a staging post,

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Orbital ATK recommends a
parking orbit in SIS lunar space

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built from its successful
Signas cargo craft.

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First they will launch
an initial habitat module

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aboard NASA's heavy-lift SLS rocket

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with a crude Orion capsule.

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Placed in a parking orbit,
it will act as a platform

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for experiments and serve
as a destination for

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future crude missions.

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By 2025, additional modules
would be added to the habitat

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allowing deliveries of crew
supplies and experiments

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and serve as a waste disposal vehicle

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at the end of their missions.

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The modularity of the
system also allows for

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multiple visiting vehicles,

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providing a base for lunar sorties.

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Mining for resources, in particular water,

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would allow for more cost-effective

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and longer duration missions to Mars.

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From water, you gain hydrogen for fuel,

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oxygen as the oxidizer and for breathing

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and of course, drinking water.

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- We have places on moon which are,

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at least, especially at the south pole

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which has permanent darkness
where we can find water

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and we know from some
missions that there is water.

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Water is a good source to
produce hydrogen and oxygen

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and also to go into
the shadow of the moon,

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we will have places where we don't have

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the radiation coming from the Earth.

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So building a telescope over there,

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by using the material we find on the moon,

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so not bringing all
the stuff on the Earth,

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that could also open new possibilities

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to look deep into our universe.

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- [Narrator] These crude
missions would also help

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with man's understanding
of how we can best survive

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long duration space exploration.

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By 2030, with additional modules,

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the habitat could be expanded

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to provide a Mars transit capability

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for demonstration expeditions
lasting 1000 days or more.

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Boeing, the primary contractor
for the SLS rocket system

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believe their plan will require
five or six SLS launches

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to be able to get to Mars.

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- So we want to make sure that
we've checked everything out

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and that we know that
it's good to go before

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we actually leave for Mars
because once we leave,

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we can't come back for over two years.

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And the reason for this is because of the

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alignment of the planets.

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The way the planets
revolved around the sun,

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it allows a window of opportunity to go

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from Earth to Mars
basically every two years.

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Just to get to Mars, before
you even land or anything,

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it's going to take seven or eight months.

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The reality is, you're
going to be there for a year

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waiting until that window
opens and we come back.

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And then it's going to take

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seven or eight months to come home.

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- Having a SIS outpost enables
international partnerships

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and commercial opportunities such as

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exploration of the lunar surface,

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and scientific and technological research.

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After SIS lunar space,

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we'll start the actual missions to Mars.

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The first mission will be to Mars orbit.

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This mission will teach
us about the space systems

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that will take us to Mars and back.

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The next mission will send
humans to the surface of Mars.

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The crews will undertake
detailed scientific research

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and investigation.

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They will start to unlock
the secrets of Mars.

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- [Narrator] The initial
concept, now under development,

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consists of a power and propulsion bus

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to provide electric power and propulsion

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to habitat modules, an airlock module

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and a logistic work
module then supplied by

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cargo and crude modules
from the U.S. and Russia.

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And finally, it could
be used as the vehicle

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and habitat for long term
exploration of space.

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Lockheed Martin's concept
for transporting to Mars

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has resulted in a holistic
view of the mission.

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They too will assemble a space
gateway in SIS lunar orbit.

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This will provide the platform to build

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the Mars space base camp and

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get it ready for flights to Mars.

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(serene orchestral music)

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They see that Orion is
part of a larger system

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that provides the supplies and the

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scientific equipment
needed for the journey.

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This resulted in what they
are calling Mar's base camp.

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Mar's base camp is an orbiting mission

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with four main sections and

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two of almost everything for backup.

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Four large commercial solar
arrays to generate electricity

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to power the spacecraft.

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For propulsion, we have
two cryogenic stages,

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one on either end, and two tank farms

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to store the fuel and oxidizer.

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Within those stacks lie
two habitat modules and

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a large central living space
to eat, sleep, and exercise.

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Most importantly, we have Orion.

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It is the command deck
with all the avionics,

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navigation and communications.

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Orion makes the spacecraft more reliable

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and gives the astronauts a safe ride home.

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The orbiting crew could also investigate

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the two moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos,

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deploying landers or robots for sampling,

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even astronauts to explore
the surfaces of these moons.

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The main mission, however,
will after careful examination

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confirm a landing site
for the next mission

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and the first human landing.

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(calming orchestral music)

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From orbit, the astronaut
scientists will have

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access to the entire planet's surface for

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rovers and drones to be able to make

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real-time decisions about where
to go and what to examine,

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retrieving samples from
the surface for study.

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(calming FE orchestral music)

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Lockheed Martin's concept,
the almost retro rocket ship,

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the MEDV Lander, is their design for a

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reusable launch and landing vehicle

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and is based on the current technology

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including the Orion and shuttle systems

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and not as far fetched as first thought.

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(calming orchestral music)

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(dramatic orchestral music)

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Re usability and innovation
will conquer Mars,

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keeping costs down will make it viable,

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and making it doable is innovation.

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That's something that
SpaceX is founded on.

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Their BFR is the direct
Mars transport system.

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From liftoff on a reusable booster,

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a short time parked in low
Earth orbit for a fuel topper,

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then direct to Mars and
a three month cruise.

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Then, landing directly on the
surface of the red planet,

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ready to be refueled from local resources

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for return journey, landing back on Earth

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in the one reusable spacecraft.

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(dramatic orchestral music)

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In the meantime, SpaceX is
testing its Falcon Heavy

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rocket system in preparation
for its maiden voyage.

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(engines blasting)

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(dramatic orchestral music)

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One of the issues of flights to Mars,

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which is addressed in part by
the BFR, is the cruise time.

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In theory, SpaceX has
it down to three months.

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The other NASA led systems will
take seven to eight months,

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a long time to house, feed,

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and power a crew with little to do.

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Getting there much faster
would be a game changer.

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One possible way to achieve
this is nuclear power.

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Nuclear thermal propulsion or NTP,

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could enable faster transit
time, both to Mars and beyond.

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NTP is powered by nuclear fission.

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How it works is conceptually simple.

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Energy from fission is used to heat a

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hydrogen propellant to
about 2,420 degrees Celsius.

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This hydrogen is then accelerated through

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an exhaust nozzle resulting
in a propellant efficiency

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of roughly twice that of the
best chemical rocket engines.

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For example, it may be possible
to fuel modern NTP systems

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with low enriched uranium
instead of highly enriched.

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The physical size of an NTP engine

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is largely determined by the rate at which

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efficient energy can be transferred

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to the hydrogen propellant,

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but the equivalent volume
of the uranium that would be

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split is actually quite small,
roughly that of a toy marble.

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Getting travelers to Mars faster,

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NTP can take months off the trip

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compared to using
traditional chemical systems.

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This would reduce the need for payload,

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food and power for the crew,

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minimizing the risks associated with

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exposure to galactic cosmic radiation,

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micro-gravity and other
hazards of deep space travel.

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The maturation of nuclear
thermal propulsion

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will also promote the
successful development

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of the kilo power
fishing power systems for

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use on the moon, Mars,
and other destinations.

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As a main source insitu for life support,

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communication, industrial and
other diverse applications.

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Harnessing first generation NTP systems

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is a first step towards advanced nuclear

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propulsion systems capable of travel

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throughout the solar system.

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(calming orchestral music)