An international team of students and graduates from the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech) will present its project for a two-person flyby past Mars at the Gemini Mars Design Competition in Washington D.C. in September after it was selected as one of 10 finalists.
The Gemini Mars Design Competition is for a detailed plan to send two astronauts on a flyby mission past Mars. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
Contestants in the competition, which was launched by the Mars Society last year, must present a detailed mission plan and spaceship design that would enable two astronauts to travel to Mars. The plan should include a flight path and psychological procedures to enable two people to co-exist in a cramped spaceship for two years.
“Despite the fact that this is a student competition, the aim of the Gemini Mars project is fairly ambitious: the winning project for a flyby past Mars will, with minimal changes, reach the table of the next president of the United States and will serve as the basis for making a decision important for all of humanity,” said Veronika Shteyngart, the leader of the Skoltech team, named Skoltech Martians 2.0.
Mars Society President Dr. Robert Zubrin has said that the contest will show that “humans-to-Mars is indeed a challenge of our time; one meant not for the next generation, but for the next administration.”
“We are calling this mission Gemini Mars, not just because it will have a crew of two, but because we intend to have it serve to open the way to the Red Planet in the same way that the 1960s Gemini program paved the way to the moon,” said Zubrin in a statement on the Mars Society’s website.
Shteyngart and three other core members of the team from Skoltech’s Space Center have already had an experience of life on Mars, having taken part earlier this year in an experiment at the Martian Desert Research Station in Utah. That experience has proven useful in producing the team’s project for the Gemini Mars competition, she said.
Skoltech Martian Divya Shankar at the Martian Desert Research Station in Utah earlier this year. Photo: Skoltech.
“In the experiment in Utah, we ate a lot of dehydrated, i.e. dried, tasteless food, with water poured on it. After two weeks, it began to resemble a medical procedure. It was enough to say that eating powder would not be an option,” said Shteyngart.
“In this project, when we were talking about how to use it as the main type of food for the crew, I objected. As a result, we found a compromise: part of the food will be grown on board as both an experiment and a measure to alleviate the psychological burden.”
Shteyngart said the project’s costs were estimated at “several billion dollars, which makes it feasible from a financial point of view.”
In addition to the four Skoltech graduates and post-graduates who went to Utah in January, three more Skoltech students have joined the team, which has already produced a 35-page document detailing its plan for reaching Mars, conducting on-board experiments, crew life support systems, the spacecraft’s construction, costs, radiation protection measures, and of course, a safe return to Earth.
Alexander Menshchikov, who is responsible for the return of the craft to Earth, and its landing and propulsion system, said the team’s strong point was its detailed study of its systems.
“For example, Natasha Glazkova, who is responsible for the life support of the crew, has come up with an original and effective solution for keeping the crew healthy during the 500-day flight in zero gravity,” he said.
“She has developed a special centrifuge that is more efficient than the systems currently used by astronauts to keep the musculoskeletal system in shape,” explained Menshchikov.
The competition finalists will present their design proposals in person to a jury consisting of experts from NASA, the aerospace industry and the Mars Society during the latter’s annual convention due to be held on September 22-25 in Washington, D.C. The first prize is $10,000, with respective additional prizes of $5,000, $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000 for the runners-up.
“This contest will provide an opportunity for young engineers to directly contribute their talent to this breakthrough project to open the space frontier,” said Zubrin in the Mars Society statement.
“In addition, it will illustrate what a powerful force space exploration can be in encouraging young people to develop their skills. By doing so, it will help make clear to the political establishment in many countries the vital role that an inspiring space program can play in creating the intellectual capital needed to advance the lives of everyone on our planet.”