Phoenix will be reborn 鈥� this time as a reality TV star. Mars One, a Dutch organisation based around the wacky idea of putting a human colony on the Red Planet and turning it into a TV show, says it will launch a copy of NASA鈥檚 Phoenix Mars lander in 2018.
How the group will fund the robotic mission is unclear but if successful, it could be the first private venture to land on Mars.
The lander would be part of a precursor mission to lay the foundations for the Martian colonists, due to arrive in 2025. 鈥淭he goal is to demonstrate a few of the technologies that we need for the manned mission,鈥� says Mars One CEO .
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That means the non-profit organisation is already looking at its first delay. Mars One had originally said it would launch a robotic mission in 2016, before humans land in 2023.
Solar testing
Speaking on 10 December at the National Press Club in Washington DC, Lansdorp announced that the organisation has teamed up with spaceflight veteran Lockheed Martin, which designed the NASA lander, to build Mars One鈥檚 version.
There will be a few tweaks. The original Phoenix spacecraft, which landed on Mars in 2008, used a robotic arm to scoop up and analyse soil. Mars One鈥檚 lander will attempt to extract water from the surface and test flexible solar panels.
Mars One鈥檚 plan includes a communications satellite, to be built by UK company Surrey Satellite Technology, that will relay live video feed of the planet鈥檚 surface broadcast by the lander.
The Phoenix mission cost $475 million. It is unclear how much the clone will cost and how Mars One will pay for it and for the orbiter. Lansdorp says the organisation is in discussions with partners to fund specific components.
Mars One has also . But Lansdorp expects the Phoenix clone to be cheaper than the original as, unlike NASA, Mars One isn鈥檛 starting from scratch. Lockheed Martin is already building a new version of Phoenix for NASA鈥檚 2016 InSight mission, which should bring down costs. 鈥淢ars One is going to be an easier customer to deal with because we require less paperwork,鈥� Lansdorp adds.
Optimistic launch date
So might the Mars One lander actually happen? 鈥淟anding on Mars is incredibly difficult, and I salute their ambition,鈥� says , who leads NASA鈥檚 InSight mission.
He points out that Lockheed Martin has the experience to land on Mars, so Mars One has a chance. 鈥淚f Lockheed Martin commits to this project it will be difficult to dismiss it out of hand,鈥� Banerdt says.
However, he thinks that a 2018 launch is optimistic, given that InSight has been in development since 2010. He also says that Mars One will need space-agency expertise for other elements of the mission, from high-resolution images of landing sites to deep-space communications. Another planned private mission to Mars 鈥� Inspiration Mars 鈥� recently asked NASA for help with funding.
Lansdorp is prepared for teething problems, which he doesn鈥檛 see as a deal-breaker. 鈥淚f this mission isn鈥檛 successful, we鈥檒l just send a copy two years later,鈥� he says.
