As humanity stands on the brink of its first steps on Mars, a comprehensive report released today, December 9, by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, in collaboration with scientists from Penn State, outlines a detailed science strategy to guide initial human missions to the red planet. Commissioned by NASA, the report identifies the highest priority scientific objectives and proposes four distinct mission campaigns to maximize the scientific return from the first three human landings on Mars.
The report aims to guide decision-makers in government and industry, as well as the scientific community and the general public. Researchers from Penn State played a significant role in shaping the report’s scientific priorities in fields such as atmospheric science, astrobiology, biological and physical sciences, and human health.
Setting the Stage for Mars Exploration
“Penn State expertise helped shape the nation’s highest priority science objectives and recommendations for human exploration of Mars,” stated Andrew Read, Penn State’s senior vice president for research. “This is a thrilling moment for us as scientists. We are setting the guideposts that will transform our knowledge of Mars and, on a deeper level, our place in the cosmos.”
The 240-page report serves as a science-driven roadmap for human Mars exploration, balancing scientific goals with existing NASA mission plans and technological capabilities. It acts as a scientific playbook for the first crewed missions to Mars, detailing the “what” and “why” behind human exploration of the red planet, explained James Pawelczyk, an associate professor of physiology and kinesiology at Penn State and a member of the report’s steering committee.
Innovative Approaches to Space Exploration
Pawelczyk, who has logged over 381 hours in space as a payload specialist on the NASA STS-90 Space Shuttle mission, emphasized that the report considers exploration differently from previous human spaceflight missions. “We are considering the science of Mars itself, its geology, but there will also be the science of being on Mars,” he said. “Mars is this novel environment that people will live in – and maybe the most profound part of it is you’ll look up and somewhere among the star field will be a tiny, little bluish dot, and that will be Earth.”
This comprehensive report evolves from NASA’s Moon to Mars Objectives, a framework using lunar missions to develop and test what’s needed for human exploration beyond Earth. It builds on the science objectives in the current framework while identifying goals that may be missing. A separate report will determine the high priority science objectives for the in-space phases of the crewed missions to Mars.
Key Scientific Objectives for Mars Missions
James Kasting, an emeritus Atherton Professor of Geosciences at Penn State and a member of the report’s steering committee, highlighted the feasibility of human missions to Mars within the next two decades. “Getting humans to Mars and back is a doable goal for the next 20 years,” he said. “We have to agree about how careful we should be about planetary protection, though, both forward and backwards.”
The report outlines the most crucial objectives across all relevant branches of science, prioritizing them into campaigns to be undertaken on Mars during the first three landings. To meet these objectives, each campaign includes a roadmap detailing equipment and capacity requirements, landing site criteria, and key samples and measurements necessary before human arrival, during the mission, or upon return to Earth.
- Determine if evidence of habitability, indigenous life, or prebiotic chemistry exists in the exploration zone.
- Characterize past and present water and CO2 cycles and reservoirs to understand their evolution.
- Map the geologic record and potential niche habitats to reveal Mars’s evolution.
- Assess the impact of the Martian environment on crew health and confirm countermeasures’ effectiveness.
- Understand the onset and evolution of major dust storms on Mars.
- Characterize the Martian environment for in situ resource utilization (ISRU).
- Study the effects of Mars’s environment on reproduction and the functional genome in model species.
- Monitor microbial population dynamics to ensure astronaut health and performance.
- Evaluate the effects of Martian dust on human physiology and hardware.
- Assess radiation at key locations to improve future mission risk models.
Looking Ahead: The Future of Mars Exploration
James Pawelczyk expressed the significance of the report: “This has been a dream and an honor to conduct this report for the nation. If we’re successful, humans will have set foot on another planetary body, on another planet, for the first time. And the message we’re sending with this report is that science comes with us.”
Other researchers affiliated with Penn State also contributed to the report. Laura Rodriguez, a staff scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute, and Bruce Link, chief science officer for Amentum, both Penn State alumni, played key roles in various panels. Katherine Freeman, Evan Pugh University Professor of Geosciences at Penn State, provided an independent review of the report, ensuring its quality and scientific rigor.
As the world anticipates humanity’s next giant leap, the strategies and objectives outlined in this report will serve as a guiding beacon, ensuring that the exploration of Mars is both scientifically rewarding and safe for future astronauts.
