As humanity prepares to take its first steps on Mars, a comprehensive report released today from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, guided by scientists at Penn State, outlines a detailed science strategy for the initial human missions to the red planet. The report, commissioned by NASA, identifies the highest priority scientific objectives and proposes four distinct mission campaigns to maximize the scientific return of the first three human landings on Mars.
The report aims to guide government and industry decision-makers, the scientific community, and the general public. Researchers at Penn State played a significant role in the report’s steering committee and contributed across multiple panels, influencing priorities in atmospheric science, astrobiology, biological and physical sciences, and human health.
“Penn State expertise helped shape the nation’s highest priority science objectives and recommendations for human exploration of Mars,” said Andrew Read, Penn State’s senior vice president for research.
Strategic Science Roadmap for Mars
The 240-page report provides a science-driven roadmap for human Mars exploration, balancing scientific goals with existing NASA mission plans and technological capacity. It serves as a scientific playbook for the first crewed missions to Mars, detailing the “what” and “why” that will guide human exploration of the red planet, explained James Pawelczyk, associate professor of physiology and kinesiology at Penn State and member of the report’s steering committee.
Pawelczyk, who has logged over 381 hours in space as a NASA payload specialist, emphasized the novel approach of considering both the science of Mars itself and the science of human presence on Mars. “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,” he noted.
Mission Campaigns and Scientific Objectives
The report is an evolution of NASA’s Moon to Mars Objectives, a framework that uses lunar missions to develop and test what’s needed for human exploration beyond Earth. It builds on existing science objectives and identifies new goals. A separate report will determine high-priority science objectives for the in-space phases of the crewed missions to Mars.
“Getting humans to Mars and back is a doable goal for the next 20 years,” said James Kasting, an emeritus Atherton Professor of Geosciences at Penn State.
The report details crucial objectives across all relevant branches of science and prioritizes them into campaigns to be undertaken on the surface of Mars during the first three landings. Each campaign has a roadmap outlining equipment and capacity requirements, landing site criteria, and key samples and measurements needed before, during, and after human arrival on Mars.
Top-Priority Scientific Objectives
- Determine evidence for habitability, indigenous life, or prebiotic chemistry in the exploration zone.
- Characterize past and present water and CO2 cycles to understand their evolution.
- Map the geologic record and potential niche habitats to provide context for other investigations.
- Assess the impact of the Martian environment on crew health and confirm countermeasure effectiveness.
- Study the onset and evolution of major dust storms.
- Characterize the Martian environment for in situ resource utilization (ISRU).
- Examine the effects of the Martian environment on reproduction and genome function in model species.
- Monitor microbial dynamics and species distribution in biological systems.
- Evaluate the effects of Martian dust on human physiology and hardware.
- Characterize radiation levels at key locations for sample collection and mission risk assessment.
Implications and Future Prospects
The report’s recommendations are poised to shape the future of space exploration, setting the stage for humanity’s first steps on another planetary body. The collaborative effort involved hundreds of subject matter experts, underscoring the report’s comprehensive nature and scientific rigor.
“This has been a dream and an honor to conduct this report for the nation,” said Pawelczyk. “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.”
Contributors to the report include Laura Rodriguez, a staff scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute, and Bruce Link, chief science officer for Amentum, both of whom have ties to Penn State. Katherine Freeman, Evan Pugh University Professor of Geosciences at Penn State, provided an independent review of the report, ensuring its quality and scientific rigor.
The release of this report marks a significant milestone in the journey towards Mars, offering a clear and actionable path for future missions. As the world looks to the stars, the groundwork laid by this report will guide humanity in its quest to explore the cosmos, expanding our understanding of Mars and our place in the universe.
