A water rich mars surface mission scenario

Abstract

-In an on-going effort to make human Mars missions more affordable and sustainable, NASA continues to investigate the innovative leveraging of technological advances in conjunction with the use of accessible Martian resources directly applicable to these missions. One of the resources with the broadest utility for human missions is water. Many past studies of human Mars missions assumed a complete lack of water derivable from local sources. However, recent advances in our understanding of the Martian environment provides growing evidence that Mars may be more "water rich" than previously suspected. This is based on data indicating that substantial quantities of water are mixed with surface regolith, bound in minerals located at or near the surface, and buried in large glacier-like forms. This paper describes an assessment of what could be done in a "water rich" human Mars mission scenario. A description of what is meant by "water rich" in this context is provided, including a quantification of the water that would be used by crews in this scenario. The different types of potential feedstock that could be used to generate these quantities of water are described, drawing on the most recently available assessments of data being returned from Mars. This paper specifically focuses on sources that appear to be buried quantities of water ice. (An assessment of other potential feedstock materials is documented in another paper.) Technologies and processes currently used in terrestrial Polar Regions are reviewed. One process with a long history of use on Earth and with potential application on Mars -the Rodriguez Well -is described and results of an analysis simulating the performance of such a well on Mars are presented. These results indicate that a Rodriguez Well capable of producing the quantities of water identified for a "water rich" human mission are within the capabilities assumed to be available on the Martian surface, as envisioned in other comparable Evolvable Mars Campaign assessments. The paper concludes by capturing additional findings and describing additional simulations and tests that should be conducted to better characterize the performance of the identified terrestrial technologies for accessing subsurface ice, as well as the Rodriguez Well, under Mars environmental conditions.

Probing supraglacial debris on Mars 1: Sources, thickness, and stratigraphy

“…While the estimated volumes of LDA, LVF, and CCF suggest the presence of massive reservoirs of non-polar ice at these locations, their accessibility is a limiting factor in remotely studying and using these reservoirs during future landed missions. The most advanced Mars robotic drilling techniques in development require ideal overburden thicknesses of less than a few meters (Hoffman et al, 2017). If correct, our observations of a debris layer that is a few to tens of meters in Dashed lines for hypothetical uncertainties in the bulk value of 3.15 (Holt et al, 2008;Plaut et al, 2009) are plotted for reference.…”

“…The presence of a layer of rockfall or sublimation till with clasts up to ∼1 m in size would also present an obstacle for future technologies. Even on Earth, remote drilling within this type of material and on this scale is logistically challenging but feasible with the right equipment and resources (Hoffman et al, 2017). Future missions should seek out locations with the thinnest debris cover.…”

“…If the current understanding of their internal structure is correct, LDA, LVF, and CCF represent a significant reservoir of non-polar ice that preserves a record of the recent climate on Mars and may be an accessible resource of water for future landed missions to Mars. Human missions to Mars, in particular, require significant non-polar sources of water that would be satisfied by having access to LDA, LVF, and CCF within their scientific exploration zone (Head et al, 2015;Hoffman et al, 2017).…”

“…Critical to understanding the accessibility of this ice to future missions are constraints on the physical properties of the supraglacial debris layer, including its thickness, grain size, and stratigraphy (Hoffman et al, 2017). Scientifically, this layer is important for understanding how such massive glacial ice can be preserved for hundreds of millions of years when ice is currently unstable on the surface of the mid-latitudes of Mars (Mellon and Jakosky, 1993).…”

Autonomous Surface Site Establishment to Ensure Safe Crew Arrival and Operations

“…In recent years, there has been increasing evidence of water on Mars, in potentially abundant quantities at high latitudes [7]. Abundant supplies of water, in conjunction with atmospheric acquisition of carbon dioxide, allows for the production of both methane and oxygen.…”