Image credit: Northrop
Image source: Numbers Station
Tag: mars expedition
Can We Get to MARS?
- Cutaway of plane in the foreground shows personnel, tractors in ship.
- Advance party, after landing on Martian snow in ski-equipped plane, prepares for trip to equator. Men live in inflatable, pressurized spheres mounted on tractors, enter and leave through air locks in the central column. Sphere on tractor is just being blown up. Cutaway of tractor, foreground, shows closed-circuit engine, run by hydrogen peroxide, oil. Trailer cutaway shows fuel supply, cargo.
Is there Life on Mars?
Collier’s, April 30, 1954
Man Will Conquer Space Soon! at Wikipedia
Image credit: Collier’s
Image source: AIAA Houston
620 Miles Above Mars
- Near wheel-shaped space station 1,000 miles from the earth, built especially for assembly of the Mars expedition, weightless workers put together 10 rocket ships required for the flight. Three of the huge space craft have torpedo noses which convert to planes for landing on the planet.
- The first landing party takes off for Mars. Two other landing planes will wait until runway is prepared for them, and then the remaining seven ships will stay in 600-mile orbit. Arms on cargo ships hold screenlike dish antennas (for communication), trough-shaped solar mirrors (for power).
Is there Life on Mars?
Collier’s, April 30, 1954
Man Will Conquer Space Soon! at Wikipedia
Image credit: Collier’s
Image source: AIAA Houston
Return Flight
After 15 month exploration, the Mars expedition prepares for return flight to earth. Two landing planes are set on tails, with wings and landing gear removed. They will rocket back to the 600-mile orbit on first leg of journey.
Is there Life on Mars?
Collier’s, April 30, 1954
Man Will Conquer Space Soon! at Wikipedia
Image credit: Collier’s
Image source: AIAA Houston
1969 Mars Mission
Mars Expedition 1969 at Astronautix
Image credit: NASA Lewis
Image source: National Archives
Vehicle Comparison
EMPIRE Re-Entry Vehicle
Surface Operations
Inside Deimos
ROMBUS
Configuration for a manned Mars mission (Project Deimos).
- Six man Mars landing capsule;
- Pressurized tunnel;
- Toroidal living compartment;
- Liquid hydrogen tanks (8);
- Spherical liquid oxygen tank
- Booster centerbody.
Project Deimos – Mars Landing Module
- Earth-return capsule;
- Command centre and pressurized tunnel;
- Separation joint, for return to Mars orbit;
- Mars landing propellant tanks(6);
- Ground access hatch;
- Mars-launch platform;
- Payload and power supply equipment compartment;
- Mars-launch propellant tank;
- Landing and take-off rocket motor;
- Jettisonable closure panel;
- Mars-entry heat shield;
- Extensible landing gear(4);
- Altitude-control system quads (4).
Frontiers of Space
Philip Bono & Kenneth Gatland
Macmillan, 1969
Image credit: Douglas
Image source: Numbers Station
Deimos Storyboard
Mission to Mars (Project Deimos)
- Hydrogen tanks jettison as ROMBUS spaceship accelerates from Earth-orbit;
- Two hydrogen tanks jettison after retro-thrust into Mars orbit. Mars Landing Module separates from ROMBUS parent above the cratered deserts;
- After soft-landing, astronauts begin exploration setting out research equipment and taking meteorological soundings;
- Ascent stage of Mars Landing Module returns astronauts to ROMBUS parent in Martian orbit for return to Earth.
Frontiers of Space
Philip Bono & Kenneth Gatland
Macmillan, 1969
Image credit: Douglas
Image source: SDASM Archives
Mars Launch
Boeing Mars Glider at Astronautix
Image credit: Boeing / Chicago Daily News
Image source: Numbers Station
Mars Operational Phase
It’s January 1972.
Having safely glided to a stop on a Martian plateau, this illustration depicts the Operational Phase of the mission. The crew have already inflated their six meter habitat (it’s a tent), assembled the flat-pack steamroller and are shown removing the nuclear reactor so it can be dragged at least a kilometer from base camp so it won’t kill them.
With the reactor at a safe distance, the crew of eight have 479 days to explore the surface of Mars and maybe do a spot of gardening.
You can read more about this fascinating 1960 Boeing Study here.
Boeing Mars Glider at Astronautix
Image credit: Boeing / Chicago Daily News
Image source: Numbers Station
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