John's Space Page

Welcome to my Web Page. This page is dedicated to the branch of space exploration involving Mars. It is my hope that this page will provide some helpful information on various subjects pertaining to Mars and its exploration. For each topic I have given some background information and at least one link. Each link will be briefly summarized to aid your navigation around this site. If you would a look at the T171 site click on the add bar below.

Mars Pic

Man has had a long running affiliation with Mars. The Egyptians called Mars Har Decher - the Red One. Greeks called the planet Ares after their god of war, while the Romans called it Mars which it is still known as. Galileo becomes the first person to observe Mars though a telescope and as they say the rest is history.

Mars Exploration at NASA & JPL

One of the link I have provided is Mars Exploration which is part of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory site ( i.e. JPL ). This site is easy to navigate and full information which even has some historical information shown on a nice time line. It is fair to say you won't find much controversy in here but that is to be expected.

Scientific American: Why Go to Mars?

The next link I have included will take you an article that appeared in the Scientific American. the article it call Why Go To Mars? I felt this article to be quite pro Mars although they did out line some points against going to Mars.

Space.com

My last link here is a more general link called Space.com. This is a more light hearted site which does include good technical information. It is fair to say this is a place to where you will find fact and fiction. Anything to do with space will probably be found here. I would say this site is a commercial enterprise hence why it panders to such a broad spectrum of users.

I have chosen to include some pictures that I like in this section because I feel a verbal description would not do it justice. To the left we have the now famous Mars Rover and to the right is the Graphic used on the original Pathfinder web page. The picture at the bottom is a really nice panoramic view take from the Lander. The last picture on the bottom right is a nice one of the rover. I found the Pathfinder web sight to be very good with lots of image, facts and some animation.

With back to back failures of the Mars Polar Lander (MPL) and the Mars Climate Orbiter (MCO) NASA has found its self under scrutiny. A review of the Mars exploration program began to try to determine what had gone wrong. It was hoped that by having an independent review everyone's fears could be allayed and a stratagem formulated which would improve the progress of exploration of Mars.

Mars Climate Orbiter Investigation Board Phase I Report

The fist link here will take you to the report on the short coming of the NASA's Mars Climate Orbiter and I must admit that I was surprised to read the amount of problems this report had come up with. On closer reading I also found quite a few references to problems with the Mars Polar Lander. This link is a bit slow to load up which I think can be partly attributed to the fact it is a 45 page PDF file so please be patient.

NASA's Response to UPI'S Mars Polar Lander story

The other link is NASA's response to the story about the MPL having engine problems. These claims are refuted by NASA and they have provided link to various press releases. Both these link are connected as the story NASA refutes is based on the report in link one.

Probably the most critical factor in any future manned mission to Mars is the time taken to get there. If we can get there faster the risks involved for any manned mission would be greatly diminished. So I have chosen to include this section which will look at some advanced propulsion system. One of the favorite Groups of systems are the electric propulsion systems. Also know as Ion or Plasma propulsion. It may surprise some of you to know variants of these kinds of systems are in use today.

Electric Propulsion @ NASA

This is not a very big page but it gives some information on how these types of thrusters work. It also has some good links on project involving these technologies.

Ion Propulsion

I like this page because covers a lot and the text is quite friendly and not to technical. This page was done for a project by the author and proved to be quite successful for him.

Advanced Propulsion Concepts

Welcome to yet another NASA-JPL site. I have to say this site takes the biscuit. Some of the theory in here will blow your mind. Now I know where some of the ideas you see if SCI Fi films come from. The only thing about this site I don't like is the way you have to navigate around it. They really could give this site a face lift in my opinion.

At the moment there is no definite date for a manned mission to Mars but some expert say the year 2020 is about the earliest practical date. This gives enough time to research and build a space vehicle, given the cost of such a project. I personally think the deciding factor other than the desire to go will be the speed at which we can make such a trip to Mars. The shorter the trip the less risk to the crew. Once man has reached Mars the possibilities are endless and over time it may well be possible to terafrom Mars into a more hospitable place to be.

Bring Life to Mars

This article is quite informative and sheds some light on the various aspects of turning Mars in to a habitat more suitable for life. This is an article by the Scientific American which is a reasonable well respected publication. There are also links to pictures and related articles on this site to.

There is a lot of debate about whether there ever was life on Mars. If life did exist then surly a manned mission would be the only way at present to find the proof that life ever existed on this planet. The search for life on Mars may well end up being the most compelling reason for man or woman to go to this distant red planet.

I will admit to finding this subject fascinating and I hope man does indeed go to Mars sooner rather than later. You never know Mars may even be a holiday destination one day. I have a picture of a Martian sunset ( bottom left ) to which I have added a water effect. I hope you like it.