The Mars Excursion Module (MEM) was a spacecraft proposed by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...

in the 1960s for use in a

human mission to Mars The idea of sending humans to Mars has been the subject of aerospace engineering and scientific studies since the late 1940s as part of the broader exploration of Mars. Some have also considered exploring the Martian moons of Phobos (moon), Phob ...

, and this can refer to any number of studies by corporations and spaceflight centers for Mars landers. However, primarily a MEM referred to a combination of a Manned Mars lander, short-stay surface habitat, and Mars ascent stage. Variations on a MEM included spacecraft designs like an uncrewed Mars surface cargo delivery, and there was a MEM lander that combined a communications center, living habitat, and laboratory. A MEM formed part of Mars orbit rendezvous (MOR) and flyby-rendezvous mission profiles studied at NASA's

Manned Spacecraft Center The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It was renamed in honor of the late U ...

in the 1960s. A Mars Excursion Module would have been a combination of a Mars lander, short-stay surface habitat, and ascent vehicle; the ascent stage performed the rendezvous. One design for a MEM would have been used for a 40-day stay on the Martian surface in the flyby-rendezvous mission profile or for a 10- to 40-day stay in the MOR profiles. There was also a descent-only uncrewed MEM for delivering cargo, like a rover to the surface of Mars. Another MEM cargo lander variant would deliver a nuclear reactor to support the surface operations, and there was another with a communications, living quarters and lab in one landing-only MEM unit. In the early 1960s, NASA contracted Philco Corporation to design a Mars Excursion Module for a Mars mission for the early 1970s. The basic requirements were for a crew of two, one US ton of science hardware, and to support 40 days of surface operation on Mars. Another MEM from this period was the Ames contracted TRW MEM, a design which weighed 11.4 metric tons but was designed for Mars atmosphere which had 10% of Earth's. The TRW MEM would support 10 days on the surface. In 1964, Philco Aeronutronic proposed a

lifting body A lifting body is a fixed-wing aircraft or spacecraft configuration in which the body itself produces lift. In contrast to a flying wing, which is a wing with minimal or no conventional fuselage, a lifting body can be thought of as a fuselage ...

MEM, approximately long and wide at the tail, which would carry three astronauts. The hull would have consisted of

columbium Niobium is a chemical element with chemical symbol Nb (formerly columbium, Cb) and atomic number 41. It is a light grey, crystalline, and ductile transition metal. Pure niobium has a Mohs hardness rating similar to pure titanium, and it has sim ...

and nickel alloy. The MEM's descent stage would have served as the launch pad for liftoff of the ascent stage, as with the

Apollo Lunar Module The Apollo Lunar Module (LM ), originally designated the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), was the lunar lander spacecraft that was flown between lunar orbit and the Moon's surface during the United States' Apollo program. It was the first crewed ...

. A Mars Excursion Module was discussed as a possibility in the

Space Task Group The Space Task Group was a working group of NASA engineers created in 1958, tasked with managing America's human spaceflight programs. Headed by Robert Gilruth and based at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, it managed Project Me ...

Report of 1969, with a development decision required in FY 1974 for a 1981 Mars mission or in FY 1978 for a 1986 mission. The watershed moment for mission planning was July 1965, when

Mariner IV Mariner 4 (together with Mariner 3 known as Mariner-Mars 1964) was the fourth in a series of spacecraft intended for planetary exploration in a flyby mode. It was designed to conduct closeup scientific observations of Mars and to transmit thes ...

returned more accurate atmospheric data about Mars. This ruled out many of the

and glider designs that were being considered based on estimates of a thicker

Mars atmosphere The atmosphere of Mars is the layer of gases surrounding Mars. It is primarily composed of carbon dioxide (95%), molecular nitrogen (2.8%), and argon (2%). It also contains trace levels of water vapor, oxygen, carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and n ...

than revealed by Mariner IV. *Philco Aeronutronic Mars Excursion Module; this had a lifting body and had to be re-evaluated when the new data came in. *Ames-TRW MEM *Project Deimos MEM *Marshall Space Flight Center MEM by Woodcock after Mariner IV data, had a more Apollo-like "gumdrop" style design. Gordon Woodcock at the NASA Marshal Space Flight Center worked on the basis of a thinner Mars atmosphere (0.5 percent of Earth's), and developed design for a MEM, and also a pure-lander variant that would deliver a pressurized crewed Mars rover called Molab.

Cultural impact

* " One Way To The Moon", a 1966 episode of ''

The Time Tunnel ''The Time Tunnel'' is an American color science fiction TV series written around a theme of time travel adventure starring James Darren and Robert Colbert. The show was creator-producer Irwin Allen's third science-fiction television series an ...

'', featured a Mars Excursion Module launched in 1978. Mars Excursion Modules are also featured in Stephen Baxter's novel ''

Voyage Voyage(s) or The Voyage may refer to: Literature *''Voyage : A Novel of 1896'', Sterling Hayden * ''Voyage'' (novel), a 1996 science fiction novel by Stephen Baxter *''The Voyage'', Murray Bail * "The Voyage" (short story), a 1921 story by ...

'', an

alternate history Alternate history (also alternative history, althist, AH) is a genre of speculative fiction of stories in which one or more historical events occur and are resolved differently than in real life. As conjecture based upon historical fact, alte ...

of space exploration in which NASA astronauts land on Mars in 1986 in a MEM named "''Challenger''" which was based on a

North American Rockwell North American Aviation (NAA) was a major American aerospace manufacturer that designed and built several notable aircraft and spacecraft. Its products included: the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the F- ...

design proposal. * The 1975 Year Two '' Space: 1999'' episode "

The Taybor "The Taybor" is the sixth episode of the second series of '' Space: 1999'' (and the thirtieth overall episode of the programme). The screenplay was written by Thom Keyes; the director was Bob Brooks. Story Several Alphans have taken the day t ...

" features a spacecraft, the SS ''Emporium'', modeled by Martin Bower, which was clearly inspired to the MEM. The spaceship, symbolizing innovation (just like the MEM), was the first spacecraft in the series which could reach FTL velocities thanks to an extraterrestrial "

Jump Drive A USB flash drive (also called a thumb drive) is a data storage device that includes flash memory with an integrated USB interface. It is typically removable, rewritable and much smaller than an optical disc. Most weigh less than . Since fir ...

". * It is probable that the MEM inspired the Ares program Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) and Mars Descent Vehicle (MDV) in Andy Weir's 2011 novel '' The Martian'' (later adapted into a theatrical film).

References

External links

An Initial Concept Of A Manned Mars Excursion Vehicle For A Tenuous Mars Atmosphere
(1966) Crewed spacecraft Human missions to Mars {{US-spacecraft-stub

Cultural impact

See also

References

External links