The Human Exploration of Space (1997) / Chapter Skim
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Scientific Opportunities in the Human Exploration of Space
Scientific Opportunities in the Human Exploration of Space
Pages 69-118
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Scientific Opportunities in the Human Exploration of Space
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Scientific Opportunities in the Human Exploration of Space Committee on Human Exploration Space Studies Board Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Applications National Research Council NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS Washington, D.C.
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Copies of this report are available from Space Studies Board, National Research Council, 2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C.
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LANZEROTTI, AT&T Bell Laboratories ELLIOTT C
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NESS, University of Delaware MARCIA NEUGEBAUER, Jet Propulsion Laboratory SIMON OSTRACH, Case Western Reserve University JEREMIAH P OSTRIKER, Princeton University CARLE M
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GRAHAM, University of California, Berkeley ROBERT J HERMANN, United Technologies Corporation HANS MARK, University of Texas, Austin CLAIRE E
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Since its establishment in 1958, the Space Studies Board (SSB; formerly the Space Science Board) has been the principal nongovernmental advisory body on civil space research in the United States.
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The Space Studies Board and CHEX concluded that the existing research strategies of several of the board's discipline committees form a basis for beginning to determine the scientific research opportunities that might arise if and when humans undertake voyages to the Moon and Mars. (See the appendix for a list of these committees and their contributing members.)
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Research opportunities in astrophysics and solar and space physics were considered by the SSB's Committee on Solar and Space Physics and the Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate's Committee on Solar-Terrestrial Research. Astronomical input from these discipline committees was augmented with material from The Decade of Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics, a report written by the National Research Council's Astronomy and Astrophysics Survey Committee.
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Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY SPACE SCIENCE AND HUMAN EXPLORATION OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM Enabling Science, 5 Enabled Science, 6 References, 7 3 ROBOTS AND HUMANS: AN INTEGRATED APPROACH 9 Relative Advantages, 9 Relative Limitations, 10 The Optimal Mix of Humans and Robots, 11 Science Precursor Missions, 12 Technology to Optimize the Scientific Return, 14 References, 15 SCIENCE ENABLED BY HUMAN EXPLORATION Field Science, 17 Unraveling Solar Particle Emission History, 19 The Search for Life on Mars, 20 Impact History of the Terrestrial Planets, 21 Martian Climate History, 22 x~ 17
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xt! CONTENTS Emplacement and Attendance of Large or Complex Instruments, 22 Detection and Study of Other Solar Systems, 24 Study of High-Energy Cosmic Rays, 25 Advanced Pinhole Occulter, 25 Life Sciences, 26 Science Enabled by Technology Developed for a Moon/Mars Program, 26 Scientific Community Participation, 27 References, 28 BIBLIOGRAPHY 30 APPENDIX: PARTICIPATING DISCIPLINE COMMITTEES 33
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Given that a program of human exploration is undertaken primarily for reasons other than scientific research, humans can make significant contributions to scientific activities through their ability to conduct scientific field work and by using their capabilities to emplace and attend scientific facilities on planetary bodies.
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8. Scientists must be involved in every stage of a Moon/Mars program from conception to execution to ensure that quality science is accomplished, the science supported best takes advantage of human presence, and resources available to the whole of space science are competitively allocated.
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recognizes that political factors can change rapidly and can have profound effects on the pace and content of a human space exploration program, as they did when President Kennedy committed to the Apollo program. CHEX views the current interlude as an opportune time in which to calmly and methodically study and stipulate the 3
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. Nevertheless, recognizing the need for enabling research and that piloted flight can result in new or modified space science opportunities, the U.S.
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Indeed, experience shows that these concerns cannot be dismissed out of hand thus part of the Space Studies Board's (SSB) rationale for establishing CHEX was to ensure that the scientific aspects of a Moon/Mars program are established in the proper context.
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Studies of the lunar regolith and martian ice cores may, for example, reveal the long-term evolution of the particle and photon outputs of the Sun. Similarly, if a human exploration program includes the construction and operation of scientific observatories on the Moon, it might, for example, aid our understanding of the mechanisms operating in solar flares, the origin of very high energy cosmic rays, and the frequency of occurrence of planets around other stars.~4-~6 A Moon/Mars program might enable studies of the response of living organisms to microgravity and fractional gravity environments.~7 In addition, crews on Mars exploration missions will experience a combination of circumstances, including prolonged sequestration with no immediate possibility of escape, that might enable unique studies of human behavior.
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9. Space Studies Board, Scientific Prerequisites for the Human Exploration of Space, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 1993, pages 3-4.
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15. Space Studies Board, Assessment of Programs in Solar and Space Physics 1991, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 1991.
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The result is that the concepts are biased according to the background of the study group; human exploration advocates tend to minimize the use of robots, whereas traditional space scientists tend to downplay the potential of human presence. CHEX believes that decisions regarding the mix of robots and humans to explore the Moon and Mars, and to carry out other scientific investigations in space, should be made with explicit cognizance of the relative strengths and weaknesses of each evaluated in the context of well-defined and specific tasks to be performed.
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In addition, scientific activities are not the only things people will be doing during human exploration missions. Routine maintenance of the habitat and other equipment is likely to occupy a significant fraction of the astronauts' time (as has become apparent for space station activities)
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Given the relative strengths and weaknesses of humans and robots, CHEX envisages that their relative roles in a Moon/Mars program will evolve as knowledge increases and as technological capabilities advance. The initial phases, largely an extension of current space science and involving such activities as global orbital reconnaissance and the deployment of geophysical and meteorological networks, will be conducted exclusively by robots controlled from Earth or operating with varying degrees of autonomy.
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However, an orderly series of future robotic missions will be required for collection of data relevant to human safety, for site selection, and for the effective identification and development of enabled scientific opportunities. Such a series of robotic missions would include many that would be a normal complement of an ongoing robotic planetary science program.
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This will permit a more informed choice of the landing sites for human missions and the types of investigations to be conducted during surface exploration. The Space Studies Board has recommended that "the next major phase of Mars exploration for the United States involve detailed in situ investigations of the surface of Mars and the return to Earth for laboratory analysis of selected martian surface samples."6 Stepping-stone missions, or "waypoints" in the language of the Synthesis Group's report, may provide significant scientific return and at the same time help to develop the technological capabilities required to get humans to Mars.7 For example, possible waypoints are human exploration of a near-Earth asteroid or the martian moons Phobos and Deimos.8-l0 An .
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For example, what and how much information should be transmitted to the human operator, and how large a time delay in the human-machine control loop can be tolerated? The extent to which a human exploration program is able to drive the development of more capable robotic systems over the next several decades, coupled with improved spacesuits (and development of mobile pressurized environments with teleoperations capability enabling humans to perform field work without the encumbrances of a spacesuit)
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6. Space Studies Board, International Cooperation for Mars Exploration and Sample Return, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 1990, pages 1, 3, and 25.
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14. Space Studies Board, Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board, Committee on Space Science Technology Planning, Improving NASA's Technology for Space Science, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 1993.
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Additional scientific opportunities arise in the study of the physiological response of living organisms to microgravity and fractional gravity environments and in studies of human behavior during protracted sequestration and other stressful situations. Moreover, technology developed for a human exploration program may enable unrelated robotic .
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The value of human presence in conducting field work will depend on the inclusion in crews of experienced scientists with relevant scientific judgment and intuition. Their participation is, however, insufficient if they are not given the opportunity to perform as scientists.
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Unraveling Solar Particle Emission History Knowledge of long-term variations in the properties of the solar wind and solar energetic particles could provide important clues about the evolution of the Sun and the role of the solar wind in the formation and early development of the solar system.2 Because solar wind particles impinge on and are implanted in the Moon's regolith, it may be possible to measure these variations by analysis of carefully selected lunar samples with a known geological context. This selection entails establishing the age of a given subunit.
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Such knowledge will enable scientists to better interpret the solar record at regolith trenches and pits that may be excavated at other sites on the Moon, for example, during the construction of an underground habitat or the emplacement of instruments. The Search for Life on Mars The search for potential fossil and extant life on Mars, however low the probability for its existence is thought to be, continues to be a substantial goal of Mars exploration.5 6 Detailed field studies will be required for this search, using robots initially but with increasing proximate human participation as the capability develops.
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The sophistication of the analytical methods and the variability of sample types that must be anticipated weigh against full automation of such analyses in the foreseeable future; human field workers/laboratory technicians will be required. On the other hand, this required analytical sophistication and complexity could argue for continued sample return.
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The careful collection of geologically controlled samples for dating impact craters is a difficult and complex problem and can be aided by human decisions and interactions. Martian Climate History Extensive channel systems on Mars suggest a warmer and wetter climate in the past.
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Early missions to the Moon could carry small telescopes, which could be emplaced robotically. However, studies have indicated that fully assembled telescopes with apertures of the order of 1 to 2 m are the largest that could be deployed on the Moon in the initial phases of a lunar exploration programed Larger telescopes would require assembly in place, most likely with on-site human assistance.
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The European Space Agency's recent Phase-1 study of science on and from the Moon also found specific opportunities for astronomical observations, especially interferometry. However, it too urged a conservative approach and recommended a set of further studies.~9 CHEX endorses the findings of the Astronomy and Astrophysics Survey Committee report on the next decade in astronomy,20 which called for an evolutionary approach to lunar astronomy, one that complements the Earth-orbiting and ground-based astronomy program.
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Instrumentation of this type with modest collecting area and angular resolution down to a few arc seconds has been considered for use in Earth orbit around the turn of the century. Advanced, second-generation (subarc second)
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Both the gravitational biology and the behavioral studies are truly opportunistic; they are not now currently of high scientific priority in the life sciences community absent a program of human space exploration. SCIENCE ENABLED BY TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPED FOR A MOON/MARS PROGRAM The technology developments needed for successful exploration of the Moon and Mars are numerous and are spread throughout many disciplines.
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It is already clear to the committee, however, that scientists must be intimately involved in every stage of the endeavor and contribute to success by assuring that quality science is accomplished, that the science supported takes the best advantage of human presence, and that the resources available to the whole of space science are competitively allocated.
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10. Space Studies Board, Space Science in the Twenty-First Century: Imperatives for the Decades 1995 to 2015-Planetary and Lunar Exploration, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 1988, page 101.
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34. Space Studies Board, Space Science in the Twenty-First Century: Imperatives for the Decades 1995 to 2015-Solar and Space Physics, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 1988.
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Space Studies Board, 1990 Update to Strategy for the Exploration of the Inner Planets, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 1990. Space Studies Board, Assessment of Programs in Space Biology and Medicine 1991, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 1991.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY 31 Space Studies Board, International Cooperation for Mars Exploration and Sample Return, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 1990. Space Studies Board, The Search for Life's Origins: Progress and Future Directions in Planetary Biology and Chemical Evolution, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 1990.
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SCHILLER, Mt. Sinai Medical Center TOM SCOTT, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill WARREN SINCLAIR, National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements WILLIAM THOMPSON, North Carolina State University, Raleigh FRED WILT, University of California, Berkeley 33
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meet jointly as a federated committee and report directly to their parent NRC boards, the Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate for CSTR and the Space Studies Board for CSSP.
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STONE, Massachusetts Institute of Technology GEORGE WETHERILL, Carnegie Institution of Washington RICHARD W ZUREK, Jet Propulsion Laboratory 35
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