Elon Musk's Abandoned Plan To Grow Plants On Mars - Mars Oasis
0:04 Introduction: The video discusses Elon Musk's early space venture, Mars Oasis, which aimed to land a greenhouse on Mars using former Soviet ICBMs.
0:24 Project Mars Oasis: The project was estimated to cost $38 million, including two launches, and involved notable figures like Mike Griffin and companies such as Ecliptic Enterprises.
0:48 Rocket Design: The DNEPR launch vehicle, a converted SS-18 ICBM, was chosen for its ability to carry 3.5 tons to low Earth orbit. It featured a unique maneuver of reversing into orbit due to its upper stage design.
2:49 Transfer Stage: A derivative of the Breeze upper stage, using bipropellant thrusters, was planned for the Mars transfer trajectory.
3:36 Launch and Trajectory: The mission was planned for a 2005 launch, targeting a 200-day Type 1 trajectory to minimize the biological payload's exposure to deep space radiation.
4:37 Cruise Stage: This stage would handle course corrections, power, and telemetry, ensuring the descent module and its biological payload remained viable during the journey.
5:19 Biological Payload: The mission aimed to keep seeds alive during the long journey, a novel challenge given the duration of exposure to the space environment.
6:13 Descent and Landing: The descent capsule, based on Pathfinder, would target a 14Β° descent angle, aiming for a large landing ellipse in Mars's northern hemisphere.
8:36 Landing Method: Unlike NASA's airbag or Sky Crane methods, Mars Oasis would use a traditional rocket-powered descent, not being concerned about dust contamination.
9:43 Greenhouse Design: The greenhouse would feature a glass dome with adjustable hemispheres to capture sunlight and retain heat, with pre-planted seeds in a gel growth medium.
11:24 External Camera: An external camera would capture images of the greenhouse on the Martian surface.
11:30 Plant Growth Experiment: The primary goal was to demonstrate plant growth on Mars within a month, with water introduced on day three and the first shoots expected within 8-10 days.
13:07 Planetary Protection: To comply with planetary protection rules, a biocide would be used to terminate the experiment, ensuring no living organisms were left on Mars.
14:09 Project Abandonment: The project was ultimately abandoned due to the high cost of the rockets. Elon Musk instead used his funds to found SpaceX, with the potential for Mars Oasis to be revisited in the future.