Buzz Aldrin impressed by Purdue’s plan for Mars

A human colony on Mars could be just 25 years and several steps away.

Fifty-one Purdue University students in a senior spacecraft design class this year compiled a 1,000-plus page report detailing the resources and actions necessary to colonize Mars by 2040.

The students used famed astronaut Buzz Aldrin’s book as a jumping off point. In “Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration,” Aldrin focuses on the small accomplishments needed to work toward a permanent colony, such as first establishing a base on the moon and on Phobos, one of two moons orbiting Mars.

“The class works as a single team to achieve a specified space mission goal, which in this past I have dictated as the customer,” professor James Longuski said. “This time was a little different. ... In this particular project, the students were given a unique opportunity to work with Buzz Aldrin and his concepts for colonizing Mars.”

Aldrin visited the class in January to help them develop the plan. The students presented their report Thursday in Fowler Hall with Aldrin in attendance.

“With the way we worked out the specifications and then the way things were organized to carry those out to conclusions, that went considerably beyond my ability to look at the details,” Aldrin said said to the team. “I’m learning quite a bit from what you have done.”

In the report, the students turn Aldrin’s concepts into a reality, offering solutions to remotely construct a human habitat before colonization, successfully enter the Martian atmosphere with a high-mass spacecraft, and shield several bases from cosmic radiation.

In order to get there, two solar-powered “cycler” spacecrafts will travel back and forth from Mars to Earth, carrying landers with six humans from bases on the moon to Phobos.

“One of the key concepts in this study is the cycler vehicle,” project manager Stephen Whitnah said. “So basically we’ll put a large habitat that will continue to travel back and forth between Earth and Mars, continuing the cycle for as much as 20 years and possibly even longer. ... We don’t have to keep sending and wasting a habitat every time we send astronauts.”

Once a presence on Phobos is established, astronauts will begin constructing the colony using a remotely operated crane already on the Martian surface. Students estimate 54 humans could colonize the planet, living in nine habitation modules, in a little more than 20 years.

“We should do everything we can before we make a landing,” Aldrin said, “and when we make one, we make a commitment to permanence.”

Timeline to Mars

2022-2028 — establish several bases on the Moon

2028-2029 — begin building hardware necessary for Martian colony

2030s — pre-deliver equipment to Phobos and Mars

2031-2033 — launch cycler vehicles

2037-2039 — establish base on Phobos

2039-2040 — colonize Mars

2040-2044 — establish second Martian colony

By the numbers

92

total launches necessary before 2040

87

additional launches between 2040-2044

6,586

tons of mass launched into space before 2040

6,656

more tons launched between 2040-2043