SPIEGEL INTERVIEW WITH NASA MANAGER
'Mars Is the Planet of Our Destiny'
By Olaf Stampf
Four decades after the first moon landing, NASA is setting its sights on Mars. NASA manager Jesco von Puttkamer talks to SPIEGEL about the lure of the red planet -- and its potential as an alternative base for human life.
SPIEGEL: Mr. Puttkamer, the first person set foot on the moon exactly 40 years ago. Why does NASA want to return to that barren, lifeless place?
Puttkamer: The Apollo astronauts were only able to spend a couple of days up there -- that was just a quick visit. When we fly there again in 2019-2020, we'll stay much longer. The four-person team will gain experience for the real long-term goal -- the journey to Mars. We want to build a lunar station where people could live for weeks or even months, as preparation for the larger Mars project.
SPIEGEL: So NASA is not preparing to populate the moon?
Puttkamer: No, the lunar station won't be capable of continuous operation 365 days a year, since we'll need to supply it constantly with air, water and food from Earth, and that would be insanely expensive. But the living conditions on Mars are actually very different. There are many natural resources there, and our probe just recently discovered traces that could originate from liquid water. It's also been known for a long time that water in solid form -- in other words, ice -- exists there in large quantities.
SPIEGEL: Will America fly to the moon alone again?
Puttkamer: Certainly not -- and especially not when we want to reach more distant destinations. The age of going it alone is over. The Apollo project took place during the Cold War, when we were involved in a dramatic race with the Soviets. But a lot has changed since then. We've moved away from that competitive way of thinking, and everyone is invited to take part in future missions. It functions that way already on the International Space Station, where 16 countries work together in an exemplary way. We've created a kind of United Nations in space.
SPIEGEL: Yet the United States is going to build the new moon rockets alone again.
Puttkamer: Unfortunately it can't be done any other way. After our shuttle fleet is withdrawn from service next year, we're going to need a new space carrier of our own as quickly as possible. To that end, we needed to commission industry to develop the new Ares rocket and the accompanying Orion spaceship as soon as possible. Then there's also the Altair lunar lander. But in any case, the European Space Agency is already very interested in helping with the construction of infrastructure on the moon later. Our Russian partners would definitely participate as well. And I personally would be very happy to also see Germany involved.
SPIEGEL: Aren't you worried that enthusiasm for conquering the moon will drop off again just as quickly as it did after the Apollo flights?
Puttkamer: That's a danger we certainly can't dismiss. Back then, we were definitely also a victim of our own success. The public got bored quite quickly because the Apollo flights proceeded with such breathtaking perfection. We launched a total of 13 Saturn V rockets, and almost every time it went like clockwork. That means the sense of adventure faded quickly among the general public. So that means we now face the challenge of getting people excited about lunar flights again. And we have to explain to the skeptics that the moon is the most important stopover on the way to Mars. If everything goes well, we could head for the red planet in just 25 years. The future Mars astronauts have already been born -- they're already little rugrats running around among us.
SPIEGEL: Why is it so important to you to send people to Mars?
Puttkamer: Mars is the planet of our destiny. There's the well-founded hope that we might find traces of extraterrestrial life there for the first time, even if it's only fossilized microbes. A human scientist who can take and analyze samples on the ground is much better suited to this search than a robot, no matter how sophisticated it is. But the most important thing is the fact that people will one day set foot on Mars and populate it. The red desert planet Mars, provided it doesn't have any life of its own, could become a green Mars through so-called terraforming -- in other words, the active transformation (of its environment). If that's successful, humankind will have created itself a second home, just in case an asteroid impact or other major catastrophe wipes out life on Earth. Only through having Mars as a reserve planet will the human race really become immortal.
SPIEGEL: The trip to a desert of a planet, millions of kilometers away, could end up as a journey of no return. Do you really believe the spacefaring nations will take this risk?
Puttkamer: We are unfortunately lacking in Apollo-era daring these days, no question. When the German-born rocket scientist Wernher von Braun got President John F. Kennedy fired up about lunar flight in 1961, no one knew if the adventure would be successful or if we could bring the astronauts safely to the moon and back. A new TV documentary on the anniversary of the first moon landing shows the sense of excitement that prevailed then very well. Today, however, politicians, managers and engineers shy away from the risk, because they're afraid they'll be the ones crucified if something goes wrong. Yet if we want to venture forth in the universe, we need to overcome our exaggerated concerns about safety. If I could take a warm sweater with me, I'd board a Mars spaceship immediately.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,635223,00.html
'Mars Is the Planet of Our Destiny'
By Olaf Stampf
Four decades after the first moon landing, NASA is setting its sights on Mars. NASA manager Jesco von Puttkamer talks to SPIEGEL about the lure of the red planet -- and its potential as an alternative base for human life.
SPIEGEL: Mr. Puttkamer, the first person set foot on the moon exactly 40 years ago. Why does NASA want to return to that barren, lifeless place?
Puttkamer: The Apollo astronauts were only able to spend a couple of days up there -- that was just a quick visit. When we fly there again in 2019-2020, we'll stay much longer. The four-person team will gain experience for the real long-term goal -- the journey to Mars. We want to build a lunar station where people could live for weeks or even months, as preparation for the larger Mars project.
SPIEGEL: So NASA is not preparing to populate the moon?
Puttkamer: No, the lunar station won't be capable of continuous operation 365 days a year, since we'll need to supply it constantly with air, water and food from Earth, and that would be insanely expensive. But the living conditions on Mars are actually very different. There are many natural resources there, and our probe just recently discovered traces that could originate from liquid water. It's also been known for a long time that water in solid form -- in other words, ice -- exists there in large quantities.
SPIEGEL: Will America fly to the moon alone again?
Puttkamer: Certainly not -- and especially not when we want to reach more distant destinations. The age of going it alone is over. The Apollo project took place during the Cold War, when we were involved in a dramatic race with the Soviets. But a lot has changed since then. We've moved away from that competitive way of thinking, and everyone is invited to take part in future missions. It functions that way already on the International Space Station, where 16 countries work together in an exemplary way. We've created a kind of United Nations in space.
SPIEGEL: Yet the United States is going to build the new moon rockets alone again.
Puttkamer: Unfortunately it can't be done any other way. After our shuttle fleet is withdrawn from service next year, we're going to need a new space carrier of our own as quickly as possible. To that end, we needed to commission industry to develop the new Ares rocket and the accompanying Orion spaceship as soon as possible. Then there's also the Altair lunar lander. But in any case, the European Space Agency is already very interested in helping with the construction of infrastructure on the moon later. Our Russian partners would definitely participate as well. And I personally would be very happy to also see Germany involved.
SPIEGEL: Aren't you worried that enthusiasm for conquering the moon will drop off again just as quickly as it did after the Apollo flights?
Puttkamer: That's a danger we certainly can't dismiss. Back then, we were definitely also a victim of our own success. The public got bored quite quickly because the Apollo flights proceeded with such breathtaking perfection. We launched a total of 13 Saturn V rockets, and almost every time it went like clockwork. That means the sense of adventure faded quickly among the general public. So that means we now face the challenge of getting people excited about lunar flights again. And we have to explain to the skeptics that the moon is the most important stopover on the way to Mars. If everything goes well, we could head for the red planet in just 25 years. The future Mars astronauts have already been born -- they're already little rugrats running around among us.
SPIEGEL: Why is it so important to you to send people to Mars?
Puttkamer: Mars is the planet of our destiny. There's the well-founded hope that we might find traces of extraterrestrial life there for the first time, even if it's only fossilized microbes. A human scientist who can take and analyze samples on the ground is much better suited to this search than a robot, no matter how sophisticated it is. But the most important thing is the fact that people will one day set foot on Mars and populate it. The red desert planet Mars, provided it doesn't have any life of its own, could become a green Mars through so-called terraforming -- in other words, the active transformation (of its environment). If that's successful, humankind will have created itself a second home, just in case an asteroid impact or other major catastrophe wipes out life on Earth. Only through having Mars as a reserve planet will the human race really become immortal.
SPIEGEL: The trip to a desert of a planet, millions of kilometers away, could end up as a journey of no return. Do you really believe the spacefaring nations will take this risk?
Puttkamer: We are unfortunately lacking in Apollo-era daring these days, no question. When the German-born rocket scientist Wernher von Braun got President John F. Kennedy fired up about lunar flight in 1961, no one knew if the adventure would be successful or if we could bring the astronauts safely to the moon and back. A new TV documentary on the anniversary of the first moon landing shows the sense of excitement that prevailed then very well. Today, however, politicians, managers and engineers shy away from the risk, because they're afraid they'll be the ones crucified if something goes wrong. Yet if we want to venture forth in the universe, we need to overcome our exaggerated concerns about safety. If I could take a warm sweater with me, I'd board a Mars spaceship immediately.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,635223,00.html
