Mars Rising

The spacecraft that will take a crew to Mars will be assembled–in space. Engineers must get it right–or the crew will die.

With zero gravity depleting muscle and cosmic radiation causing cancer, a 3 year voyage to Mars in this environment could be punishing for the human body. How will we protect it?

The human spirit itself may be the Achilles heel of the Mars mission. Mental breakdown, sexual tension, near-suicide, and mutiny have already taken place on shorter space missions.

The last six minutes of the flight to Mars is the most dangerous. Only an inflatable aeroshell will protect the capsule as it experiences the heat of 4,000◦C and 16,000 kph.

Is there life on Mars? Scientists are combing the most barren places on Earth to search for clues. What if Mars has its own independently-created lifeforms that are deadly to us?