Inspiration Mars Foundation was an American

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

founded by

Dennis Tito Dennis Anthony Tito (born August 8, 1940) is an American engineer and entrepreneur. In mid-2001, he became the first space tourist to fund his own trip into space, when he spent nearly eight days in orbit as a crew member of ISS EP-1, a visitin ...

that in 2013 proposed to launch a crewed mission to flyby

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

in January 2018, or 2021 if they missed the first synodic opportunity in 2018. Their website became defunct by late 2015. They are no longer operating.

Plans

On 27 February 2013, the Inspiration Mars Foundation held a press conference in the

National Press Club Organizations A press club is an organization for journalists and others professionally engaged in the production and dissemination of news. A press club whose membership is defined by the press of a given country may be known as a National Pre ...

. They announce plans to procure space hardware, launch vehicle services, and select a two-person married couple as crew, and then raise the funding necessary to launch a mission to Mars in 2018. Dennis Tito said he would fund the foundation with $100 million for the first years of operation. At the 2013 conference, however, Dennis Tito admitted that his plan was impossible without investment from NASA and the use of NASA spacecraft. NASA, however, was not willing to become a partner.

Funding

They projected costs of the mission between . Tito said he would fund the foundation's cost for the first two years and planned to raise funds from industry and individuals for the mission. But in testimony before Congress in November 2013, Tito said that he expected private donors would only provide around $300 million, leaving the need for an additional investment of $700 million from the US government. NASA responded that while they were willing to share technical and programmatic expertise, they would not commit to sharing expenses with the organization. The foundation's funding model, dependent on a non-existent partner, never took form. In March 2014,

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launcher, and a satellite communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the stated goal o ...

said that they also had been contacted by Inspiration Mars, but that accommodating such requirements would require some additional work and that such work was not the current focus of SpaceX.

Mission trajectory as proposed

Artist's Concept of Inspiration Mars Capsule

They proposed a

free return trajectory In orbital mechanics, a free-return trajectory is a trajectory of a spacecraft traveling away from a primary body (for example, the Earth) where gravity due to a secondary body (for example, the Moon) causes the spacecraft to return to the primar ...

to allow the

spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, ...

to use the smallest possible amount of

propellant A propellant (or propellent) is a mass that is expelled or expanded in such a way as to create a thrust or other motive force in accordance with Newton's third law of motion, and "propel" a vehicle, projectile, or fluid payload. In vehicles, the ...

to flyby Mars and return to Earth. They stated that the January 2018 launch window offered a rare orbit opportunity to travel to Mars and return to Earth in 501 days. Their stated backup plan involved a mission beginning in 2021 but it would be 88 days longer. They stated it would require both a flyby of Venus and Mars. The flight would take the spacecraft within 800 kilometres of the surface of Venus, using the planet for a

gravity assist In orbital mechanics and aerospace engineering, a gravitational slingshot, gravity assist maneuver, or swing-by is the use of the relative movement (e.g. orbit around the Sun) and gravity of a planet or other astronomical object to alter the p ...

to speed the travel to Mars. According to a paper written by Tito, "the mission would require no maneuvers except small course corrections after a trans-Martian injection burn, ndwould allow no aborts. ...

t will T, or t, is the twentieth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''tees''. It is deri ...

use

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never m ...

launch and crewed-spacecraft technology, outfitted for the long duration of a flight to Mars." They speculated that when the spacecraft returned to Earth it would reenter the atmosphere at 50 000 km per hour (ca 13.9 km/s), faster than any previous return.

Student design competition

During the 16th Annual International Mars Society Convention in 2013, the Mars Society announced an international engineering competition for student teams to propose designs for the architecture of the mission. The contest was open to university engineering student teams. The design contest took place on 9 August 2014, and was won by an international team from

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and ...

in US and

Keio University , mottoeng = The pen is mightier than the sword , type = Private research coeducational higher education institution , established = 1858 , founder = Yukichi Fukuzawa , endowment ...

in Japan.

Criticism

A spokesman for NASA stated in February 2013 that "Inspiration Mars's proposed schedule is a significant challenge due to life support systems, space radiation response, habitats and the human psychology of being in a small spacecraft for over 500 days", but that "we remain open to further collaboration as their proposal and plans for a later mission develop". John Logsdon, professor emeritus at George Washington University's Space Policy Institute, said the timeline was "totally implausible" for a mission to be launched in 2018, although the"Plan B" mission might be possible "if the stars align". Their website became defunct in late 2015.

References

External links

Official website, now defunct
* Flickr
Inspiration Mars
photo stream
Earth/Mars/IM capsule 501-day mission orbital position animation
Inspiration Mars Foundation, February 2013.
Feasibility Analysis

Introductory Press Conference, 27 February 2013

Inspiration Mars: 29th National Space Symposium
panel discussion, Dennis Tito, Taber MacCallum, Jonathan Clark, and Jane Poynter, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 11 April 2013.
Newer concept
{{Portal bar, Solar System Human spaceflight Exploration of Mars Scientific research foundations in the United States Dennis Tito Missions to Mars Human missions to Mars Missions to Venus Colonization of Mars Proposed space probes 2013 establishments in Delaware