The tug between Earth and Mars is looking for “passengers”

(Etx Daily Up) – The European Space Agency (ESA) works to develop a tug capable of transporting a ship with different modules and leaving them in orbit around Mars. The project, called Lightship, is intended to manage low -cost scientific missions between the earth and the red planet.

To carry out its very first mission, scheduled in 2032, the ESA is today launching a call for proposals concerning the first charges useful to transport on board the Lightship-1 mission. The agency requests proposals in addition to its main payload composed in particular of several high resolution cameras. The call therefore focuses on additional instruments that could enrich the scientific mission without interfering with the main objectives. In absolute terms, monitoring modules of atmospheric phenomena such as weather, wind and dust, could be launched as a priority.

The idea is to make future missions to Mars more accessible, modular and economic. Once all of its “passengers” have landed in the way or at their way, on one or more orbits, the vessel will also remain in high orbit around Mars (at a little less than 6,000 km of altitude) in order to serve as a communication leads while the tug will return to Earth to be able to serve again. As the missions progress, the number of relays will therefore stop increasing, to perfect communication between the different modules and the earth. Ultimately, the project will also make it possible to deploy a real satellite navigation service on Mars, in order to be able to land and head precisely on Mars.

The distance between Earth and Mars can reach 400 million kilometers. In order to make travel to the red planet more frequent and more affordable for science and exploration, engineers have therefore imagined this concept of reusable interplanetary tug. This electrical propulsion machine is powered by solar energy, supplied by large panels deployed on both sides. He will therefore be responsible for sending one or more spaceships to March each time.

The first Lightship mission is therefore scheduled for 2032, with other launches scheduled every two or three years if everything is going well.