Interplanetary travel is the manned or unmanned travel between stars and planets, usually within a single planetary system.  Spaceflights of this type are confined to travel between the planets of the Solar System.  In order to colonize Mars, we need to prepare ourselves for interplanetary travel.  

The first few manned missions to Mars are likely to carry 3 to 4 astronauts.  As such, a small crew capsule (a.k.a. human pod) launched on the back of a rocket would be sufficient to ferry astronauts between Earth and Mars.  However, when we start colonizing Mars, the small crew capsule will be woefully inadequate.  We will need much bigger and powerful space launch vehicles to ferry many more people and tons of equipment to Mars in one trip. They should also be capable of making multiple return-trips between Earth and Mars.  In addition, the cost of transportation between Earth and Mars needs to be brought down significantly to make it economically viable for people to undertake the trip.  As such, the development of bigger, better, comfortable, and reusable space launch vehicles is a must.

During the last few decades, NASA has built and operated partially re-usable space launch vehicles called Space Shuttles.  They were used to ferry astronauts between Earth and the International Space Station (ISS) which orbits the Earth at a distance of 330 km.  In addition, the space shuttles were used for human space flights to low-earth orbits, and for conducting micro-gravity experiments in space.  After many years of operation, NASA has discontinued using the Space Shuttles.  

A new generation of fully re-usable space launch vehicles is being developed by private space agencies during the last few years.  Three of these agencies are worth mentioning here: SpaceX founded by Elon Musk of the US, Virgin Galactic founded by Sir Richard Branson of the UK, and Blue Origin founded by Jeff Bezos of the US.  All three companies have conducted their first human space flights in the year 2021.  In the future, reusable spaceships designed and operated by these (and other) companies could be used to ferry people between Earth and Mars.

The Space Shuttle is a partially reusable low Earth orbital vehicle to fly humans and cargo to space.  The Space Shuttle is launched on the back of a rocket to go into space.  On its return journey, the Space Shuttle flies and lands on Earth like an airplane.  The Space Shuttle program was operated from 1981 to 2011 by NASA.  Of the 4 Space Shuttles: Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, and Atlantis operated by NASA, two of them met with accidents.  The Space Shuttle program was retired in 2011 due to the high cost of launching, slow turnaround, few customers, and a vehicle that had major safety problems.

Watch the below videos to understand how a Space Shuttle launches to space on the back of a rocket, and lands on Earth like an airplane:

A fully reusable launch vehicle is a vehicle that is capable of launching into space multiple times by reusing all of the vehicle's component stages (multiple stages of the rocket), some of which would otherwise have been discarded inflight in a conventional space launch vehicle.  As a result of re-use, the cost for launching becomes much cheaper compared to traditional space launch vehicles. 

Watch the below video to understand how a fully re-usable space launch vehicle functions:

SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket (collectively referred to as Starship) is a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond.  Starship is the world’s most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, with the ability to carry in excess of 100 metric tonnes to Earth orbit.  The Raptor engine is a reusable methalox staged-combustion engine that powers the Starship launch system. 

A test flight of SpaceX Starship SN15 reusable launch vehicle was conducted on 5th May 2021.  Watch the below video of its vertical launch and vertical landing:

Virgin Galactic Space flight:

On 11 July 2021, Sir Richard Branson, the billionaire founder of Virgin Galactic (spaceflight company) traveled as a passenger onboard Virgin Galactic Unity 22 space ship to the edge of space. The mission lasted approximately one hour, reaching a peak altitude of 53.5 miles (86.1 km).  The passengers onboard experienced weightlessness for a few seconds during the flight.  At 71, Branson is the third oldest person to fly to space along with 3 other passengers.

Blue Origin Space flight:

Billionaire Jeff Bezos has made a short journey to space on 20th July 2021, in the first crewed flight of his rocket ship, New Shepard.  He was accompanied by Mark Bezos, his brother, Wally Funk, an 82-year-old pioneer of the space race, and an 18-year-old student.

They travelled in a capsule with the biggest windows flown in space, offering stunning views of the Earth.  The passengers on board experienced weightlessness for a few seconds during the flight.  When the capsule touched back down after the 10-minute, 10-second flight, Jeff Bezos exclaimed: "Best day ever!"  New Shepard, built by Bezos' company Blue Origin, is designed to serve the burgeoning market for space tourism.

SpaceX Spaceflight:

SpaceX successfully launched the world’s first all-civilian human spaceflight to orbit on 15th September 2021. The historic launch of spaceflight (named Inspiration4) took place from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, United States. The flight reached a distance of 585 kms above the Earth, the farthest anyone has ever been in space ever since the Apollo moon missions.

After three days from the launch, the Crew Dragon capsule (human pod) with the 4 member crew will splash down on earth, possibly on the Florida coast.  SpaceX used the Crew Dragon capsule and veteran rocket Falcon 9 for this launch. The crew members are commander Jared Isaacman and  Sian Proctor.  Where commander Jared Isaacman is a billionaire entrepreneur and Sian Proctor is a science communicator & Geoscientist who will be this mission’s pilot.  The other two crew members are physician assistant Hayley Arcenaux and data engineer Chris Sembroski, serving as the chief medical officer and mission specialist respectively.   The multiday space tour is the first step towards the future of space tourism. 

Watch the launch of Inspiration4 space flight in the below video:

Future space ships will employ powerful and fully reusable space launch systems.  They will be capable of launching from Earth, travel to space or another planet, and land there.  These space ships will be able to return to Earth multiple times, unlike rockets which are designed for one-way trips only.   

In comparion to a small crew capsule or human pod carried on a rocket, a space-ship can be advantageous in several ways:

• • It can carry many more people on trips between Earth to Mars.

  • It can carry heavy cargo such as machinery, fuel, oxygen, water, and other building resource materials needed for humans to set up a colony on Mars.

  • It can serve as comfortable living quarters for human travelers during their long journey from Earth to Mars or from Mars to Earth, which typically takes 7 to 9 months.

  • It can be useful to evacuate many people at once from Mars in case of any emergency.

Check out how future space ships may look like in the below pictures:

Among other nations in the race for space supremacy, Russia is planning to send a nuclear-powered spacecraft to the moon, then Venus, then Jupiter.  Meanwhile, China is investigating how to build an ultra-large spacecraft that is up to 0.6 mile (1 kilometer) long. 

Below, you will find two types of activities:

1. Digital Activity

2. Physical Activity

You can use the knowledge acquired in this module to complete and submit either a digital activity, or a physical activity or both.  The choice is yours, but submitting at least one activity per module is important to receive participation certificate at the end of the bootcamp.

Complete ANY ONE of the below activities using a digital or AI tool of your choice:

• Design the 3D model of a Space Shuttle.

• Design the 3D model of a re-usable Space Launch Vehicle such as the SpaceX Starship.

• Design the 3D model showing the interiors of a Space Ship that can accommodate 50 space travelers.

• Design an animation showing the launch and landing of a Space Shuttle.

• Design an animation showing the launch and landing of a reusable Space launch vehicle.

Customize or enhance the above activities further as per your interest and bandwidth.

If you need guidance in using AI-based digital tools, please click here.

Submitting your Digital Activity: Click the "Submit Activity" button at the bottom of this page to submit your digital activity.  In the submission form, paste the link to your digital creation directly from the online tool, or paste the link to your digital creation from your Google Drive folder.  Ensure that the link has "public access" or "Anyone with the link can view".

Submitting your Physical Activity: Take a photo or video clip of your physical prototype or model and upload it to your Google Drive folder.  Click the "Submit Activity" button at the bottom of this page to submit your physical activity.  In the activity submission form, paste the link to the photo or video uploaded on your Google Drive folder. Ensure that the link has "public access" or "Anyone with the link can view".