Mars and Beyond

Most of this book is fiction about the possible explorationof Mars in the future and travel to a near star. There areenough facts mentioned about progress in space travel tosupport the fact that more advanced space travel is possible. Having a colony of people on Mars could provide ideasto people living on earth to have a more healthy life. Withgrowing world population and declining resources, becauseof the degrading environment we must think about life in thefuture. With Apollo 11, Neil Armstrong was able to set foot onthe surface of the moon and give the first opportunity forastronauts to travel in space outside of the earths orbit. Hewore a pressurized space suit to move about on the moonssurface. Because the moon has no air or water, he had toreturn to earth in a short time. Additional Apollo trips weremade to the moon including a moon buggy for short rangetransportation. Further trips to the moon were canceledbecause of the development of the International SpaceStation and the Shuttle. Rocket probes and robotic roverswhich made the voyage to Mars landed to explore for waterand minerals. Rockets have become double edged sword that canbe used for Fourth of July celebrations and for spaceexploration, where they are put to good use. When used inwarfare as ICBMs or in small military missiles, they canbecome leathal tools of war. This book is partially factualdealing with rocket events that have occurred. Some of the8 Raymond Wisniewskimostly fiction Martian rocket events, in the book, still haveto happen. Hermann Oberth, a German physicist was considered,The Father of Space Travel, who Werner von Braunadmired. The United States allowed Werner von Braunto come to America after World War II to prevent Germanmissile technology from falling into Russian hands andhelp the U.S. Army missile programs to get started anddeveloped. Our space technology grew from von Brauns early workon Army missiles and with his work at the NASA GeorgeC. Marshall Space Flight Center. Rocket work at RedstoneArsenal paved the way for NASA to develop the Apollomoon rocket. After the Apollo missions to the moon, rocketpropulsion helped lift the Space Shuttle and Space Stationinto earth orbit. The idea of going to Mars was consideredthe next space goal. The use of robotics in space, sending a men to Marsand finding life somewhere in space has stimulated spaceenthusiasts. Rocket propulsion has shown that payloadscan be carried from small distances to intercontinental andouter space distances. Rockets have been and are now beingused for peaceful purposes to put up satellites for television,communication systems and for GPS uses. Robotic vehicles as the Curiosity rover have landedon Mars and have explored for water and atmosphericconditions. To use of robotic vehicles and robots aidingastronauts in the future can paved the way for the eventualuse of human astronauts for trips to Mars. There have been many science fiction stories aboutMars. The stories have told about people living on Mars inadvanced societies and how easy it was to take trips to Marsand fly around in rocket spaceships. We know now that Marshas a hostile environment with no air for humans and noMars and Beyond 9liquid water is to be found. This book shows the challengesof going to Mars and the stars and providing life support forthe astronauts. This book is dedicated to my family and friends and tothose who have helped me along the way to gain knowledgeand move to a life in engineering and rocket technology.