Manned mission to Mars could drive change

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June 25, 2004 – A manned mission to Mars may be among the greatest technological challenges ever attempted by humankind. To meet such a mission’s unprecedented requirements, considerable innovation is needed to further reduce weight, energy consumption and maintenance requirements.

New capabilities are also needed for better shielding from radiation, improved protection from extreme cold temperatures on Mars and extreme heat on re-entry, purification systems for water and air and early-stage diagnosis of sick astronauts.

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Pushing the envelope of technology has been common practice for the aerospace industry since its inception, but it comes at a price.

In order to recoup the high cost of initial development, aerospace agencies often operate spacecraft, satellites and other high-end products for a very long time. This made perfect sense in the slow-moving world previously experienced, but not today.

For example, while the space shuttle was a marvel on Columbia’s maiden voyage in 1981, the current fleet has an average age of 17 years and makes use of many decades-old systems.

The accelerated pace of innovation and the availability of less expensive commercial-off-the-shelf offerings allow the aerospace industry to introduce better performing products quickly and cost effectively. Those products are likely to use miniaturized technologies that will become increasingly smaller, lighter and more efficient as demand grows.

Add an event such as a manned mission to Mars, and we could see micro and nanotechnology commercialization on the same trajectory as “Moore’s Law.”

Intel’s co-founder Gordon Moore foresaw the time when semiconductor performance would significantly improve every 18 to 24 months to meet the increasing demands of multiple industries.

Dubbed Moore’s Law, the formula gave the semiconductor industry a collective process for providing new technologies with predictable release dates that have better performance, increased functionality, better reliability and lower unit prices.

As a result, numerous industries have built their products upon these standard platforms and created a multitude of new and improved applications — from computers to cell phones to home entertainment systems. Diverse end products such as cars and medical devices plan their product lines based on the projected improvements in the evolving platforms.

I believe that the time has come for micro and nanotechnology to evolve from science projects and technology-pushed orphan applications into enabling platforms for mainstream industries. And this can be accomplished through a collective process where leading market-driven application developers define the specifications and standards for creative scientists and entrepreneurs to fulfill.

Micro and nanotechnologies can become the semiconductor industry of the 21st century, with an equally powerful effect on major industries, and in particular, on the aerospace industry.

Aerospace is the ideal beneficiary of miniaturized technologies because of its continuing drive for systems with lower mass and power consumption. With a manned mission to Mars driving change, we could see improvements extended beyond the systems level to micro and nanotechnologies, since these platforms can be the lowest common denominator in virtually every new high-tech aerospace end product.

Take spacecraft, for example: Spacecraft are made from systems such as propulsion, navigation, landing, etc.

These systems in turn require components that may be structural, mechanical, electrical, optical, etc. The components are ultimately derived from micro and nanotechnology platforms such as materials, devices, sensors, etc.

These platforms also could become the lowest common denominator in diverse commercial applications.

Micro and nanotechnologies are increasingly common in various industries, through applications such as MEMS accelerometers in air bags and nano-particles for improved UV protection in sunscreen.

The needs of the space industry could drive crucial developments in materials, devices, sensors, detectors, energy and life support systems, to name a few, as they expand into the commercial world.

As with the semiconductor industry, we’d see superior and timely platform releases that directly benefit future generation products with better performance, improved functionality, greater reliability, lower cost and faster time-to-market.

There are many stakeholders in the aerospace industry who have well-defined needs for unclassified, commercially available micro and nanotechnology-based systems.

These include government agencies in the United States such as NASA and defense along with their counterparts in allied countries. Nongovernmental participants include manufacturers of commercial and military aircraft and academia.

Not only is the aerospace industry the home to numerous spinoff technologies, but related industries will benefit from the same platforms and standards that can be applied in transportation equipment, medical devices, energy, information technologies and communications.

New applications from related industries will increase usage, improve reliability and ultimately drive down unit costs.

As seen with the tremendous innovation built upon electronics, semiconductor and software platforms, the manned mission to Mars can and needs to experience the same type of exponential gain in technology advancement.

In this regard, perhaps the greatest single benefit to be derived by the aerospace industry from small tech is getting space developers to think like business developers.

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