Blue Marble to Red Ruins

[Usili 2.0]

I

Mariner 9 hung above the Red Planet like a jewel, its four solar panels hanging like flower petals pointed upwards to the Sun for life, while the high gain antenna stood close to the thermal blankets covering the engine, pointing at Earth for the communications. As both solar panels and antenna stood 'above' for both life and communications, her instruments hung 'below' pointing downwards at the planet for her scientific mission of observing and mapping the Red Planet. The cameras and instruments running, the orbiter continued on down the path that it had been set on, bound by the three laws of Newton. On and on the orbiter went, taking note of both the variety of temperatures on the surface of the planet and the actual visual makeup of the planet. But they did not remain stored long on the orbiter, with the line of images and data taken transmitted to a destination eight and a half minutes away, the Blue Marble.

December 14th, 1971

"So I presume we're getting the data from the most recent flyover of that mysterious crater?" one of the members of Mariner 9's scientific team asked, taking a look at the most recent transmission from Mariner 9.

"Yeah, that crater's an odd one for sure. Still a shame that we didn't get any good readings from the Infrared Radiometer from that last pass, but hopefully this one should do the trick," the other member replied.

"That's peculiar," he continued as he started looking at the Infrared Radiometer data from the crater.

"What's peculiar?"

"The soil temperatures from the Infrared Radiometer are showing a really unusual variety for the central peak."

"That central peak that was raising some odd questions when we got the first images of it from Mariner 9?"

"Yes."

"I'm going to need to connect Schneiderman over this."

---

December 18th, 1971

"So what am I looking at exactly?" Administrator Fletcher asked, staring at the pair of printouts that were side by side, one with a variety of color ranges showing temperatures from the soil, and the other set in a grayscale. Each of them showed the similar shot of a crater caught with what seemed like a flatness curving around it, but set from different angles and orbital passes.

"The image on the left is from Mariner 9's Infrared Radiometer, and the image on the right is from the on board camera," Dan Schneiderman, the Project Manager for Mariner 9 spoke, "Now, the original visual passes for this area brought some interesting questions into play and it wasn't until we got the data from the Infrared Radiometer that it only brought more questions for it."

"And what did the data show?"

"Well, the visual data showed some real major oddities for what the crater looked like. It had something of a rather peculiar central peak, and then there was also to a degree from what we were available in terms of the kind of slope of the crater. However it was the infrared data that showed for what we called you."

Administrator Fletcher took a sharper look at the photo, with both Dan Schneiderman and JPL Director Bill Pickering standing by as he looked over them. "Okay, from what I'm looking at, you have a significant difference in terms of what the infrared is for the central peak compared to anything else, right?" Fletcher asked.

"That'd be correct. You've been to Arecibo before, right?" Bill Pickering, the Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory asked.

"Yes I've been to the radio observatory, what does it have to do with this?"

"The similarities between this and Arecibo."

"The similarities?"

"As you might recall, the center of Arecibo is where the receiver is located, hoisted above it by a good couple hundred feet. If you well, look at the central peak, you pretty much see no kinds of similarity in any of the surrounding terrain inside the crater or from what we've been able to determine on the planet," Director Pickering spoke.

Administrator Fletcher breathed for a moment before continuing. "So you're saying this is an extraterrestrial radio telescope."

"Yes." "No."

Both Schneiderman and Pickering looked at each other in their answers, before Pickering continued. "We don't know if this is in fact an 'extraterrestrial radio telescope' or not, but we heavily think that this is likely artificial in nature."

"And is there anyway we can confirm this right now?"

"Pretty much only additional visual imagery and infrared imagery from Mariner 9 until we launch Viking. There's also the pair of Soviet orbiters around the planet as we speak…"

"And so they'd be the ones to confirm it right now of anything," the Administrator spoke, breathing. "This is such a mess."

"Yes it is."

The Administrator groaned just thinking over the mess and the need to brief the President over this entire situation. The situation of either there existed or have existed alien life on the Red Planet. This was just going entirely swimmingly, and would only add a higher priority to Viking to confirm if life existed on the Red Planet. "Give me as much of a lay down as you can, and then when we are able to, both of you are heading back to DC with me. And have no one leak this information, got it?"

---

December 21st, 1971

Jim Fletcher walked out into the press room, the flashes of the photographers lighting up the briefing room. Arriving in front of the press stand, he coughed for a minute before looking down at the notes he had written for it. "Good morning everyone," the NASA Administrator began.

"Apologies for this press conference so close to Christmas, but we had some recent news come out that had to be shared." On those words the gathered press seemed to perk up for whatever the announcement being made was.

"Now, as many of you know, Mariner 9 entered orbit around Mars slightly more than a month ago, and began its task of mapping the planet ahead of Viking. Roughly three weeks ago, the cameras from Mariner 9 showed what was an unusual crater in terms of a visual appearance, determined by both the slope and the central peak. Now about a week ago, Mariner 9 was able to do another pass, being able to provide additional scientific measurements for the area in question. This only added to some of the questions we had, and only recently have we made a best guess for what exactly that was found."

Fletcher breathed in deeply before heading to the next part. "I'd prefer no interruption for this next bit, in order to be able to proceed to questions. By December 17th, the principal investigators assigned to Mariner 9 determined that the unusual feature was not like the surrounding area or any of the planet for that matter from what we have been able to tell. This is most especially present in terms of the central peak, which has no other similarities with anywhere else on the planet from what we have been able to tell. Considering the appearance of the central peak and the framing of the crater in question, we believe the central peak to be artificial in nature, and not a natural occurring phenomena."

That immediately sent the group of journalists into an uproar at the Administrator's description of an artificial object on Mars. Inwardly, Fletcher gripped the table, still pondering the same questions that he was expecting to be asked by the assembled press. Specifically, on if there did exist extraterrestrial life on Mars or not. Breathing in, he pointed at one of the reporters to ask their question.

"John Noble Wilford from the New York Times..."

 

[ScottishMongol]

Can't wait for the Space Race to get kicked up a notch.

 

[Miriam]

I am HYPED.

 

[Miss Teri]

Will watch very doggedly.

 

[Usili 2.0]

Thank you so far for the comments everyone. One of the things I'll be doing with this timeline is well, a switchover between third person PoVs and textbook style entries (and usually kept per chapter with a single style), and I hope it's not that much of a bother to everyone who is reading? I'll also be trying to attempt to maintain a weekly update rate (and hopefully I can keep to it). Either way, here's the second chapter.


II

The announcement made on Mariner 9's discovery, would by the evening of December 21st be the leading story across the United States and Canada and from there would be rapidly propagating across the world. The discovery that life seemed to have existed elsewhere brought a shock to many, especially as 1971 was coming to a close. Numerous questions came ringing out such as "Do we know that life exists elsewhere?" and "How was this not known about earlier?" While there was some significant questions/questioning over whether the United States was lying on the discovery or not, the confirmation by the Soviet Union in early January would assuage those concerns.

For the reaction among the public in the wake of the discovery, it was a mixture of views from the sheer amazement that we were not alone to terror at knowing something else much older than them was out there, potentially watching them at that very moment. A poll conducted by Gallup from January 3rd to January 10th asked the question, "Which comes closer to your view about the NASA discovery of alien ruins on Mars, even if neither is exactly right?" would indicate a slight majority of viewing it as a positive, with fifty-six percent answering that "It will have a positive impact on humanity" while forty-four percent answering that "It will have a negative impact on humanity." The polling throughout the first quarter of the year would continue to show on average Americans viewing the discovery as a positive (with the answers ranging from +18 to -4, with the average being +5).

As the American public found themselves caught in a mire of reactions on the discovery, so too did that find itself reflected among both the executive and legislative branches of the United States government. The senior leadership of NASA along with many of the people working on the Mariner 9 science team found themselves thrust into briefings with members of the Nixon Administration and would receive the news that they would be testifying in front of Congressional committees as a result of this discovery. In addition to the briefings and testimony in front of Congress, there were also significant ramifications for what NASA's priorities in the near future (both over the next five and ten years) would look like.

The space agency had since 1970 been embarked on a slow process of designing the 'Space Transportation System', which was to both replace the Apollo Program and enable a significant cost reduction of payload to orbit. The initial planning for the Space Transportation System had called for a fully reusable two stage to orbit (TSTO) system, with both a reusable orbiter and booster, capable of being turned around in a week. However, as planning and development proceeded throughout 1970 and 1971, significant reductions and changes of the design had taken place as the projected costs became higher and higher and the ceiling set by the Office of Management and Budget found itself lower and lower. By the start of December 1971, the vehicle definition process (well into 'Phase B Double Prime') had been narrowed down to the proposed 'Thrust Assisted Orbiter System' (TAOS), although several major points such as how much payload it could carry to orbit, payload bay size, and whether to use liquid or solid rocket boosters were still up for debate in it.

Like with many things, the discovery made by Mariner 9 had thrown a wrench into the development process for the Space Transportation System. The deadline for the remaining portion of the vehicle definition process before the awarding of the Phase C/D contracts had been set for early March, which was only a scant three months away. This was rectified with an immediate series of contracts issued for a third extension of the Phase B process to end at the start of May, with NASA facing further concerns over the potential changes for the vehicle definition. Alongside that of the continuing concerns NASA was facing with the design process, there was now the sudden political effects to take into account. Prior to the discovery, it had been expected that President Nixon would finalize the parameters of the Shuttle design (such as payload bay size) in early January. But now? There were a lot more of the parameters up in the air and up for change, especially on the amount of funding that the Space Transportation System would have available.

The first major meeting between President Nixon and Administrator Fletcher following the announcement of the discovery would see a series of major topics brought up, including the Space Transportation System and the role it would play for the future. Administrator Fletcher brought up the role it would play in the future, especially in the role it would play in decreasing the cost of pound to orbit and for the role it could serve for any future Mars exploration plans. As part of the discussion on the Space Transportation between the President and the Administrator, was on the variety of the proposed systems and cost options being evaluated, from the original hydrogen two stage to orbit system to the thrust assisted orbiter system. Among the options discussed, while NASA still 'preferred' the original hydrogen two stage to orbit system, the flyback S-IC with the orbiter (either with external hydrogen or external hydrogen and oxygen tanks) was the more hoped for and realistic option being expected if they received a higher budget to develop it.

By early February, the decision had been finally reached after extensive debate in the executive, most especially involving the Office of Management and Budget. The Space Transportation System was to receive a significantly higher total budget for development, which would enable the development of a flyback booster based off the S-IC for the program and be able to allow changes done to the Orbiter. But the funding for the development of a flyback booster for the S-IC was not all that had been agreed upon in negotiations for the Nixon Administration's upcoming budget. Funding was also included for the continuation of development for NERVA and authorization for two new Saturn Vs (the production line for the Saturn V having been maintained since the final order in the event of an additional series of orders needed). However, there were drawbacks in the proposed budget, with the deletion of funds to Grand Tour and NASA was instead directed to evaluate a 'lower cost' alternative to the program, citing the close to one billion dollar estimate for the program.

But unlike the previous budget proposals for the space program over the past four years, the most recent proposal offered a significant turn around for NASA. The significant increase of available funding to the Space Transportation System as a result of the discovery by itself was joyful enough, but the continuation of NERVA and restart of Saturn V production? Combined together, all three represented a significant step forward for NASA and to give them the building blocks for an eventual crewed Mars mission. But for now it was a matter of a proposal, and now had to make its way through Congress.

 

[serra2]

So the race is on to get to the radio telescope on Mars. And, of course, the journey to get their is almost likely to be more rewarding than the actual goal, in terms of technology and advancement.

 

[The Sandman]

So no Voyager probes.

A shame, that.

 

[Zelinko]

So no Voyager Missions... Looks like no one's going to learn anything about Uranus and Neptune for god knows how long

 

[JumperPrime]

So no Voyager Missions... Looks like no one's going to learn anything about Uranus and Neptune for god knows how long

Click to shrink...

They have more immediate concerns. Evidence of intelligent life having once existed on Mars is far more compelling than low-rez flyby pics of some gas giants. We know that they'll be missing out on some beautiful pics, but with the advancements that will surely result from the Martian space race, when they get back around to Voyager, the probes will be made using more advanced technology and will probably have shorter flight times from planet to planet as well as higher resolution picture transmission.

 

[Zelinko]

They have more immediate concerns. Evidence of intelligent life having once existed on Mars is far more compelling than low-rez flyby pics of some gas giants. We know that they'll be missing out on some beautiful pics, but with the advancements that will surely result from the Martian space race, when they get back around to Voyager, the probes will be made using more advanced technology and will probably have shorter flight times from planet to planet as well as higher resolution picture transmission.

Click to shrink...

Except the "Grand Tour" is an alignment that happens every 175 years.

So in the mid 2120s there would be another shot.

We also lose out on the long term information that the Voyagers got in the decades AFTER the planetary encounters ended.

 

[oddhack]

So no Voyager Missions... Looks like no one's going to learn anything about Uranus and Neptune for god knows how long

Click to shrink...

I don't know what the author has in mind specifically here, but the Grand Tour proposal never was approved in OTL, so it's not clear anything has changed in this regard. Voyager was a fallback plan with enough resiliency and options built in that it was able to accomplish much of the original objectives, though everything after the Saturn encounters was not in the initial proposal and there was considerable uncertainty at the time as to whether continuing funding would be approved. This sort of thing has happened repeatedly with planetary missions, most recently New Horizons which was a last-minute alternative for more ambitious earlier proposals.

It's not actually that hard to reach the outer planets now that multiple gravity assist trajectories are straightforward to execute. With a presumed much more capable launch system ATL, we certainly wouldn't have had to wait for a century+ to do it.

N.b. Voyager project scientist Ed Stone was my frosh advisor at Caltech, and a cool guy - though I, alas, did not end up going into physics or planetary science.

 

[Usili 2.0]

So no Voyager probes.

A shame, that.

Click to shrink...

So no Voyager Missions... Looks like no one's going to learn anything about Uranus and Neptune for god knows how long

Click to shrink...

They have more immediate concerns. Evidence of intelligent life having once existed on Mars is far more compelling than low-rez flyby pics of some gas giants. We know that they'll be missing out on some beautiful pics, but with the advancements that will surely result from the Martian space race, when they get back around to Voyager, the probes will be made using more advanced technology and will probably have shorter flight times from planet to planet as well as higher resolution picture transmission.

Click to shrink...

Except the "Grand Tour" is an alignment that happens every 175 years.

So in the mid 2120s there would be another shot.

We also lose out on the long term information that the Voyagers got in the decades AFTER the planetary encounters ended.

Click to shrink...

Okay, this is probably my fault a bit in not making it clear, but Grand Tour is something entirely separate from the Voyager Program as oddhack said. To sort of go into a history of why Grand Tour died, it died from a combination of factors.

There was the Space Science Board's opposition to it because of concerns like the self test and repair computer planned for TOPS (the spacecraft that was being designed to fly the Grand Tour), along with opposition within the SSB against Grand Tour by planetary scientists who wanted to keep their smaller and shorter (and in turn cheaper) missions along with astronomers who favored the development of the 'Large Scale Telescope' (which later become Hubble); the OMB's desire for NASA to remain within their budgetary levels, as Grand Tour was estimated with four launches (two for Jupiter-Saturn-Pluto in 1977 and two for Jupiter-Uranus-Neptune in 1979) that costs would range from $850M-1B including launch vehicle costs); and finally there was the lack of Congressional support, with figures such as Senator Clinton Anderson (who was the Chairman of the Space Science Committee in the Senate), and was a significant supporter of NERVA. As a slight extension onto that point, it was said during hearings on the matter that NERVA would enable NASA to be able to fly a mission to the Outer Planets at any time and when Grand Tour was canceled in 1972, the OMB kept funding for the development of a small nuclear stage to assuage Senator Anderson (which could also be able to fly missions to the Outer Planets). Finally, there was also NASA's role in the death of Grand Tour at the end in order to maintain funding for NASA and to be able to ensure the remaining Apollo missions could be flown out.

But from where Grand Tour died, you saw a new project that emerged to visit Jupiter and Saturn, 'Mariner Jupiter-Saturn' (MJS). This saw significant support from the Space Science Board, Congress, and the OMB on it and so development on MJS was authorized for launch in 1977. However, there were upgrading of the components of MJS by JPL and NASA with things like the plutonium batteries to be able to extend the lifetime of the spacecraft to be able to fly out to Uranus and Neptune if so needed. In March of 1977, with only four months remaining until launch, the program saw a new name. Voyager.

I hope that sort of explains the reasons for why Grand Tour died IOTL and how Voyager emerged?

 

[Secretariat]

What temperature is the central peak reading at?

 

[Usili 2.0]

And here's the third update. Apologies if it's a wee bit clunky.

III

April 15th, 1972

Deputy Administrator George Low nodded to himself slightly as he finished answering a Representative's questions, double checking his notes for the moment before the next question was asked. "Deputy Administrator Low, how many additional Saturn Vs is NASA looking and what would their role for the agency pertain to?"

"We are currently assessing the total number of additional Saturn Vs we are projected to utilize, and as soon as we can determine it, we will be sending it forward to this committee," George Low spoke, "Onto your other question with regards to their role, we currently envision three potential roles that we can utilize these additional Saturn Vs for. The first would be the launch of additional space stations similar to Skylab, throughout the remainder of the 1970s until the Space Transportation System is online. The second would be launches for the testing of NERVA until the Space Transportation System is online. The third would be in the event of any kind of outsized unmanned missions that the Space Science Board or the Presidential Science Advisor would recommend for development or to pursue."

"Yet nothing about lunar missions?" the Representative asked.

"Apollo 17 is slated to be the final lunar mission, and is expected to fly in December. We do not see any need for flying additional lunar missions with the additional run of Saturn Vs."

"As an additional question, what about remaining hardware built to land on the moon that has not been intended to fly?"

George Low blinked for a moment, thinking over the question before answering. "That would be a total of two Lunar Modules, LM-9, which was slated to fly prior to us upgrading Apollo 15 to a J-Class Science Mission, and LM-13, which received a stop work order roughly a year ago."

"LM-13 was intended to fly as a J-Class Science Mission, correct?"

"That would be correct, Representative."

"Roughly how much money would it take to complete LM-13 and in turn fly it as an Apollo mission?"

George Low stopped. The Representative was asking the cost of completing the lunar module and then flying it? That, was a much different question than he had been expecting. "I'm unsure of the total numbers, but likely in the ballpark of one hundred million? The costs would principally be in operational costs and for completion of LM-13."

"Thank you Deputy Administrator," the Representative spoke with a nod, as their time expired and it proceeded to the next member of the subcommittee.

June 18th, 1972

... The second production run of Saturn Vs is to include a series of improvements over the initial fifteen ordered based off of experience gained in flight and improvements made in manufacturing. In terms of major structural changes to optimize the vehicle, it will comprise the removal of fins from the S-IC stage and introduction of the J-2S on the S-II and S-IVB stages. A trade study analyzing the substitution of the F-1 with the F-1A, found concerns with regards to the thrust to weight ratio of the stack, and of the proposed solutions, all in our view would require an unmanned test flight to verify the changed flight dynamics of the vehicle…

... The total number of Saturn Vs to procure as part of the second production run poses an interesting question, especially considering the interim role that it serves until the Space Transportation System is in full service. To best determine the total number of Saturn Vs that should be authorized for production, it would be best to determine the missions that we expect it to perform.

1. The Space Station Program. While SA-513 and SA-515 have already been set aside for their use in launching Skylab and Skylab-B, we can foresee a continued use of Saturn V-launched space stations throughout the mid and late 1970s until the Space Transportation System is ready to be utilized. The continued usage of Saturn V-launched space stations can be expected to perform a variety of tasks, ranging from solar observation to medical research to even things like long duration human spaceflight of one hundred and eighty days plus spent in zero gravity (this being nearly three times as long as currently planned for Skylab flights).
2. Nuclear Engines for Rocket Vehicle Applications (NERVA). In consideration of the continued development of NERVA by Congress, it should be recognized that the testing program will require a number of Saturn Vs in order to perform the full range of testing that will be needed for this program. While NERVA is expected to be fully finalized by the time the Space Transportation System is ready for service, the Saturn V is expected to be used for the flight test program.
3. Unmanned Planetary Missions. The recent discovery by Mariner 9 has raised the proven issue that the Titan 3E offers an insufficient C3 for a number of potential missions that could see flight throughout the mid and late 1970s, of which among them include a Mars Soil Sample Return mission. While these missions are expected to be ready upon the availability of the Space Transportation System, it should be noted that certain missions could arise that would demand the use of a Saturn V in the mid and late 1970s and not be able to wait until the Space Transportation System is ready.

It was decided early-on to eliminate a continued series of lunar trips with the second production run due to cost concerns and an excessive production run of Saturn Vs (this report presumed an annual flight rate of two Saturn Vs being utilized for lunar landing missions from 1975 to 1979)...

... This report can now offer the recommendation of a total of seven additional Saturn Vs to be built, with the initial two authorized for FY73, and the remaining five authorized for FY74 in order to accelerate changeover and maximize funding to the Space Transportation System as fast as possible. The total of seven was determined based off the three main missions expected to be required for usage of the Saturn V throughout the mid and late 1970s. They are to be allocated as follows: two Saturn Vs for the space station program; four Saturn Vs for the NERVA flight test program; and one Saturn V for any needed unmanned planetary mission(s)...

September 19th, 1972

"Good morning everyone," Administrator Fletcher spoke to the gathered press, "As you are all aware today, we'll be announcing the winner of the Phase C and D contracts for the Space Transportation System, and not anything new on what Mariner 9 is doing around the Red Planet."

That comment brought some laughter, before Fletcher continued on, "Now, as stipulated at the start of the request for proposals for Phase C and D, we said that we would be awarding both the Space Shuttle and the Space Lifter to a single team as the lead contractors for the project, and that will still hold. As a reminder for the design of the process, we had opted for the design of this to be held in the configuration of a 'tandem' design, with the Space Shuttle mounted directly in line and on top of the Space Lifter. The Space Shuttle design was after significant debate, finalized to have both the hydrogen and oxygen needed for ascent mounted in a single external tank on its belly, which would then be attached to the Space Lifter.

"While the Space Shuttle design is very much an entirely new design, the Space Lifter is one that is expected to be based off of the existing Saturn V first stage, which will help to reduce the costs of the program."

Fletcher paused for a moment before continuing onto announcing the winner of the contract. "After much determination internally, we have decided to award the Space Transportation System contract to the Grumman-Boeing team. Their team was determined to rank the highest in technical design on both the Space Shuttle and the Space Lifter and also in terms of costs on the Space Lifter. An additional part, was the decision for each company to lead the team for the development of the program, with Grumman being in charge of the Space Shuttle team and Boeing being in charge of the Space Lifter team…"

November 23rd, 1972

"Ignition," came the call, and the surroundings came alive with the roar of thirty engines.

The N1 rocket, the Soviet's counter to the Saturn V slowly rose off the pad, roaring as it proceeded on its fourth flight. Passing the launch pad and rolling successfully, it was holding steady with the improvements made and on it continued roaring into the sky. "Sixty seconds in, and all systems still looking good," continued the call, having passed the time that the third launch had successfully done. Hopefully this would be the time that the N1 would succeed in flight.

"Ninety seconds, and we have cut off of the six center engines for max-Q," continued the officer announcing the calls.

However in the firing room, there was a sharp pickup of chatter following the cutoff of the center engines, and then the launch officer continued with, "One hundred seconds, and we seem to have an early shutdown of the Block A, with separation and now ignition of the Block B taking placing."

"An early ignition?" one of the watching members spoke in confusion as the N1 seemed to finally be able to go beyond its first stage, although still not without its own issues...

 

[serra2]

Lots of technical developments and forward planning on the US side, meanwhile the Soviets appear to be struggling with consistency from their equivalent attempts.

 

[Usili 2.0]

What temperature is the central peak reading at?

Click to shrink...

Okay apologies for the late reply but I admit I didn't think of the actual temperature; it does however appear warmer than the surrounding area is the answer I can give (and this is meant by the way the analysis from the comparison to the soil looks).

Lots of technical developments and forward planning on the US side, meanwhile the Soviets appear to be struggling with consistency from their equivalent attempts.

Click to shrink...

Well, the Soviets did have a series of issues with the N1 IOTL, and were likely to be able a solve a decent amount of them with the N1F, however that was canceled when Gorbachev replaced Mishin with Glushko as being in charge of the Soviet space effort in mid-1974 (and in turn canceling what was then planned for a launch of two N1Fs in the second half of 1974 to simulate the lunar landing proposal for the Soviet Union).

EDIT: Clarified a bit.

 

[JumperPrime]

Okay apologies for the late reply but I admit I didn't think of the actual temperature; it does however appear hotter than the surrounding area is the answer I give

Click to shrink...

Wait, does that mean it still has an active power source to generate the extra heat?

 

[Usili 2.0]

Wait, does that mean it still has an active power source to generate the extra heat?

Click to shrink...

... I messed up there in answering it, and I meant it moreso in terms of a comparison to it being warmer than the surrounding Martian soil, to indicate the artificial nature, not like an active power source. Apologies if that was confusing and I hopefully cleaned up the original answer to clarify that.

 

[Usili 2.0]

Apologies for the lack of the chapter last week everyone, this chapter was a bit of a pain to get right, and we'll be shifting to cover the Soviets for a moment on their initial response to all this.


IV

The discovery of the Martian ruins by Mars 3 had occurred nearly at the same time as the American's Mariner 9, although the Soviet announcement would follow two weeks after the United States serving to confirm (rather than announce for themselves) the existence of the ruins. Like in the United States, the Soviet Union found itself caught in a mire of reactions over the discovery, and there was no exception of that among the leadership. Vasily Mishin, the head of the OKB-1 Design Bureau, found himself called into a significantly higher number of briefings to discuss the discovery, the status of the N1 Program, and the variety of ongoing Soviet Mars Programs. The problems being encountered in the N1, had seen the instruction given to Mishin to get the next N1 flight to be able to fly successfully, or face the significantly growing risk of being removed as the head of the OKB-1 Design Bureau (and in turn as the head of the Soviet lunar program).

The third flight of the program had encountered a sudden and significant roll upon launch that would take more than a year to solve. The solution to it would see a drastic redesign of the 'boat-tail' of the first stage, with a reduction in the diameter of the first stage and the addition of dedicated engines for the steering of the N1 (rather than the usage of the engine exhaust to do so). With that in hand, work accelerated on preparing the fourth N1 for flight. The payload for it would consist of the canceled LK-Complex, which was made up of the Block G and Block D stages, and the LK lander and Soyuz 7K-LOK. Finally on November 23rd, it was ready for flight. The first stage was not without its own problems, with the intended shutoff of the center six engines during maximum dynamic pressure experienced by the N1 engine causing the sudden loss of two engines and fire breaking out within the stage. This would see the ground control initiating an early separation of the first stage from the second stage to prevent the chance of losing the entire vehicle. Two second stage engines would be lost on ascent, but performance on it was satisfactory with no issues being encountered on the third stage. Only four hours after the LK-Complex had been put into orbit, the Block G would fire to place the stack for a burn towards the moon, however the Block D would fail to ignite to provide mid-course correction burns, placing the stack in an elliptical orbit around the Earth and failing to fly past the moon.

In all respects, it had been a partial success, bringing the payload to orbit but still showing the myriad of problems present in the N1. This flight however would be the final flight of the original N1, with the improved version, the N1F, expected to launch by the end of 1973. The N1F had a list of significant improvements to the vehicle, such as the usage of superchilled propellants and entirely new engines for the first, second, and third stages. In addition to the variety of improvements on the three stages of the vehicle, there was also the plan for the usage of an entirely new hydrogen-fueled upper stage to be able to send payload out of Earth orbit. Since the N1 had started development, there had been numerous plans for the usage of hydrogen-fueled upper stages on the vehicle, considering their significantly improved performance over either hypergolic-fueled or kerosene-fueled upper stages. While initial thoughts had been to develop two entirely different upper stages to replace the Block G and the Block D, by the second half of 1971, it had been decided that development of a single stage to replace both the Block G and Block D would be done. This stage, to be called the Block SR, was intended to be able to perform both the Trans Lunar Injection and the Lunar Orbital Insertion burns in addition to being able to have a lifetime capable of the translunar coast. It was expected that considering the advanced stage of testing for the RD-56 engine, that the Block SR would be ready for flight by 1976.

The Soviet lunar program in comparison to the American lunar program was in shambles, having suffered and still suffering from significant financial and technical issues. The Soviet lunar program had started off behind the United States both in terms of schedule and financially, and had struggled to maintain parity throughout the rest of the 1960s with the N1-L3. The architecture of the program, like the Americans, was focused on lunar orbital rendezvous utilizing a single rocket. However unlike the Americans, the Soviets were suffering from a much lower payload capability to the moon and this in turn was reflected upon the LK. The LK was the Soviet lunar lander, and unlike the American Lunar Module, required the cosmonaut to transfer by EVA both from the Soyuz before descent and after they returned to the Soyuz from the moon. There were significant safety concerns besides the need of the EVA transfer because of the available margins of the vehicle and other design issues in the LK. By 1971, the N1-L3 would be canceled and OKB-1 was directed to evaluate and design the L3M, an entirely new plan to land cosmonauts on the moon utilizing a dual launch N1F scenario (rather than the original N1-L3).

The L3M, like the LK, was already finding itself in a host of technical problems and lack of funding. Among the biggest of the technical problems was the configuration of the vehicle and how it was to be done designed (architecture-wise) for a dual launch scenario. One of the leading proposals for the L3M was increasing the size of the Soyuz orbital module to function as the habitat on the module, and then putting the return capsule on top of the enlarged orbital module (and still requiring an EVA transfer to and from the return capsule). This had its own issues, such as having to enlarge the Soyuz orbital module as the crew compartment on the lunar surface and the still present issues of the EVA transfer. For the moment, considering the financial priority on getting the N1F ready for flight, and both the technical problems and lack of funding for the L3M, the Soviet lunar program was dead in the water.

While the lunar program found itself dead in the water, the response on the discovery for the robotic program found itself being pushed into overdrive, especially considering the planned launch of Viking 1 and Viking 2 by the United States in 1975. The 1973 launch window represented the next available launch window to be able to launch robotic missions to Mars, and by the time of the discovery there were already preparations underway to launch another pair of orbiters and landers towards the Red Planet. In comparison to the 1971 launch window, the 1973 launch window required more performance out of the Proton in order to reach Mars, impacting the Soviets plans to reach Mars. This would require that the Soviet Union to split up the orbiters and landers and launch them separately, because their combined weight would be insufficient to reach the Red Planet. A pair of buses, specifically intended to provide life support to the landers would be required, with the landers launching after the orbiters to ensure that they were both in place by the time the landers arrived at Mars. For now, there was little time but working to prepare the next series of Soviet Mars orbiters and landers, intended to be near-exact replicas of the previous ones sent in 1971 (despite the less than year time between end of mission for Mars 2 and 3 and the opening of the new launch window).

 

[xa na xa]

Separate landers orbiters and landers is risky but great if it works!

 

[Bassoe]

So the race is on to get to the radio telescope on Mars. And, of course, the journey to get their is almost likely to be more rewarding than the actual goal, in terms of technology and advancement.

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If it is a radio telescope. Anyone else think we might be dealing with some kind of solar mirror here? It would explain the higher temperatures at the center of the artifact without requiring alien or precursor superciv technology capable of continuing to function for gods-know-how-long without maintenance if the only artificial mechanism is an enormus parabolic mirror dish being kept from being buried in dust by windstorms.

 

[Usili 2.0]

And here's the next chapter shifting to the United States again.

V

The Apollo Program when instituted had a single goal, land a man on the moon before the decade is out. Beyond that? There were no other assigned tasks for the Apollo Program, seemingly leaving it a dead end as soon as that task was accomplished. However from where there was possibility, there became opportunity, and the Apollo Applications Program was born into being. The Apollo Applications Program was planned to start in the aftermath of the landing; what else could be done with the tools and hardware developed for the Apollo Program, that could be used in the post-Apollo Program? Numerous proposals outlined the possibilities that could be done, ranging from wet workshops launched to Saturn-IBs to dual-launched Apollo landing missions on the moon. However in the wake of the Apollo 1 Fire, the growing costs of the Vietnam War, and the unpopularity of the space program, it was not be, as the proposals for the Apollo Applications Program were continually downsized and decreased as the fiscal environment became more and more clear. Elements of the Apollo Applications Program, such as the J-Class missions and the Lunar Roving Vehicle, would become part of the Apollo Program as the Apollo Applications Program found itself narrowed onto the development of a space station.

The space station would find itself caught in bitter fights over design such as to be launched by a Saturn-IB or Saturn V, to be a 'wet workshop' (in which a spent stage is converted to a space station on orbit) or to be a 'dry workshop' (in which the stage is converted to a space station on the ground) and so on. It would eventually be decided that the Apollo Applications Project was to be built as a dry workshop, and because of that, would be required to be launched on top of a Saturn V. The space station, eventually named Skylab, was intended to fulfill three purposes: 1) to prove the worth of a permanent space station, 2) to explore the physiological effects of man's endurance in spaceflight, and 3) to conduct a series of space oriented experiments. Two workshops, Skylab and Skylab-B, were authorized and built for the purposes of the Apollo Applications Program.

Like with all ongoing programs, Skylab and Skylab-B were thrown in the air in the wake of NASA's discovery as their roles found themselves checked over and reviewed. One of the 'big' questions that was asked, was what would the role of Skylab and Skylab-B be in any kind of proving ground for a crewed Mars expedition? The most simple question that had to be answered first was on whether humans could survive in space for long durations of time, and that was already expected to be one of the many things that Skylab would hopefully be able to determine an answer on. However, if Skylab flew successfully and conducted all of its experiments, what would Skylab-B do afterwards to build upon Skylab? Prior to the discovery, proposals had ranged from flying Skylab-B as it was for a trio of 56-day long missions to flying it as a follow-on to the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project between the United States and the Soviet Union, with costs being one of the biggest challenges for Skylab-B.

After some time, the role of Skylab-B was determined that it should serve the same mission as Skylab, on if humans could survive in space for long durations of time. In the case of Skylab-B, it would perform a series of even longer missions than Skylab was expected to fly, flying three 84-day missions in comparison to Skylab's one 28-day mission and two 56-day missions. The third and final crewed flight for Skylab-B would also implement another required test for any kind of crewed Mars mission, artificial gravity. To perform these tests, Skylab-B was expected to require a series of required modifications because of the expected spin rotation, such as the deletion of the Apollo Telescope Mount (which would be replaced by an Earth Resources Module) and an additional pair of solar arrays to replace the lost solar panels from the ATM. The required number of modifications however, would prevent it from being utilized in the backup role for Skylab, and after significant discussion it was agreed upon that the modifications for Skylab-B would take place after Skylab was confirmed to have arrived in orbit and see its first crew arrive onboard.

However, if Skylab-B was to conclude the work as the kind of proving ground for long duration spaceflight to Mars, then it would leave a significant gap as Skylab-B was intended to have crews in flight for no more than eighty-four days, less than half of the seven-month average travel time that was spent on the transit between Earth and Mars. Considering the length of time that would be required to understand the impacts of long-duration microgravity flight, it was rather becoming apparent a second series of workshops would be needed to follow Skylab and Skylab-B. The second series of workshops after initial meetings were quickly intended to be meant as copies of Skylab, in order to minimize design changes and be able to have them ready for flight in the mid-70s and prior to the Space Shuttle being ready for flight. The most significant of the changes that were determined as being necessary for the second pair of workshops was the requirement of them being able to support two crews living on the station for one hundred and eighty days each. The requirements of having crews stay in space for one hundred and eighty days posed some challenges, most particularly the Command and Service Module (CSM). Following the fueling of the tanks and the opening of the main valves for the tanks, the CSM had a lifetime of only ninety days before the seals and gaskets had to be replaced and the tanks and line had to be flushed. Two methods were proposed as a means of solving the issue, work on a potential redesign of the propulsion system to be able to allow the CSM to stay in orbit for one hundred and eighty days, or have a CSM replacement flight launched half-way through the mission so as to replace the CSM and give the station crew a fresh CSM. For the moment, there was no clear determination with a decision needing to be reached by the end of the first half of 1973.

As the year crossed into 1973, work was underway on preparing for the launch of Skylab and the final Apollo moonshot, Apollo 18. In the wake of the discovery, NASA had sent a secret message to the Astronaut Office and the Manned Spaceflight Center [1] to begin evaluations of at least flying Apollo 18 considering the potential impacts of all this. When Congress passed the budget for 1973, it included an important provision, authorizing NASA the operational money in order to launch one final Apollo moonshot considering the hardware had been already funded and finalized. In the press announcement in October of 1972, NASA announced that Apollo 18 would be aimed for a launch in mid-July, and would be flown by astronauts Dick Gordon, Vance Brand, and Joe Engle. The target for the mission and final Apollo lunar landing, would be landing near the central peaks of Gassendi Crater in order to accomplish the last major priority of the lunar scientists, the collection of highland material older than the Imbrium impact.

On April 12th, Skylab began the three and a half mile rollout from the Vehicle Assembly Building to LC-39A. Nearly three years of work had gone into Skylab, and hundreds of eyes were upon it as it undertook the slow rollout to the launch pad. On May 14th, Skylab would launch as America's first space station, slightly more than a month away.

[1] The Manned Spaceflight Center would not be renamed to the Johnson Space Center until February 19th, 1973, in the wake of Lyndon B. Johnson's death on January 22nd, 1973.

 

[Usili 2.0]

And after that post, a couple of images I felt like sharing for a bit of context/setting the mood afterwards:

A picture of Gassendi Crater, taken by Apollo 16 as part of orbital imagery, looking southwards:



The rollout of Skylab from the Vehicle Assembly Building:

 

[Estro]

As the year crossed into 1973, work was underway on preparing for the launch of Skylab and the final Apollo moonshot, Apollo 18. In the wake of the discovery, NASA had sent a secret message to the Astronaut Office and the Manned Spaceflight Center [1] to begin evaluations of at least flying Apollo 18 considering the potential impacts of all this. When Congress passed the budget in 1973, it included an important provision, authorizing NASA the operational money in order to launch one final Apollo moonshot considering the hardware had been already funded and finalized. In the press announcement in October of 1972, NASA announced that Apollo 18 would be aimed for a launch in mid-July, and would be flown by astronauts Dick Gordon, Vance Brand, and Joe Engle. The target for the mission and final Apollo lunar landing, would be landing near the central peaks of Gassendi Crater in order to accomplish the last major priority of the lunar scientists, the collection of highland material older than the Imbrium impact.

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Aww, none of the 13's astronauts are there. If you're giving us an extra mission, at least let one of the 13's astronauts land.

Also the name of the timeline made me expect something more... apocalyptic.

 

[Usili 2.0]

Aww, none of the 13's astronauts are there. If you're giving us an extra mission, at least let one of the 13's astronauts land.

Also the name of the timeline made me expect something more... apocalyptic.

Click to shrink...

Okay to sort of answer why this didn't happen, it sort of deals with the rotation system that was instituted by Deke Slayton, the head of the Astronaut Office. Basically, after you flew a mission, it was two missions off, assigned to backup, wait two missions, and then fly as the prime crew.

In the case of those who were the later Commanders for the Apollo missions (Jim Lovell on 13, Dave Scott on 15, John Young on 16, and Gene Cernan on 17), they were those who had originally flown as Command Module Pilots, and then winding up six missions after as the Commander of their own mission. So like, as an example on Jim Lovell, he flew as the Command Module Pilot on Apollo 8, was assigned as the backup Commander on Apollo 11, and then would've wound up as Commander on Apollo 14; however, Slayton was overruled when he put Al Shepard as Commander of Apollo 13, and so Apollo 13 and Apollo 14 crews were switched so as to give Shepard more time in training.

Unfortunately for Fred Haise (who would've been the Commander of a hypothetical Apollo 19 mission as Swigert was tentatively assigned to the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project until his 'retirement' from NASA because of the Apollo 15 postage scamp scandal), it just sort of runs into the issue of well, funding and lack of 'airframes'. The only reason why you see Apollo 18 flown is because LM-13 (the lunar module being utilized for Apollo 18 ITTL), was the only lunar module in a near state of completion from what I understand that could've been used for this [1].

Also apologies on the timeline name sounding a bit more... apocalyptic? It sort of was something I was debating for a bit, and just felt would be a good way of describing to go from the Earth to Mars.

[1] This doesn't take into account LM-9, which had been assigned to be flown for Apollo 15 as the final 'H-Class' [2] mission, however the original Apollo 15 (along with Apollo 19) would be canceled on September 1st, 1970, with the missions Apollo 16, 17, and 18 (all J-Class missions) being relabeled as Apollo 15, 16, and 17.

[2] H-Class and J-Class refer to the kind of stays expected on the moon, with the modifications on the lunar modules. Apollo 12, 13, and 14 were all H-Class missions, with thirty-six hours of lifetime and two EVAs on the moon, while Apollo 15, 16, and 17 were all J-Class missions, with seventy-two hours of lifetime and three EVAs on the moon (and also having expanded mobility with the Lunar Roving Vehicle).