In July 2024, I, Tobias Rannersmann, flew to Houston, Texas, USA, to participate in the United Space School (USS). USS is an annual program that brings together 50 students from around the world to plan a mission to Mars. 25 countries are involved, each receiving a number of spots, including Namibia with one, South Africa and Germany with two each, and five additional spots for impressive students from countries without allocated spots. The application process differs for each country. In Namibia, application forms are sent to schools and distributed to students. We had to submit these forms with an essay about ourselves and why we wanted to participate. After being selected, we received assignments to prepare for the program. Once completed, we could choose two groups we wanted to work in. Mission planning is divided into five groups, each responsible for a different aspect of a Mars mission. I was in the red group, responsible for getting the astronauts to Mars and back. Another group, the maroon group, is tasked with landing on Mars and returning to Mars orbit after the mission. The green group's task is to ensure the astronauts can survive on Mars. The blue group plans experiments to be conducted on Mars and designs a Mars rover for astronaut transportation. The yellow group oversees the entire mission and forms a budget for the other groups.
When we arrived in Houston, we were picked up from the airport and taken to a house where our host families picked us up. Most host families took in two students of the same gender and looked after us for two weeks. My host was a man whose wife had passed away, and his children had moved out, so he was able to accommodate four of us. I lived with boys from South Africa, Chile, and the Isle of Man, and we all got along well. We worked from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and afterwards, our host and others ensured we always had activities to do. Highlights included attending a baseball game, visiting a theme park with other students, and shooting pistols at a shooting range.
The program is held annually at the University of Clear Lake, where we planned our project. The day starts at 7:45 AM when everyone meets at the university, and the day's program begins at 8:00 AM. In the first week, this mainly consists of lectures on relevant topics for our mission planning and visits to museums, including the Space Center Houston, where we saw the Saturn V rocket that took people to the moon and the interior of a space shuttle. The second week focuses on the actual planning. The evenings in both weeks are also fully planned with activities like a soccer game between students and others involved to help us get to know each other and other events.
As mentioned, the project is planned in groups, which we were assigned to on the first day. On the second day, everyone comes together to determine the mission parameters. We decided to keep the mission within the next 10-15 years to access advanced technology that is not yet science fiction. We chose alternative propulsion methods, allowing us to stay on Mars for 30 days, which we considered optimal but would not be possible with chemical propulsion. We decided to land six astronauts on Mars, with another two staying in orbit. These conditions worked overall but also brought some challenges.
I won't go into what we specifically did for our mission, as that is for the next participants to discover themselves. Some challenges we faced included creating a transfer that doesn't take too long but also doesn't use too much fuel and building a lander for the maroon team with enough cargo and living space and enough fuel for landing and returning to orbit.
Who should try to participate in this project? If you are an 11th-grade student with an interest in science and possibly space, you should definitely try. You must be able to work well in a team and independently and be able to research on your own. You need relatively good grades, but if you don't have them, that's not a problem, as "all-rounders" also have good chances. If this sounds interesting to you, definitely give it a try, and if you have any questions, feel free to email me at Tobias@rannersmann.de, and I'll try to answer them as best as I can.