Tara Maraski (Wandering Star) was the first Siadrian manned mission to Mars, and the first mission to successfully land humans on the surface of Mars. Departing in April 1985, the 5 astronauts would spend 907 days in space, with 340 days of those days on the surface of Mars in the southern portion of Acheva Agos (Lunae Planum).
The mission has its origins in the Space Race of the late 1960s and 1970s between the Diotisch Raumfahrt Bund (Diotan Spaceflight League, commonly referred to as the Bund) and the Hythrian Friendship Treaty Space Organization (abbreviated in Siadrian as KUVAT). The Diotans would narrowly win the race to land a man on the Moon in 1972, with the Hythrians doing so successfully the following year. This loss, combined with several high-profile disasters including the loss of three Siadrian astronauts on the surface of the moon in 1975, would significantly decrease public enthusiasm for manned space exploration as the 1980s began to approach.
KUVAT Chief of Operations Jovan Valaris would begin pushing for a manned Mars mission as early as 1974, believing it would reinvigorate enthusiasm for manned spaceflight. Many of his assumptions were based on the successful deployment of what had become known as Project A, a top-secret nuclear thermal engine whose development had been ongoing since 1971. An expansion in KUVAT’s budget for the tenure of President Jakov Samari (a personal friend of Jovan), would encourage these plans, and a tentative date of 1987 was set for the launch of the Mars Hypothesis ’87.
The Lirtava Scandal of 1980 and resultant collapse of the government would dramatically change plans. The newly formed Liberal interim government was desperate for programs to slash to cut costs, with recession looming, and the “bloated” KUVAT was one of the first to be put on the chopping block. Initially slated to be canned along with most of the other manned missions planned for the 1980s, Jovan was able to save Mars Hypothesis ’87 alone—though with the conditions that R&D costs be limited as much as possible. Worse yet, 1981 would see the cancellation of Project A, having produced no prototype capable of operating within acceptable limits. Much of the mission architecture had been based on the theoretical specifications of Project A, requiring significant redesigns and recalculation to almost every mission component.
Acting President Liska Aravin confided in 1982 to Vrasa Paliśi, who he had lined up to take Jovan Valaris’ position as KUVAT Chief of Operations when Jovan inevitably resigned, that he expected the program to be cancelled, and that the requirements he had given them were impossible especially with the cancellation of Project A. Diotan intelligence gathering had been well aware of Mars Hypothesis ’87 for several years, and was content to let them carry on—expecting that either they would see reason and cancel the mission or, more likely, suffer another major disaster that might entirely destroy the program. They would further put pressure on the Siadrians by announcing their own manned Mars mission, Mars 90, with an earliest possible launch date in 1985 (though internally they expected delays and a realistic launch date of 1991). Jovan was well aware that cancellation of Mars Hypothesis ’87, now known as Tara Maraski, would likely mean the end of Siadrian manned spaceflight for at least 30 years, if not longer, and that coming second place again was not acceptable. He would announce that year that Siadria was going to be first to Mars, and that they were going to launch in 1985.
The final design settled upon in 1984 consisted of five major mission components to be sent up in 3 main launches, along with about 40 launches of their medium lifter Pašatar-7 for fueling and other minor components. These five components were: the Transfer Module, Command Module, Lander Module, Ascent Module, and Habitation Module.
The Habitation Module “Ilamar” and Ascent Module “Tarkoloros” were to be sent first, unmanned, along with all the supplies needed for the excursion team during their time on the surface. The Habitation Module was a two-story structure with about 81 square meters of internal space for the three members of the excursion team. It would descend inside a protective aeroshell and had 4 small solid fuel engines on the sides for terminal descent and landing. The Ascent Module would directly follow, landing as close as possible to the Habitation Module. The Ascent Module did not contain any fuel or engines for the descent, instead relying on a contraption called the “Sky Crane” which was contained with the Ascent Module inside the aeroshell. It carried the Ascent Module underneath it using cables, and upon reaching a designated altitude above the surface, would fire its 8 solid fuel engines. Upon zeroing its vertical velocity, it would release the Ascent Module to soft land on inflatable cushions, and then fly off to impact the surface at a safe distance. This was considered one of the most significant possible points of failure, as the technology had only been replicated for much smaller payloads, though in the event of failure the crew would still be able to safely abort the landing and return home.
The other three modules made up the crewed portion of the mission. The Transfer Stage “Jakmakis” was by far the heaviest single module of the entire mission, containing the fuel needed for Trans-Martian Injection, as well as a nuclear reactor to power the entire ship for the duration of their flight to Mars. The Transfer Module was powered by a twin-nozzle RK7 engine, using a fuel mixture of Pentaborane(9) with tetrafluorohydrazine as an oxidizer. While never used on a prior mission, this fuel mixture was chosen as it was storable at room temperature, a significant factor for mission components which were to spend long periods of time with no human supervision, and high in specific impulse. The Transfer Module would be mated via docking clamps to the combined Command and Lander Modules, and then discarded to burn up in the Martian atmosphere upon reaching Mars.
The Command Module “Ekesvar,” also known as the Return Module, would house the crew going to and from Mars, as well as housing the two members of the flight team for the duration of the surface excursion. It contained supplies in detachable conformal storage units, and had the single-use lander module atop an airlock. It also had a heat shield intended for use during orbital insertion to conserve fuel, which would be discarded once this was achieved. The Command Module was powered by 4 RK71 engines, using the same B5H9/N2F4 fuel mixture as the Transfer Module. The Lander Module “Ukatukos” was detached only when the excursion team was to land. It had no ascent capabilities, with its only engines being 4 small solid fuel engines intended for use during terminal descent to slow the craft for landing.
Of the five astronauts on the mission, 4 were Siadrian military personnel, 1 Navy, and 3 Air Force. Of note, the first Siadrian astronaut to both land on the Moon and return home, Paschim Sola, piloted the Lander Module and commanded the excursion team. Her inclusion was controversial owing to her political activities, being an outspoken communist and political persona non grata. However, her inclusion was insisted upon by KUVAT Chief Staffer Leksa Markanjan, who considered her piloting skills second to none, and necessary for the dangerous descent to Mars; which would be done with no communication with Earth and requiring significant manual input to ensure the lander landed close enough to the Habitation Module for the crew to walk the distance with the duration of their oxygen. In return, Arva Talis, a member of the Internal Compliance Bureau (Siadria’s internal intelligence gathering agency), was chosen as flight commander. Her known connections within the Siadrian government created a significant amount of tension, particularly between Arva and Paschim, who knew that Arva existed solely as a watchdog for the government due to her political leanings. The other crew members were: Samar Vesir and Loras Vikrit on the excursion team, and Kapran Sekim on the flight team. Samar Vesir was the lead scientist on the mission, a Navy officer and geologist, who was to conduct studies about Mars’ geological past and surface resources, while Loras Vikrit, the sole civilian, acted as the mission’s doctor. Kapran Sekim was an air force officer and physicist who did most of the flight planning for the mission owing to the 22-minute delay to Mission Control.
The first components of the mission (Habitation Module and Ascent Module) were launched in late 1984 without a hitch, and the go ahead was given for the rest of the mission in early 1985. Following the successful launches and assembly of the Transfer Module in orbit the crew would be ferried to their ship in April 1985, and following a week of final tests to ensure everything was working as intended, performed their Mars insertion burn on April 19, 1985.
Barring several brief communication lapses, the flight to Mars would be relatively uneventful, and the crew would begin final approach to Mars on January 15, 1986. After discarding the empty Transfer Module, the Command Module would successfully enter Martian orbit the following day, and preparations would begin for landing. The Command Module was able to successfully locate the Habitation and Ascent modules approximately 2.5 km away from one another, and sent the command to pull the two modules out of hibernation, allowing for final diagnostic checks with the internal computers. With both landed modules reporting no issues, the excursion team landed later that day, just over a kilometer away from the Habitation Module. They would proceed directly to the Habitation Module before planting a flag and recording an address to be relayed back to Earth.
The pre-supply drop launched with the Habitation and Ascent modules also contained a small, unpressurized rover, which was used to ferry supplies back to the Habitation Module as well as travel to nearby sites to look for evidence of water. The landing site’s location close to Zehan Chosar (Echus Chasma), which was believed to have been formed by liquid water, was of particular interest, and the excursion team would collect some 500 kg in samples from the surface to be studied upon return to Earth. As the Habitation Module came pre-assembled, little needed to be done to make it functional, and the crew would report no issues with it during their 340 day stay on the Martian surface.
Owing to the nature of the mission, it was highly cut down, mostly intended as a political statement more than a scientific venture. While the return of Martian soil samples to terrestrial labs was considered a priority, little science was actually done, and much of the excursion team’s time was spent taking photos and short videos from the Martian surface to be sent to viewers in Siadria. In particular, an impromptu segment planned by Trikona Mission Control and Commander Paschim where Paschim would answer questions sent in by civilians, particularly concerning the crews’ life and routines on Mars, was hugely successful as both a television and radio program. The renewed positive attention to the ailing space program likely secured not only another manned Mars mission in the future, but the entire future of the program. Jovan had gambled successfully, much to the surprise of nearly everyone, even within the program.
The crew would make their final address, an early Christmas prayer, from the surface of Mars on December 22, 1986. The ascent from the surface went smoothly, and the crew would make the brief spacewalk across a tether from the Ascent Module to the Command Module without issue, before leaving the Ascent Module in orbit. After a day to run final diagnostics and to let the excursion team recuperate, the Command Module would make its burn to Earth on December 23.
The crew would begin final approach to Earth on October 7, 1987. As the Command Module did not have any heat shielding, they would use the remainder of their fuel to enter a highly elliptical orbit around Earth. A previously assembled crew tug then picked them up at their nearest approach to Earth after about a week of maneuvering, ferrying them to the Hythrian Treaty space station Zavaqa on October 14, where they would stay for a day before returning to Earth, finally touching down on October 15.
The mission elevated all five of the crew to celebrity status, and it would result in another five missions being planned by the Hythrian Friendship Treaty to bring humans to Mars, culminating in a semi-permanent base that was to be established on the surface in 1999. All following missions would use significantly different architecture, meaning that Tara Maraski was the only mission of its name. And while it had been a success, Jovan Valaris would later admit in 2001 that the mission had carried with it undue risk to the astronauts and expressed that he had felt pressured to go through with the mission, though this statement would be censored by the government not long after Jovan Valaris’ death to heart failure in 2004. The mission remains cherished by Siadrians as an assertion of their superiority in space, though most details of the mission itself are still classified and highly censored.
