Visiting Mars

 

the red planet  ever since we conquered the moon back in  1969 humanity has looked to the stars  for the next big challenge  our romanticism with mars dates back  millennia and for a long time  it's felt beyond our reach but with  international space communities and  ambitious billionaires setting their  sights on our solar neighbor  we could be closer to reaching the red  planet than you think  welcome to  today we'll be  diving into humanity's next great space  endeavor to our planetary neighbor in  visiting  mars we're closer than you think  how it all started the first visitor to  the surface of the red planet from earth  was a lander built by the soviet union  in 1973.  it was meant to land safely on the  surface of mars where it could make  observations and conduct experiments  as it happened the lander was destroyed  on impact when it arrived over a year  later in december 1974.  in 1975 it was nasa's turn successfully  launching two landing craft  viking one and viking two  the two craft touched down on the  surface of mars in 1976  where they conducted numerous tests and  took photos of the alien landscape  while the viking landers were only  intended to operate for 30 days  the onboard radioisotope thermoelectric  generators kept running for  years viking lander one made a final  transmission to earth november 11  1982 six full years after landing  successfully  following the touchdown of the first  landers in the 1970s many other  organizations have attempted similar  missions to mars  the european space agency launched its  first lander in 2003 which was promptly  lost upon arrival  a similarly unsuccessful mission was  undertaken by russia in 2011 which aimed  to retrieve a sample of the martian moon  phobos while also placing a chinese  probe in orbit  communication and control was lost  shortly after launch with the rocket and  probe being stranded in low earth orbit  before finally re-entering and  disintegrating above the pacific ocean  in 2012  as time has gone on and technology's  improved mars missions have been  successful  and the craft better equipped nasa's  curiosity rover and  insight lander were the most recent  visitors to the martian surface in 2012  and 2018 respectively  both rovers have provided valuable  information relating to habitability and  the internal structure of mars  in recent years mars exploration has  shifted from unmanned missions to manned  missions due to the competition between  various organizations and companies  which has increased the pressure to get  people to mars first  mars-1 intends to permanently send  humans to mars in 2031  while nasa plans to get people to mars  sometime in the 2030s the united arab  emirates also has set their eyes on mars  with plans to build a human settlement  on the red planet in the next hundred  years  they're even currently building a mars  city in the desert with conditions  similar to those on the red  planet so that technology and building  materials can be tested before being  used for a mars mission  the front runner for mars exploration  however is none other than  elon musk spacex with the ambitious  target of landing humans on the red  planet in  2024 before any company or organization  is able to visit mars  they will need to overcome many  challenges including getting to the red  planet providing shelter for explorers  and  producing food and water in a hostile  environment  challenges the first step in visiting  mars is figuring out how to cross the  great expanse of empty space that  separates us from the martian soil we  wish to inhabit  the first challenge is fuel a massive  amount of fuel is used just to leave  earth's atmosphere leaving not much left  over for the six-month journey to mars  to overcome this spacex has envisioned  the starship rocket  a craft capable of taking off and  waiting in orbit to be refueled by a  second starship launched simultaneously  refueling the starship rocket while in  orbit means that a greater amount of  equipment and resources can be carried  on the half year voyage  arrival as the starship approaches mars  at the eye watering speed of 16  800 miles per hour it will begin to slow  down due to air resistance from the thin  martian atmosphere  unlike the carbon fiber composite heat  shields of previous landers  starship's exterior is made of stainless  steel which counter-intuitively can  withstand and dissipate heat much more  effectively  thrusters on the underside of the  starship allow the rocket to slow its  descent enough to safely land on the  martian surface  after a long journey aboard the starship  the first humans will walk the surface  of mars where they will be met with a  hostile atmosphere  the air on mars is much thinner than  earth's and mostly composed of carbon  dioxide  as well as unfiltered radiation from the  sun that's a threat to both humans and  the plants they hope to eat  don't let the color of the red planet  fool you it may look warm but  temperatures can drop to lows of  negative 195 degrees fahrenheit  shelter if the first humans hope to  survive in this inhospitable place  they will need to build shelters that  are able to combat the chilly  temperatures of mars  elon musk has suggested that the first  humans on mars would live in glass domes  these would need to have some type of  temperature control which would maintain  a constant temperature that humans would  be able to survive in  the pressure of the martian atmosphere  is less than one percent that on earth  which is low enough for  gases in the human blood to instantly  turn into bubbles killing any  unprotected explorer  almost instantly for humans to survive  on the martian surface the habitats will  need to have pressure control which  maintains a pressure far  higher than what is normal for mars's  thin atmosphere  due to this thin atmosphere high levels  of radiation from the sun  reach the surface of the red planet this  not only increases  rapid sunburn to anyone not in the shade  but also to  the risk of cancer it takes 6 inches or  15 centimeters of steel to shield  against this much radiation  to ensure the humans traveling to mars  are protected from solar radiation  the domes used for habitats would have  to be built using radiation resistant  materials such as heavy metals or metal  alloys  building out of metal would be  impractical since it's heavy and would  be difficult to transport from earth in  large quantities  alternatively the domes could be built  underground  although building human habitats  underground would be a good solution to  the radiation problem it's far more  difficult than building above ground  fortunately for the next batch of  explorers the 2024 spacex mission to  mars is a return  trip meaning the astronauts will only be  on the surface of mars for a limited  amount of time  radiation exposure over short periods is  much safer when compared to living in a  permanent and unprotected habitat  the martian atmosphere is 0.04 percent  oxygen which is nowhere near enough to  allow humans to breathe  luckily nasa and mit have developed  equipment that's able to convert carbon  dioxide  the main component of the martian  atmosphere into oxygen  that is until plants can take over the  carbon scrubbing duties  when the construction of the habitats  have been completed the astronauts will  need to turn their attention to other  pressing matters  such as obtaining food and water from a  dry planet with toxic soil  water humans need to drink around three  liters of water every day and it's also  required for growing plants used for  food  water is heavy and transporting large  quantities of it from earth to mars  would not be realistic  luckily for those heading to mars there  are expansive lakes of ice beneath the  martian soil meaning the astronauts will  be able to get a refreshing drink after  doing some digging  much of this water is very salty however  desalinization or distillation can be  employed to purify the groundwater once  adequate amounts of water have been  found the astronauts will be turning  their attention to their stomachs  the astronauts will bring only small  amounts of food to the red planet and  will need to produce the majority of  what they  eat this could be done using greenhouses  with regulated temperature and pressure  the martian atmosphere primarily  consists of carbon dioxide which is what  plants need to undergo photosynthesis  what a happy coincidence sadly the soil  on mars contains high levels of  perchlorate ions which are toxic to  plants  the soil will need to be chemically  changed to support plant growth  once the shelters have been built and  the issues of food and water have been  dealt with  the first astronauts will be able to  survive on the red planet  what's next numerous companies and  organizations plan to eventually develop  a self-sufficient colony on mars that's  able to sustain human life indefinitely  at the moment humans will only be able  to visit mars if they're inside habitats  or a space suit  but this could change through a  terraforming process where we literally  modify a planet's ecosystem  think of it as climate change on purpose  elon musk has recently proposed the use  of nuclear weapons on the red planet  which will melt the ice caps and warm  mars this process may also result in a  thicker atmosphere that's able to  nurture life  while at the moment the only people who  can hope to visit mars are trained  astronauts  one day you might be able to visit our  planetary neighbor  either permanently or just for a brief  visit