Ever since astronomers began pointing telescopes at the Red Planet, discovering images of channels or faces, the hope for the existence of civilization on the planet symbolized this war and the desire to one day end it. the feet.
Today, with the development of science and technology, we have gained new perspectives on the red planet, explaining that the mysterious images appearing on Mars do not belong to a civilization like ours. We used to think so, but the desire to set foot there has not disappeared. , humanity even hopes to establish a long-term presence on Mars. To achieve this, the pioneers must learn to survive on the red planet.
It will certainly be very cold and dry, but this brother is very rich in resources, suitable for exploration and exploitation by astronauts. For example, they can create oxygen and rocket fuel (to get home) from this thin, dense atmosphere of carbon dioxide. Or the crew can also extract water from the dust under their shoes, because Martian soil contains water (5% of Earth’s mass at the equator, up to 60% of Earth’s mass at the poles ). create technology to extract water.
With this water- and carbon-filled atmosphere, growing plants will become possible to produce food and other essential materials. The intensity of sunlight at the equator of Mars is equivalent to that of Norway, which is conducive to plant growth.
Martian soil also contains large amounts of iron oxide and silicon oxide, allowing astronauts to make their own iron, steel, glass and, with the availability of water and carbon dioxide, to make plastic . Thanks to the knowledge of human civilization, capable of manufacturing these materials since the 20th century, the pioneering astronauts – the first Martians – can also do so.
However, sophisticated equipment such as microchips must be transported from Earth but must be relatively small in size to save space for the spacecraft and reduce flight costs.
To live on the Red Planet, it is necessary to have a source of energy that can be obtained from solar panels or electricity converted from heat during the decay reaction of radioactive substances used to provide energy. energy. NASA’s rover robots on the Red Planet are also an option that will need to be deployed for the crew settlement mission.
Providing power for larger vehicles on the surface of Mars requires scientists to find new energy storage solutions such as high-performance fuel cells or better batteries.
Although the technologies and fuel sources mentioned above can help support the first pioneering steps on Mars, building a sustainable population on the Red Planet will require much more energy. Scientists have predicted the existence of a major source of energy that could lie beneath the surface of Mars. Some of the planet’s volcanoes were active millions of years ago, and data collected by rovers orbiting Mars suggest there may be an important heat source inside the cold planet.
Geothermal energy is one of the four main sources of energy on Earth, behind combustion energy, nuclear energy and hydroelectricity. What needs to be done is determine a location to drill and collect geothermal resources, while exploiting underground water sources. However, to break through the heat source, it must use as much energy as atomic energy.
The mission to establish a base on Mars will be financially supported by the government or billionaires, but the long-term plan is that the program must be self-sustaining and self-funding for future interplanetary flights. The plan to mine and transport gold and other precious metals from Mars to Earth is being considered, but the cost of implementing this plan is very high.
With the harshness of the Red Planet and the lack of facilities, this will be a huge challenge for astronauts, but it is also an opportunity to develop new innovations. This is typical of an extremely difficult environment due to the lack of highly skilled labor, which Americans faced in the 18th and 19th centuries. Therefore, intellectual property is the most valuable resource that can be mined and transported on Earth.
Robotics and agriculture are two areas that will be developed and which have the potential to achieve innovations on the red planet. Furthermore, if the existence of life on Mars is discovered, the genetic code of this organism will have great scientific and financial value.
Setting foot on the surface of Mars is a new milestone in the United States Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) space travel program, and this red planet is not the only focus of the travel program space.
A non-profit organization in the Netherlands plans to implement the Mars One program with the aim of sending four pioneers to permanently settle on the red planet by 2023. The Mars One program estimates the cost of the mission . This premiere is worth 6 billion dollars, and all this money was raised thanks to the media campaign for this event on a global scale.
Last year, billionaire Elon Musk, founder of the private company SpaceX, spoke of his contribution to the creation of a human community on Mars of up to 80,000 inhabitants. Musk founded SpaceX with the desire to help humanity become an interplanetary species. The idea was there: sooner or later, someone would exceed their financial and intellectual limits to succeed in establishing a base on Mars.
Source: Space.com
