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- Not in my day, but, someday astronauts will visit Mars. Probably a one way trip first time, but, the trick is to keep astronauts alive while they are there.
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- It will take several months of space travel to reach Mars. Let’s say you make it there and are orbiting the planet. Landing on the surface is the next trick. Mar’s atmosphere is 100 times thinner than Earth’s atmosphere. Parachutes will not work. Power thrusters must slow the heavy space craft down then stand on its tail to gently reach the surface.
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- Estimates are that this spacecraft needs to be carrying 20 to 30 tons of astronauts and supplies to start a planetary habitat. A well designed decelerator is needed to slow down this much mass and land it safely.
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- Next trick is how to stay alive once on the surface? It is cold. The average temperature is -81F, but, depending on time and location it can range form +86 at the equator to -284F at the poles. The thin atmosphere means astronauts will feel rapid temperature changes much more harshly. New and better space suits and habitats need to be designed.
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- Food and supplies are required similar to a research outpost in the Antarctic. Resupply missions would take months to complete. Self-sustainability will require some form of interplanetary farming. If 80 square meters can be dedicated to plant growth it would be like a pot farm with artificial lighting, water pumped form sub-surface, carbon-dioxide pumped from the 4 man crew.
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- Crew produced CO2 will work but be insufficient to support the crop growth needed. Some new technology is needed to scrub CO2 out of the gases in the Martian atmosphere.
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- Plants are also needed to resupply oxygen for the 4 man crew. This technology needs tight control as well. In a closed environment the crew has the risk of oxygen toxicity. And, oxygen is very flammable. It needs to be managed carefully. One management technique would be to have the capability to split CO2 into oxygen and carbon monoxide.
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- Surviving in this man-made habitat will certainly be challenging. But, let’s get back to the voyage to get there. It takes a complicated spacecraft. Even assuming it all works it has to avoid space debris and intense radiation. High energy Cosmic Rays can easily penetrate the walls of a spacecraft.
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- Cosmic Rays also penetrate the brain and destroy brain cells. Astronauts may loose a functioning keen mind to operate what’s needed. Longer exposure may create cancer.
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- Many of these obstacles need to be overcome not limited to shelter, food, water, air to breath, communication , exercise, social interactions, medicine, ………. The biggest obstacle to be overcoming failures. We can not think of everything. We will need to be prepared to deal with surprises.
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- Stay tuned, Space-X and Elon Musk will have a proposal for a Mars trip this year. Andy Weir will have a book and a movie coming out that will focus on some of the worst case scenarios. Some future generation will see it happen for real.
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- In the meantime we need to send robots to do our exploring. Next March, 2016, we will launch another spacecraft ( robot) called “ Insight”. It will take 7 months to get to Mars. About the size of a car it will land with instruments designed to study the internal structure of the planet.
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- Mars is less geologically active than Earth having no plate tectonics. It therefore retains a more complete record of the planetary history of our solar system. Seismographs will measure the size, thickness, and density of the core, mantle and crust. It may even discover underground water reservoirs. Other instruments will measure the rate at which heat escapes from the planet’s interior.
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- The study will determine the solid-liquid state of the core. It will determine the composition and structure of the mantle and crust. It will measure the rate of meteorite impacts on the surface.
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- All this data is designed to tell the story of the origins of the Solar System. All this data will be immediately available to everyone interested. Students can learn their own solar system history lessons. We better learn a lot before sending our first astronauts there. It is a risky trip.
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