Sam McKee: Could humans expand beyond their home world and establish settlements on the planet Mars? The idea of inhabiting the Red Planet has been around for decades. However, skeptics dismissed this as an illusion at best and mere boasting at worst.
Mars may seem superficially similar to Earth in many respects. However, its atmosphere is skinny and humans would have to live in pressurized habitats on the surface.
However, in an era in which space tourism became possible, the red planet became a dreamland of wealthy eccentrics and techno utopians. As is often the case with science communication, there is a discrepancy between how close we are to this ultimate goal and how the general public understands it.
However, I believe that settling Mars is justified and that this goal is not as distant as some people think. In fact, there are some good reasons to be positive about humanity's future on the Red Planet.
First, Mars is achievable. During the optimal alignment of Earth and Mars, with both planets orbiting the Sun, it is possible to get there by spacecraft in six to eight months.
Some very fascinating novel engine designs suggest this could be done within two months. However, based on off-the-shelf technology, it would take astronauts six months to travel to Mars and six months to return to Earth.
Astronauts have been on the International Space Station (ISS) and in the Soviet Mir orbital laboratory for so long. We can get there safely, and we have already shown that we can reliably land robots on the surface. There's no technical reason why we can't do the same with humans.
Second, Mars is wealthy in the raw materials needed for humans to “live off the land,” in other words, to achieve a level of self-sufficiency. The red planet contains plenty of carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen that can be separated and isolated using processes developed on Earth.
Mars is fascinating and useful in many ways, unlike the Moon. We have technology on Earth that allows us to stay and inhabit Mars using its materials.
The third reason for optimism about Mars is the radically novel technology we can deploy on a manned mission to the planet.
For example, Moxie (Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment) is a project developed by scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) that sucks in the Martian atmosphere and splits it into oxygen. Process byproducts – carbon monoxide, nitrogen and argon – can be removed.
Once scaled up, similar machines could be able to separate oxygen from hydrogen to produce breathing air, rocket fuel and water.
This makes it easier to travel to the planet and live on the surface because these goods don't have to be brought from Earth – they can be prepared once on Mars. Producing fuel on the surface will make future habitats less dependent on electric or solar vehicles.
But how would we build habitats for our settlers on Mars? Space architect Melodie Yasher has come up with brilliant plans to apply robots to 3D print habitats, landing pads and everything needed for human life on Mars. The apply of robots means all of these components could be manufactured on Mars before humans land. 3D printed houses have already been demonstrated on Earth.
Volunteers also spent time in simulated Martian habitats here on Earth. These are known as Mars analogues. Emergency medicine physician Beth Healey spent a year wintering in Antarctica (which is like living on another planet) for the European Space Agency (ESA) and regularly shares her experiences.
She's not alone, as novel projects emerge every year in caves, deserts, and other extreme environments, where long-term research can explore the physical and psychological demands of people living in such isolated environments.
Finally, Dr. Robert Zubrin's Mars Direct plan has been in place for over 30 years and has been modified to incorporate newfangled technologies as the private sector has developed.
The original plan was to apply the Saturn V rocket (used on the Apollo missions in the 1960s and 1970s) to launch humans. However, this can now be achieved using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and a SpaceX Dragon capsule to transport crew members.
Several unmanned launches from Earth could carry necessary equipment to Mars. These may include a vehicle in which crew members can return. This means that when the first crew arrives, everything will be ready.
Radiation is the biggest problem for astronauts going to Mars. However, using certain materials in the walls of a spacecraft or building a protective shelter inside the vehicle can protect astronauts from high-energy particles.
Similar ideas could be applied to 3D-printed habitats on the surface of Mars. Alternatively, settlers could live underground or in Martian caves.
On Mars, there is a 24-minute delay in communication with Earth. This means that Martians will have to be self-sufficient and less dependent on their home planet from the beginning. While this may pose challenges, they are not insurmountable.
Elon Musk's Starship, which launches on the most powerful rocket ever built, could be a game changer. Starship is currently undergoing testing at a SpaceX facility in South Texas. It's demanding to overstate what a reliable spacecraft cleared to carry humans could do for lunar and Mars exploration.
Lower costs, larger payloads and larger crews all add up to a much more productive lunar and Mars exploration program.
But even without it, everything we need to travel to Mars is either currently available or in an exhilarating delayed stage of development. There will be no shortage of well-prepared astronauts willing to fly.
Sam McKee, Lecturer and PhD Candidate in Philosophy of Science, Manchester Metropolitan University
This article has been republished from Conversation under Creative Commons license. Read it original article.
Image Source: Pixabay.com
