Is It Really Possible to Survive on Mars?
Saturday, December 4, 2021 | Chimniii Desk
Key Highlights
- It intends to launch an unmanned mission to Mars in early 2024.Elon Musk, the company's CEO, has stated that he is confident that humans will land on Mars in 2026.
- If getting to Mars safely is difficult, surviving there will be even more difficult.
- Many believe Mars is hot, but due to its distance from the Sun and its atmosphere being 100 times thinner than Earth's, the temperature fluctuates significantly.
- Additionally, stepping outside without a spacesuit will cause your blood to boil due to the low atmospheric pressure.
- And, of course, the primary challenge of life on Mars is obtaining safe drinking water.
Advertisement
SpaceX is getting closer to Mars with nearly monthly tests of prototypes of its massive Starship. It intends to launch an unmanned mission to Mars in early 2024.
Elon Musk, the company's CEO, has stated that he is confident that humans will land on Mars in 2026. NASA's goal of returning astronauts to the Moon within two years is an extremely ambitious timeline in and of itself. When and if Starship does take off with passengers, it will be a journey not only for the wealthy, but also for the courageous.
It's perilous and inconvenient. Mars feels like an advertisement for Shackleton's Antarctic expedition. This is a reference to the famous Anglo-Irish explorer Ernest Shackleton, who is credited with placing this advertisement in a newspaper in order to recruit brave souls to brave the Antarctic's bitter cold.
As is the case with Antarctica's difficult and dangerous conditions, Mars' atmosphere will be inhospitable. To be completely candid, many people may have died at the start. There is some difficult sledding over there.
Advertisement
He believes the uphill battle is worth it in order to colonise Mars if, as he asserts, the planet Earth is doomed. Prior to discussing the difficulties of living on Mars, it will be quite difficult to get there.
25 of the 49 robotic missions to Mars have been unsuccessful in their attempts to reach the fourth planet from the Sun. The journey will take at least six months. When the distance between Earth and Mars is shortest, the optimal time to travel is when the distance is greatest. That is, twice a decade.
Even so, it will be a 34-mile or 55-million-kilometer trek. Because it cannot be done in a straight line, the distance travelled will actually be greater.
As a result, the trajectory would be comparable to that of a quarterback throwing a ball. They throw the ball not in the direction of the receiver at the time, but in the direction of future teammates as they run across the field.
Curriculum enhancements will be required. If this is not done precisely, the spacecraft may become lost in space or crash upon arrival. This has already occurred.
Advertisement
NASA's Mars Climate OrbiterIn 1998, a software glitch brought NASA's Mars Climate Orbiter dangerously close to the Red Planet, where it either perished in the atmosphere or was lost in orbit around the Sun. Live communication would also be impossible, as radio signals take up to 24 minutes to return to Earth.
As a result, the spacecraft operates autonomously, relying on an onboard computer to automate the entire process. Minutes will appear to be hours. And when the vehicle – which resembles a starship – is ready to land, it will execute a complex landing manoeuvre. If getting to Mars safely is difficult, surviving there will be even more difficult.
NASA's Perseverance rover, which was shot down in February, is currently studying Mars' habitability and searching for evidence of past microbial life.
Its cameras captured NASA's Ingenuity helicopter flying above a dusty desert landscape. Massive dust storms resembling tornadoes have the potential to cover the entire globe, and the dust is toxic.
Many believe Mars is hot, but due to its distance from the Sun and its atmosphere being 100 times thinner than Earth's, the temperature fluctuates significantly.
At the surface, the daytime high temperature can drop to 22 °C or 71 °F and as low as -99 °C or minus 146 °F at night. Additionally, that thin atmosphere would expose would-be Martians to radiation.
And, unlike the magnetic bubble that protects Earth, Mars lacks a magnetic field to deflect these lethal rays and particles. Building houses underground would protect – or, alternatively, they could be built above ground with a protective layer of regolith – loose dust and broken rock deposits.
It is abundant on the Red Planet. Additionally, stepping outside without a spacesuit will cause your blood to boil due to the low atmospheric pressure.
Advertisement
Martian Atmoshphere
According to a NASA scientist, it's comparable to popping a can of soda. You will be executed. Because the atmosphere is primarily composed of carbon dioxide, a spacesuit failure is a potential death sentence.
NASA is attempting to resolve this issue by converting CO2 to oxygen using a toaster-sized instrument called MOXIE mounted on the Perseverance rover. It may one day provide breathable air and even assist in the lift-off of rockets from the planet's surface, as the propellant is oxygen-based.
And, of course, the primary challenge of life on Mars is obtaining safe drinking water. While soil contains less water and vapour than the atmosphere, the majority of it is in the form of ice.
Perhaps the most viable option for the first humans on Mars is to live on their spacecraft for the first few years, using it as a habitable base for city construction. There is discussion of landscaping Mars – engineering it to resemble Earth by producing enough oxygen for humans to breathe.
It is, however, a long way from the immediate goal of first-time travellers, which is to survive solely at night. It's perilous, inconvenient, and a lengthy journey. You may not survive. However, this is an incredible adventure, and it will be an incredible experience. And your name will be etched into the annals of history. Yes, you can perish.
Advertisement