Last May, astronauts were launched in an American spacecraft to the International Space Station, for the first time in nine years. How can life on the space station - the longest stay of humans outside the Earth - be a preparation for a future journey to Mars?
Written by: Dr. Netzah Farbiash
of: Young Galileo, issue 199 August 2020
The corona crisis makes us see even a routine thing like a flight abroad as something distant and unattainable. The flights will surely resume, but let's try to think for a moment not only about a flight to a distant land but about a future in which we can choose between a trip to Mars or the Moon and a short tour of the solar system.
As with other things that have never happened, long journeys in space also seem unattainable and even impossible. But if we look at history, skepticism may give way to a fascinating reality.
When the dream was a reality
On May 30 of this year, in the shadow of the Corona virus, NASA and SpaceX launched two astronauts to the International Space Station. This marked an important chapter in the history of space exploration, for two reasons: first, it was the first American manned launch since the end of the space shuttle program in 2011; And the second, for the first time in history a commercial company (and not a state) was responsible for the manned launch.
In 1865, the famous writer Jules Verne published his book "From the Earth to the Moon", which actually contained the first description of a spaceship. Readers loved his works thanks to the developed imagination evident in them.
A little more than 100 years later, in 1969, the similitude became reality, when the spacecraft Eagle landed on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission, and the first man walked on it. Since then the space programs have developed and achievements have accumulated and today they are part of the technology we all use.
Apart from the initial goals of the space programs - research and discovery of new worlds - satellites orbiting the earth are currently used for communication, navigation, agriculture, weather forecasting and more. Telescopes that orbit the Earth provide images in areas that the atmosphere does not allow to receive (because it absorbs part of the electromagnetic wave areas), spacecrafts cruise in the vastness of space and make it possible to study the Sun, the planets and other celestial bodies, as well as the Earth, and make it possible, for example, to predict more precisely than before the weather the air
Multinational cooperation
The beginning of space activity was characterized by competition between countries, mainly between the former Soviet Union (which had the achievement of the first man in space) and the United States (which landed humans on the moon) as part of the "space race". Since then, many geopolitical processes have taken place in the world: the Soviet Union disintegrated, the European Union was founded, China became stronger and more.
The enormous costs involved in space activity required multinational cooperation. The best example of such cooperation is the International Space Station.
The International Space Station is a manned artificial satellite that orbits the Earth and serves as a research station. It is at an average height of 400 kilometers above us. It is funded by the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada and Europe, and they also operate it through command and control centers on Earth. The cost of the entire station is estimated at 100 billion euros, and it is considered the most expensive structure ever created.
The station is serviced by spacecraft from different countries, and is visited by astronauts and cosmonauts from 15 different countries. Usually six people stay in it together. The space station holds the record for the longest continuous presence of humans in space, with continuous human activity since October 31, 2000 - almost 20 years!
What is the connection between the space station and the journey to Mars?
The space station is relatively close to Earth, so why is it important to understand what is done there in the context of distant journeys into space?
Well, let's say we want to go on a trip to Mars. Even if we develop the technology required to transport humans safely to it and land them there safely, to transport equipment and means to establish a permanent space colony and establish it there, the question remains how the journey itself will be conducted.
This is a very long journey of several months, in which several people, from different places, will be imprisoned together in a relatively tiny volume with no ability to get out. If someone gets angry with his friend, he won't even be able to go out to ventilate...
Therefore, the space station is not only an important laboratory for scientific experiments, but also a way to examine how humans function in conditions very different from those on Earth. Understanding human nature is as important to the success of space travel as the development of appropriate technology.
And remember, Mars is relatively close. In the future there may be longer journeys, even ones that will last years. And maybe it's better to try to freeze the passengers until they reach their destination? Interesting idea.
Now, after such an important breakthrough achieved by the civil space industry, it is possible to think about things that in the not so distant past seemed impossible to achieve. And if a flight to Mars sounds like science fiction to you, remember that in 1865 Jules Verne looked like a dreamer when he talked about landing on the moon.
*The author is the CEO of Carso Science Park in Be'er Sheva. Carso Science Park in Be'er Sheva is an interactive science museum that awakens the hidden scientist in visitors through play and experimentation. For details, look for Caruso Science Park on Facebook or on the website www.sci-park.co.il
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And a good word to the current American administration that has increased funding for NASA (after the Obama administration decreased funding from year to year) and there will also be ambitions to land on the moon and later on Mars.
The most significant spacecraft development project is currently taking place in Boca Chica, on the coast of South Texas. There they simultaneously develop the huge spaceship, (currently called Star-Ship) and its huge booster, (Super Abi). Together they will exceed the Saturn-5 (the rocket of the Apollo program to the moon) in their carrying capacity, and except for the failed attempt of the Russians to compete with the Americans in sending to the moon, in the last fifty years there has not been a space vehicle that even came close to that.
But what is important is the ability to land these two huge tools, refuel and relaunch - the same day. This is in contrast to the Saturn 5, where nothing could be reused at all, or the Space Shuttle, which took about 9 months to prepare for relaunch, and was horrendously expensive.
At this very moment they are building models of the starship there, testing them (and sometimes it ends in huge explosions), building the missile factory around them and the launch pad around the launch site, which is already functioning. All at the same time and at two sites, which are about 3 km apart (the missile construction site and the launch site).
A few weeks ago they finished flying two models (numbers 5 and 6) to a height of 150 meters and landed them safely. Next in line will be number 8 - and they will try to fly it to a height of about 19 km and land it.
What is happening is covered regularly and continuously by several YouTube channels, and they are joined by occasional visitors when an important event is about to take place. Several other channels give semi-weekly and weekly reviews. All in English, of course.
Here is the latest overview of one of the channels, not only of what Space-X is doing, but also of other events:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLPKsXDdZWY
And here is a review of another channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n5qII7laYA
So this is the key to the space revolution taking place right now - the significant lowering of the cost of launching into space, and making all the other rocket and launch manufacturers backward and failures almost overnight. This is the main engine of the new space race, the leading competitor has already finished warming up the engines, he crossed the starting line and completed the first round, while the competitors have not even finished looking at their scraps, scratching their heads and thinking "so what do we do now?"