This is what Tal Inbar, head of the Center for Space Research and UAVs at the Fisher Institute, said during a conference entitled "Sustainability, Life and Outer Space - The Future of the Human Race and the Journey to Mars" held at the School of Sustainability at the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center
Invasion of Mars - the emerging plans for the Red Planet
"We could have been on Mars a long time ago." This is what Tal Inbar, head of the Center for Space Research and UAVs at the Fisher Institute, said during a conference entitled "Sustainability, Life and Outer Space - The Future of the Human Race and the Journey to Mars" held at the School of Sustainability at the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center. Inbar dealt in his lecture entitled "Invasion of Mars - the emerging plans for the Red Planet" in the past and current plans for a manned launch to Mars.
Judging by the artists who worked with NASA, already in the seventies the space agency had a concept of a flight to Mars that would last about eight months, when it was necessary to overcome the problems of weightlessness, bone and muscle thinning and the dangers of radiation from the sun.
After you succeed in the journey, the phase of establishing yourself on the Martian soil itself begins. Already in the seventies they realized that Mars is not the moon, and therefore it is impossible to make a fast journey. This is a task that will take several months. The concept was to send the equipment needed for humans and bring the people at the end, and then cover these spacecraft with dirt to protect the food and sensitive materials from the ultraviolet radiation, because Mars has a thin atmosphere and no magnetic field, so its soil receives large doses of radiation .”
In addition, you have to make sure that the people arrive in good enough physical shape for the work of building the snow base of Mars, after a few months of degeneration. It is also necessary to develop durable and flexible space suits. In the movie THE MARTIAN, many technical references to the issue of life on Mars were presented. One of them was the scene of the growing of potatoes on marshy soil enriched with human excrement. When planning a mission to Mars, issues such as growing food, oxygen production, recycling at a higher quality than today should be carefully examined. Growing without soil and greenhouse. In any case, this is a non-trivial task. The Martian soil is poor and it will be necessary to make adjustments to the plants with the help of genetic engineering.
Some even propose to build a Habitat residential building. As soon as the spaceship lands, it starts producing fuel - oxygen and methane that can be produced from local materials, for the return flight. Solar cells will be used to produce electricity and it is also possible to use nuclear batteries. NASA also thought in the XNUMXs to equip the astronauts with drones (remotely manned pilot vehicles) to carry out a survey of interesting areas from a low altitude, to transfer supplies and even people.
The European Space Agency has also been thinking about this for years, and even proposed to send several units to Mars that can be connected, compressed and thus it will be possible to move around inside without suits, and in addition, this habitat will have wheels and it will be possible to move the whole house from place to place.
A mission to Mars will not be the project of one country, but will come out on behalf of all humanity. There are significant technological, medical and other challenges, but above all - this is a very expensive task, which is why we are talking about international cooperation.
The private sector also contributes its part, and thus, for example, it will be possible to use expandable space components from the Bigelow company on the moon and on Mars, one of which is even currently connected to the International Space Station.
Mars One had an interesting idea, but it is likely that it will not take place: a reality show in which they are supposed to send people to Mars - in one direction, and send them supplies whenever the relationship between the orbits of the Earth and Mars is the most suitable, the launch was supposed to be carried out on the basis of Dragon spacecraft, but in concept Similar to that of the seventies - a gradual increase in equipment and living space. and opening inflatable sleeves to link all these components that will be used as living spaces and work spaces. They will also need to be covered with dirt in order to protect the astronauts from ultraviolet radiation.
One of the tools that will enable a flight to Mars is the Falcon Heavy, which is being developed by SpaceX, which will carry components into space that will be connected together into a huge spacecraft that can transport dozens of people to Mars. The CEO of SpaceX, Elon Musk presented his plan in 2016 and said that the goal is to turn humanity into a two-planet species. At least according to SpaceX's illustrations, they propose to transfer to Mars a young population and adults with experience who no longer have a commitment.
More of the topic in Hayadan:
- "Accidents in space are inevitable. You need to learn from them, but don't shy away." (Prof. Yoav Yair, at the same conference)
- "If someone says that in two years he will be able to fly to Mars, that is simply not true, and does not fit with the spacecraft development schedule"
- Strong cosmic radiation can cause danger to astronauts flying to Mars
- Students propose to "surface" Mars using blue bacteria
10 תגובות
Answer to Herzl -
I read the article you attached. It is indisputable that the radiation in deep space is dangerous both for the brain and as a cause of cancer.
However, there is a lot of literature that deals with the radiation levels allowed for astronauts and solutions to the problem.
Regarding various radiations from the sun during solar storms - the protected shelter in the center of the spacecraft will provide an answer to this. Regarding the cosmic radiation - it is indeed much more energetic but also more sparse and the shortening of the flight time can provide a partial solution to this. Completing the solution could be a shell of water around the living space in the spaceship since it was found that the hydrogen in the water effectively absorbs the cosmic radiation.
As we know, man's curiosity and desire to discover the universe knows no bounds and the danger of radiation will not stop him.
I suggest you read the following article about Israeli development of a radiation-resistant space suit -
https://www.hayadan.org.il/isreli-radiation-suite-to-test-in-space-0102174
Also, the following article dealing with the dangers of radiation for astronauts -
https://www.makorrishon.co.il/nrg/online/20/ART2/486/103.html
Best regards,
lion.
DISCLOSURE
I see that seaweed eats a lot of straw and fodder.
icc
I see you're eating up all the silly conspiracy theory rants with gusto.
DISCLOSURE
There is a lot of material on the Internet, but it takes a certain intelligence to know when the material is nonsense.
I'll give you a champion's tip: if something doesn't make sense to you, then it's probably false.
There is a lot of material on the Internet about the German colonies in the 50s on Mars and the Moon, and the 70s of the US on Mars and the control center they made instead of the German base on the Moon
Larya: Read the:
https://www.nature.com/articles/srep34774
Cosmic radiation consists of very energetic particles. There is still no solution, except for people who are ready for a one-way journey.
The Falcon Heavy launcher was not originally designed to fly spacecraft to Mars. For this purpose, SpaceX is currently building the BFR (Big Falcon Rocket). The launcher will be huge with a diameter of 9m and a height of about 106m. The launcher and the spacecraft will have the ability of a soft landing and will be reusable, so the project will be relatively cheap. The rocket is so large and powerful that it can fly tens of tons of cargo or 80-100 people to Mars.
Although this seems fantastic, Elon Musk is completely serious and has proven his ability with the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launchers and in the factory he established in Los Angeles, they are already vigorously working on the BFR parts.
If there are no disruptions, the plan talks about starting trial launches already in the middle of 2019. The experiments will continue until 2022, when two such spacecraft will be launched to Mars and will land on it. The spacecraft will not be manned and will include automatic facilities for producing oxygen, water and fuel utilizing the atmosphere and possibly ice below the surface of the ground. The power will probably be obtained from solar cells. Two years later, in 2024, the plan is to send two manned spacecrafts that will form the first nucleus of a settlement on Mars that will also build suitable living facilities there. The duration of the flight will be about three months.
There are also plans for the longer term that talk about continuing to send more spaceships with equipment and people.
Answer to Herzl - in the central part of the spacecraft there will be a radiation shelter that the astronauts will enter in the event of solar flares. The rest of the time, the spacecraft's shell is designed to respond to radiation in space (under normal conditions, you don't need half a meter of lead for this, nor do you need 10m of dirt to protect the people).
The solar cells will be adapted to the radiation and if necessary - you can always use nuclear generators as was the case for example in the Cassini spacecraft.
I suggest going online to the website of SpaceX, BFR, etc. There are also many YouTube videos and interviews with Elon Musk.
By the way, he has a very long list of people who have expressed their desire to fly to Mars.
From the 70s the USA established human colonies on Mars - transportation by flying saucers, TR3B triangles and other tools
Herzl - where does your knowledge on the subject come from... are you an expert in astrophysics?... or are you just scratching your head based on fear
Anyway to the topic: I think that journeys to distant stars like Mars or Alpha Centauri .. will only be possible if we solve the problem of propulsion of our spaceships .. Right now in terms of energy efficiency for propulsion we are at the level of a sailing ship from the 18th century if we find a way to escape the planet's gravity along the way More efficient and faster... so you can say welcome to the space age.
Good Day .
Indeed, in the US there was talk of a flight to Mars with giant-sized launchers (like Apollo), but the planning was based on a few dozen or more such launchers (I think 200). The feasibility is about the same as President Reagan's Star Wars, which was probably the result of a little too much LSD in the blood of the creator of the program - 1100 satellites, each of which is more complex than vanity.
Today there is still no technical solution to the issue of the strong radiation in space. From experiments that have already been conducted, it is clear that the astronauts will arrive with a completely erased brain. And even a few dozen beginnings of cancer is no joke. The only solution is about half a meter of lead around the entire living area in the spacecraft and another meter or two of wax or water (which will be impossible to drink because of the radiation).
And by the way - even on Mars, the ultraviolet radiation is the small problem. Cosmic radiation is more harmful. They will have to live at a depth of at least 10 meters. Solar collectors on the surface will soon be destroyed by cosmic radiation. Agriculture - under a meter of glass.
It is much more realistic to catch an asteroid, carve a hole in it, fill it with air and establish a colony in space.