A group of German students participating in a competition organized by the Mars One company that seeks to send volunteers one way to Mars
While the scientists estimate that many ages ago - billions of years ago, Mars had an atmosphere similar to that of the Earth and was covered with flowing water, the reality today is completely different. In fact the surface of Mars is so hostile that even a vacation in Antarctica seems pleasant in comparison.
In addition to the extreme cold, there is very little atmosphere and almost no oxygen. However, a team of students from Germany wants to change that. Their plan is to inject cyanobacteria (cyanobacteria) into the Martian atmosphere that will convert the supply of carbon dioxide into oxygen in a gaseous state, thus paving the way for human settlement one day.
The team consisting of students and volunteer scientists from the University of Applied Science and the Technical University of Darmstadt call the project the "Blue Knights". Basically, this is a plan to seed the Martian atmosphere with blue bacteria (Cyanobacteria), which will actually turn the most common gas there - carbon dioxide, which makes up 96% of the Martian atmosphere into something that can be breathed by humans.
According to Wikipedia, the blue bacteria are an array of enucleated organisms belonging to the kingdom of true bacteria. Blue-green algae have common lines with the different groups called algae: they contain chlorophyll a which is a photosynthetic pigment common to all algae and lacking in photosynthetic bacteria.
Together with teams from universities and technological colleges that took part in the university competition for the Mars One project (the project that seeks to send people to Mars in one-way cards), the Blue Knights believe that their project will one day be sent to Mars, before the arrival of the colonists that the company wants to launch.
The competition officially began last summer, as part of Mars One's drive for the support and participation of universities from all over the world. All participants will have a chance to send their projects on the company's first unmanned lander to be launched to Mars in 2018.
The "blue knights" students who are assisted by the cell culture laboratory at the University of Applied Science chose these bacteria because they are able to live in extreme conditions. On Earth, these bacteria live in conditions that are hostile to all other life forms and so they appear to be suitable candidates.
Group leader Robert Schroeder wrote on the astrowatch.net website, "Blue bacteria live on Earth in conditions where we would not expect to find any form of life. Therefore, an attempt should be made to see how micro-organisms adapt to the Martian environment.
Another reason to send blue bacteria to Mars before the arrival of humans is their biological property. In a process of creation that produces oxygen through photosynthesis, the cyanobacteria produce nutrients. It is now believed that the blues played a central role in the evolution of the Earth's atmosphere.
It is estimated that 2.7 billion years ago they were the main cause of the transformation of the atmosphere from a toxic pulp to the nitrogen and oxygen rich atmosphere of today. This change led to the creation of the ozone layer which blocked the ultraviolet radiation and enabled the development of life.
In the description of the project, its participants write that after the bacteria are dispersed in the Martian atmosphere, "they will produce oxygen through the process of photosynthesis and will allow living creatures like us to exist on Mars. Moreover, they can provide food and vitamins essential for a healthy diet."
The team does not know for sure how many microbes it would take to turn the carbon-rich atmosphere into oxygen-rich and how much of that oxygen would remain and not escape into space. However, like the other teams, the goal is to find out how human beings will survive in the Martian environment.
According to the people of the group, NASA is already conducting experiments with blues on the International Space Station and is talking about one step forward.
Other groups offer other ideas in which to send sprouts in a spacecraft, and try to germinate them in sandy soil and examine the possibility of growing plants there using a miniature greenhouse. They also want to measure the effect of cosmic radiation and solar radiation on the surface, as well as turn urine into drinking water.
Translation: Avi Blizovsky
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Every day about 220,000 new people are added to the world (in addition to about 150,000 who replace those who have passed away). That's about 550 jumbo jets flying 400 people each. Do you think moving to Mars might solve it? Or even a fraction of that?
In addition to this, those interested in a variety of technologies to land on Mars are invited to deal with "Red Mars" by Kim Stanley Robinson. Those who survived the "Red Mars" can move on to the "Blue Mars", and those who also succeeded are invited to complete the trilogy with the "Green Mars".
According to the rate of world population growth, I think there will be no choice, and at some point we will have to start populating other planets as well.
We need to think carefully before we possibly destroy another ecological balance besides the one on Earth. Are we sure there is no life on Mars? Maybe there are life forms there for which oxygen would be toxic? Besides, if there are any primitive forms of life there, and even if there are not, the place is an excellent opportunity for research on the development of life on Earth, and on the possible development of life in other solar systems. If we pollute the place with our life forms, we will lose a valuable source of knowledge.
The right way is to establish isolated areas from the environment that support life, such as greenhouses that will form a biosphere. It will be much faster than changing "all" of Mars, and also much more effective.
You're right, that was the first association for me too, but I searched Google images and couldn't find a single image of this animal, so I searched on regular Google and this is what I found.
It also has an entry on Wikipedia, probably only typewriters know this term.
Lorm Ipsum, it sounds like a possum. Because there is a North American possum called opossum.
Funny, until today I didn't understand the meaning of this strange name "Loram Ipsum", now I finally understood:
"Lorum Epsom is a term for completely meaningless text - sometimes also called demi text or gibberish - and is intended to be placed in design sketches - of brochures, magazines, ads, websites, etc. - instead of the final real text - until there is a real text.
Why not insert other real text into the sketch?
If the relevant text does not yet exist in the design sketch phase, it is not recommended to place other real text. The reason is that when presenting a sketch with real readable text, the viewer will automatically start reading the text, and if the content of the text is not relevant to the work presented - this will distract them from the design.
So why not include gibberish in the sketch?
Typing gibberish creates a "dirty" text texture that is not similar to the real text and therefore tarnishes the sketch and impairs its sense of authenticity and reliability.
The same goes for repeating text (text will come here, text will come here, text will come here, text will come...).
So what are the benefits of Lorem Ipsum?
Lorem Ipsum is a text without context and without meaning on purpose - and this is so that the reader's eye will not "hunt" while skimming over it, a word that will distract him. Lorem Epsom was carefully designed in such a way that it played with the texture and rhythm of a real Hebrew text."
Taken from here:
http://www.lorem-ipsum.co.il
Lorem Ipsum, the idea with the mirrors is not new, here is an article from 2004:
http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-2918928,00.html
"In recent years, several possible scenarios have been proposed for the beginning of the heating of Mars. The idea is that a greenhouse phenomenon will be created that feeds itself, and will cause additional melting and evaporation of carbon dioxide.... They propose to launch giant mirrors into orbit around Mars so that the sunlight they will reflect back towards the poles will warm the pole and increase the evaporation rate of the frozen gas. The basis of this method is a technology developed by the Russians, and even successfully tried in one space flight, to deploy large and light mirrors, which are made of sheets of a thin plastic material, mylar, which is used to wrap food, coated with a much thinner layer of aluminum."
I have an idea too! Put mirrors in orbit around Mars and heat the carbon dioxide at the poles so that it melts and causes the greenhouse effect! And tilt comets and direct them to crash on Mars! And so there will be more water! And bring tundra vegetation and adapt it to the Martian conditions! And also to fish bacteria under the ice in Antarctica and try to adapt them to the conditions of Mars! And then it will be possible to raise lemmings on Mars! And they will eat the tundra vegetation! And bring coyotes to eat the lemmings! And bring insects that will sting everyone!
I have lots of other corny ideas for Mars colonization! And they've all been suggested about 50 times before!
To Mr. Eric L,
The difference is that on Mars local materials can be used. And any settlement on Venus will require a flight from Earth, of building materials, food, and water.
And I say that instead of dealing with Mars, which is not friendly to humans, it is possible and desirable to deal with colonies in the atmosphere of Venus.
At an altitude of 50 km, the temperature there is about 30 degrees, the atmospheric pressure is 1, the gravity is 0.91 that of the Earth, there is still enough atmosphere above to protect from radiation, and most importantly - nitrogen and oxygen can be used as lifting gas because they are lighter than the atmosphere of Naga In addition, the sulfuric acid clouds below this height have such a high albedo that solar energy can also be produced from the light returning from them and not just from the panels facing the sun itself.
For Herzl, if man wants, he can live on Mars, including the animals that accompany man. The domestic dog is an extreme example of accelerated evolution. It does not seem likely to me that people could live in the open. But outside the protected human bases there can be interesting biological phenomena. In general, it seems to me that its effect Man's constant can create continuity in the production of oxygen, provision, and storage of carbon in organic materials.
Algae and other bacteria of all kinds already arrived on Mars a long time ago with the help of meteorites thrown from the Earth by meteorite impact. did not help.
If about a million rats are exposed to the conditions of Mars for half a minute, it is likely that 99% of them will die. But if one survives, it can start an unusual, and very interesting, evolutionary process. If there was oxygen on Mars, life would be possible there. In any case, the living conditions there created different animals than those in Israel The most suitable animal for Mars is the water bear - because it is resistant to radiation.
What's the point, even so the magnetic field of Mars is not strong enough. Any atmosphere they make there will not last long enough against the solar winds.
Doron, what's the concern? For example, goats were brought to the Golan, and they thrive there. They don't bother anyone. Over time, a local subspecies will develop, and thus the biological diversity will expand. In addition to that, material arrives on Earth from Mars and from space, so that Mars and the Earth are endlessly dealing with unidentified objects.
I see an entire article (and more articles of this type) dealing with the question of how to colonize Mars instead of asking a more fundamental question beforehand: Should Mars be colonized? Or to put it another way, what the hell right do they have to harm this primordial environment? I, not as a student but as an ordinary person, can't help but wonder, haven't we done enough? Haven't we wiped out so many species of large mammals and birds and completely changed the ecological balance in our world? Time to stop! Instead of looking for more places to live (and destroying them of course) it's time to control the size of the human population! As a non-scientist but a science lover, I believe that not every technological challenge should be answered in the affirmative. Dear scientists, put to Mars, put to every environment that man has not yet destroyed on our planet and beyond. Direct your efforts to repairing the damage we (humans) have done. Thanks for your reading!
Nature is stronger than any human force. For example: tsunami or earthquake. Whatever strict standard you build, nothing has changed will stand against nature. So it could be that in a certain degree of earthquake or tsunami things will last, but not forever. And if there was an atmosphere or water on Mars and they evaporated then the blue ones wouldn't last either and all their product would evaporate. In any case, it will be a "drop in the ocean". Even if you manage to make a change, you never know the side effects it will produce. I have heard of ideas to bombard Mars with atomic bombs. I do not think so. Maybe temporarily it will make a difference. But in 200 and 300 years, it will continue as planned.
I suggest keeping Mars as a research laboratory.
The maximum that is possible is to send people there, who are not certain that they will arrive, and if they arrive, they will not survive, and if they survive physically, they will be mentally harmed.
As a thinking and creativity exercise, the blues are perfectly fine.
Humans are environmental engineers. If there were human colonies on Mars, it does not mean that we could conquer a hat and go on a trip to craters. But it is possible to create relatively comfortable living conditions on another planet as well. And maybe there would be local nature there, because seasons and local weather give us a sense of home .
Why would it work? After all, there was already water on Mars in the past, but it is too small to have a thick atmosphere for it all disappeared. How would the aliens be able to make the atmosphere stop evaporating.
I adore Mars too.
As soon as humans live there, the atmosphere of Mars will naturally be enriched with oxygen. What will come first, the egg or the chicken?
Perhaps the German group will be interested in an article I wrote here in Science about a decade ago.
https://www.hayadan.org.il/mars-caves-sevdermish-020105
In the article I also tried to overcome the problem of a thin atmosphere on Mars and not wait thousands of years (or millions?) to make its entire atmosphere rich in oxygen
Yehuda