The author of the plan believes that many problems must be resolved before starting the exploration of Mars.
NASA plans to send its first crewed mission to Mars within the next decade. After that, it is planned to build the first base on the Red Planet, which will be the basis of a future large colony of earthlings. However, low gravity, low pressure, sudden temperature changes, strong cosmic radiation and dust storms create many problems for Mars exploration. However, these problems can be solved if you have the right strategies. In a paper published on the preprint server arXiv, Florian Neukart of Leiden University in the Netherlands proposes a plan to create a Mars settlement using the latest advances in technology, Universe Today writes.
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The scientist believes that settling Mars will most likely be an international campaign based on close cooperation between many countries. According to Neukart, Mars settlements will be self-sufficient and have minimal dependence on supplies from Earth. Also an important factor here is the psychological stability of the future inhabitants of the planet.
Important
The challenges of establishing a human settlement on Mars include the great distances between the planets; This means resupply missions will be infrequent and communications will experience latency issues. It will be possible to send a spacecraft to Mars only every 26 months, and a one-way flight will take 9 months.
There are also factors that affect people, and according to Neukart, they are many. Between them:
- Dangerous cosmic radiation that poses a serious risk to human health;
- Low gravity can seriously affect the musculoskeletal and cardiovascular systems of settlers;
- Prolonged isolation can lead to psychological consequences that can affect residents’ mental health;
- The significant communication delay between Mars and Earth (4 to 24 minutes) requires high autonomy for settlement, which can impact human decision-making and stress levels.
The scientist also believes that future settlement design should also contribute to people’s physical and psychological well-being. Everything still needs to be done to ensure that settlers have the opportunity to provide emergency medical care.
According to Neukart, in order to create a minimum dependence of people on Mars on Earth, it is necessary to create the necessary infrastructure that will ensure that everything necessary for life will be created from the resources available on Mars. Technology needs to be improved to process and reuse resources critical to the colony’s well-being.
The scientist also believes that it is necessary to create special protocols to solve unforeseen problems such as technical malfunctions, medical emergencies or lack of resources. In his article, the scientist writes that before organizing a flight to Mars and establishing a base there, and then a colony, it is necessary to create many new technologies that will allow sustainable and long-term exploration of the Red Planet. This applies to both space flights and construction and mining technologies.
However, the process of permanently settling Mars, as the scientist writes, is fraught with problems and dangers. But on the other hand, these problems represent an opportunity for technological innovations to be created and for humans to evolve as a species. Now of the interplanetary kind. Neukart believes that settling Mars has many benefits that justify the risks and challenges.
As I already wrote FocusAccording to Elon Musk, a SpaceX spacecraft can make its first landing on Mars in just 4 years. True, there will be no astronauts on board yet.
Source: Focus
Ashley Fitzgerald is an accomplished journalist in the field of technology. She currently works as a writer at 24 news breaker. With a deep understanding of the latest technology developments, Ashley’s writing provides readers with insightful analysis and unique perspectives on the industry.