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Podcast Transcript
Since the beginning of the space age, some have envisioned landing humans on Mars.
Some go further. Their vision is not only to land on Mars, but also to have a group of people living there permanently.
But how realistic is this dream? Can we really do it? If not, what do we need to do?
Learn more about colonizing Mars and what it will take in this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
In the last episode, I discussed what it would take to terraform Mars.
This episode has nothing to do with that. Terraforming an entire planet would take hundreds or even thousands of years and an unspeakable amount of money.
In this episode, I want to focus on the near future, or a period of time much smaller than a few centuries. Something that could happen in our lifetime.
So, first, let's cover the relatively simple case of what it would take for the first humans to visit Mars.
I say relatively simple because if humans eventually set foot on Mars, it will be an extremely difficult task. However, this will be relatively simple compared to setting up a colony.
First, let's compare what it takes to travel to Mars versus to the Moon.
Compared to the tasks required to reach Mars, the Apollo missions were much simpler. The Moon is relatively close, with an average distance of 238,855 miles or 384,400 kilometers.
Due to their close astronomical distances, the spacecraft used by the Apollo astronauts only had to provide adequate life support for less than two weeks. The longest Apollo mission was Apollo 17, which lasted 12 days.
Most people are likely to live in a cramped space capsule for 12 days, so accommodations don't have to be comfortable or spacious. The food doesn't have to be good or even very nutritious because there are only 12 days.
The moon only? The gravitational pull of the Earth means that the lunar module does not have to be very large and half of it can remain on the lunar surface.
I don’t want to deny the incredible feat of the Apollo program, but it was nothing compared to going to Mars.
Space science has advanced over the past 50 years since the end of the Apollo program, but the progress we've made has been relatively limited. In fact, no space flight has left low-Earth orbit since Apollo 17.
The farthest mission to date is Space
We now have extensive experience with long-duration space flights. Many astronauts have spent months or even more than a year on the International Space Station.
It turns out that being in zero gravity for long periods of time is not a good thing for human health.
Without gravity, bones lose density at an accelerated rate, and muscles, especially those in the lower body and back, atrophy from inactivity. When blood and fluids are redistributed to the upper body, the cardiovascular system is affected, potentially causing facial swelling, eye pressure and vision problems, known as spaceflight-associated neuro-ocular syndrome (SANS).
Over time, the heart also becomes weaker because it no longer has to pump blood as hard against gravity. Additionally, prolonged exposure to microgravity can impair immune function, alter gene expression, and disrupt the vestibular system, leading to balance and coordination problems.
The longest single space flight is a record of 438 consecutive days set by Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov.
That's important because a mission to Mars will take six to nine months. The closest distance between Earth and Mars is 34.8 million miles or 56 million kilometers.
Earth and Mars have completely different orbits, so the only way to get there in a reasonable amount of time is to launch and return during a window that occurs every 26 months.
So assuming our first trip to Mars will be a glorious Apollo mission where we land, plant a flag on the ground, pick up some rocks, and leave, this can be done in the time we're already on Mars Completed within range. International Space Station.
You'll need a larger ship to deliver more supplies, and you'll need larger landing craft due to the increased gravity of Mars compared to the Moon.
You might even want to send a supply ship to Mars before the crew arrives so they have supplies available when they get there.
One thing we really don't have experience with with short-term missions to Mars is long-term exposure to space radiation. In low Earth orbit, astronauts are still protected by the Earth's magnetic field.
In interplanetary space, you are constantly bombarded by cosmic rays and solar wind. More on that later.
The content of a single mission to Mars is not beyond our technological knowledge today. That's not to say it won't be difficult and expensive, but it's not that much of a hardship compared to what we've already done.
Now, let's assume that the mission to Mars is successful and we want to return, but this time, we want to have a permanent presence on Earth.
Doing so isn't just about multitasking like the first mission to Mars. You need to develop complete infrastructure to support a Mars base.
One of the first things you'll need is a base on the moon. The reason you want to build a base on the moon has to do with gravity.
The moon has resources such as water ice, which can be converted into oxygen and hydrogen for rocket fuel. A lunar base could serve as a fuel depot, reducing the need to launch all fuel from Earth.
The moon's lower gravity makes launching spacecraft from the moon much cheaper than launching spacecraft from Earth. Rockets could be refueled on the moon and launched to Mars more efficiently.
You might be able to get around a moon base, at least initially, but in the long run it will make it easier to support a colony on Mars.
The next technology you want to develop is nuclear rockets. Nuclear rockets require less fuel and can provide more thrust than chemical rockets.
These will be used in space to allow faster travel between the moon and Mars. If you don't have nuclear rockets, you have to wait for a supply or personnel rescue mission every two years.
In theory, a nuclear rocket could travel between the Moon and Mars at any time, although the trip would be longer when Earth and Mars are on opposite sides of the Sun.
We've never launched a nuclear-powered rocket into space before, so this will be completely new technology. I will refer you to my previous episode on this topic.
Consumables such as food, water and oxygen would need to be manufactured on the surface of Mars. Over time, transporting these consumables, especially oxygen and water, all the way from Earth will become extremely expensive.
We know Mars has water and carbon dioxide. These need to be extracted and processed, which has never been done outside of Earth.
Extracting water and oxygen needs to be a priority for a Mars colony, at least initially.
Food needs to be grown on Mars. This is probably one of the smaller challenges because we have a lot of experience growing food in artificial environments, but on Mars you might run into unexpected problems.
Another major concern is radiation. Mars has no magnetic field, so harmful cosmic rays and solar winds would constantly bombard a Martian colony. Most plans assume that, in the long term, anyone living on Mars would have to live underground, or at least be covered in Martian soil.
Long-term exposure to space radiation is another thing we've never encountered before.
One thing people living on Mars won't have to worry about is strong winds. In the movie “The Martian” starring Matt Damon, a Mars base is threatened by a strong wind storm.
High-speed winds can exist on Mars, but the air pressure is very low, less than 1% of the air pressure on Earth, and it cannot produce much force even at high speeds.
Another issue that will be faced is energy. Solar panels could work on the surface of Mars; however, they would not be very efficient.
On Earth, on a clear day at noon, solar panels receive an average of 1,000 watts per square meter.
Mars is about 1.5 times farther from the sun than Earth is from the sun, and only receives about 43% of Earth's solar energy.
Dust storms can cover solar panels, but if crews are available, they can be cleaned.
That means doubling the number of solar panels to power a Mars base, or building small nuclear power plants as a long-term solution.
Another big unknown is gravity. We have extensive experience with zero gravity, and we know that being in zero gravity for extended periods of time is harmful.
We don't know how humans thrive in partial gravity. Do humans need all of Earth's gravity to thrive, or is at least some of it enough to avoid bone loss and muscle decay?
The gravity on Mars is 38% of Earth's gravity.
We'll never be able to test this until humans actually spend some time on Mars.
Assuming we can solve the food, water, oxygen, radiation, and energy problems, there's another problem.
communication.
At its closest approach, radio signals take about 3 minutes one way between Earth and Mars.
It takes about 22 minutes to send a signal over the longest distance.
This results in a round-trip delay of 6 to 44 minutes.
The high delay between Earth and Mars is insurmountable due to the speed of light.
When Earth and Mars are on opposite sides of the Sun, communication is impossible.
Currently, rovers and orbiters on Mars communicate with Earth, but time delays are not a big issue because rovers and orbiters are designed to be very slow.
Also, the data transfer rate is quite low.
Currently, the communication speed between Mars rovers and Mars orbiters is 1-2 megabits per second. When satellites are overhead, there is a limited window in which data can be sent.
Data speeds from Mars satellites to Earth may vary depending on the orbiter, but they are all very slow. Their speed is usually about the speed of a dial-up modem. They can send images and data because they are sent continuously.
This level of bandwidth will not be reduced for a Mars colony. High-speed data capable of sending high-definition voice and video is required.
NASA is currently addressing this problem through a project called the Deep Space Optical Communications System. The system uses lasers in the near-infrared region instead of radio waves.
In 2023, the technology was tested on the Psyche Mission, which is visiting the asteroid of the same name. Tests have shown that it can send data at a rate of 25 to 267 megabits per second, depending on the distance.
Future bandwidth speeds are expected to reach 10 gigabits per second.
NASA's Delay Tolerant Networking (DTN) protocol is designed for high-latency data environments. It has been tested on the International Space Station and is expected to play a key role in future missions to Mars and other interstellar communications.
These are just some of the known problems we must face if we hope to have a permanent presence on Mars. There may be many unknown problems that we cannot even imagine that would have to be solved if it were actually tried.
If all of these problems could be overcome at some point, it would be one of the greatest advances in human history.
