In recent decades, there have been dozens of missions to Mars, including NASA this year and China's Zhurong this month, which have led to the inevitable question: When can humans follow?
See also: NASA: It does not expect humans to be able to fly to Mars
Unmanned missions have so far yielded a wealth of information, including the presence of water ice on Mars, fueling hopes for a human landing. But how soon? And when will we be ready?
Many are making plans for a colony on Mars, but the most ambitious of all is billionaire Elon Musk. The founder of Space Exploration Technologies Corp. wants to send humans to Mars within this decade, saying in an interview last year that he was confident a crewed mission could be achieved by 2026. But many scientists warn that there are too many unanswered questions facing space travel. Musk has also acknowledged the risks, saying it is a difficult undertaking that will likely result in human casualties.
See also: SpaceX DearMoon: 6-day trip to the moon for 8 people in 2023
Some of the problems facing a potential mission to Mars are presented below.
First, there's the issue of distance. While a mission to the moon would take just a few days, a trip to Mars would take between six and nine months. Since the distance between Mars and Earth varies between 35 million miles and 249 million miles due to their elliptical orbits, there's only a small margin when both planets are ideally aligned for a space trip. This makes resupply much more difficult.
Then a long flight would expose humans to one of the greatest dangers of the solar system: solar flares. The most powerful type of explosion in the solar system, which is the equivalent of 100 million hydrogen bombs. Earth's magnetic field can protect astronauts in orbit, but a space traveler who was hit by such radiation would not survive more than a few days. Water tanks on a spacecraft could act as shields if properly positioned, so in the event of a flare, travelers could enter a room surrounded by water tanks. The problem is detecting activity on the Sun, especially on the side not visible from Earth.
But radiation isn't the only problem. Mars has a much thinner atmosphere than Earth and no magnetic shield, so people on the planet's surface would be at risk of exposure to solar and cosmic radiation. In addition, the surface itself is largely made up of dust, and huge storms can create dust clouds that obscure the Sun, said Nilton Renno, a professor at the University of Michigan. During such a storm, it's almost like midnight on the Martian surface for two months. If people there rely on solar panels for energy, they probably won't survive, since there won't be enough energy to keep them warm.
Of course, the biggest challenges are food, water, and oxygen, since none of these are available on the red planet, and supplies from Earth would take months to arrive. For the past year and a half, NASA has been conducting research into growing snow algae, a type common in the Nevada desert and other high-altitude, nutrient-poor environments on Earth, in conditions that mimic those of Mars. The idea is that the algae could be grown in greenhouses made of flexible material similar to that of a spacesuit. Growing algae in such conditions could not only provide a food source but also produce oxygen. The research is still in its early stages.
See also: NASA surprises again with the creation of oxygen on Mars
Returning to Earth is another hurdle. No way to refuel a spacecraft in space has yet been discovered. One solution could be to use the planet's resources to produce fuel, first electrically separating water from surface ice and hydrated rocks and then combining the hydrogen and oxygen to produce fuel.
Optimists believe that scientists will find solutions to the above problems.
“ Today it is definitely a place where we cannot live ,” said Adnan AlRais , Mars 2117 program manager for the UAE’s Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center. “ But as we develop science and technologies, the answer may be different 50 or even 100 years from now. ”
