Tag Archives: manned mars missions

Over 100,000 People Enlist to Colonize Mars

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A group over 100,000 people have submitted applications for a one-way trip to colonize Mars in 2022.This means that they are willing to forfeit everything that they know and love for a chance to be the first humans to travel to and cosmoscolonize an alien planet.

There’s something in that concept that’s majestic and kind of poetic, in a way that they are writing human history and taking huge risks to do so. Mars One is behind the project, and when asked on their FAQ, “Why go to Mars?” they responded as follows.

Why did Columbus travel west? Why did Marco Polo head east? Because it is that pull, that unknown, that prospect of adventure that compels humans to seek new frontiers to explore.

It does seem a part of the human condition to explore the unknown, and there are certainly viable reasons for expanding human life to other planetary bodies, but is it even possible, and will Mars One actually be able to pay for such a mission?

The not-for-profit organization plans to fund the $6 billion mission “by making it the biggest media spectacle in history”. This includes reality shows that will follow the astronauts’ eight year training that will teach them medical Mars Oneprocedures, construction and repair, and gardening techniques among many other necessary skills.

 

 

 

These shows will continue as the explorers land and begin developing a livable habitat. I would certainly watch that over the reality t.v. that is currently available, but I’m doubtful that it would be enough to fund the mission. They do have other sources from donations, merchandise sales, application fees, investors, and so on, but let’s just hope that it is enough to get this idea off of the ground.

There are other companies and even universities that are working on similar concepts. Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX has mentioned future plans for “Martian bases” and has already made significant progress in private spaceflight.

Would you sign-up to colonize Mars? If the answer is yes, sign-up, applications are still being taken.

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UK Scientists’ Plan to Put Humans on Mars

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Marstronaut

A recent BBC article details an in-depth conceptual project from scientists at Imperial College London to put the first humans on Mars. This concept is intended to illustrate our current progress towards inter-planetary space travel, as well as the challenges and risks that we must still overcome.

The spacecraft will be designed to rotate in such a way that the 3 person crew of “Marstronauts” could enjoy the resulting artificial gravity. This would help with bone and muscle mass loss, and help the re-orientation of the crew to a life on Mars. The craft could slow its rotation to match the Martian rate of roughly 40% of the Earth’s gravitational  pull.

“There are big, big jumps between a demonstration at one level and putting together the engineering systems for a mission, but they are engineering challenges. They are not fundamentally about making new discoveries.” – Professor Tom Pike

This short video has some great visualizations of the spacecraft design and landing scenario along with some good descriptions of the concepts involved.

“Real life Tony Stark” Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Motors, is working on similar goals for transporting humans to Mars. For Musk, electric vehicles and a Hyperloop super-train are just the beginning in his quest to push the boundaries of science and technology.

His company SpaceX is taking the concept of manned Mars missions to the next level. They envision human exploration and colonization, and quite literally “backing up the biosphere”.

The rockets we’re building right now could certainly send probes to Mars, like the Mars rovers and that kind of thing, but the rockets we hope to build in the future are the ones that could take people and cargo to Mars and establish a Martian base.

Seeing these projects starting to gain legitimacy is an exciting thing to behold. The general public is starting to get behind these ideas, and private space flight is gaining in popularity and capability. There’s no telling what the future holds for Mars colonization, but it should be an exciting thing to watch.

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