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astro201, astronauts, blog4, current events, mars, mars one, marsone, space travel
In our society, the career of an astronaut has been painted as an idealistic childhood dream job or the mythical title attached to names like Neil Armstrong and Sally Ride – names only found in history books. The astronauts, past and future, who set foot on the Moon or traveled to the International Space Station will not only go down in history for their valuable exploration outside Earth’s atmosphere, but for the emotional and physical risks they took upon going into space. It’s enough to make an average citizen like you or I ask themselves, “Would I do that? Would I risk my life to travel where no one else has ever gone?”
In fact, that’s exactly what Mars One is asking. In 2011, Bas Lansdorp and Arno Wielders launched the Netherlands-based company Mars One with one mission – to settle a human colony on Mars. The founders garnered support from scientists, academics, and businesspeople around the world, starting a fundraising campaign for the project and establishing a team of marketers, ambassadors, and advisers. Though there are many notable supporters of the project, a few include representatives from SpaceX and astrophysics professors from Cornell University and University of Arizona.
Proposed design for Living Units on Mars, individual living spaces for residents connected by hallways and powered by Living Support Systems, which use solar energy and provide water and breathable air. (Mars One)
Mars One started with a fifteen-year plan to establish human life on Mars, and has kept to that plan since 2011. They have started preparation on Living Support Systems for people to use while living on Mars, pods that would provide adequate breathable air, energy, and water for residents. The colony would also require Living Units, indoor units with facilities suitable for human habitation. Though travelers would eat freeze-dried food on the ten-month journey to the Red Planet, they would be charged with growing their own food while on Mars, specific types of plants that could sustain in the unusual conditions of lower gravity and a less dense atmosphere. Mars One hopes to start transport of materials in 2022, including a rover that would find a suitable place on the planet’s surface to establish a settlement – close enough to the equator to have the most efficient solar energy collectors but far enough North to make use of water potentially contained in the rusted soil.
Press conference held by Bas Lansdorp and Arno Wielders in 2013 with the mission of recruiting interested travelers for the project. (Mars One)
One of the most important parts of the mission is the people. Who would be crazy enough to get on a one-way spaceship to Mars with very little chance of survival, saying goodbye to everything they’ve ever known – including family and friends – forever? Mars One released a request for volunteers at press conferences in 2013 and received feedback from about 200,000 applicants worldwide. This list has since been narrowed down to 600, and will eventually be cut down to just four who will leave for Mars in 2024, after undergoing eight years of intense mental, physical, and technical training. Much of this training would be in isolated environments simulating conditions on the spaceship or while living on Mars.
There are many more details regarding the funding, preparation, technology development, and social support of this project that will be unraveled in coming years as the company moves forward with the project. But now I want to hear from you – what are the potential problems with a project like this? Would you risk everything you have established here on Earth to be part of the first extraterrestrial human settlement?
For more on the history and plan of Mars One, see here.
For interviews with potential colonists, see Universe Today and BBC News.
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