As you might already know, humanity is really stepping up its efforts now to make Mars a potential new home for itself or at least start the process of getting to that point.
Some of the smartest people on the planet have suggested that we should start looking at expanding our presence in the cosmos if we are to survive an extinction level event that might occur any day. We miss asteroids flying towards us every now and then and there’s no telling when our luck might run out.
Then there are things happening on our own planet like rising global temperatures, pollution, climate change and a rapidly growing population that is simply unsustainable and will create a lot of pressure on the existing resources.
That is why it would behoove us to develop a second home with a permanent presence so that humanity’s legacy may keep going on and perhaps one day, even expand further into space.
Easier Said Than Done
Of course, an undertaking this technologically challenging and pivotal will be very, very difficult and it is much easier said than done. So many different faculties will need to come together, so many different cutting edge technology will need to work in harmony to achieve so many little and big things before we can even begin to set up base there.
Right now, SpaceX, Blue Origins, NASA and other space agencies of the world are trying hard to achieve just that. They are trying to solve the thousands of problems, one by one, to help us get to Mars and stay there.
As always, the most important are the basics, like going to and fro, having air to breathe, food to eat, water to drink, magnetic shield for protection against radiation, adjusting to lower gravity and a lot more.
SpaceX and the other agencies are nearing the going to and fro part. Also recently, it was shown that vegetables can be grown on Martian soil and also that there is a presence of water. There are also plans to make an artificial magnetic shield around the red planet.
Perhaps, one of the most urgent and difficult, is making oxygen for future settlers.
Meet MOXIE - The Oxygen Maker
Image Credits: NASA
NASA is sending a rover in 2020 and onboard, it will contain a device developed by MIT called the MOXIE (Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilisation Experiment).
This device will use Mars’ own atmosphere to create oxygen which will then be used for breathing. This involves using microbial life like bacteria or algae, transported from Earth, which would use the Martian soil as fuel to pump out oxygen.
It sounds really sci-fi like but it has been shown to work in the labs and if this works on Mars, NASA plans to follow up with scaled up models to produce even more oxygen and also liquid Oxygen which will be used as fuel by astronauts to travel back to Earth.
Currently the Martian atmosphere has 95.32% CO2, 2.7% Nitrogen, 1.6% Argon and only about 0.13% Oxygen. For us to be permanent settlers on the red planet, this needs to change. Terraforming is one option to do that but that could take thousands of years. For now, this is a first step towards making breathable oxygen on Mars.
Humanity’s Spacefaring Future
It’s a really wonderful time to be alive at this point in our evolution and at this level of our technological prowess. For the first time in history humanity has started to look to space for our future.
Not only for its exploration but to expand out there laying the foundation of a spacefaring civilisation, one tiny step at a time. A few thousand years from now, humans of the future will look back at today and acknowledge it as the beginning of it all.
While many people are skeptic about NASA’s and other space agencies’ efforts to explore the cosmos and try to set up bases on the moon and other planets, thinking that it is a waste of time and resources, I think differently.
There is no reason that we should have an either/or mentality. We have enough people to handle the betterment of Earth as well as expand our species to other planets. I personally feel that it is very important that we do. Becoming a spacefaring civilisation just seems like a natural progression of any intelligent civilisation.
Interesting post! Thanks for sharing @sauravrungta.
Thanks for reading :)
Amazing if true.
Yeah it is!
When I was younger, I always dreamed of going to Mars. So I told myself I will go there when given a chance. Now, at the age of 21, I'm having doubts if mankind will have successful inter-planet travels in my lifetime. Hopefully, I won't be too old to travel when it happens. :D
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Yeah, I had similar dreams as a child too :) And it saddens me too that this will probably not be achieved in our lifetime. Oh well!!
Nice nice, can't wait to see what happens :D hopefully we can kick off world war 3 with a bang mars vs earth.
Otherwise thanks for sharing this, i wouldn't have learned of I didn't notice the post ^^
Cheers and all the best
LOL The next war could be interplanetary!!! Hope not though.
lol. We will die and Not to Mars
How would one build a magnetic field?
You can easily read about it on Google. I have written about it too.
Excellent article. I hope they succeed in that
Yeah me too! It would be a revolution in this space. (Pun not intended :P)
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Nasa is lying to you stealing 50 million dollars a day to give you CGI images they even admit to this. Sorry to Burst your Globe but if you research the curvature or the motion of the earth you will discover it is flat and motionless (geocentric) not Heliocentric. they have been lying for 500 years so dont take my word research it for yourselves. Water is level and it can't curve on a ball Gravity is a theory and cant be shown in any experiment. The big bang is also a theory evolution is a theory and last but not least Einstein's THOERY of relitivity all taught as facts and proofs in our school's. Space may be the final frontier but it'"s made in a hollywood basement" RHCPeppers
That is a very interesting opinion.
Thank you. no one can tell you the Earth is not a spinning ball, you have to research it for yourself. All the experiments that have been done to prove the Spin or the curve have all shown that the sun stars and moon move around a flat motionless earth. (sagnac exp. Michelson Morley exp and Samuel Rowbotham exp. The definition of NASA is to lift up and Deceive (Hebrew) watch The History of Flat Earth and 200 proofs the earth is not a spinning ball on Youtube by Eric Dubay. he explains the History of the biggest lie on earth. Peace
Cool if true
Yup it is.
I wouldn't say that somene is trying to create an artificiale magnetic field all araound Mars. They probably wants to creat magnetic field only around specific inhabitated regions or simply around a single building. Although, not everything is ready yet, other planets colonization (in full or only partially) is possible. Mars is probably not the ideal planet to colonize. It is important like our moon though, due to the possibility of resource exploitation like iron and other minerals. In my opinion, in order for planets to be colonozied by us have to be more similar to our Earth. Not only for what concerns water and agricultural possibilities, but also the size of the planet is important. The gravity force of Mars is really weak compared to ours. A long life experience on Mars would be healthy for our body. Very interesting though :)
I read several articles where they are trying to do it for the entire planet i.e. Mars. Whether or not they are able to achieve this is another story.
Im going to be like john carter in this bitch!
Not only NASA is planning to conquer Mars. The Mars One project, led by Dutch entrepreneur Bas Lansdorp, is working, on it, they are working with major actor like Paragon, you can read their paper describing the Habitat and part of it is related to the oxygen production : http://www.mars-one.com/images/uploads/Mars_One_Habitat_ECLSS_Conceptual_Design_Assessment.pdf
Yes, I have read about it quite a bit.
wow this is amazing NEWS am also have a Dream to possibilities of going there to spend me other my life. However I am excited about humanity pushing it's boundaries and reaching for the stars.
follow and support me as well
Yes, I am very excited about this too.
They should breed a bacteria that lives off of carbon dioxide and produces a lot of oxygen and dump hords of them on venus, over time a small atmosphere will form...
Yeah, that is a great possibility and something within our capabilities, (technologically speaking).
I just don't understand how they can spend billions of dollars on designing new spacecraft or porta potty for space and then ignore any other possible ways they could help in the long term. Imagine the generations 200 years from now, will they be happy if we created a new ship that is 10% faster, or made a push to expand the habitable space for man.
if i lived on mars i would not pay taxes to earth. and that might piss off the earthlings enough to start a space war
And then the Earth will not invest money to Mars development and we will see how long you can survive there without donations.
haha, we are not even settled there and we already talking about conflicts :P
But we already can see the separatist movement of future Mars inhabitants.
And like any self-respected Mother planet have to suppress it at the very start :)
I don't think you would be required to lol
Very interesting post it certainly gives a realistic view on future possibilities
Thank you! Yes, I tried to stay realistic. :)
We can't even get back to the moon at this point. NASA can't get any further than lower earth orbit. This will never happen in my opinion because it isn't possible. Van Allen Radiation Belt
Let's see.
Space is 100% fake. It's a psy-op. This is easily provable. Riddle me this: Why can't they go back to the moon? Answer: They lost the tech, and it would be painful to rebuild it.. So MARS? BTW that was a direct answer from a NASA astro-NOT.
LOL you are insane if you buy that logic. Also, have you looked at the moon? I mean, look for real. It's it's own measurable light source. MEASURABLE. different than the sun. Please explain that. Also the nasa million mile away camera never ever shows the moon. If you can't see all that shit with it's poorly aliased edges is real, wow. Sad.
If you think I'm crazy, prove it. Look into it for yourself. Prove me wrong, I eat my hat on live TV.
Wow! making mars habitable would definitely be one of mankind's great achievements
That's true :)
Nice info
Thank you :)
very ambitious project.
It really is. The biggest of our generation I think.
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I don't think it's ever going to be possible. I'm still a skeptic about life in outer space or resettlement of humans.
We will just agree to disagree then :)
also has plans to build a magnetic shield around Mars and to install a nuclear reactor on the planet.
Yes, I mention the magnetic shield part. Forgot to mention the nuclear reactor part.
oh my, as much as I love space, i'm a lot more interested in making the Earth better for human habitation than another planet (-:
haha I literally wrote about this in the last section of my post.
I'm a sceptic about the possibilities of doing this in my lifetime (I'm 41). However I am excited about humanity pushing it's boundaries and reaching for the stars.
Yeah, it will go well into the 22nd century. But, future generations shall reap the benefits :)
great info
Thank you :)
What if those expense toward Mars exploration is allocated on Earth rehabilitation instead. Why should we find another planet when we already have Earth on us.
I literally wrote about this in the last section of my post. Do read.
this is why I love science... scientific approach is best way to live your life... well done NASA
Exactly! :)
Maybe we should focus on saving our planet instead of trying to get a new one ^^
I literally wrote about this in the last section of my post. Do read.
Great Article. Keep up the good work.
Uovoted.
Thank you :)
I would LOVE to have a whole planet to garden! Now all they need to do is to find the alien reactor that Kuato told them about. Melt the ice and release the oxygen!
But seriously, it's about time. Great article!
Yeah, it's about time to get started.
Not so long ago I read that now the time to get there is nearly a year and it's to much for human being to be for so long in the space.
But we'll see. That changes with the speed of technology development now.
And one more I read that scientists are trying to make robots to be sent to Mars and start its preparing for us.
Yes, the time spent in space is still an issue and I am wondering what solutions they might have for it. As for robots, yes, it would be better to set up everything before humans go there to make things a whole lot easier.
This is exciting to see that private companies are pushing the move to Mars! It would be amazing to see a presence there in 10 years. If it was up to the government it would always be 20 years away. With folks like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk there is hopefully going to be private companies getting there soon!!
I don't think we could get there in 10 years, but only time will tell. I agree that the recent push by private companies has really sped things up. Government agencies just don't have that much of a motivation IMO.
We'll probably fuck up mars given 2000 years or so!
haha LOL!! We might!
maybe they should see if they can get to the moon first , or is this just their next funding con
If the earth brains focuses enough it may be possible but i think the possibilty is low considering the founds it will need to keep going and the most important part would be if normal humans would consider leaving earth as it can be a gamble to stay alive(space can be very dangerous) thought it's very interesting
Well, everything has a beginning. And it is always difficult in the beginning. But as things start moving forward, things get easier and faster. That's how tech works. Let's see what happens.
build a moon base first.
Yes, it could be very useful as a pitstop.
Wow, I really hope I see a major break through like this in my life time!
Yeah me too. I think within our lifetimes, we will see humans make it to Mars and well within the process of starting a colony there.
Awesome article!
Thans! :D
I guess you already saw it, but Elon Musk just unveiled SpaceX's new space suit today as well. Interesting to see them taking the lead on something that has less of an obvious business model going for it compared to launchers. But then again, going to Mars will require a completely different type of suit compared to the Moon and ISS missions, so with Elon's obsession with Mars, it is no surprise ^^
But yeah. Mars will require hard innovation on so many other levels than just transport technologies. Especially if we want to establish a lasting, sustainable and scalable human presence there. Sure is an exciting time to be alive :D
Yes, I literally saw that just after posting this post. If I had seen it before, I would have mentioned it here. hehe Oh well! Yes, it's the obsession of mankind that leads us to greatness. I hope we just continue to push forward until we have a permanent presence there. So exciting :D
I know this was an idea, but I didn't know there were real concrete plans! And the funny fact is that the idea is pretty simple at the end of the day... But yes, I know, pretty simple does not mean done faster than we speak :D
haha yeah, I too had heard of it before but never read about anything solid. So, I was really excited to learn of this and I just had to write about it :D
we are one step closer to meeting our alien friends that made us! he he he
Yes, I hope they are waiting for us over there with good food and drinks ;)
You think they like pizza like us? and beer?
That would be the deciding factor as to if we were to become friends with them or not... LOL
I want to go to Mars!!!!
Me too :D
Mars is the nearest possible planet than a man could have an artificial habitat. I believe that decades later we could find a way to travel to those nearby planets in a short period of time and make a living environment. Everything in the universe can be studied.
I am a believer of our future's interstellar travel. Humans are the most wonderful creation of God, Thankful that we live in this world and the gift of life. Steem on @sauravrungta! May the force be with you.
Yes, I am quite optimistic of that goal too. May the force be with you too :)
Can you cite your references? Thank you.
The innumerable articles you can find on google. Thanks!
Great Knowledge, thanks
Thanks for reading!
Amazing to think how far humanity has come. 🚀
haha I know right!
Spending billions to make oxygen on mars while they DESTROY the FREE oxygen makers here on earth.....
I shall say more more on the matter.
Yup, we need to do a better job at maintaining things here while at the same time looking for alternative. That would be the best approach in my opinion.
Exactly~*~