From the reasons why we are going to mars
in the first place, to living under ground,
join us as we find out What SpaceX Will Do
Once They Get to Mars!
Eggs…Basket…Bad
Without becoming overly dramatic about space
advocacy, you DO need to know why Earth is
a BAD PLACE for ALL of humanity to live.
There is no human being any farther than 450
kilometers from Earth, which is the neighborhood
of the International Space Station's orbit.
Even the dozen men that walked on the Moon
were never farther than 400,000 kilometers
from our planet.
Earth exists in the middle of a cosmic shooting
gallery.
There are billions and billions of objects
in our solar system, and they are either very
stable, like the planets, or jostling around
like asteroids, waiting for the opportunity
to begin the long slow fall towards the Sun.
As the mighty planet Jupiter swings around
our solar system, its mass tugs at all the
rocky remnants in the Asteroid Belt, altering
their courses.
Most of them just take up new orbits in the
Asteroid Belt.
Some of them get shoved off into the interstellar
depths, never to be seen again—while others
are redirected inwards, towards the Sun.
Not incidentally, between them and the Sun
stand the rocky planets such as Mars, Venus,
Mercury — and Earth.
In 2013, a small 20 meter rock raced through
our atmosphere at 20 kilometers per second,
30 times brighter than the Sun as it disintegrated.
Its radiance caused retinal burns and skin
burns in people watching from the ground,
before it exploded in the atmosphere over
southern Russia, injuring 1,500 people, shattering
thousands of windows, damaging 7,200 buildings,
and crushing in garage doors from the force
of the concussion for those beneath it.
The path of destruction below was 180 kilometers
wide, and it was equivalent to about 30 Hiroshima-sized
atomic bombs, fortunately without the radiation.
It exploded so high that the force was extremely
attenuated by the time it reached the ground.
In 1908, well over 2,000 square kilometres
of trees were utterly flattened (approximately
80 million of them) when a 50-100 meter object
burst above the Tunguska [tun-goo-skuh] region
of Siberia, between 5 and 10 kilometers up.
That area is twice the size of New York City,
or twenty times the size of Paris.
Such an airburst today would easily wipe out
virtually any city on the planet that was
beneath it.
Let's Get Out Of Here!
Since we do not yet possess a working technology
to stop a big rock from hitting Earth (though
we have some really good ideas, very few of
which involve blowing them up with nukes,
and one which we are set to try out in 2021),
it is much better if we try to spread humanity
out a bit.
Lunar mines and a science colony on our next-door
neighbor, orbiting habitats, and even a presence
on Mars are all viable options.
SPACEX
Elon Musk's company is interested in putting
an experimental site on Mars.
They plan to start in 2022 with a pair of
automated ships to head over to the red planet
with the objective of landing successfully,
probably at one of the Polar Regions.
There will be no people on the ships.
Once in place, these ships would set up a
solar power array and a surface mining system.
There is a lot of dry ice, which is solid
CO2, in the Polar Regions, and a significant
quantity of water ice which is so cold that
it is permanently frozen.
We can see the icecaps grow and shrink seasonally
on Mars as the CO2 goes from gas–to-solid-to-gas
each year.
The part that doesn't change is likely the
water ice which never gets warm enough to
melt.
The mining machines would be used to attempt
to collect available water-ice for separation
into hydrogen and oxygen.
Other tools and processes would collect atmospheric
CO2.
As part of that process, they can simultaneously
harvest some of the sparse nitrogen gas in
the atmosphere for later use by any colonists.
Nitrogen is useful for growing crops as well
as forming a breathable atmosphere inside
the habitats.
Fuel-ish Plans
In a rather complicated procedure, the CO2
can be processed in a specialized reactor,
and combined with the hydrogen extracted from
the water-ice.
It's that reaction of CO2 + H2O which produces
methane and oxygen.
They are then liquefied for storage, which
is relatively easy at the temperatures available
near the Martian Poles.
Eventually, when needed by the next visiting
crew, the methane and oxygen can be used together
as fuel for the return trip.
The biggest hurdle for this project is that
it takes about 17 kilowatts of power per kilogram
of propellant to make the fuel—and we'll
need at least 20,000 kilograms — possibly
more than 100,000 kilograms, depending on
how heavy the return load is.
Since trips are only economical about once
every Martian year (close to 26 Earth-months),
there is lots of time to make fuel.
Of course that presupposes that there isn't
a month's-long dust storm that cuts off solar
power for that purpose…
As you can see, nothing is cut-and-dried,
or in any way certain.
Mission Accomplished?
When the mining machines have gathered sufficient
resources, and the "fuel depot" reports that
it has manufactured at least the minimum amount
of fuel for a return trip, a crewed ship would
be sent.
They would be accompanied by additional cargo
vessels.
Although the ships are capable of carrying
up to 100 people, it may be just six or eight
so more cargo can be carried on that first
crewed trip.
They will need air to breathe, and food to
eat for several months (or two years, depending
on the plan), so capacity is essential.
There is no plan to grow food on Mars, though
there would certainly be a greenhouse to test
the possibility and perhaps supplement the
diet.
They'd bring all they needed with them.
Presumably the second cargo would contain
habitation modules, laboratories, and some
personal space, similar to how the international
space station is constructed.
At first the crew would live in the ships
until things were set up, tested, and ready
to move in.
Expandable modules, similar to the Bigelow
Space company's BEAM module that was deployed
on the ISS in 2016, could be quite useful,
but nothing is set in stone.
The vital components and primary purpose,
however, would be the additional solar arrays,
mining equipment, and fuel-making equipment.
The more in situ fuel and resources available,
the more likelihood of being able to survive,
allowing the possibility of an increased number
of trips to Mars.
Not There To Build A World
The most important part of SPACEX's project
is as a transportations system.
This early facility is nothing more than a
proof-of-concept.
It has never been SPACEX's job, as they see
it, to build the colony beyond the initial
test base to see if it is possible.
First attempts are prone to failure, and this
may be no different.
There is some idea of what to expect, but
we simply can't know everything.
When the mission is done, all of the crew
will board the ships and return to Earth.
The notion of one-way trips to Mars for colonists
is an artifact of narrow reporting.
People could return if needed or desired,
but there is a radiation hazard to long duration
space travel.
You wouldn't want to do it on slow vehicles.
Once they're faster, there might be monthly
trips…
The Second Wave
SPACEX will provide the method to get to Mars
once they're confident they can do it.
It will be up to other companies to investigate
and test additional survival tricks and techniques
once there.
They will be the ones to create a truly independent
colony that doesn't need regular shipments
from Earth to function, unlike the ISS.
Those tests might include habitats that are
deliberately buried under surface soil to
protect from radiation and the frequent storms.
It only takes a fairly thin layer to reduce
radiation down to safe levels for humans.
Alternatively, it might also include locating
a lava tube beneath the surface for natural
protection.
Lava tubes can be a kilometer tall and twice
as wide, creating a vast volume of living
space.
Habitats built there would still have easy
access to the surface, but much greater protection
from radiation and meteorites.
If you want multi-storey buildings and Earth-like
environs, you can always use artificial illumination,
and paint the ceiling blue.
The difficulty might be making it retain an
atmosphere, so the first inhabitants could
start somewhat smaller.
Elon Musk's Boring business could conceivably
prove useful there.
Bored tubes could be hermetically sealed and
pressurized creating a large "shirt-sleeves"
environment.
So while SPACEX would still be involved as
the "trucking and delivery company", it would
be up to others to do the actual dirty work
of making an off-Earth home.
The Takeaway
We are the first intelligent life on our planet
with the capability to alter our future in
a significant way.
Aquatic mammals never discovered fire for
obvious reasons; our simian cousins never
got smart enough to develop tools beyond sticks
and rocks.
We took the time to look up and try to see
what was going on around us.
We studied and investigated until we understood
that eventually our planet will be hit by
a kilometer or bigger rock and all life will
be threatened (again, as has happened more
than once in our history), so we started to
plan.
We're developing technologies to stave off
the inevitable, and maybe that will work.
If not, getting a few thousand people off-planet
and making them independent will help to ensure
the survival of humanity.
Some fairly intelligent reptiles hung around
here for about 200 million years in total
until about 66 million years ago…
They didn't have the technology or knowledge
to survive.
We do… but will we use it?
If you had the opportunity, would you ever
visit mars?
Let us know in the comments below and then
check out this next video that you might find
interesting!
