![]() The past 50 years of human spaceflight have taught us that, in the extreme environment of space, this is the safest way. The early missions – particularly those involving space agencies – will almost certainly be run with a hierarchical command system. I have written before of the challenges of governing an extraterrestrial colony. Nevertheless, all these resources will need to be carefully managed, which is why the next step is so essential: “One of the research projects we’ll be undertaking is to use the local rock as a growing medium by adding sufficient minerals and additives.” The idea is that, ultimately, colonists could grow crops in Martian soil.Īs for power, that should be relatively straightforward, with fuel cells and nuclear batteries augmented by solar arrays. “People have grown some edible greens but it’s not at the stage we can live on what we produce,” he says. Tarvin is about to return to the Utah research station to take command and says a lot of progress has been made since then. “There was some interesting biology we were generating but not appetising biology,” says software engineer and Mars enthusiast Digby Tarvin of his last stint working at the base 10 years ago. The non-profit Mars Society has been experimenting with growing food in its isolated desert research station in Utah. Producing food on Mars could be much more difficult. Extracting water from urine and sweat through an efficient recycling system – pioneered on the International Space Station (ISS) – will certainly help, but will not be enough to sustain a community, so tapping into a local water source will be essential. Today, it is highly likely there is still water at the ice caps and possibly under the surface. “It’s a hundredth of the scale we’ll need for a human expedition, but it’s a start.”Įvidence suggests that Mars was once awash with water – with lakes, rivers and oceans. “For the very first time we’ll produce oxygen on the surface of Mars,” said Hoffman, who’s working on the instrument. The good news is that getting to Mars in one piece is essentially an engineering challenge but, speaking at the BBC Future World-Changing Ideas Summit, former Nasa astronaut Jeff Hoffman put his finger on a far bigger issue. The agency is currently developing giant inflatable heatshields designed to slow spacecraft as they approach Mars, making landing larger craft feasible. The Orion capsule weighs almost 10 tonnes and that is before you factor in any service module or landing rockets. Nasa used an innovative skycrane to lower its one-tonne Curiosity rover onto the surface in 2012. Landing safely on Mars is also a challenge. For anyone looking to have healthy Martian children (see below), cosmic radiation could also harm sperm and eggs. Quite apart from the risks of launch (the recent Antares rocket explosion proves we should never take this for granted), during the transit to Mars the crew will be exposed to damaging levels of radiation that will significantly increase their risks of developing cancer. ![]()
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