Mars. Colonization of the Red Planet

The article describes the possible colonization of Mars, its goals, dangers, technical aspects, and why it is a "one-way ticket".

The Beginning of the Space Age

From the very beginning of space exploration, people dreamed of settling on other planets. Someone may object - why do we need extraterrestrial colonies, if not everything is perfect on ours? But the meaning of such reasoning is erroneous, because science does not pursue momentary benefits, and the research aspect is the most important in this matter.

The first such planet on the line is Mars. Colonization of it since the beginning of the 60s of the last century was considered along with the Moon. The conditions on it are the most suitable in comparison with other planets, it is gravity (albeit not terrestrial, but similar), and an acceptable difference in daytime and night temperatures, and most importantly - polar glaciers. But about them later.

Also important is the distance. Along with Venus, he is closest to the Earth, but, unlike his "sister", it does not go rains from sulfuric acid and does not boil a lake of liquid tin.

The minimum distance is 54.6 million kilometers, the maximum distance is 401 million kilometers. This is due to the difference in orbits, and every two years the planet closest to us is like Mars. Colonization from this factor is only simplified.

At first glance, it would seem, what is the difficulty? Build ships, load everything you need and ship with the first settlers. Alas, this is possible only in the fantastic books of the middle of the last century, where in the future everyone has his own interstellar yacht in the country ...

Mars. Colonization or terraforming?

More and more often there is debate about how to turn a red planet into a fit for life. There are a lot of theories and proposals, and they all have the right to success, but so far none of them have been tested in practice. Why? Because, in spite of the space station and regular flights to it, humanity has still very little progress in flights in the airless space.

So the projects of terraforming without human participation are impossible, and just the first settlers can lay their foundation. Their meaning revolves around the atmosphere of Mars. It consists mainly of carbon dioxide, and is too discharged to have liquid water or normal clouds on the surface. And there are proposals to populate it with bacteria that will produce even more carbon dioxide, which will make the gas shell of the planet denser, the temperature will rise and the polar caps will begin to melt, and warm rains will follow after them.

Colonization of Mars. Selection of candidates

In 2011, it was announced the launch of the Mars One project. Its meaning was that a wide selection would be made of all those wishing to leave the Earth, and not only the already operating cosmonauts, to establish a settlement on Mars. A little later, indeed, any person could offer his or her candidacy via the Internet, and in case of successful passing of the test he was enrolled in the ranks of applicants, received a specialty and waited for the opportunity.

This project is private, and all its complex technical works were planned to be handed over to the contractors, and its benefits to be obtained by making a reality show from the training of the colonizers.

By the way, there were a lot of interested people, and they were not even frightened by the fact that it was a one-way flight to Mars. Since in case of which it will be impossible to pick up the settlers.

At the moment, the selection is completed, but it is planned to hold several more in the near future. In general, very many criticize Mars One, and it is not unreasonable. Since 5 years of existence have been done very little, and the dates of various activities and plans are constantly being transferred. Also, the criteria for selecting participants are questionable.

Difficulties and Dangers

The first difficulty is the very direct flight to Mars. Colonization is complicated by the fact that even with the closest proximity to us the red planet, with the current technology flight will take about 7 months. And all this time the cosmonauts need to eat something, and on board and so will be the mass of equipment. Another danger is cosmic radiation. To protect against it, you need to develop special tools.

Also an urgent issue is food on Mars. Absolutely closed life support systems are not yet available, and the colonists will have to rely only on themselves and the greenhouses on hydroponics. And plus for all this you need housing, at least some residential modules that you also need to deliver, without damaging to lower, to collect ... After all, if the astronauts have to wait at least 7 months the ship with the parcel.

Connectivity

Despite the fact that the speed of radio emission is comparable with the speed of light, at the time of maximum distance from the ground "ping" will be about 22 two earth minutes.

Gravity

Also another factor in the danger of such a thing as the project of flying to Mars is its low compared to the gravity of gravity, and it is unclear how this will affect children born in such conditions. And the settlers themselves, too.