Ultimately, the goal will be to manufacture materials on site using mined resources, probably with 3D printing machines.ĭevelopment is embryonic, but the Artemis program will be a testing ground. In 2018, NASA and the Department of Energy successfully completed a demonstration project, the Kilopower Project.
Small nuclear reactors would therefore be needed.
These hellish planet-wide tempests can block out the Sun for months, rendering solar panels useless. "Mars is unique in that there's also a concern about dust storms," said Robert Howard of the NASA Johnson Center. One major issue would be protecting the habitats and vehicles from the ravages of the fine dust that covers the surface. "I have not found a showstopper for going to Mars, in terms of a health condition," said Buckland. With extensive screening of astronauts' genetics and family history, you can greatly reduce the probability of having a crew member who develops cancer over the course of a three-year mission. What mishaps should astronauts anticipate?įirst of all fractures, but plaster casts would often suffice, says Dan Buckland, an engineer and emergency room doctor at Duke University, who is developing a robotic intravenous needle with support from NASA.ĭiarrhea, kidney stones and appendicitis are generally treatable, except for 30 percent of appendicitis cases which must be operated and could therefore be fatal. In case of medical emergencies, distance would make an evacuation impossible. The surface temperature will average -63 degrees Celsius, and though radiation is a factor, suits and shelters exist that would shield astronauts. Then there is the stay on Mars itself, which would last 15 months so that the planets are once more on the same side of the Sun. The body does not emerge unscathed, but the risks are deemed acceptable. Today, Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin are building heavy rockets capable of sending tens of tons toward Mars.įor the seven-month journey, twenty years of living and working in the International Space Station (ISS) has reassured scientists about the dangers posed by radiation and by weightlessness, such as muscle atrophy. The mission itself would last two or three years. "But putting the money behind it to make it a reality has not occurred." Scott Hubbard, an adjunct professor at Stanford and former senior NASA official, told AFP.
Saving humanity last horizon how to#
"I have seen maybe 10,000 graphs, charts, proposing various ideas about how to get to Mars, for humans," G. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump have not led to concrete programs. The commitment clearly never came to pass, and similar goals articulated by presidents George W.
In the spring of 1990, then president George Bush Sr announced the most audacious promise to date-a man on Mars before July 20, 2019, the fiftieth anniversary of the first lunar landing. Plans have been proposed for a crewed exploratory mission of our neighboring planet since before NASA was created in 1958, but have never taken off. NASA's human lunar exploration program, Artemis, envisions sending people back to the Moon by 2024 and using the experience gained there to prepare for Mars. WASHINGTON - Robotic landers and rovers have been touching down on Mars since the 1970s, but when will humanity finally set foot on the Red Planet?Įxperts believe the technical challenges are nearly resolved, but political considerations make the future of any crewed mission uncertain.
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