SpaceX founder Elon Max said that colonizing Mars is a deadly venture for pioneers. He compared the mission to the Red Planet with the European conquest of America.
“It's dangerous and people are likely to die. And they will be warned about it,”the entrepreneur said in an interview with The Washington Post. At the same time, Max is sure that there will still be those who want to conquer the Earth's closest neighbor. “Just like with the British colonies, there are always people who strive to become pioneers,” he said.
Artistic depiction of colonizers on Mars
Photo: NASA
Elon Max believes that the colonialists are able to create a self-sufficient city on Mars, where "several planetary species" could survive. He confirmed that the first unmanned mission to the Red Planet is scheduled for 2018. During this mission, the Dragon space unmanned vehicle must descend to the surface of the Red Planet to take soil samples and deliver them to Earth. This operation will be part of a test to prepare a manned flight to Mars. The head of SpaceX has promised to send the first man to Mars by 2025.
Potential Mars conquerors
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The private company Mars One is also going to send a man to Mars along with SpaceX. The project, led by Bas Lansdorp, involves flying to Mars, building a colony there and broadcasting the Martian life of the pioneers on television.
In 2013, the selection of astronauts for the flight began. Selected 24 candidates who are currently undergoing a course of survival in an isolated environment and in conditions close to Martian. The first manned flight with a crew of four is scheduled for 2026. The first settlers must create a Martian base and settle it. Four astronauts will arrive at the base every two years. The total population of the colony will be 20 people.
Flights to Mars are not only prepared by private companies. The European Space Agency ESA has drawn up the Aurora program, which includes the lunar and Mars missions. The agency has planned the landing of astronauts on Mars by 2033. ESA's financial capabilities are modest, so flight plans can only be realized with international cooperation.
The US space agency NASA is also developing projects for the flight of Mars. Until 2010, the agency was preparing flights to the Moon and Mars as part of the Constellation program. However, in 2010, US President Barack Obama officially curtailed the program. The main reasons are the revision of the approach to the implementation of space missions and the lack of funding.
However, in the fall of 2015, NASA again announced preparations for a flight to Mars. The agency has published a plan titled "NASA's Journey to Mars - Preparing the Next Steps in Space Exploration." The first expedition to the Red Planet is planned by American scientists in 2030.
Russia is also preparing to conquer Mars. Roscosmos has planned an expedition to its neighbor Earth in the first half of this century. In preparation for the flight, Roskosmos, the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Biomedical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences conducted an experiment called "Mars-500". As part of the tests, the project crew was isolated in conditions close to a real manned flight to Mars.
Are flights to Mars really necessary?
The main goal of flights to Mars with the formation of colonies there is the search for new natural resources for industry. Colonization of Mars can help in the event of a global catastrophe on Earth and the threat of the death of mankind, scientists say. In addition, the creation of a Martian base will help to better explore the planet itself and its satellites. This, in turn, will give an impetus to the knowledge of the entire solar system.
However, a number of scientists believe that the colonization of Mars will not solve the problems facing humanity. Nothing of value has yet been discovered on Mars, and there are very few vital resources on the planet. At the same time, there are still vast unpopulated territories on the Earth itself, conditions on which are much more favorable than on Mars. And their settlement will be much cheaper than flights to a neighboring planet.
Opponents of colonization are sure that the influence of the Martian environment on humans is poorly understood, and the experiments carried out on Earth have nothing to do with the conditions on Mars. The consequences of such flights for people are unpredictable. And that's not to mention such well-known threats as radiation, Martian dust and asteroids.
Estimated view of the future colony on Mars
Photo: NASA
Boredom will become an important problem on long flights. “In the current expeditions to the ISS, the schedule of cosmonauts and astronauts is very tight, and in their free time they can look at the Earth through the windows and maintain radio communication with the control centers. However, during a flight to Mars lasting about 9 months, they will not have such an opportunity, - noted the participants of a symposium dedicated to flights to Mars in the United States in April last year. Opponents of colonization believe that the human sacrifices that are possible during flights to Mars are absolutely unjustified.