The earth, on the surface of which we live, has long been called the firmament. It seems that it could be more reliable
her? But this is not the case. Our planet "lives" - the geographical
the axis defining climatic zones and the change of seasons "floats" along
liquid magma continents, then colliding, forming mountains, then, breaking, creating oceans. Launches of research vehicles to other planets of the solar system have long ceased to be a sensation. But people have not yet flown further than the moon. How realistic is a manned expedition to at least Mars? And when can it take place?
There is a project
The Dutch company Mars One announced in 2011 that it was going to establish a private colony on Mars by 2026. Its inhabitants will be pioneers, who will be sent to the Red Planet every two years in teams of four. They must maintain their vital functions with the help of solar energy, as well as local resources - oxygen obtained by electrolysis, and water melted from the ice. True, the price of the issue is quite high - experts believe that the implementation of such a program will require trillions of dollars …
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Anthropologist Cameron Smith of Portland State University in Oregon believes that in order to create a colony on another planet, it will take at least 40 thousand people, of which 23 thousand must be of reproductive age. This number of potential colonists will help ensure genetic and demographic diversity. Moreover, the journey to the closest habitable planet outside the solar system will take at least 150 years. This means that most of the participants in the space expedition will have to spend their entire life on the ship. If you send only a few hundred astronauts into space, as previously assumed, the chances of survival in the event of an unforeseen situation will be much less and the mission may simply fail. That is, to achieve this goal, it will be necessary to build a gigantic spacecraft the size of an entire city.
And if you freeze?
Of course, first of all, the success of the enterprise rests on the financial issue. Therefore, experts are looking for opportunities to reduce the cost of expeditions.
One of the ways is to deliver future colonists to the Red Planet in a state of artificial suspended animation. This will temporarily slow down the metabolic processes in the astronauts' bodies. A similar procedure is already widely used in medicine today. Anabiosis will save a number of resources such as food, drink, clothing, equipment, etc. Aerospace engineer Mark Shaffer spoke about this at the International Astronomical Congress in Toronto.
Cryogenic sleep equipment.
The introduction to suspended animation will be carried out by inhalation of the refrigerant using the RhinoChill intranasal system. This will reduce the temperature of the human body to 31.6-33.8 degrees within six hours. After a certain time, the system will take people out of the "frozen" state. It will also provide for emergency "warming" and awakening in case of emergencies.
Do it yourself
But, even if the astronauts manage to safely reach their final destination, they will still need a lot of things to ensure life. Why not make everything you need on the spot?
Experts from the Lawrence National Laboratory in Berkeley (USA) believe that modern biotechnology can come to the rescue here. Biosynthesis can be carried out on the basis of the waste that the crew of the spacecraft will produce during the journey, as well as the resources of the planet itself. So, on Mars there is a lot of nitrogen and carbon dioxide, from which six kilograms of methane can be synthesized daily, used as a fuel.
Today's calculations show that for a flight to the Red Planet, astronauts must take with them about 10 tons of provisions per person. But this load can be reduced by doing agriculture in space - starting to grow plant food using photosynthetic bacteria.
As for housing and useful things in the household, then upon arrival at their destination, people will be able to synthesize material, from which it will then be possible to make anything on three-dimensional printers. These can be residential units, household utensils, and any items for which organic origin is not necessary.
Who will fly?
How will the selection for colonists be carried out? The least chances of getting into the astronaut team will be, oddly enough, with extroverts, NASA researchers believe.
In the new study, NASA experts dealt with teams that had to spend more than 100 days in isolated environments, such as at Antarctic bases and inside model spacecraft. It turned out, firstly, that it was rather difficult for extroverts to adapt to such conditions where they had few opportunities for active social interaction. Secondly, there were unpleasant incidents in communication with other team members. So, in one case, two team members who were introverts ostracized the third - an extrovert, considering him too talkative, intrusive and annoying …
Based on these facts, it can be concluded that only introverts are ideal members of a spacecraft crew. They are able to calmly endure prolonged loneliness or limited opportunities for communication, more thoughtful and in-depth approach to work assignments. At the same time, experts believe that it is impossible to recruit a group of astronauts from only introverts, since in conditions of space isolation the ability for active social interaction can sometimes turn out to be an important factor for solving some problems.
Colony on Mars as seen by the artist.
And the American writer Keith Green expressed the opinion that only the fair sex should become members of the expedition. Last year, Keith Green took part in NASA's HI-SEAS (Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation) project, which simulates a long-term expedition to Mars. In total, six people participated in the program - three men and three women. They lived for four months under a geodesic dome in Hawaii. Experts found the vicinity of Mauna Loa volcano most suitable for simulating the conditions of the Red Planet.
Most of the time, the mission participants had to spend in a confined space, and going outside was allowed only in special spacesuits. The subjects spent 45 minutes training each day. At the same time, men consumed twice as many calories as women. At the same time, women rarely burned more than 2,000 calories a day, while the number of calories consumed by the stronger sex, as a rule, exceeded 3,000. This is due to the fact that metabolic processes in the male and female bodies proceed differently, says Green.
Since the female body consumes and consumes fewer calories than the male, then it also needs fewer resources. Consequently, the fairer sex is more likely to survive in conditions of lack of nutrients, which at the same time increases the likelihood of a successful mission.
Colonies of clones?
But will the expedition take place at all? Space Weather magazine recently published a scientific article that by the time a manned mission to Mars becomes technically possible, the "weather" in the solar system will change so much that such a journey will be fatal to its participants. For example, by 2020, solar activity will drop so much that astronauts will receive doses of radioactive radiation that are much higher than previously calculated. Radiation can damage spacecraft equipment as well as cause irreversible changes in DNA.
Adam Stelzner, chief engineer of the Curiosity project at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, proposed a non-standard solution to the problem. He believes that the first colonists could be humans … printed on 30 printers!
You can "lay" the human genetic code into the genome of bacteria. Scientists have confirmed the practical possibility of embedding fragments of the human genome into the DNA of microorganisms. And bacteria, by the way, perfectly tolerate space flights.
Thus, microorganisms will become carriers of information containing the human genetic code, similar to how we send files via the Internet … But how to recode information, that is, extract the code and turn it into a real individual? This is where the 30-seal comes in handy, Stelzner said.
“On Earth, we have already been able to recreate human tissues and organs,” he says. - With the development of bioengineering, genetics and 30-printing, the creation of a living organism on an alien planet will become quite a feasible task.
According to Stelzner and his supporters, using such 30 clones to colonize other planets is much safer than organizing space travel with unpredictable consequences.
Source: "Secrets of the XX century"