tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/mars-exploration-43161/articlesMars exploration – The Conversation2024-01-29T16:38:10Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2221732024-01-29T16:38:10Z2024-01-29T16:38:10ZNasa’s Mars helicopter Ingenuity has ended its mission – its success paves the way for more flying vehicles on other planets and moons<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571847/original/file-20240129-15-v0glwl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2270%2C1360&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Ingenuity helicopter on Mars.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/27421/ingenuity-at-two-years-on-mars/">NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It is difficult to emphasise the significance of the milestone surpassed by Nasa’s Mars helicopter, Ingenuity. </p>
<p>The little (1.8kg) helicopter <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/25608/nasas-perseverance-rover-lands-successfully-on-mars/">touched down with the Perseverance rover in 2021</a>. On 25 January, Nasa announced that the flying vehicle <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/after-three-years-on-mars-nasas-ingenuity-helicopter-mission-ends/">had to perform an emergency landing</a> which damaged one of its rotors and ended its mission. </p>
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<p>This reminds us that space exploration is still difficult to do. But Ingenuity’s three years on Mars proved that powered, controlled flight on Mars was possible. </p>
<p>The little helicopter lasted for far longer than had been planned and flew higher and further than many had envisaged. Beyond this Martian experiment, the rotorcraft’s success paves the way for other missions using flying vehicles to explore planets and moons.</p>
<p>The first landings on the Moon were static. The year 1969 was probably the most important one for space exploration, when <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission/apollo-11/">Apollo 11</a> and <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission/apollo-12/">Apollo 12</a> brought astronauts to the lunar surface, but 1970 was the year for planetary exploration. </p>
<p>In 1970, we had the <a href="https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1970-060A">first soft landing on another planet</a>, Venus. The first robotic sample delivered to Earth from the Moon. And the first robot rover to drive around another body (also the Moon). </p>
<p>Since then, following over 50 years of planetary exploration and technology development, there have only been a small number of successful surface missions, and even fewer were able to move. Venus was visited by a dozen static landers between 1970 and 1985, and never again. </p>
<h2>From rovers to helicopters</h2>
<p>Mars was only successfully landed on three times between 1971 and 1976 before the <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/mars-exploration/missions/pathfinder/">Pathfinder lander</a> and Sojourner rover arrived in 1997. The European Huygens spacecraft then landed on Titan, the moon of Saturn, in 2005. </p>
<p>These attempts at reaching the surface are rare, extremely difficult, and, historically, the landers were hardly ever mobile. Yet the Nasa <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/mer/mission/overview/">Mars rovers Spirit, Opportunity</a>, <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/home/">Curiosity</a>, and <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/">Perseverance</a> have all exceeded their designs and travelled further and further.</p>
<p>And Ingenuity flew.</p>
<p>It wasn’t the first spacecraft to fly. Those would be the balloons deployed by the <a href="https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1984-128F">Soviet Vega 1 and 2 missions</a>, which floated over Venus in 1985. But Ingenuity had control, cameras, and connectivity. It took photos of its rover and of Mars from an entirely new perspective. It commanded the world’s attention and captured our hearts.</p>
<p>In Moscow, I had the chance to see models and replicas of the Vega balloons and the first lunar rover. They made a stronger impression on me than the Mars rover twins being used at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California. The Soviet missions were more audacious and different, and they were from generations ago, before my time and long before my career as a planetary scientist.</p>
<p>Ingenuity was audacious, original and completely new. The photos it took, of Perseverance, finding technology discarded from the descent module that carried it down to Mars and of the Martian vistas from a bird’s eye view, were breathtaking. Meanwhile, Perseverance also took videos of Ingenuity flying in the air. Nothing like it had ever seen before.</p>
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<img alt="CGI image of a silver drone with eight propellers over the Martian surface" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571881/original/file-20240129-23-b4r2m2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571881/original/file-20240129-23-b4r2m2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571881/original/file-20240129-23-b4r2m2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571881/original/file-20240129-23-b4r2m2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571881/original/file-20240129-23-b4r2m2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571881/original/file-20240129-23-b4r2m2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571881/original/file-20240129-23-b4r2m2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">An artist’s impression of the Dragonfly spacecraft in flight.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://dragonfly.jhuapl.edu/Gallery/">NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben</a></span>
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<h2>Future flights</h2>
<p>Ingenuity had a rough ride getting there, however. The entire Mars 2020 mission (of Perseverance, Ingenuity and their transport systems) was sudden. </p>
<p>Following Nasa’s withdrawal from the joint European Space Agency ExoMars programme, which included a Mars rover mission, the US space agency started developing one on its own. This rover, later named Perseverance, went from announcement to concept to development and launch in just seven-and-a-half years.</p>
<p>And Ingenuity wasn’t included onboard at first. As an idea, it was proposed late in the development phase of Mars 2020, and faced serious opposition. It added extra complexity, cost, risk and new failure modes. It was also driven by an engineering objective, with the possibility of a little outreach – the opportunity to communicate the mission’s science and engineering to the public – on the side.</p>
<p>Ingenuity wasn’t intended to last for very long. It was designed to prove helicopter flight in the thin Mars atmosphere. It targeted five short flights over a month. Possible outcomes included hard landings, toppling over, losing power if its solar panels were covered in dust, or losing communication when it was far from the rover (this happened several times). </p>
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<img alt="Large silver balloon being launched in the desert." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571874/original/file-20240129-25-1d0l8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571874/original/file-20240129-25-1d0l8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571874/original/file-20240129-25-1d0l8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571874/original/file-20240129-25-1d0l8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571874/original/file-20240129-25-1d0l8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571874/original/file-20240129-25-1d0l8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571874/original/file-20240129-25-1d0l8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Aerial robotic balloons, or aerobots, like this Nasa prototype, could one day explore Venus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/jpls-venus-aerial-robotic-balloon-prototype-aces-test-flights">Nasa / JPL-Caltech</a></span>
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<p>But it went way beyond expectations, surviving three years on the Martian surface, even through a dusty season, and making 72 flights. Much of its success was aided by the communication network that now exists at Mars. </p>
<p>Ingenuity receives instructions and transmits data to Perseverance, which communicates with a fleet of satellites that include the European ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, Nasa’s Maven spacecraft, and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. These, in turn, communicate with two deep space networks on Earth, systems of radio antennas around the world that command and track spacecraft. </p>
<p>It took 50 years of planetary exploration to get here, but already we can see the impact on future exploration that Ingenuity’s mission is having. The next interplanetary rotorcraft will be the <a href="https://dragonfly.jhuapl.edu/">Dragonfly mission to Saturn’s moon Titan</a>. </p>
<p>It will be a very different from Ingenuity. It will weigh about a ton and fly with eight rotors. It is a huge vehicle designed to fly in Titan’s thick atmosphere. </p>
<p>One of the next Red Planet missions will be Mars Sample Return, aiming to collect sample containers of Martian soil being prepared and cached by Perseverance. This has been planned to be carried out with use of a rover, but the success of Ingenuity has led to the idea – and now the development – of <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/msr/spacecraft/sample-recovery-helicopters/">a helicopter</a> to do that. </p>
<p>The future that Ingenuity has opened up for us is exciting. We’ll see helicopters on Mars and Venus, more balloons on Venus, swimming vehicles under the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn, and maybe even an aeroplane or two.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222173/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kevin Olsen in an employee of the University of Oxford and receives funding from the UK Space Agency in support of Mars science.</span></em></p>Among the missions being planned is a huge helicopter drone to explore Saturn’s moon Titan.Kevin Olsen, UKSA Mars Science Fellow, Department of Physics, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1593342021-04-20T05:00:32Z2021-04-20T05:00:32ZSo a helicopter flew on Mars for the first time. A space physicist explains why that’s such a big deal<p>Yesterday at 9pm Australian Eastern standard time, the Ingenuity helicopter — which landed on Mars with <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/overview/">the Perseverance rover</a> in February — <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2021-04-19/nasa-ingenuity-helicopter-makes-historic-first-flight-on-mars/100056708">took off</a> from the Martian surface. More importantly, it hovered for about 30 seconds, three metres above the surface and came right back down again.</p>
<p>It may not sound like a huge feat, but it is. Ingenuity’s flight is the first powered flight of an aircraft on another planet. It marks a milestone in the story of human space exploration. </p>
<p>While the Apollo 11 spacecraft famously touched down on the Moon, upon re-launch it simply had to exit the Moon’s gravity and return to Earth. To sustain flight within the environment of a world with no atmosphere, however, is a different story.</p>
<p>The now historic Ingenuity helicopter took <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-ingenuity-mars-helicopter-prepares-for-first-flight">six years</a> to make. We can understand why, once we understand the complexities of what was required.</p>
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<h2>Why local flight on Mars is a big deal</h2>
<p>There are several technological challenges to conducting a helicopter flight on another world. First, and most significantly, helicopters need an atmosphere to fly.</p>
<p>The blades, or “rotors” of a helicopter must spin fast enough to generate a force called “lift”. But lift can only be generated in the presence of some kind of atmosphere. While Mars does have an atmosphere, it’s much, much thinner than Earth’s — <a href="https://www.space.com/16903-mars-atmosphere-climate-weather.html">about 100 times thinner, in fact</a>.</p>
<p>Flying Ingenuity in Mars’s atmosphere is therefore the equivalent of flying a helicopter on Earth at a height of 100,000 feet. For reference, commercial aircraft fly between 30,000-40,000 feet above the Earth’s surface and the highest we’ve ever been in a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_altitude_record">helicopter on Earth is 42,000 feet</a>.</p>
<p>Testing the craft on Earth required a pressurised room, from which a lot of air would have been extracted to emulate Mars’s atmosphere. </p>
<p>Then there’s the Martian gravity to consider, which is about one-third the strength of gravity on Earth. This actually gives us a slight advantage. If Mars had the same atmosphere as Earth, it’s lesser gravity means we’d be able to lift Ingenuity with less power than would be required here.</p>
<p>But while Mars’s gravity works to our advantage, this is offset by the lack of atmosphere. </p>
<p>Ingenuity’s success marks the first time such a flight has even been attempted outside of Earth. And the reason for this may simply be that, as laid out above, this task is very, very difficult. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/7-minutes-of-terror-a-look-at-the-technology-perseverance-will-need-to-survive-landing-on-mars-155046">'7 minutes of terror': a look at the technology Perseverance will need to survive landing on Mars</a>
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<h2>Advanced manufacturing</h2>
<p>There are two main ways Ingenuity was able to overcome the hurdles presented in Mars’s atmosphere. Firstly, to generate lift, the two rotors (<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/6-things-to-know-about-nasas-ingenuity-mars-helicopter">made from carbon fibre</a>) had to spin much faster than any helicopter’s on Earth.</p>
<p>On Earth, most helicopters and drones have rotors that spin at about 400-500 revolutions per minute. The Ingenuity’s rotor spun at about 2,400 revolutions per minute.</p>
<p>It also has a distinct aircraft-to-wingspan ratio. While Ingenuity’s body is about the size of a tissue box, its blades are 1.2m from tip to tip. </p>
<p>Even transmitting the signal for the flight to begin required an array of advanced technology. Whilst it only requires minutes for radio signals to travel between Earth and Mars, there was still a <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-ingenuity-mars-helicopter-succeeds-in-historic-first-flight">delay of hours</a> for those signals to reach the helicopter. </p>
<p>This makes sense when you consider the journey those signals have to take – from a computer on Earth, to a satellite dish, to the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, to the Perseverance rover and then, finally, to the helicopter.</p>
<h2>Remote controlled flight on Mars</h2>
<p>Ingenuity is what we call a “technology demonstrator”. Simply, its only purpose is to prove it can complete a series of simple missions. Over the next few weeks, the helicopter will undertake three or four more flights, the most adventurous of which will involve taking off and travelling about 300m away from Perseverance.</p>
<p>Data retrieved from the flights will be analysed and used as crucial input for future designs of more sophisticated aircraft. Once this technology is applied, its potential will be vast. </p>
<p>Drones and helicopters operating on Mars could act as scouts, checking the land ahead of a rover to confirm whether it’s safe to travel there. Such aircraft could even assist in the search for water and life on the Martian surface.</p>
<p>And in 2035, <a href="https://www.space.com/nasa-aims-for-2035-mars-landings-iac.html">it’s expected</a> the first humans will land on Mars. There’s a good chance these crews will be trained in operating aircraft locally and in real-time, surveying the land for obstacles and dangerous terrain that could harm humans, or damage suits, aircraft or rovers.</p>
<h2>Homage to the past, with the future in sight</h2>
<p>As a touching tribute to the first powered flight on Earth, scientists at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory added a historic artefact to the Mars helicopter. Attached to a cable underneath one of its solar panels is a small piece of the wing from the Wright brothers’ 1903 Wright flyer. </p>
<p>This item of flight history is the second piece of an Earth aircraft to go into space; a similar piece of the wing was taken to the Moon during the Apollo missions.</p>
<p>Missions are already in work to push the barriers of powered flight on other worlds. In particular, the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasas-dragonfly-will-fly-around-titan-looking-for-origins-signs-of-life">Dragonfly helicopter</a> is planned to fly above the surface of Titan, one of Saturn’s moons, with arrival scheduled for 2034. </p>
<p>Maybe it too will take a piece of Earth’s history along for the ride as we continue our exploration of other planetary bodies, one world at a time. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1384099929128202240"}"></div></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159334/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gail Iles does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Flying the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars is the equivalent of flying one at about 100,000 feet on Earth. Tricky, considering the highest helicopter flight ever recorded maxed out at 42,000 feet.Gail Iles, Senior Lecturer in Physics, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1550462021-02-16T18:50:50Z2021-02-16T18:50:50Z‘7 minutes of terror’: a look at the technology Perseverance will need to survive landing on Mars<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384379/original/file-20210216-19-4u9nb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=76%2C30%2C10148%2C5717&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">NASA/JPL-Caltech</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This month has been a busy one for Mars exploration. <a href="https://www.space.com/china-first-mars-mission-tianwen-1-enters-orbit">Several countries</a> sent missions to the red planet in June last year, taking advantage of a launch window. Most have <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/14/world/hope-probe-picture-intl-scli-scn/index.html">now arrived</a> after their eight-month voyage.</p>
<p>Within the next few days, NASA <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/overview/">will perform</a> a direct entry of the Martian atmosphere to land the Perseverance rover in Mars’s Jezero Crater.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/as-new-probes-reach-mars-heres-what-we-know-so-far-from-trips-to-the-red-planet-153791">As new probes reach Mars, here's what we know so far from trips to the red planet</a>
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<p>Perseverance, <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/spacecraft/rover/body/">about the size of a car</a>, is the largest Mars payload ever — it literally <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/faq/">weighs a tonne</a> (on Earth). After landing, the rover will search for signs of ancient life and gather samples to <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/files/mars2020/Mars2020_Fact_Sheet.pdf">eventually be returned to Earth</a>. </p>
<p>The mission will use similar hardware to that of the 2012 <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/home/">Mars Science Laboratory</a> (MSL) mission, which landed the Curiosity rover, but will have certain upgrades including improved rover landing accuracy.</p>
<p>Curiosity’s voyage provided a wealth of information about what kind of environment Mars 2020 might face and what technology it would need to survive.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383662/original/file-20210211-17-8o2rt7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383662/original/file-20210211-17-8o2rt7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383662/original/file-20210211-17-8o2rt7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383662/original/file-20210211-17-8o2rt7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383662/original/file-20210211-17-8o2rt7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383662/original/file-20210211-17-8o2rt7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383662/original/file-20210211-17-8o2rt7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">An artist’s impression of Mars 2020 approaching the red planet.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NASA/JPL-Caltech</span></span>
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<h2>Mars: a most alien land</h2>
<p>As Mars is a hostile and remote environment with an atmosphere about <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/all-about-mars/facts/">100 times thinner than Earth’s</a>, there’s little atmosphere for incoming spacecraft to use to slow down aerodynamically. </p>
<p>Rather, surviving entry to Mars requires a creative mix of aerodynamics, parachutes, retropropulsion (using engine thrust to decelerate for landing) and often a large airbag. </p>
<p>Also, models of Martian weather aren’t updated in real time, so we don’t know exactly what environment a probe will face during entry. Unpredictable weather events, especially dust storms, are one reason landing accuracy has <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mediacast/the-danger-of-going-to-mars">suffered in previous</a> missions. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/mars-missions-from-china-and-uae-are-set-to-go-into-orbit-heres-what-they-could-discover-154408">Mars missions from China and UAE are set to go into orbit – here's what they could discover</a>
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<p>NASA engineers call the entry, descent and landing phase (EDL) of Mars entry missions the “<a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video?id=1090">seven minutes of terror</a>”. In just seven minutes there are myriad ways entry can fail.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383550/original/file-20210210-17-1hbovn2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383550/original/file-20210210-17-1hbovn2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383550/original/file-20210210-17-1hbovn2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383550/original/file-20210210-17-1hbovn2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383550/original/file-20210210-17-1hbovn2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383550/original/file-20210210-17-1hbovn2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383550/original/file-20210210-17-1hbovn2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A profile of Mars 2020’s entry, descent and landing phase.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NASA JPL</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Thermal protection</h2>
<p>The 2012 MSL <a href="https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/10.2514/1.A32794">spacecraft</a> was fitted with a 4.5-metre-diameter heat shield that protected the vehicle during its descent through Mars’s atmosphere.</p>
<p>It entered the Martian atmosphere at around <a href="https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/10.2514/1.A32794">5,900m per second</a>. This is hypersonic, which means it’s more than five times the speed of sound.</p>
<p>Mars 2020 will be similar. It will rely heavily on its thermal protection system, including a front heat shield and backshell heat shield, to stop hot flow from damaging the rover stowed inside.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383553/original/file-20210210-19-pgu6a1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383553/original/file-20210210-19-pgu6a1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383553/original/file-20210210-19-pgu6a1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383553/original/file-20210210-19-pgu6a1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383553/original/file-20210210-19-pgu6a1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383553/original/file-20210210-19-pgu6a1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383553/original/file-20210210-19-pgu6a1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pictured are the Mars 2020 backshell heat shield (foreground) and the main PICA heat shield (background).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NASA/JPL-Caltech</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At hypersonic speeds, Mars’s atmosphere won’t be able to get out of the spacecraft’s way fast enough. As a result, a strong shock wave will form off the front.</p>
<p>In this case, gas in front of the vehicle will be rapidly compressed, causing a huge jump in pressure and temperature between the shock wave and the heat shield.</p>
<p>The hot post-shock flow heats up the surface of the heat shield during the entry, but the heat shield protects the internal structure from this heat. </p>
<p>Since the MSL 2012 and Mars 2020 missions use relatively larger payloads, these spacecrafts are at higher risk of overheating during the entry phase.</p>
<p>But MSL effectively circumvented this issue, largely thanks to a specially-designed heat shield which was the first ever to make use of NASA’s Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA) <a href="https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/10.2514/1.A32635">material</a>. </p>
<p>This material, which the Mars 2020 spacecraft also uses, is made of chopped carbon-fibre embedded in a <a href="https://fibermaterialsinc.com/extreme-materials/pica/">synthetic resin</a>. It’s very light, can absorb immense heat and is an effective insulator. </p>
<h2>Guided entry</h2>
<p>All entries before the 2012 MSL mission had been unguided, meaning they weren’t controlled in real-time by a flight computer.</p>
<p>Instead, the spacecraft were designed to hit Mars’s “<a href="https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/10.2514/1.A32680">entry interface</a>” (125km above ground) in a particular way, before landing wherever the Martian winds took them. With this came significant landing uncertainty.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383712/original/file-20210211-23-zlbts1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383712/original/file-20210211-23-zlbts1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383712/original/file-20210211-23-zlbts1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383712/original/file-20210211-23-zlbts1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383712/original/file-20210211-23-zlbts1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383712/original/file-20210211-23-zlbts1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383712/original/file-20210211-23-zlbts1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This artist’s impression shows thrusters controlling the angle of the spacecraft during MSL 2012’s Mars entry. Mars 2020 will use the same technique.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NASA/JPL-Caltech</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The area of landing uncertainty is called the <a href="https://www.planetary.org/articles/1425">landing ellipse</a>. NASA’s 1970s Viking Mars missions had an estimated landing ellipse of <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/pia16039.html">280x100km</a>. But both MSL and Mars 2020 were built to outperform previous efforts.</p>
<p>The MSL mission was the first guided Mars entry. An upgraded version of the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/07/underappreciated-power-apollo-computer/594121/">Apollo guidance computer</a> was used to control the vehicle in real time to ensure an accurate landing.</p>
<p>With this, MSL reduced its estimated landing ellipse to <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/pia16039.html">20x6.5km</a> and ended up landing just <a href="https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/10.2514/1.A32737">2km from its target</a>. With any luck, Mars 2020 will achieve similar results.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383666/original/file-20210211-17-f6lrc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383666/original/file-20210211-17-f6lrc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383666/original/file-20210211-17-f6lrc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383666/original/file-20210211-17-f6lrc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383666/original/file-20210211-17-f6lrc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383666/original/file-20210211-17-f6lrc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383666/original/file-20210211-17-f6lrc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pictured are NASA’s various Mars landing sites, including the proposed Perseverance landing site. Perseverance is expected to land in a relatively less clear area.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NASA/JPL-Caltech</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Supersonic parachuting</h2>
<p>A parachute will be used to slow down the Mars 2020 spacecraft enough for final landing manoeuvres to be performed. </p>
<p>With a <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/timeline/landing/entry-descent-landing/">21.5m</a> diameter, the parachute will be the largest ever used on Mars and will have to be deployed faster than the speed of sound.</p>
<p>Deploying the parachute at the right time will be critical for achieving an accurate landing. </p>
<p>A brand new technology called “<a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/technology/#Range-Trigger">range trigger</a>” will control the deployment time, based on the spacecraft’s relative position to its desired landing spot. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383556/original/file-20210210-23-14gy9gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383556/original/file-20210210-23-14gy9gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383556/original/file-20210210-23-14gy9gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383556/original/file-20210210-23-14gy9gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383556/original/file-20210210-23-14gy9gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383556/original/file-20210210-23-14gy9gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383556/original/file-20210210-23-14gy9gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The spacecraft descending after the parachute has been deployed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NASA/JPL-Caltech</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>State-of-the-art navigation</h2>
<p>About 20 seconds after the parachute opens, the heat shield will separate from the spacecraft, exposing Perseverance to the Martian environment. Its cameras and sensors can begin to collect information as it approaches ground.</p>
<p>The rover’s specialised <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/technology/#Terrain-Relative-Navigation">terrain-relative navigation</a> system will help it land safely by diverting it to a stable landing surface. </p>
<p>Perseverance will compare a pre-loaded map of the landing site with images collected during its rapid descent. It should then be able to identify landmarks below and estimate its relative position to the ground to an accuracy of <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/technology/#Terrain-Relative-Navigation">about 40m</a>.</p>
<p>Terrain-relative navigation is far superior to methods used for past Mars entries. Older spacecraft had to rely on their own internal estimates of their location during entry and there was no way to effectively recalibrate this information. </p>
<p>They could only guess where they were to an accuracy of about <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/technology/#Terrain-Relative-Navigation">2-3km</a> as they approached ground.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/mars-insight-why-well-be-listening-to-the-landing-of-the-perseverance-rover-153672">Mars InSight: why we'll be listening to the landing of the Perseverance rover</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The final touchdown</h2>
<p>The parachute carrying the Mars 2020 spacecraft can only slow it down to about <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/timeline/landing/entry-descent-landing/">320km per hour</a>. </p>
<p>To land safely, the spacecraft will jettison the parachute and backshell and use rockets facing the ground to ease down for the final <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/timeline/landing/entry-descent-landing/">2,100m</a>. This is called “retropropulsion”.</p>
<p>And to avoid using airbags to land the rover (as was done in missions prior to MSL), Mars 2020 will use the “skycrane” manoeuvre; a set of cables will slowly lower Perseverance to the ground as it prepares for autonomous operation.</p>
<p>Once Perseverance senses its wheels are safely on the ground, it will cut the cables connecting it to the descent vehicle (which will fly off and crash somewhere in the distance). </p>
<p>And with that, the seven minutes of terror will be over.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383692/original/file-20210211-21-1wk9vo4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/383692/original/file-20210211-21-1wk9vo4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383692/original/file-20210211-21-1wk9vo4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383692/original/file-20210211-21-1wk9vo4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383692/original/file-20210211-21-1wk9vo4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383692/original/file-20210211-21-1wk9vo4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/383692/original/file-20210211-21-1wk9vo4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Perseverance rover being placed on Martian soil by the skycrane.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NASA/JPL-Caltech</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155046/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris James does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Perseverance follows in the tracks of Curiosity. The latter’s touchdown on Martian soil in 2012 marked the first successful use of several pioneering space technologies.Chris James, ARC DECRA Fellow, Centre for Hypersonics, School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1537912021-02-09T19:07:45Z2021-02-09T19:07:45ZAs new probes reach Mars, here’s what we know so far from trips to the red planet<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381867/original/file-20210202-23-jt4fc5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C13%2C2281%2C1149&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/6564/rover-tracks-in-northward-view-along-west-rim-of-endeavour-false-color/">NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University/Arizona State University</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Three new spacecraft are due to arrive at Mars this month, ending their seven-month journey through space. </p>
<p>The first, the United Arab Emirates’ <a href="https://www.emiratesmarsmission.ae/">Hope Probe</a>, should have made it to the red planet this week. It will stay in orbit and study its atmosphere for one complete Martian year (687 Earth days). </p>
<p>China’s <a href="https://www.planetary.org/space-missions/tianwen-1">Tianwen-1 mission</a> also enters orbit this month and will begin scouting the potential landing site for its Mars rover, due to be deployed in May.</p>
<p>If successful, China will become the second country to land a rover on Mars. </p>
<p>These two missions will join six orbiting spacecraft actively studying the red planet from above:</p>
<ul>
<li>NASA’s <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/odyssey/">Mars Odyssey</a>, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (<a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/mro/">MRO</a>) and <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/maven/">MAVEN Orbiter</a></li>
<li>Europe’s <a href="https://sci.esa.int/web/mars-express">Mars Express</a></li>
<li>India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (<a href="https://www.isro.gov.in/pslv-c25-mars-orbiter-mission">MOM</a>)</li>
<li>the European and Russian partnership <a href="https://exploration.esa.int/web/mars/-/46475-trace-gas-orbiter">ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p>The oldest active probe - Mars Odyssey - has been orbiting the planet for 20 years.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-get-people-from-earth-to-mars-and-safely-back-again-150167">How to get people from Earth to Mars and safely back again</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The third spacecraft to reach Mars this month is NASA’s <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/">Perseverance rover</a>, scheduled to land on February 18. It will search for signs of ancient microbial life but its mission also looks ahead, testing <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/spacecraft/instruments/moxie/">new technologies</a> that may support humans visiting Mars one day.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tITni_HY1Bk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Now NASA hopes Perseverance will land on Mars.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Laboratories on wheels</h2>
<p>NASA has an impressive track record for landing on Mars. It has operated all eight successful missions to the Martian surface. </p>
<p>What began with the two <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/mars-exploration/missions/viking-1-2/">Viking landers</a> in the 1970s continues today with the <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/">InSight lander</a>, which has studied the <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/weather/">daily weather on Mars</a> and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03796-7">detected Marsquakes</a> for the past two years. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381605/original/file-20210201-17-1q5j86p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A rock strewn field and the foot of the Viking 1 lander appears in one corner." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381605/original/file-20210201-17-1q5j86p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381605/original/file-20210201-17-1q5j86p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=213&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381605/original/file-20210201-17-1q5j86p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=213&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381605/original/file-20210201-17-1q5j86p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=213&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381605/original/file-20210201-17-1q5j86p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=268&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381605/original/file-20210201-17-1q5j86p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=268&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381605/original/file-20210201-17-1q5j86p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=268&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Just minutes after landing, Viking 1 captured the first ever photograph taken from the Martian surface.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://rps.nasa.gov/resources/16/first-picture-from-the-surface-of-mars/">NASA/JPL</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Perseverance will be the fifth rover to arrive on Mars that’s capable of venturing across the surface of another planet. </p>
<p>These amazing laboratories on wheels have extended our knowledge of a faraway world. Here’s what they’ve told us so far. </p>
<h2>The first rover - Sojourner</h2>
<p>Twenty years after Viking 1 & 2 landed stationary probes on Mars, a third spacecraft finally reached the planet, but this one could move.</p>
<p>On July 4, 1997, NASA’s <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/mars-exploration/missions/pathfinder/">Pathfinder</a> literally bounced onto the Martian surface, safely enclosed in a giant set of airbags. Once stable, the lander released the Sojourner rover. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9HGRReKUzfU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">See the Sojourner probe from Pathfinder’s viewpoint.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The first rover on Mars could move at a maximum speed of 1cm a second and was about as long (63cm) as a skateboard — smaller than some of the boulders it encountered. </p>
<p>Sojourner explored 16 locations near the Pathfinder lander, including the volcanic rock “Yogi”. Pictures of its landing site, Ares Vallis, showed it was littered with rounded pebbles and conglomerate rocks, evidence of ancient flood plains. </p>
<h2>The geologists - Spirit and Opportunity</h2>
<p>A pair of upsized rovers arrived on Mars in early 2004. <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/mars-exploration/missions/mars-exploration-rovers/">Spirit and Opportunity</a> were geologists, searching for minerals within the rocks and soil, hidden clues that dry, cold Mars may once have been wet and warm.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381608/original/file-20210201-23-14r6qkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Looking down on Spirit rover." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381608/original/file-20210201-23-14r6qkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381608/original/file-20210201-23-14r6qkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381608/original/file-20210201-23-14r6qkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381608/original/file-20210201-23-14r6qkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381608/original/file-20210201-23-14r6qkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381608/original/file-20210201-23-14r6qkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381608/original/file-20210201-23-14r6qkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This overhead ‘selfie’ was combined with Spirit’s largest ever panorama - it contains hundreds of individual images of Gusev Crater taken over three Martian days.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://mars.nasa.gov/mro/multimedia/images/?ImageID=5835">NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Spirit landed in Gusev Crater, a 150km-wide crater created billions of years ago when an asteroid crashed into Mars. </p>
<p>Spirit discovered evidence of an ancient volcanic explosion, caused by hot lava meeting water. Small rocks had been thrown skyward but then fell back to Mars. Examination of the impact or “<a href="http://redplanet.asu.edu/?p=1216">bomb sag</a>” showed the rock had landed on wet soil. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381847/original/file-20210202-19-z79fs3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A small crater on Mars." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381847/original/file-20210202-19-z79fs3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381847/original/file-20210202-19-z79fs3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381847/original/file-20210202-19-z79fs3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381847/original/file-20210202-19-z79fs3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381847/original/file-20210202-19-z79fs3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381847/original/file-20210202-19-z79fs3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381847/original/file-20210202-19-z79fs3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The arrow points to a small crater or bomb sag, just 4cm across, that formed in the soaking wet ground when an ejected rock fell back to Mars.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://redplanet.asu.edu/?p=1216">NASA/JPL-Caltech/USGS/Cornell</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Even when things went wrong, Spirit made new discoveries. While dragging a <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn8944-mars-rovers-broken-wheel-is-beyond-repair/">broken front wheel</a>, Spirit churned up a track of soil revealing a <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11914-mars-rovers-disability-leads-to-major-water-discovery/">patch of white silica</a>. </p>
<p>This mineral usually exists in hot springs or steam vents, ideal environments where life on Earth tends to flourish. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381609/original/file-20210201-15-boa9dl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Track of disturbed red soil revealing white silica." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381609/original/file-20210201-15-boa9dl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381609/original/file-20210201-15-boa9dl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381609/original/file-20210201-15-boa9dl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381609/original/file-20210201-15-boa9dl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381609/original/file-20210201-15-boa9dl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381609/original/file-20210201-15-boa9dl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381609/original/file-20210201-15-boa9dl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 20cm track revealing white silica and a clue that Mars was once wet and warm.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/mars-rover-spirit-unearths-surprise-evidence-of-wetter-past">NASA/JPL/Cornell</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The rover that kept on going</h2>
<p>Opportunity arrived on Mars three weeks after Spirit. Its original three-month mission was extended to 14 years as it travelled almost 50km across the Martian terrain. </p>
<p>Landing in the small Eagle Crater, Opportunity went on to visit more than 100 impact craters. It also found a handful of meteorites, <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/mer/newsroom/pressreleases/20050119a.html">the first to be studied on another planet</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382476/original/file-20210204-22-oxoad8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Opportunity’s journey mapped on an aerial view of Mars" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382476/original/file-20210204-22-oxoad8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382476/original/file-20210204-22-oxoad8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382476/original/file-20210204-22-oxoad8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382476/original/file-20210204-22-oxoad8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382476/original/file-20210204-22-oxoad8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382476/original/file-20210204-22-oxoad8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382476/original/file-20210204-22-oxoad8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Outlined in yellow is Opportunity’s journey from Eagle Crater towards its final resting spot on the rim of Endeavour Crater. The blue outline of Victoria’s Phillip Island is included for scale.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/Museums Victoria</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The rover was descending into Endeavour Crater when a dust storm <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/news/8413/nasas-opportunity-rover-mission-on-mars-comes-to-end/">ended its mission</a>. But it was along the crater’s edge that Opportunity made its biggest discoveries. </p>
<p>It found signs of ancient water flows and discovered the crater walls are <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/mer/newsroom/pressreleases/20110901a.html">made of clays</a> that can only form where freshwater is available — more evidence that Mars could well have been a place for life. </p>
<h2>The chemist - Curiosity</h2>
<p><a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/mars-exploration/missions/mars-science-laboratory/">Curiosity</a> landed in Gale Crater on August 6, 2012, and continues to explore the region today. During the coronavirus pandemic, scientists and engineers have been commanding the rover from their homes.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381858/original/file-20210202-19-11bt6t4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The Curiosity rover lowered to Mars." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381858/original/file-20210202-19-11bt6t4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381858/original/file-20210202-19-11bt6t4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381858/original/file-20210202-19-11bt6t4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381858/original/file-20210202-19-11bt6t4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381858/original/file-20210202-19-11bt6t4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381858/original/file-20210202-19-11bt6t4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381858/original/file-20210202-19-11bt6t4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An artist’s impression of Curiosity as it descends from the top of the Martian atmosphere to softly touchdown on the planet’s surface.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/gallery/pia14839.html">NASA/JPL-Caltech</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In a first for space exploration, NASA’s Curiosity was lowered to the Martian surface using a “sky crane”. After a successful soft landing, the crane’s cables were cut and the spacecraft’s descent stage flew away to crash elsewhere.</p>
<p>Curiosity is a fully equipped chemical laboratory. It can shoot lasers at rocks and also drill into the soil to collect samples. It’s confirmed ancient Mars once had the right chemistry to <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/news/msl20130312.html">support microbial life</a>. </p>
<p>Curiosity also found evidence of ancient freshwater rivers and lakes. It seems that water once flowed towards a basin at Mount Sharp, a central peak that rises 5.5km from within Gale Crater. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381861/original/file-20210202-17-kqxcbk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The Curiosity rover on the Martian surface." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381861/original/file-20210202-17-kqxcbk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381861/original/file-20210202-17-kqxcbk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381861/original/file-20210202-17-kqxcbk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381861/original/file-20210202-17-kqxcbk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381861/original/file-20210202-17-kqxcbk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381861/original/file-20210202-17-kqxcbk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381861/original/file-20210202-17-kqxcbk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Curiosity takes a picture of itself, working through the COVID-19 pandemic and drilling holes in a possible ancient riverbed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasas-curiosity-takes-selfie-with-mary-anning-on-the-red-planet">NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From being on the surface of Mars, we’ve learned it was once very different to the dry, dusty planet it is today.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-conversation-weekly-podcast-ep-1-transcript-why-its-a-big-month-for-mars-154500">The Conversation Weekly podcast Ep #1 transcript: Why it's a big month for Mars</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>With flowing water, possible oceans, volcanic activity and an abundance of key ingredients necessary for life, the red planet was once much more Earth-like. What happened to make it change so dramatically? </p>
<p>It’s exciting to consider what the Perseverance and Taiwen-1 rovers may discover as they explore their own patch of Mars. They might even lead us to the day when humans are exploring the red planet for ourselves.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381611/original/file-20210201-17-jy1jiy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A Martian rocky landscape." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381611/original/file-20210201-17-jy1jiy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381611/original/file-20210201-17-jy1jiy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=275&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381611/original/file-20210201-17-jy1jiy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=275&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381611/original/file-20210201-17-jy1jiy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=275&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381611/original/file-20210201-17-jy1jiy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381611/original/file-20210201-17-jy1jiy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/381611/original/file-20210201-17-jy1jiy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The colours in this image from Gale Crater have been adjusted to match conditions on Earth – this helps geologists interpret the rocks but it also changes the natural pink Martian sky to an Earth-like blue.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/7505/strata-at-base-of-mount-sharp/">NASA/JPL-Caltech</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153791/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tanya Hill does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Of the three probes to reach Mars this month, only two will land. But they will add to our growing knowledge of the red planet, and the search for evidence of life.Tanya Hill, Honorary Fellow of the University of Melbourne and Senior Curator (Astronomy), Museums Victoria Research InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1424392020-07-13T11:51:45Z2020-07-13T11:51:45ZThe UAE’s Mars mission seeks to bring Hope to more places than the red planet<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346922/original/file-20200710-18-1dnnq5r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=75%2C33%2C5531%2C3699&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Star trails in the desert.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/star-trail-in-the-desert-riyadh-saudi-arabia-royalty-free-image/936327752?adppopup=true&uiloc=thumbnail_similar_images_adp">TARIQ_M_1 / Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On July 14, a new Mars-bound spacecraft will launch from Japan. While several Mars missions are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-01861-0">planned to launch</a> over the next month, what makes this different is who’s launching it: the United Arab Emirates.</p>
<p>Though new to space exploration, the UAE has set high goals for the probe, named Hope. The mission aims to further study the climate of Mars, but <a href="https://www.space.com/united-arab-emirates-hope-mars-mission.html">Omran Sharaf, mission lead, also says</a>, “It’s a means for a bigger goal: to expedite the development in our educational sector, academic sector.”</p>
<p>With space exploration usually pursued by actors like the United States, Russia, China, the European Space Agency and more recently, India, Hope will be the first mission to the red planet from a Middle Eastern country. <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=PxIOz7cAAAAJ&hl=en">As a space policy expert</a>, I believe Hope is also significant in two other ways: It shows how international collaboration, through which Hope was designed and built, enables a new generation of space exploration and demonstrates the expansion of this sector can further economic development.</p>
<h2>Growing international collaboration</h2>
<p>While tense relations in space between major countries seem to dominate the headlines, the UAE’s mission shows how cooperation is just as important. Despite being <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2020/06/16/in-30-days-a-country-of-96-million-people-will-send-a-mission-to-mars-this-is-what-hope-can-do/#2fba84c050c3">the third-richest country</a> in the world, the UAE’s scientific and engineering community is still small. As such, the Emiratis turned to other experts for help. <a href="https://www.space.com/united-arab-emirates-hope-mars-mission.html">To build Hope</a> and its scientific instrumentation, the UAE worked with the University of Colorado Boulder and then sent it to Japan to be launched on a Japanese H-2A rocket.</p>
<p>International cooperation in space is not new. Typically, such collaboration is used by states to either advance the interest of a particular state – usually, the U.S. or Russia – or to reduce the costs of space exploration. For example, early in the space race, the <a href="https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4407/vol2/v2chapter1-1.pdf">United States assisted European countries</a> with launching satellites to demonstrate the power of the U.S. in space. The International Space Station, on the other hand, has been a work in progress since the mid-1990s. It was built through a partnership established <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0160-791X(98)00026-8">to reduce the costs</a> of building and operating such a large project in low Earth orbit.</p>
<p>While international prestige plays a role for Hope (its arrival at Mars is timed to the UAE’s 50th anniversary), the cooperation involved is different. Instead of relying on countries for direct assistance, the UAE contracted with an American university and a commercial Japanese launcher. By doing so, they have taken advantage of significant changes in the accessibility and affordability of space technology to produce a fairly low-cost mission. For just <a href="https://www.thenational.ae/uae/science/uae-mars-mission-the-hope-probe-cost-nearly-dh735-million-1.1045660">US$200 million in costs</a>, they believe Hope will stimulate and grow their economic base.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>Though resource-rich, the UAE remains an economically fragile state. They <a href="https://www.nature.com/immersive/d41586-020-01862-z/index.html">have historically produced few Ph.D.’s</a> in the basic sciences and lack a robust knowledge economy. Sharaf, Hope’s mission lead, has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/09/it-is-about-our-survival-uaes-mars-mission-prepares-for-launch">frankly acknowledged</a> that the mission “is about the future of the UAE and our survival.” The idea is for Hope to inspire a new generation of Emiratis to pursue education in STEM fields to diversify and strengthen the country’s economy. This approach seems to be working, with <a href="https://www.nature.com/immersive/d41586-020-01862-z/index.html">the UAE already seeing a 12% annual increase</a> in STEM enrollment for the past several years.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346924/original/file-20200710-22-lxcg3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346924/original/file-20200710-22-lxcg3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346924/original/file-20200710-22-lxcg3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346924/original/file-20200710-22-lxcg3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346924/original/file-20200710-22-lxcg3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346924/original/file-20200710-22-lxcg3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346924/original/file-20200710-22-lxcg3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The United Arab Emirates’ first astronaut, Hazza Al Mansouri, gives an OK sign during a spacesuit check before a launch to the International Space Station.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/expedition-61-62-main-crew-member-the-united-arab-emirates-news-photo/1171006296?adppopup=true">Sergei Savostyanov/TASS via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The economic expansion of space exploration</h2>
<p>While international achievement remains important, economic concerns like the UAE’s are increasingly driving space exploration.</p>
<p>In addition to the UAE and other Middle Eastern countries, African states are also looking to take advantage of space. To date, <a href="https://warontherocks.com/2020/06/is-the-united-states-losing-the-african-space-race/#:%7E:text=Africa's%20space%20programs%20account%20for,of%20the%20world's%20space%20activity.&text=Since%201999%2C%2011%20African%20countries,three%20multilateral%20satellites%20into%20orbit.">11 African countries</a> have launched satellites and Africa’s space economy is currently worth around $7 billion. As a sign of how serious the continent is, the African Union is planning to <a href="https://qz.com/africa/1550551/egypt-to-host-african-space-agency/">establish an African space agency</a> that will be headquartered in Egypt.</p>
<p>Unlike Hope, whose goal is to indirectly stimulate the Emirati economy, African countries are seeking direct economic impact through the use of satellites. In South Africa, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2019/11/01/south-africa-space-063031">remote imaging satellites are being used</a> to catch illegal fishing off its coast. Ethiopia is using <a href="https://qz.com/africa/1772671/ethiopia-launched-its-first-space-satellite-with-chinas-help/">its first Earth-observing satellite</a> to improve weather monitoring in the Horn of Africa. <a href="https://africanews.space/how-much-has-nasrda-contributed-to-nigerias-economic-growth-and-development/">Nigeria has used</a> its three Earth satellites to aid in resource and even electoral mapping.</p>
<p>Given a lack of homegrown capabilities, South Africa, Ethiopia, Nigeria and the UAE have all had to take advantage of international collaboration. This is especially true when it comes to launching the satellites. As such, the use of space exploration to support economic development can only continue through the type of cooperation that led to Hope.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142439/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wendy Whitman Cobb is affiliated with the US Air Force School of Advanced Air and Space Studies. Her views are her own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Defense or any of its components.. </span></em></p>A new country launches a mission to Mars. A space expert explains what this means for the Middle East and the African continent.Wendy Whitman Cobb, Professor of Strategy and Security Studies, Air UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1366652020-05-19T12:16:32Z2020-05-19T12:16:32ZUS seeks to change the rules for mining the Moon<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335463/original/file-20200515-138615-ay2p3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5607%2C3421&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Who owns the Moon?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/full-moon-karwendel-bavaria-germany-royalty-free-image/1140111522">Henglein and Steets/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Private industries have <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-spacex-lowered-costs-and-reduced-barriers-to-space-112586">helped drop the cost of launching</a> rockets, satellites and other equipment into space to historic lows. That has boosted interest in developing space – both for <a href="http://www.spacedaily.com/news/china-02f.html">mining raw materials</a> such as silicon for solar panels and oxygen for <a href="https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/moon-mars/a32253706/history-moon-mining/">rocket fuel</a>, as well as potentially <a href="http://blogs.kqed.org/science/video/silicon-valley-goes-to-space/">relocating polluting industries</a> <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/07/20/space-research-can-save-the-planet-again-climate-change-environment/">off the Earth</a>. But the rules are not clear about who would profit if, for instance, a U.S. company like SpaceX colonized Mars or established a Moon base.</p>
<p>At the moment, no company – or nation – is yet ready to claim or take advantage of private property in space. But the <a href="https://www.industry.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-03/global_space_industry_dynamics_-_research_paper.pdf">US$350 billion</a> space industry could change quickly. <a href="https://thehustle.co/11182019-moon-mining-startups/">Several companies</a> are already planning to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2015/03/19/an-audacious-plan-to-mine-the-surface-of-the-moon/">explore the Moon</a> to find raw materials like water; Helium-3, which is potentially useful in fusion nuclear reactors; and <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-are-rare-earths-crucial-elements-in-modern-technology-4-questions-answered-101364">rare earth elements</a>, which are <a href="https://www.americangeosciences.org/critical-issues/faq/how-do-we-use-rare-earth-elements">invaluable for manufacturing</a> electronics. What they might find, and how easy the material is to bring back to Earth, remains to be seen.</p>
<p>Anticipating additional commercial interest, the Trump administration has <a href="https://www.space.com/trump-moon-mining-space-resources-executive-order.html">created new rules</a> through <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-encouraging-international-support-recovery-use-space-resources/">an executive order</a> following a 2015 law change for how those companies might profit from operations on the Moon, asteroids and other planets. Those rules conflict with a <a href="https://www.thespacereview.com/article/1954/1">longstanding international treaty</a> the U.S. has generally followed but never formally joined. The administration also is planning to encourage other nations to adopt this new U.S. perspective on space mining.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1972308">scholar of space law and policy</a> – and a proud <a href="https://thisibelieve.org/essay/29333/">sci-fi nerd</a> – <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=YtgRGx0AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">I</a> believe the international community could find new ways to peacefully govern space from examples here on our planet, including deep seabed mining and Antarctica.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335465/original/file-20200515-138644-9cfhm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335465/original/file-20200515-138644-9cfhm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335465/original/file-20200515-138644-9cfhm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335465/original/file-20200515-138644-9cfhm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335465/original/file-20200515-138644-9cfhm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335465/original/file-20200515-138644-9cfhm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335465/original/file-20200515-138644-9cfhm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335465/original/file-20200515-138644-9cfhm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 2015 meeting of the International Seabed Authority.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Jamaica-Deep-Seabed-Mining/6ebb32d2413d4b4f80b2ee58103bc057/2/0">AP Photo/David McFadden</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Who owns space?</h2>
<p>In general, regions of Earth beyond any one nation’s control – like the high seas, the atmosphere and Antarctica – have been viewed by the international community as <a href="https://iasc-commons.org/about-commons/">globally shared resources</a>. That principle applied to space, too, until President Donald Trump’s executive order <a href="https://spacenews.com/white-house-looks-for-international-support-for-space-resource-rights/">specifically rejected the idea</a> that space was any sort of “global commons” shared among all nations and peoples of the Earth.</p>
<p>This step is the latest in a series of decisions by U.S. presidents over the last 40 years that have signaled <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90290871/outer-space-new-space-race-competition-cooperation">the country’s decreasing willingness to share</a> these types of resources, especially through an international body like the United Nations. </p>
<p>That is one reason why the U.S. has not ratified the <a href="https://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/convention_historical_perspective.htm">U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea</a>, for example, which was agreed to in 1982 and took effect in 1994.</p>
<p>A similar story played out regarding the Moon.</p>
<h2>Moon Treaty and international space law</h2>
<p>Over the decades, the U.S. has sought to use its <a href="https://www.space.com/11751-nasa-american-presidential-visions-space-exploration.html">space policy</a> in various ways. President John F. Kennedy, for example, considered turning the Apollo Moon-landing program into a <a href="http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4407/vol2/v2intro.pdf">joint U.S.-Soviet mission</a> to promote peace between the superpowers.</p>
<p>Lyndon Johnson’s administration similarly saw space as a shared region, and in 1967 signed the <a href="https://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/spacelaw/treaties/introouterspacetreaty.html">Outer Space Treaty</a>, which proclaimed that space was the “province of all mankind.” However, that treaty didn’t say anything about mining on the Moon – so when the U.S. landed there in 1969, the international community called for regulations.</p>
<p>The U.N.’s eventual <a href="https://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/spacelaw/treaties/intromoon-agreement.html">Moon Treaty</a> declared the Moon the “<a href="https://moontreaty.org/">common heritage of mankind</a>,” and sought shared international control over resources found there.</p>
<p>However, that plan wasn’t very popular among advocates for a more commercial final frontier. In the U.S., a nonprofit group in favor of space colonization <a href="http://www.nss.org/settlement/L5news/L5history.htm">opposed the treaty</a>, fearing it would discourage private investment. The treaty failed ratification in the U.S. Senate. Only <a href="https://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/spacelaw/treaties/status/index.html">18 nations</a> have, in fact, ratified the Moon Treaty among them Mexico and Australia, none of them major space-faring powers. But even though many countries seem to agree that the Moon Treaty isn’t the right way to handle lunar property rights, that doesn’t mean they agree on what they actually should do.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_vX6SpYhXqk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">This movie was captured on July 11, 2019, when Hayabusa-2 touched down on asteroid Ryugu, using the onboard small monitor camera. The video playback speed is 10 times faster than actual time.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Finding profit in space</h2>
<p>As space launches got cheaper, the <a href="https://www.wired.com/2015/11/congress-says-yes-to-space-mining-no-to-rocket-regulations/">U.S. SPACE Act</a>, passed in 2015, gave U.S. companies the right to mine materials from <a href="https://theconversation.com/touching-the-asteroid-ryugu-revealed-secrets-of-its-surface-and-changing-orbit-137852">asteroids</a> for profit. That conflicts with the shared-resources view of the <a href="http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1992lbsa.conf..691G">1967 Outer Space Treaty</a>.</p>
<p>Since then, there have been further political efforts to remove perceived legal hurtles to space mining. In 2017, a Republican congressman sought to formalize the U.S. rejection of space as any sort of common property, <a href="https://lawless.tech/claiming-that-space-is-not-a-commons-is-a-bad-strategy/">proposing a bill</a> that said, “<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/2809/text#toc-H031D6DABEAC04942A835BDD8E49A903B">outer space shall not be considered a global commons</a>.” That bill died, but it was <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/3610">reintroduced in 2019</a> and is currently awaiting action in the House.</p>
<h2>A new space race?</h2>
<p>Allowing private control of space resources could launch a <a href="https://theconversation.com/renewed-space-rivalry-between-nations-ignores-a-tradition-of-cooperation-108810">new space race</a>, in which wealthy companies, likely from developed countries, could take control of crucial resources – like <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/ames/ice-confirmed-at-the-moon-s-poles/">ice on the Moon</a>, which could supply water for people or <a href="https://theconversation.com/mining-the-moon-for-rocket-fuel-to-get-us-to-mars-76123">to fuel rockets</a> – and profit handsomely.</p>
<p>That, in turn, would increase the likelihood of a military arms race, with the <a href="https://www.spaceforce.mil/">U.S.</a>, <a href="https://www.spacecom.mil/MEDIA/NEWS-ARTICLES/Article/2151611/russia-tests-direct-ascent-anti-satellite-missile/">Russia</a> and <a href="https://spacenews.com/defense-intelligence-report-china-on-steady-pursuit-of-space-capabilities-to-outmatch-u-s/">China</a> developing weapons to defend their citizens’ space assets. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335749/original/file-20200518-83393-1jyr2mb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335749/original/file-20200518-83393-1jyr2mb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335749/original/file-20200518-83393-1jyr2mb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335749/original/file-20200518-83393-1jyr2mb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335749/original/file-20200518-83393-1jyr2mb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335749/original/file-20200518-83393-1jyr2mb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=677&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335749/original/file-20200518-83393-1jyr2mb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=677&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335749/original/file-20200518-83393-1jyr2mb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=677&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Antarctica, a continent that by international agreement is has no armed military activity and is dedicated to scientific inquiry.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA00117">NASA/JPL</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Applying lessons from the deep, and Antarctica</h2>
<p>In finding common ground, and charting a path forward, it is useful to consider lessons from other frontiers. The Moon Treaty tried to set up a system for sharing the benefits of Moon mining similar to how an existing system handled mining the deep sea. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.isa.org.jm/">International Seabed Authority</a> is a U.N. body that lets nations and private firms develop resources from the deep seabed so long as they share the proceeds, particularly with landlocked developing nations. It is recognized by more than 160 nations, though the U.S. is a <a href="https://www.voanews.com/usa/why-hasnt-us-signed-law-sea-treaty">notable holdout</a>. </p>
<p>Environmental groups have criticized the Authority for not doing enough to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mining-deepsea/u-n-deep-sea-mining-body-rejects-greenpeace-criticism-idUSKCN1U016E">safeguard fragile marine environments</a>, but the overall model of sharing the wealth from a collective resource could still be useful. For instance, the Authority’s participants are working on a <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/projects/seabed-mining-project">new code of ethics for deep-sea mining</a> that would emphasize environmental sustainability. Those provisions could be mirrored on other worlds.</p>
<p>Similarly, the global management of Antarctica has useful parallels with the Moon. The entire continent is governed by a <a href="https://2009-2017.state.gov/t/avc/trty/193967.htm">treaty that has avoided conflict</a> since 1959 by freezing national territorial claims and barring military and commercial activities. Instead, the continent is reserved for <a href="https://2009-2017.state.gov/t/avc/trty/193967.htm#treaty">“peaceful purposes” and “scientific investigation.”</a></p>
<p>A similar approach could become the core of a second attempt at a Moon Treaty, and could even accommodate a provision for commercial activity along the lines of the deep-sea mining rules. In so doing, we must also learn what has <em>not</em> worked in the past, such as ignoring the interests of the private sector and the developing world. Advocates are correct that defining property rights is an important precursor, but it is not a binary choice between a “global commons” or private property, rather there are a universe of <a href="https://www.thecommonsjournal.org/articles/10.18352/ijc.252/">rights</a> that deserve consideration and that could provide a proper foundation for sustainable development.</p>
<p>But coming to an international agreement would take time, energy and a widespread willingness to view resources as common assets that should be collectively governed. All those ingredients are in short supply in a world where many countries are becoming more <a href="https://www.history.com/news/american-isolationism">isolationist</a>.</p>
<p>For the immediate future, other countries may or may not follow the U.S. lead, and its influence, toward privatizing space. <a href="https://www.nippon.com/en/currents/d00294/">Japan</a> seems interested, as does <a href="http://www.loc.gov/law/foreign-news/article/luxembourg-law-on-use-of-resources-in-space-adopted/">Luxembourg</a>, but China and Russia are concerned about their national security, and the European Space Agency is <a href="http://www.spacedaily.com/news/esa-general-04g.html">more inclined toward working collectively</a>. Without better coordination, it seems likely that eventually peaceful, sustainable development of off-world resources will give way to competing claims, despite readily available examples of how to avoid conflict.</p>
<p>[<em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/136665/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Scott Shackelford is a principal investigator on grants from the Hewlett Foundation, Indiana Economic Development Corporation, and the Microsoft Corporation supporting both the Ostrom Workshop Program on Cybersecurity and Internet Governance and the Indiana University Cybersecurity Clinic. He is also the co-recipient of funding from the Canadian Academy of Social Sciences related to managing orbital debris. </span></em></p>US and international law conflicts about who would be in charge if a private company established a Moon base or colonized Mars.Scott Shackelford, Associate Professor of Business Law and Ethics; Executive Director, Ostrom Workshop; Cybersecurity Program Chair, IU-Bloomington, Indiana UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1320102020-04-09T20:02:40Z2020-04-09T20:02:40ZWhat a simulated Mars mission taught me about food waste<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/326719/original/file-20200409-109213-nq31dd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2048%2C1480&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">George Frey/EPA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As a food waste researcher, I’m interested in how humans prepare food, eat and manage leftovers. This interest is not just confined to Earth – it extends to other planets.</p>
<p>I recently spent two weeks at the Mars Desert Research Station in the US state of Utah, and experienced the intimate and challenging conditions of a Mars mission simulation. I <a href="https://mdrs.marssociety.org/crew-214/">was part of</a> a small, isolated team of four with limited choice of food, preparation and cooking options.</p>
<p>I wanted to know how these conditions would affect the food waste we generated. This research is particularly pertinent now, as COVID-19 forces people into social isolation and raises the (real or imagined) risk of food scarcity.</p>
<h2>Measuring waste</h2>
<p>According to the latest figures, in 2016-17 Australia <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/protection/waste-resource-recovery/food-waste">produced 7.3 million tonnes of food waste</a>. And every year, <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/pages/25e36a8c-3a9c-487c-a9cb-66ec15ba61d0/files/national-food-waste-baseline-executive-summary.pdf">each one of us sends almost 300kg of food</a> to landfill. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, an estimated 5% of Australians <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/cfca/publications/food-insecurity-australia-what-it-who-experiences-it-and-how-can-child">experience food insecurity</a> – inadequate access to, supply of and use of food.</p>
<p>Food waste in landfill produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Tackling this is a key part of taking action on climate change. </p>
<p>The Mars Desert Research Station is run by the Mars Society, a volunteer-driven non-government organisation dedicated to the human exploration and settlement of the red planet.</p>
<p>The first agenda item of the daily team meeting each morning was developing the day’s menu. Sharing meals encouraged <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40750-017-0061-4">social cohesion</a>.</p>
<p>My research involved detailing the quantities and nutritional profile of our food waste over the fortnight, comparing inputs with the waste generated. </p>
<p>I collected data for spoilage, preparation and “plate waste” – the food served but not eaten. It was a painstaking process. For each meal, I weighed chopping boards, pots, pans, dishes and utensils containing food scraps. I then washed, dried and reweighed them. </p>
<p>I calculated <a href="https://mynutrition.wsu.edu/nutrition-basics">macronutrients</a> (the main nutrients in the food we eat) as well as micronutrients (those needed by living organisms in tiny amounts).</p>
<h2>Food: appreciated, but wasted</h2>
<p>Australian households waste around 1.325 kilograms of food <a href="https://fightfoodwastecrc.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Summary-Report_final.pdf">each week</a>; our crew produced less than one-tenth of that.</p>
<p>This is not surprising as the food supplied was not perishable, being either dehydrated or tinned. Most waste (86%) was produced during preparation (for example, thick soup stuck to a pot) and 12% was left on plates.</p>
<p>The need to rehydrate food and then cook large meals suitable for sharing (such as rice and pasta) meant food was commonly left in pots and pans. They are stickier, and the food is more commonly overproduced.</p>
<p>Carbohydrates were wasted more than fats or proteins. Carbohydrates such as rice, spaghetti and flour comprised 57% of the total food supply but contributed 63% of waste. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/i-could-sow-the-seeds-of-a-new-civilisation-mars-one-hopefuls-vision-of-a-stellar-future-37777">'I could sow the seeds of a new civilisation': Mars One hopeful's vision of a stellar future</a>
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<p>This is not unusual – carbohydrates provide less nutrient density but more bulk than protein or fats, and are often cheaper. We value individual items in a meal subjectively, and sometimes consciously ensure the most valuable components are fully consumed. </p>
<p>Affluent societies, where food is assured, may not <a href="https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/emerald-publishing/reducing-food-waste-an-investigation-on-the-behaviour-of-italian-eQyk7zCWso">see reducing waste as a necessity</a>, or may value <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0159250">time saving, illness prevention, or freshness</a> over waste avoidance.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1499404611000480">research has shown</a> less waste occurs when food availability is constrained, such as during economic downturns. But even then, some food is still wasted. </p>
<h2>Getting the results right</h2>
<p>I didn’t want my own low-waste food behaviour to influence my fellow crew members. So unlike them, I consumed a protein shake-based meal for every meal. Monotonous, but necessary to avoid skewed results.</p>
<p>But my colleagues knew I was monitoring them, and they modified their behaviour - a phenomenon known as the <a href="http://methods.sagepub.com/book/key-concepts-in-social-research/n22.xml">Hawthorne Effect</a>.</p>
<p>One crew member said he was conscious to waste less food during preparation and dining. Another said being observed liberated him to dine like he would at home, cleaning his plate entirely, rather than leaving some uneaten (a social custom in <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/empty-plate-cultural-differences_n_5807822de4b0dd54ce368d7e">some cultures</a>).</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/melbourne-wastes-200-kg-of-food-per-person-a-year-its-time-to-get-serious-60236">Melbourne wastes 200 kg of food per person a year: it's time to get serious</a>
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<p>The third crew member began keeping water used to rehydrate one meal, and using it to rehydrate the next meal – something he might not have done if not being observed. </p>
<p>This indicates my results probably underestimated how much food would be wasted in an unmonitored scenario.</p>
<p>It’s worth noting our crew wasn’t trained in food and nutrient waste minimisation; trained Mars astronauts may produce less waste. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/326725/original/file-20200409-188945-1pxfox9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/326725/original/file-20200409-188945-1pxfox9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/326725/original/file-20200409-188945-1pxfox9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/326725/original/file-20200409-188945-1pxfox9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/326725/original/file-20200409-188945-1pxfox9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/326725/original/file-20200409-188945-1pxfox9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/326725/original/file-20200409-188945-1pxfox9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Participants at the Mars research station wearing space suits to go outside.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">George Frey/EPA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Know more, do better</h2>
<p>My research highlights that non-perishable food can create less waste in constrained circumstances - a finding highly relevant during the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, waste is more likely when preparing meals that alter in form (such as cooking dried rice) and/or combine multiple ingredients. </p>
<p>Also, waste is generated differently due to individual human behaviour responses and our socioeconomic background. </p>
<p>These lessons are timely. Member states of the United Nations, including Australia, <a href="https://www.eu-fusions.org/index.php/14-news/242-the-un-sustainable-development-goals-set-food-waste-reduction-target">aim to halve food waste by 2030</a>. These steps can help:</p>
<p>• buy only what you need, and will use</p>
<p>• if you run a food business, divert excess consumable food to food rescue organisations and charities that feed the hungry</p>
<p>• where possible, give food waste to animals, such as backyard chooks</p>
<p>• composting food in your backyard or a community garden</p>
<p>• Allow ample time to eat, as more waste is generated during <a href="http://www.wrap.org.uk/sites/files/wrap/Food%20waste%20in%20schools%20full%20report%20.pdf">rushed mealtimes</a>.</p>
<p>Humans crave a variety and abundance of food. But self-interest should not allow us to deplete what is actually a shared, limited resource.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/before-we-colonise-mars-lets-look-to-our-problems-on-earth-87770">Before we colonise Mars, let's look to our problems on Earth</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/132010/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dianne McGrath does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Even on ‘Mars’, humans waste food. And some types of food are more likely to end up in the bin than others.Dianne McGrath, Environmental Engineering PhD candidate; sustainability and food waste expertise, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1263372019-11-05T18:57:38Z2019-11-05T18:57:38ZClimate explained: why Mars is cold despite an atmosphere of mostly carbon dioxide<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299990/original/file-20191103-88414-1awmtug.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=30%2C43%2C2845%2C1521&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The atmosphere of Mars is thin and very dry.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pia22511.jpg">NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287622/original/file-20190811-144878-bvgm9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287622/original/file-20190811-144878-bvgm9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287622/original/file-20190811-144878-bvgm9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287622/original/file-20190811-144878-bvgm9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287622/original/file-20190811-144878-bvgm9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287622/original/file-20190811-144878-bvgm9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287622/original/file-20190811-144878-bvgm9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p><em><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/nz/topics/climate-explained-74664">Climate Explained</a></strong> is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.</em> </p>
<p><em>If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nz</em></p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>If tiny concentrations of carbon dioxide can hold enough heat to create a global warming impact on Earth, why is Mars cold? Its atmosphere is 95% carbon dioxide.</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>The recipe for the temperature of a planet’s surface has four major ingredients: atmospheric composition, atmospheric density, water content (from oceans, rivers and air humidity) and distance from the Sun. There are other ingredients, including seasonal effects or the presence of a magnetosphere, but these work more like adding flavour to a cake.</p>
<p>When we look at Earth, the balance of these ingredients makes our planet habitable. Changes in this balance can result in effects that can be felt on a planetary scale. This is exactly what is happening with the increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere of our planet. </p>
<p>Increased concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane, sulphur hexafluoride and other gases in the atmosphere have been raising the temperature of our planet’s surface gradually and will continue to do so for many years to come.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-explained-why-carbon-dioxide-has-such-outsized-influence-on-earths-climate-123064">Climate explained: why carbon dioxide has such outsized influence on Earth's climate</a>
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<p>As a consequence, places covered in ice start melting and extreme weather events become more frequent. This poses a growing challenge for us to adapt to this new reality. </p>
<h2>Small concentration, big effect</h2>
<p>It is surprising to realise how little the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and other greenhouse gases has to change to cause such a shift in our climate. Since the 1950s, we have raised CO₂ levels in the atmosphere by a fraction of a percent, but this is already causing <a href="https://climate.nasa.gov/climate_resources/24/graphic-the-relentless-rise-of-carbon-dioxide/">several changes in our climate</a>. </p>
<p>This is because CO₂ represents a tiny part of Earth’s atmosphere. It is measured in parts per million (ppm) which means that for every carbon dioxide molecule there are a million others. Its concentration is just 0.041%, but even a small percentage change represents a big change in concentration. </p>
<p>We can tell what <a href="https://climate.nasa.gov/climate_resources/24/graphic-the-relentless-rise-of-carbon-dioxide/">Earth’s atmosphere and climate were like in the distant past</a> by analysing bubbles of ancient air trapped in ice. During Earth’s ice ages, the concentration of carbon dioxide was around 200ppm. During the warmer interglacial periods, it hovered around 280ppm, but since the 1950s, it <a href="http://scrippsco2.ucsd.edu/history_legacy/keeling_curve_lessons.html">has continued to rise relentlessly</a>. By 2013, CO₂ levels <a href="https://climate.nasa.gov/news/916/for-first-time-earths-single-day-co2-tops-400-ppm/">surpassed 400ppm for the first time in recorded history</a>. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299988/original/file-20191103-88382-4i000a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299988/original/file-20191103-88382-4i000a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299988/original/file-20191103-88382-4i000a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299988/original/file-20191103-88382-4i000a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299988/original/file-20191103-88382-4i000a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299988/original/file-20191103-88382-4i000a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299988/original/file-20191103-88382-4i000a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">This graph, based on samples of air bubbles fro ice cores and direct measurements of carbon dioxide, shows the rise of atmospheric carbon dioxide since the industrial revolution.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NASA</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p>This rise represents almost a doubling in concentration, and it clear that, in the recipe for Earth’s surface temperature, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are to be used in moderation. </p>
<h2>The role of water</h2>
<p>Like flour for a cake, water is an important ingredient of the Earth’s surface. Water makes temperature move slowly. That’s why the temperatures in tropical rainforests does not change much, but the Sahara desert is cold at night. Earth is rich in water.</p>
<p>Let’s have a look at our solid planets. Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, but it has a very thin atmosphere and is not the warmest planet. Venus is very, very hot. Its atmosphere is rich in carbon dioxide (over 96%) and it is very dense.</p>
<p>The atmosphere of Mars is also rich in carbon dioxide (above 96%), but it is extremely thin (1% of Earth’s atmosphere), very dry and located further away from the Sun. This combination makes the planet an incredibly cold place.</p>
<p>The absence of water makes the temperature on Mars change a lot. The Mars exploration rovers (<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature03640">Spirit at Gusev Crater</a> and <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/324/5930/1058.editor-summary">Opportunity at Meridiani Planun</a>) experienced temperatures ranging from a few degrees Celsius above zero to minus 80°C at night: every single Martian day, known as sol. </p>
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<p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-what-are-some-of-the-challenges-to-mars-travel-105030">Curious Kids: What are some of the challenges to Mars travel?</a>
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<h2>Terraforming or terra fixing</h2>
<p>One of the interesting challenges we face while building space payloads, like we do at Griffith University, is to build instruments that can withstand such a wide temperature range.</p>
<p>I love conversations about terraforming. This is the idea that we could fly to a planet with an unbreathable atmosphere and fix it by using some sort of machine to filter nasty gases and release good ones we need to survive, at the correct amount. That is a recurrent theme in many science fiction films, including <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090605/">Aliens</a>, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100802/">Total Recall</a> and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0199753/">Red Planet</a>.</p>
<p>I hope we can fix our own atmosphere on Earth and reduce our planet’s fever.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126337/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paulo de Souza is a Professor and Head of the School of Information and Communication Technology at Griffith University and collaborating scientist of the NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Project. </span></em></p>The atmosphere of Mars is more than 96% carbon dioxide, but the planet is cold because its atmosphere is extremely thin, very dry and further away from the Sun.Paulo de Souza, Professor, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1124602019-02-26T13:33:51Z2019-02-26T13:33:51ZLife on Mars: my 15 amazing years with Oppy, NASA’s record-breaking rover<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261009/original/file-20190226-150715-1cdfbet.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/5617/opportunity-catches-its-shadow/">NASA/JPL-Caltech</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>“It’s getting dark, my batteries are running low.” With this final poignant message, the most successful mission to Mars – originally planned to last 90 days – ended after 15 years, in a <a href="https://www.space.com/40873-mars-dust-storm-opportunity-falls-silent.html">dust storm</a> in June 2018.</p>
<p>Despite efforts to re-establish contact with its solar-powered rover “Oppy”, <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/">NASA</a> declared the mission over on February 13 2019. The little robotic geologist had transmitted thousands of images from the surface of the planet, transforming our understanding of Mars and paving the way for future exploration.</p>
<p>In 2003, <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/">NASA</a> launched its daring new mission with twin exploration rovers <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer/index.html">Spirit and Opportunity</a>, heralding a new era of discovery on the Red Planet. While not the first rovers on Mars – that was Sojourner on 1997’s <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/programmissions/missions/past/pathfinder/">Mars Pathfinder mission</a> – they were the first to look beyond the horizon of any stationary landing platform.</p>
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<p>With a planned lifetime of 90 days and a range of just one kilometre, Spirit and Opportunity exceeded our wildest expectations. Spirit covered more than seven kilometres and stopped communication in 2010, six years after it landed on Mars in 2004. Oppy continued exploring until mid-2018, setting the record for off-Earth driving distance at 45km. </p>
<h2>Chance of a lifetime</h2>
<p>Opportunity knocked for me too. Nineteen years ago, searching for a dissertation topic in the final year of a physics degree at the University of Mainz, I happened to come across an ad on a notice board that read: “Let’s go to Mars!” Incredibly, I was the only respondent and soon found myself working with a group developing a miniaturised <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/mer/mission/instruments/mb/">Mössbauer spectrometer</a> for Mars exploration. This device identifies iron-bearing minerals – important on Mars, also known as the <a href="https://www.space.com/16999-mars-red-planet.html">Red Planet</a> because of the iron oxides (rust) on its surface.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/spacecraft/about-the-lander/">NASA Mars Surveyor lander</a>, originally due to launch in 2001, had been cancelled because of a landing platform failure. But our spectrometer was selected for an ambitious new Mars rover project. I graduated in 2001 but was hooked and wanted to see this thing through to launch, so I managed to secure a PhD position to carry on working with the development group in Mainz. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261026/original/file-20190226-150728-1v9687q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261026/original/file-20190226-150728-1v9687q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261026/original/file-20190226-150728-1v9687q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261026/original/file-20190226-150728-1v9687q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261026/original/file-20190226-150728-1v9687q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261026/original/file-20190226-150728-1v9687q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261026/original/file-20190226-150728-1v9687q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Meridiani Planum on Mars where exploration rover Opportunity landed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/5260/meridiani-planum/">NASA/JPL-Caltech/Arizona State University</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>Against all odds, NASA’s <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/">Jet Propulsion Laboratory</a> on the outskirts of Los Angeles had managed to build two rovers from scratch in just three years to launch in 2003. Our instruments had overcome various challenges to function properly once integrated into the two new rovers and were on board. After celebrating a successful launch, the fickle nature of space flight and the Martian curse, which had rendered about half of all Mars missions a <a href="http://www.astronomy.com/news/2018/11/a-brief-history-of-failed-mars-missions">failure</a>, hit home at the end of the year.</p>
<p>The UK-led <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-37940445">Beagle 2 lander</a>, which also had one of our Mössbauer spectrometers on board, landed at Christmas time but failed to respond. Our instruments on board the Mars rover were not working properly either when checked during flight. It looked like all our work had been in vain.</p>
<p>Opportunity’s twin, Spirit, was next. It landed successfully to the immense relief of the engineering team. A lot was riding on the rovers’ success for NASA after two failed missions. Now it was time to jump into action. The rover rolled off the platform to investigate the composition of the planet’s surface. Miraculously, our spectrometer worked flawlessly – the first ever extraterrestrial application of Mössbauer spectroscopy on the surface of Mars.</p>
<h2>Life of Opportunity</h2>
<p>Opportunity landed three weeks later. We only had 90 days to accomplish the mission goals, working at JPL on Mars time (a day on Mars – a “sol” – is about 40 minutes longer than an Earth day), ignoring Earthly day and night cycles to make it happen.
What’s more, Spirit and Opportunity had landed on opposite sides of Mars. With the day’s shift on one rover ending, how could we go to bed without knowing what was going on on the other side of the planet?</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/s595S1Vf3PE?wmode=transparent&start=4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p>The rovers had to drive a minimum distance of 600m and use their instruments to find evidence for the past existence of water, and assess past environmental conditions for their suitability for life. The rocks at Spirit’s landing site in <a href="http://www.astronomy.com/news/2014/04/gusev-crater-once-held-a-lake-after-all-says-mars-scientist">Gusev crater</a> were revealed to have a volcanic composition. Which meant if there had ever been any lake sediments inside the crater, they had been covered by a lava flow. Hills visible at the horizon offered some hope of discovery of evidence for past water. But would Spirit be able to get there given that the distance and timescale needed exceeded what the rover had been designed for?</p>
<p>Opportunity had more luck. The crater it landed in revealed sedimentary bedrock that provided evidence for water. Not only had water soaked the rocks, it had also episodically pooled at the surface. Though it was acidic it would have provided a habitable environment for various known microorganisms. Mission accomplished! But what now? </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261028/original/file-20190226-150694-1vku37.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261028/original/file-20190226-150694-1vku37.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261028/original/file-20190226-150694-1vku37.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261028/original/file-20190226-150694-1vku37.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261028/original/file-20190226-150694-1vku37.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261028/original/file-20190226-150694-1vku37.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261028/original/file-20190226-150694-1vku37.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The new Mars 2020 rover builds on lessons learned from Opportunity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/rover/">NASA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>New chapter of exploration</h2>
<p>Of course we know the end of this story. Both rovers continued to function many years beyond their original lifetime, making new discoveries that greatly enhanced our understanding of Mars. They established that there was plenty of liquid water on Mars’ surface in the past, and that this wet environment would have been capable of supporting life. The rovers and the thousands of images they beamed back to Earth have made Mars a familiar place. I moved to the University of Stirling in 2013, where I continued my work, and can say I’ve been going to work on Mars for almost 15 years. </p>
<p>Though Opportunty’s mission is over, Mars exploration will enter a new phase with the <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/overview/">NASA Mars 2020 rover</a> and the European Space Agency’s <a href="http://exploration.esa.int/mars/48088-mission-overview/">ExoMars rover</a>, Rosalind Franklin, scheduled for next year. This rover will open up a new dimension by excavating material from two metres below the surface. Mars 2020 will kick off the long awaited effort to return rock and soil samples from Mars back to Earth. Both will owe a huge debt to the experience and knowledge gained from Spirit and Opportunity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112460/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christian Schroeder receives funding from the UK Space Agency. He is a NASA Mars Exploration Rover Athena Science team collaborator. </span></em></p>An academic describes the career high of working on the most successful mission to Mars, and the little rover that made it possible.Christian Schroeder, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Science and Planetary Exploration, University of StirlingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1065412018-11-26T19:03:56Z2018-11-26T19:03:56ZOur long fascination with the journey to Mars<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247203/original/file-20181126-149317-1hdg0u9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Signs of life on Mars? These are the tracks of NASA's Curiosity rover exploring the Martian landscape.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/464/curiositys-color-view-of-martian-dune-after-crossing-it/">NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This article is part of our occasional long read series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/zoom-out-51632">Zoom Out</a>, where authors explore key ideas in science and technology in the broader context of society and humanity.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>It’s touchdown again on <a href="https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/mars/overview/">Mars</a>, thanks to NASA’s <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/">InSight</a> probe. This latest mission will continue our exploration of much that is still unknown about the planet.</p>
<p>As seen from Earth, the big red dot in the night sky has certainly caught the attention of humans since we started contemplating the universe. </p>
<p>The first observations with telescopes gave us a much clearer picture of Mars, with the poles covered in ice and different tones of red and black in the tropics.</p>
<p>NASA’s InSight (<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/insight/overview/index.html">Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport</a>) mission should tell us more about the interior of Mars and how the planet formed.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/evidence-of-aliens-what-to-make-of-research-and-reporting-on-oumuamua-our-visitor-from-space-106711">Evidence of aliens? What to make of research and reporting on 'Oumuamua, our visitor from space</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<h2>Beware of Martians</h2>
<p>Perhaps the most curious account of Mars came from the Italian astronomer <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Giovanni-Virginio-Schiaparelli">Giovanni Schiaparelli</a> in 1877. He observed a dense network of linear structures on the surface of Mars which he called “canali” in Italian, meaning “channels”. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247190/original/file-20181126-149326-2q7lxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247190/original/file-20181126-149326-2q7lxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247190/original/file-20181126-149326-2q7lxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247190/original/file-20181126-149326-2q7lxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247190/original/file-20181126-149326-2q7lxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247190/original/file-20181126-149326-2q7lxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247190/original/file-20181126-149326-2q7lxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247190/original/file-20181126-149326-2q7lxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Giovanni Schiaparelli’s map of Mars, compiled over the period 1877-1886.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4212/p6.html">NASA/Flammarion, La Planète Mars</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But the term was misinterpreted by some English-speakers as “canals”, which implied they were made by Martians.</p>
<p>Our love and fear relationship with Mars escalated to another level in 1938, when <a href="https://orsonwelles.indiana.edu/items/show/1972">Orson Welles broadcast</a> an all-too-real adaption of HG Wells’ classic The War of the Worlds.</p>
<p>The Halloween night broadcast of the invasion of Martians to Earth apparently lead some listeners in the United States to panic, as they took the fiction as a fact (a story told in the 1975 movie, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073454/">The Night That Panicked America</a>). How much panic is still <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/radio/what-to-listen-to/the-war-of-the-worlds-panic-was-a-myth/">open to question</a>.</p>
<p>HG Wells’ <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-War-of-the-Worlds-novel-by-Wells">1898 novel</a> has inspired more than a few Hollywood movies, television series and a musical telling since then, including Steven Spielberg’s 2005 movie <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407304">War of the Worlds</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rYGWG2_PB_Q?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The chances of anything coming from Mars.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Mars close up</h2>
<p>The first close-up images from Mars came in 1965 with the <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/mariner-4/">Mariner 4</a> spacecraft flying by the planet, and then with <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/mariner-9-mariner-i/">Mariner 9</a> entering orbit in 1971.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247204/original/file-20181126-149341-d0j39m.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247204/original/file-20181126-149341-d0j39m.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247204/original/file-20181126-149341-d0j39m.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247204/original/file-20181126-149341-d0j39m.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247204/original/file-20181126-149341-d0j39m.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247204/original/file-20181126-149341-d0j39m.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=690&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247204/original/file-20181126-149341-d0j39m.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=690&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247204/original/file-20181126-149341-d0j39m.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=690&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mariner 4 takes the first close-up image ever taken of Mars.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/object_page/m04_01d.html">NASA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Both spacecraft showed Mars as a cold, barren, desert-like world. Before these missions we had only seen Mars through telescopes, and the question of whether the planet was habitable (or inhabited) was still open.</p>
<p>I still remember when I was a child watching a TV program showing images of the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/viking">Viking mission</a> which landed <a href="https://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/past/viking.html">two probes on Mars</a> in 1976.</p>
<p>Instead of talking about our first successful spacecraft to land on Mars and sending us images and scientific data from the surface of another planet, the program talked for a long time about a feature that looked like a face of a man on the surface of Mars, and structures that resembled pyramids. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247170/original/file-20181126-149335-1bssgtt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247170/original/file-20181126-149335-1bssgtt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247170/original/file-20181126-149335-1bssgtt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247170/original/file-20181126-149335-1bssgtt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247170/original/file-20181126-149335-1bssgtt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247170/original/file-20181126-149335-1bssgtt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247170/original/file-20181126-149335-1bssgtt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247170/original/file-20181126-149335-1bssgtt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">NASA’s Viking 1 Orbiter spacecraft photographed this region in the northern latitudes of Mars on July 25, 1976 while searching for a landing site for the Viking 2 Lander. The eroded rock resembles a human face near the centre of the image.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA01141">NASA/JPL</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Those images certainly affected me, and were key in my fascination for Mars and space in general. </p>
<p>The legacy of the Viking landers was mostly their first geochemical characterisation from the surface, and a detailed atmospheric composition analysis from Mars. </p>
<p>Viking results were fantastic in many ways, but disappointing too as they indicated a dry planet, full of primary rocks that would have transformed into minerals if water was present.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247195/original/file-20181126-149323-10ojcfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247195/original/file-20181126-149323-10ojcfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247195/original/file-20181126-149323-10ojcfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=617&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247195/original/file-20181126-149323-10ojcfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=617&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247195/original/file-20181126-149323-10ojcfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=617&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247195/original/file-20181126-149323-10ojcfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=775&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247195/original/file-20181126-149323-10ojcfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=775&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247195/original/file-20181126-149323-10ojcfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=775&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This colour image of the Martian surface was taken by Viking Lander 1, looking southwest, about 15 minutes before sunset.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/sunset-at-the-viking-lander-1-site">NASA/JPL</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Pictures from the surface showed no signs of life – no signs of little bushes, a bit of moss on some rocks, or a green man smiling to the cameras. </p>
<p>In a way we lost our interest for Mars until it attacked us with meteorites.</p>
<h2>Rocks from Mars</h2>
<p>Rocks from planets and the Moon, and meteors, hold chemical hints of where they came from. So it’s possible to tell if a meteorite is from our Moon, from Mars, or from elsewhere. </p>
<p>A meteorite found in Antarctica (dubbed <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/ALH84001">ALH84001</a>) is one that scientists affirm came from Mars. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247184/original/file-20181126-149338-50z6es.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247184/original/file-20181126-149338-50z6es.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247184/original/file-20181126-149338-50z6es.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247184/original/file-20181126-149338-50z6es.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247184/original/file-20181126-149338-50z6es.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247184/original/file-20181126-149338-50z6es.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247184/original/file-20181126-149338-50z6es.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247184/original/file-20181126-149338-50z6es.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 4.5 billion-year-old rock, labeled meteorite ALH84001, identified from Mars.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars/multimedia/pia00289.html">NASA/JSC/Stanford University</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Martian meteorites can be found on Earth because a big meteorite probably fell on Mars, and in the process ended up ejecting pieces of the surface into space. </p>
<p>Some were big enough to enter our atmosphere and be found later. ALH84001 is made mostly of carbonate: a mineral that needs water to be formed. Therefore, indirectly we can conclude that Mars was once wet. </p>
<p>To make it even more interesting, this Martian postcard has some miniscule structures that look like some bacteria found on Earth.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199135/original/file-20171214-27575-1xga58h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199135/original/file-20171214-27575-1xga58h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199135/original/file-20171214-27575-1xga58h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199135/original/file-20171214-27575-1xga58h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199135/original/file-20171214-27575-1xga58h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199135/original/file-20171214-27575-1xga58h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199135/original/file-20171214-27575-1xga58h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199135/original/file-20171214-27575-1xga58h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This high-resolution scanning electron microscope image shows an unusual tube-like structural form that is less than 1/100th the width of a human hair in size found in meteorite ALH84001.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/exploration/marsexploration/html/s96_12609.html">NASA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Scientists are still debating whether those structures are Martian fossils or not. But the discovery and analysis of ALH84001 brought us back to Mars. Now it was time for us to counterattack.</p>
<h2>Rover missions to Mars</h2>
<p>NASA then announced the first rover mission to Mars called <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars-pathfinder">Pathfinder</a>. The microwave oven sized rover it carried, called Sojourner, landed on Mars in 1997. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9HGRReKUzfU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Take a look around on Mars.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The rover produced results quite similar to those found by Viking, pointing to a very dry past and present on Mars. What followed was a considerable effort to get more images of the Martian surface from orbiters, and select the place to land with future payloads.</p>
<p>After debating more than 174 potential landing sites, scientists and engineers involved with Mars research discussed and they to two places to land on Mars with two large rovers: <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer/index.html">Spirit and Opportunity</a>. </p>
<p>After seven months of interplanetary travel, the rovers landed in January 2004. The initial results obtained by Spirit were similar to those from Viking and Mars Pathfinder. </p>
<p>The first groundbreaking results came from Opportunity with the discovery of <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/306/5702/1740">jarosite and hematite</a>: two minerals that need water and acidic conditions to be formed. </p>
<p>After working way beyond their manufacture warranty (three months), the twin rovers transformed our knowledge about the past of Mars.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247206/original/file-20181126-149335-1t1fh3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247206/original/file-20181126-149335-1t1fh3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247206/original/file-20181126-149335-1t1fh3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=739&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247206/original/file-20181126-149335-1t1fh3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=739&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247206/original/file-20181126-149335-1t1fh3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=739&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247206/original/file-20181126-149335-1t1fh3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=929&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247206/original/file-20181126-149335-1t1fh3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=929&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247206/original/file-20181126-149335-1t1fh3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=929&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">NASA’s Mars rover Opportunity catches its own late-afternoon shadow in this dramatically lit view eastward across Endeavour Crater on Mars.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2255.html">NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State Univ.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Before we landed there was the question of whether Mars was once wet. Now we know that there were once oceans on Mars as salty as the Dead Sea, plus there were hot springs and fresh water streams.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/discovered-a-huge-liquid-water-lake-beneath-the-southern-pole-of-mars-100523">Discovered: a huge liquid water lake beneath the southern pole of Mars</a>
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<p>Water on Mars was not only present, but it was there in different forms. Mars had perfect conditions for long enough for life to form and evolve. At least we can say Mars was habitable. </p>
<p>Spirit was active for six years and Opportunity, after 15 years, is still officially going on. </p>
<p>During this time a lander called Phoenix landed in the Green Valley of Castitas Borealis on the Martian northern hemisphere, near the north pole. The key discovery from Phoenix was the presence of minute concentrations of <a href="https://www.nature.com/news/2008/080806/full/news.2008.1016.html">perchlorate</a>, a powerful bacterial killer salt.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247205/original/file-20181126-149323-10pf5mw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247205/original/file-20181126-149323-10pf5mw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247205/original/file-20181126-149323-10pf5mw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247205/original/file-20181126-149323-10pf5mw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247205/original/file-20181126-149323-10pf5mw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247205/original/file-20181126-149323-10pf5mw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247205/original/file-20181126-149323-10pf5mw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247205/original/file-20181126-149323-10pf5mw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A thin layer of water frost is visible on the ground around NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1160.html">NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Texas A&M University</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Despite the impact these missions have in our understanding about Mars, there were a number of instruments we would love to use and could not fit in a rover. </p>
<p>The idea of having a fully equipped Martian laboratory fuelled scientists to propose a new mission: Mars Science Laboratory with a much larger rover. It’s equipped with laser beams able to analyse rocks at distance, rock grinders and analysers able to provide a more detailed characterisation of Mars rocks, soil and atmosphere. </p>
<p>Perchlorates were also <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/340/6129/138.2">found by the Curiosity rover</a>, from the Mars Science Laboratory mission, and also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2013.11.012">on a Martian meteorite called EETA79001</a> which suggest a global distribution of these bacterial-killer salts.</p>
<h2>A new InSight to Mars</h2>
<p>The past 50 years were full of discoveries about Mars’s surface, but little is known about its subsoil or inner core. This is where the InSight mission that is about to land on Mars comes in to play. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LKLITDmm4NA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Inside Mars.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s supported by NASA’s Deep Space Network, including our station in Canberra which is managed on NASA’s behalf by CSIRO. InSight’s team hopes to learn how the deep interior of Mars was formed, and how similar they would be to other rocky worlds such as Venus, Mercury, our Moon, Earth, or those exoplanets from other solar systems. </p>
<p>This is the first mission that is designed to investigate deep inside of Mars. Insight has a seismometer and temperature probe as part of its payload.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-what-are-some-of-the-challenges-to-mars-travel-105030">Curious Kids: What are some of the challenges to Mars travel?</a>
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<p>The future will be dominated by sample return missions: those spacecraft able to land on Mars and bring samples back to Earth (similar to what Russians did on the Moon) and by our effort to have astronauts exploring Mars on their own feet. </p>
<p>We don’t yet have the technology required to make that happen. An idea of the challenge ahead is captured by the CSIRO <a href="https://www.csiro.au/en/do-business/futures/reports/space-roadmap">Space Industry Roadmap</a>, which outlines some of the key technologies needed for future exploration and the unique contributions that Australian companies and universities could offer in that pursuit</p>
<p>The quest for understanding the evolution of our Solar System continues and I am still confronted by a large number of questions without an answer. Hopefully InSight will provide some of those answers but there is still much to learn about what lies above us on Mars, the fourth planet out from the Sun.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247207/original/file-20181126-149311-17gaydj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247207/original/file-20181126-149311-17gaydj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247207/original/file-20181126-149311-17gaydj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247207/original/file-20181126-149311-17gaydj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247207/original/file-20181126-149311-17gaydj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247207/original/file-20181126-149311-17gaydj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247207/original/file-20181126-149311-17gaydj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247207/original/file-20181126-149311-17gaydj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This artist’s concept depicts NASA’s InSight lander after it has deployed its instruments on the Martian surface.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasas-insight-will-study-mars-while-standing-still">NASA/JPL-Caltech</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106541/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paulo de Souza does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Mars has long captured our imagination, from claims of canals to Martian attacks and now our latest NASA exploration to look inside the red planet.Paulo de Souza, Science Leader – Cybernetics, CSIROLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/977422018-08-06T11:57:00Z2018-08-06T11:57:00ZFive things you need to do to build a home on Mars<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225500/original/file-20180629-117430-ac8kw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ella and Nicki at the Mars Desert Research Station.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you had to live the rest of your life on Mars, what would you miss the most? Figuring out how we could we be comfortable living on the red planet is a challenge but with increasing discussion about how to send people to Mars with the ultimate aim of colonising the planet, how to replace the sensation of the sunshine on your face or the grass beneath your feet is prescient one.</p>
<p>Luckily there is no shortage of expertise. On May 16, 2018, I organised a workshop at the University of Bristol in collaboration with local artists <a href="http://www.ellaandnicki.com/">Ella Good and Nicki Kent</a> to come up with a plan for building a Martian house here on Earth. The project is part of a large-scale public art work, with a plan to designing the house before building it in 2019. We have already identified five key things to do, taking inspiration from research facilities such as <a href="http://biosphere2.org/">Biosphere 2</a> and the <a href="http://mdrs.marssociety.org/">Mars Desert Research Station</a> in Utah, US.</p>
<h2>1. Create privacy – and purpose</h2>
<p>To build a house for Mars, we are working with the architecture firm Hugh Broughton Architects, designers of the <a href="https://www.bas.ac.uk/polar-operations/sites-and-facilities/facility/halley/">Halley VI British Antarctic Research Station</a>. They say that the need for privacy and personal space in such a small living space is critical. This is an issue already experienced by those living in other small habitats. To best address this, a house on mars would have to have small private spaces within a small house and the houses could be grouped in clusters.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225502/original/file-20180629-117382-ytu6dm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225502/original/file-20180629-117382-ytu6dm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225502/original/file-20180629-117382-ytu6dm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225502/original/file-20180629-117382-ytu6dm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225502/original/file-20180629-117382-ytu6dm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225502/original/file-20180629-117382-ytu6dm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225502/original/file-20180629-117382-ytu6dm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">ISS private living quarters.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NASA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In addition to a design that builds in personal space, having a purpose, task or gainful employment will be a key issue when it comes to the psychology of inhabitants. We know this from those who have migrated to any new home in another place (either willingly or unwillingly). On Mars, this could anything from geology to botany or maintaining equipment.</p>
<h2>2. Minimise waste</h2>
<p>Another key to space habitat design is to stay “closed loop”. This means that as much as possible should be renewable or recycled: energy, fuel, food and waste. Living in space – and on Mars – is all about living efficiently. The parallel here with the technology that is already proving useful in the developing world is striking: we will need to grow food, explore and experiment, while recycling air, water and waste with as little energy as possible. </p>
<p>Places that demonstrate living with scarcity, such as refugee camps, might actually help us come up with ideas for power systems and waste disposal that could be used on another planet. Solar power and <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/05/07/182010827/is-it-safe-to-use-compost-made-from-treated-human-waste">composting made from treated human waste</a> are good examples of closed loop techniques.</p>
<h2>3. Find local building material</h2>
<p>As for how to actually build the house, <a href="http://www.bristol.ac.uk/engineering/people/james-a-norman/index.html">James Norman</a>’s work as a civil engineer on different types of Earth constructions suggests that “Earth bagging” – a technique which uses local soil to fill sturdy sacks to build cheap but stable structures – may be the ideal method as launching building material from Earth would be prohibitively expensive.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225503/original/file-20180629-117389-1h9wcdp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225503/original/file-20180629-117389-1h9wcdp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225503/original/file-20180629-117389-1h9wcdp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225503/original/file-20180629-117389-1h9wcdp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225503/original/file-20180629-117389-1h9wcdp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225503/original/file-20180629-117389-1h9wcdp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225503/original/file-20180629-117389-1h9wcdp.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Martian House Brigstowe workshop illustration by Andy Council.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://www.bristol.ac.uk/earthsciences/people/robert-c-myhill/index.html">Bob Myhill</a>, a geologist from the University of Bristol working on NASA’s Mars InSight lander, confirmed that the method could provide the thick radiation shield needed on Mars with local materials. </p>
<h2>4. Create greenery</h2>
<p>One thing that we are likely to miss on Mars is greenery, so recreating it through a technique known as “<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-terraforming-to-finding-aliens-a-geophysicist-explains-28930">terraforming</a>” may become important. Luckily we know it would be possible to assemble Earth-type ecosystems from component species. For example, botany research on our own planet has investigated how to set up <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10531-017-1494-6">copies of ancient woodlands</a>. Such fascimile ancient woodlands may ultimately teach us how to construct complex biological communities when we venture further afield.</p>
<h2>5. Design familiar sensory experiences</h2>
<p>As for the familiar sensory experiences that we would all miss if we had to leave Earth behind, perhaps augmented reality could help? Recent research <a href="http://www.urbanvisionscience.com/">shows the importance of sensory aspects</a> of environments for human health and well-being. According to Bristol cognitive neuroscientist, <a href="http://www.bristol.ac.uk/expsych/people/ute-b-leonards/index.html">Ute Leonards</a>, the environments we build directly impact our ability to function. Augmented reality – plants, water features and circadian rhythms – could all help create environments that support people’s embodied selves. This may help us survive emotionally in this brave new world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97742/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lucy Berthoud works for the University of Bristol Aerospace Engineering department and the Advanced Concepts department of Thales Alenia Space. Her work been funded by UK Space Agency, European Space Agency, EPSRC and EU Horizon 2020 grants. The project will receive funding from from the MBR Space Settlement Challenge.</span></em></p>Augmented reality technology could help recreate familiar sensory experiences from Earth.Lucy Berthoud, Senior Lecturer in Space Systems Engineering, University of BristolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/999432018-07-26T05:39:42Z2018-07-26T05:39:42ZHow to grow crops on Mars if we are to live on the red planet<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229365/original/file-20180726-106502-1nt78ux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">We can create the right kind of food plants to survive on Mars.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/SergeyDV</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Preparations are <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/journey-to-mars-overview">already underway</a> for <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-new-space-race-why-we-need-a-human-mission-to-mars-73757">missions</a> that will land humans on Mars in a decade or so. But what would people eat if these missions eventually lead to the permanent colonisation of the red planet?</p>
<p>Once (if) humans do make it to Mars, a major challenge for any colony will be to generate a stable supply of food. The enormous costs of launching and resupplying resources from Earth will make that impractical.</p>
<p>Humans on Mars will need to move away from complete reliance on shipped cargo, and achieve a high level of self-sufficient and sustainable agriculture.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/discovered-a-huge-liquid-water-lake-beneath-the-southern-pole-of-mars-100523">Discovered: a huge liquid water lake beneath the southern pole of Mars</a>
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<p>The <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2018/07/24/science.aar7268">recent discovery</a> of liquid water on Mars – which adds new information to the question of whether we will find life on the planet – does raise the possibility of using such supplies to help grow food.</p>
<p>But water is only one of many things we will need if we’re to grow enough food on Mars.</p>
<h2>What sort of food?</h2>
<p>Previous work has suggested the use of <a href="http://rsif.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/12/102/20140715">microbes</a> as a source of food on Mars. The use of <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/lunar-martian-greenhouses-designed-to-mimic-those-on-earth">hydroponic greenhouses</a> and controlled environmental systems, similar to <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/10-074.html">one being tested</a> onboard the International Space Station to grow crops, is another option.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/genes9070348">This month</a>, in the journal Genes, we provide a new perspective based on the use of advanced synthetic biology to improve the potential performance of plant life on Mars.</p>
<p>Synthetic biology is a fast-growing field. It combines principles from engineering, DNA science, and computer science (among many other disciplines) to impart new and improved functions to living organisms.</p>
<p>Not only can we read DNA, but we can also design biological systems, test them, and even engineer whole organisms. <a href="http://syntheticyeast.org/sc2-0/introduction/">Yeast</a> is just one example of an industrial workhorse microbe whose whole genome is currently being re-engineered by an international consortium.</p>
<p>The technology has progressed so far that precision genetic engineering and automation can now be merged into automated robotic facilities, known as biofoundries.</p>
<p>These biofoundries can test millions of DNA designs in parallel to find the organisms with the qualities that we are looking for.</p>
<h2>Mars: Earth-like but not Earth</h2>
<p>Although Mars is the most Earth-like of our neighbouring planets, Mars and Earth differ in many ways.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dear-diary-the-sun-never-set-on-the-arctic-mars-simulation-84597">Dear diary: the Sun never set on the Arctic Mars simulation</a>
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<p>The gravity on Mars is around a third of that on Earth. Mars receives about half of the sunlight we get on Earth, but much higher levels of harmful ultraviolet (UV) and cosmic rays. The surface temperature of Mars is about -60°C and it has a thin atmosphere primarily made of carbon dioxide.</p>
<p>Unlike Earth’s soil, which is humid and rich in nutrients and microorganisms that support plant growth, Mars is covered with <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/regolith">regolith</a>. This is an arid material that contains <a href="https://www.space.com/37402-mars-life-soil-toxic-perchlorates-radiation.html">perchlorate chemicals</a> that are toxic to humans.</p>
<p>Also – despite the latest sub-surface lake find – water on Mars mostly exists in the form of ice, and the low atmospheric pressure of the planet makes liquid water boil at around 5°C.</p>
<p>Plants on Earth have evolved for hundreds of millions of years and are adapted to terrestrial conditions, but they will not grow well on Mars. </p>
<p>This means that substantial resources that would be scarce and priceless for humans on Mars, like liquid water and energy, would need to be allocated to achieve efficient farming by artificially creating optimal plant growth conditions.</p>
<h2>Adapting plants to Mars</h2>
<p>A more rational alternative is to use synthetic biology to develop crops specifically for Mars. This formidable challenge can be tackled and fast-tracked by building a plant-focused Mars biofoundry. </p>
<p>Such an automated facility would be capable of expediting the engineering of biological designs and testing of their performance under simulated Martian conditions.</p>
<p>With adequate funding and active international collaboration, such an advanced facility could improve many of the traits required for making crops thrive on Mars within a decade. </p>
<p>This includes improving <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/photosynthesis">photosynthesis</a> and photoprotection (to help protect plants from sunlight and UV rays), as well as drought and cold tolerance in plants, and engineering high-yield functional crops. We also need to modify microbes to detoxify and improve the Martian soil quality.</p>
<p>These are all challenges that are within the capability of modern synthetic biology.</p>
<h2>Benefits for Earth</h2>
<p>Developing the next generation of crops required for sustaining humans on Mars would also have great benefits for people on Earth.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/before-we-colonise-mars-lets-look-to-our-problems-on-earth-87770">Before we colonise Mars, let's look to our problems on Earth</a>
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<p>The growing global population is <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-future-of-food-growing-more-with-the-same-land-35559">increasing the demand for food</a>. To meet this demand we must increase agricultural productivity, but we have to do so without negatively impacting our environment.</p>
<p>The best way to achieve these goals would be to improve the crops that are already widely used. Setting up facilities such as the proposed Mars Biofoundry would bring immense benefit to the turnaround time of plant research with implications for food security and environmental protection.</p>
<p>So ultimately, the main beneficiary of efforts to develop crops for Mars would be Earth.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99943/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Briardo Llorente receives funding from the CSIRO Synthetic Biology Future Science Platform and Macquarie University. </span></em></p>If humans are to live on Mars they will need a stable supply of food. Earth plants are not suited to the Mars climate but we can engineer plants that are.Briardo Llorente, CSIRO Synthetic Biology Future Science Fellow, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1005232018-07-25T14:02:02Z2018-07-25T14:02:02ZDiscovered: a huge liquid water lake beneath the southern pole of Mars<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229230/original/file-20180725-194134-1xuput9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1690%2C1105&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mars' south polar cap, as seen from Mars Global Surveyor. Buried beneath, we now know, is a lake of liquid water.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02393">NASA/JPL/MSSS</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>We now know that there is permanent liquid water on Mars, according to a <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aar7268">paper published today</a> in the journal Science.</p>
<p>This finding comes from research using the <a href="http://sci.esa.int/mars-express/">Mars Express</a> spacecraft, which has been orbiting the red planet since December 25 2003. </p>
<p>One of the suite of instruments carried by Mars Express is MARSIS (the <a href="https://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/express/mission/sc_science_marsis01.html">Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding</a>), which allows researchers to use radar to study features beneath the planet’s surface.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/there-is-water-on-mars-but-what-does-this-mean-for-life-48310">There is water on Mars, but what does this mean for life?</a>
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<p>Using observations spanning a period of four years, a team of researchers from Italy found evidence of a large lake of salty water, buried 1.5 kilometres beneath Mars’ southern polar cap. That lake is at least 20 kilometres across and seems to be a permanent feature.</p>
<h2>More than droplets</h2>
<p>The reason people are excited about this discovery is because everywhere you find liquid water on Earth, you find life. NASA has long espoused a philosophy of “<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/everydaylife/jamestown-water-fs.html">follow the water</a>” in its program of <a href="https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/">astrobiological research</a> – trying to answer the question “are we alone?”</p>
<p>Over the past two decades, we have seen mission after mission travel to Mars. Some, like Mars Express, are orbiters. Others (such as the incredible <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/mars-exploration-rover-spirit-mer/">Spirit</a> and <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/mars-exploration-rover-opportunity-mer/">Opportunity</a>) are rovers. A unifying theme across those missions has been their attempts to see whether Mars once had the right conditions for life to exist and thrive.</p>
<p>Through them we have found <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-lost-ocean-of-mars-38739">abundant evidence that Mars was once warm and wet</a>. We also have evidence that <a href="https://theconversation.com/there-is-water-on-mars-but-what-does-this-mean-for-life-48310">liquid water can still be found on the surface of Mars</a> from time to time. </p>
<p>But, until today, the evidence of modern water all pointed towards fleeting moments - <a href="https://www.space.com/6394-phoenix-mars-lander-liquid-water-scientists.html">droplets condensing on the Mars Phoenix lander</a>, or evidence of <a href="https://theconversation.com/nasa-streaks-of-salt-on-mars-mean-flowing-water-and-raise-new-hopes-of-finding-life-48182">brief outflows of salty water in Martian valleys</a>.</p>
<p>Compared with today’s discovery, those earlier findings are a drop in the ocean.</p>
<h2>Mars has a lake</h2>
<p>The latest observations reveal something remarkable: a salty lake buried deep beneath the ice, which seems to be a permanent feature rather than a transient phenomenon.</p>
<p>The comparison that springs to mind are the myriad lakes buried under the ice of Antarctica. So far <a href="http://rsta.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/374/2059/20140306">more than 400</a> such lakes have been found <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-lies-beneath-antarcticas-ice-lakes-life-and-the-grandest-of-canyons-61748">beneath the surface of the frozen continent</a>. </p>
<p>Perhaps the most famous is <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2013/07/what-s-really-going-lake-vostok">Lake Vostok</a> – one of the world’s largest lakes, buried and hidden away. But the one to which I want to draw your attention is Lake Whillans.</p>
<p>Lake Whillans is buried some 800 metres below the ice in West Antarctica. In 2013, a team of researchers <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-21231380">succeeded in drilling down into the lake</a> and recovering samples. What did they find? That it was <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-lies-beneath-antarcticas-ice-lakes-life-and-the-grandest-of-canyons-61748">teeming with microbial life</a>. </p>
<p>In other words, the best Earth-based analogues for the newly discovered Martian lake are not just habitable, they are <em>inhabited</em>. Where there’s water, there’s life.</p>
<h2>Is there life on Mars?</h2>
<p>Finding this new lake, buried beneath Mars’ south pole, is another exciting step on our journey of discovery of the red planet. Could there be life there, beneath the ice?</p>
<p>The short answer is that we still don’t know. But it seems like the ideal place to look. What we <em>do</em> know is:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Mars was once warm and wet, potentially with oceans, lakes and rivers.</p></li>
<li><p>On Earth, where you find water, you find life.</p></li>
<li><p>The transition from warm, wet Mars to the cold and barren Mars we see today occurred over millions of years.</p></li>
<li><p>Life adapts to changing environments, so long as that change is not too fast or dramatic.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>So what do you get if you put all that together? Well, this is where things get speculative. </p>
<p>But let’s imagine that in the far distant past Mars had life. Perhaps the life originated there, or <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/biology/over-our-heads-a-brief-history-of-panspermia">maybe it was delivered from Earth, hitching a ride on a meteorite</a>.</p>
<p>Once life is established, it is amazingly hard to get rid of. Over millions of years, Mars cooled and its water became locked in permafrost. Its atmosphere thinned and it became <a href="http://www.midnightplanets.com/">the red planet we see today</a>.</p>
<p>But maybe, just maybe, that life would have been able to follow the water - to move underground, where it might have found a niche in a dark salty lake, buried beneath the ice of Mars’ southern polar cap.</p>
<h2>That’s all well and good, but what next?</h2>
<p>That’s all speculation, but it shows the kind of thought processes that have driven our ongoing exploration of Mars for the past couple of decades. </p>
<p>Now that we know for sure that there is a reservoir of liquid water just beneath the planet’s surface, astronomers around the globe will be thinking of ways to get down to that water to see what’s there.</p>
<p>That is easier said than done. Landing on Mars is challenging at the best of times, and the great majority of missions to date have landed within about 30 degrees latitude of Mars’ equator. The two exceptions are the <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/viking-2/">Viking 2</a> and <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/main/index.html">Phoenix</a> landers, both of which landed in Mars’ northern lowlands. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229229/original/file-20180725-194128-r72ht1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229229/original/file-20180725-194128-r72ht1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229229/original/file-20180725-194128-r72ht1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229229/original/file-20180725-194128-r72ht1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229229/original/file-20180725-194128-r72ht1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229229/original/file-20180725-194128-r72ht1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229229/original/file-20180725-194128-r72ht1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229229/original/file-20180725-194128-r72ht1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The locations on Mars’ surface visited by landers to date. It is far easier to land near Mars’ equator than its poles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NASA/JPL-Caltech</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In addition, landing on Mars’ southern hemisphere is harder still. The north is the lowlands and the atmosphere there is markedly thicker, and the surface smoother (as befits, potentially, <a href="http://planetary-mechanics.com/2017/09/17/the-lowlands-of-mars/">the floor of an ancient ocean</a>).</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/before-we-colonise-mars-lets-look-to-our-problems-on-earth-87770">Before we colonise Mars, let's look to our problems on Earth</a>
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<p>To the south, you have less atmosphere to slow your descent and a rougher surface to make your landing harder.</p>
<p>But, while tricky, it is not impossible. And now we have a huge motivation to try. </p>
<p>It would not surprise me if, within a decade, we see missions being designed to visit Mars’ south pole and drill down to this great lake, to see what lurks within.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100523/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonti Horner does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Researchers have found evidence of a large lake of salty water, buried 1.5 kilometres beneath the southern polar ice cap on Mars. So what does that mean for life on the red planet?Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/877702017-12-27T20:46:49Z2017-12-27T20:46:49ZBefore we colonise Mars, let’s look to our problems on Earth<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199343/original/file-20171215-16456-1ar4m9m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mars NASA JPL Caltech cd f d o</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Everyone wants to go to Mars, or so it seems. </p>
<p>Elon Musk, NASA with Lockheed Martin, and now Boeing are all looking towards the red planet, with heady predictions of missions during the 2020s. </p>
<p>But at what cost? And could we even survive any long-term colonisation on Mars? Given the problems we face here on Earth it’s important to ask whether we should be better tasked with looking after the only planet we know (so far) that can harbour life.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/revealed-today-elon-musks-new-space-vision-took-us-from-earth-to-mars-and-back-home-again-84837">Revealed today, Elon Musk's new space vision took us from Earth to Mars, and back home again</a>
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<h2>The race to Mars</h2>
<p>Boeing says it wants <a href="http://fortune.com/2017/12/07/boeing-dennis-muilenburg-elon-musk-mars/">to be involved in the first mission to send humans</a> to the red planet. The company’s chief executive Dennis Muilenburg told a US TV host in December 2017:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I firmly believe the first person that sets foot on Mars will get there on a Boeing rocket. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>A key rival is Musk, the billionaire founder of SpaceX, which is already <a href="http://www.spacex.com/missions">launching rockets</a>. At the 68th Annual International Aeronautics Congress, in Adelaide in September 2017, Musk spoke of <a href="http://www.news.com.au/national/south-australia/elon-musk-to-detail-his-mission-to-mars-at-international-astronautical-congress-in-adelaide-on-friday/news-story/53708c3d16e4070a66aab3d0b8b7477a">airline-like connections</a> between Earth and Mars, with cargo missions to begin by 2022. </p>
<p>Lockheed Martin says it <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/lockheed-martin-reveals-plans-for-sending-humans-to-mars/">plans to send humans to Mars</a> in the next decade. </p>
<p>Even the famous theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9672000/9672233.stm">has argued</a> that it is “essential that we colonise space” although he doesn’t see it happening that soon:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I believe that we will eventually establish self-sustaining colonies on Mars and other bodies in the Solar system although probably not within the next 100 years.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Exploring other planets</h2>
<p>Scientific exploration of Solar system planets constitutes one of the most exciting achievements the human race is realising.</p>
<p>But by contrast, the idea of colonising Mars or other planets or moons is misleading. It yields an impression in many people’s mind that an alternative exists to Earth, a unique (so far) haven of life in the Solar system, currently suffering from <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/global-warming-2768">global warming</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/contributions-to-sea-level-rise-have-increased-by-half-since-1993-largely-because-of-greenlands-ice-79175">rising oceans</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/not-just-heat-even-our-spring-frosts-can-bear-the-fingerprint-of-climate-change-89029">extreme weather events</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/earths-sixth-mass-extinction-has-begun-new-study-confirms-43432">mass extinction of species</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-we-signed-the-open-letter-from-scientists-supporting-a-total-ban-on-nuclear-weapons-75209">growing risk of nuclear wars</a>.</p>
<p>Microbial life <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/life-on-mars-78138144/">may exist on Mars</a> or <a href="https://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/snc/nasa1.html">may have existed in the past</a>. <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars/overview/index.html">According to NASA</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Among our discoveries about Mars, one stands out above all others: the possible presence of liquid water, either in its ancient past or preserved in the subsurface today. Water is key because almost everywhere we find water on Earth, we find life. If Mars once had liquid water, or still does today, it’s compelling to ask whether any microscopic life forms could have developed on its surface.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But doubts have been raised recently with regard to the distinction between water and <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/recurring-martian-streaks-flowing-sand-not-water">sand flow on Mars</a>.</p>
<h2>No atmosphere for life</h2>
<p>At present there is no evidence of a liveable atmosphere under which plants or other organisms would survive on Mars. </p>
<p>Its <a href="https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/marsfact.html">thin atmosphere</a> is less than 1% of Earth’s, consisting of 96% carbon dioxide, 1.9% nitrogen, 1.9% argon and trace amounts of oxygen and carbon monoxide. It provides little protection from the Sun’s radiation, nor does it allow retention of heat at the surface.</p>
<p>Suggestions as to whether <a href="https://www.space.com/33690-allen-hills-mars-meteorite-alien-life-20-years.html">biological-like textures</a> in a Martian meteorite (<a href="https://www.lpi.usra.edu/lpi/meteorites/The_Meteorite.shtml">ALH84001</a>) signify ancient fossils have not been confirmed.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199135/original/file-20171214-27575-1xga58h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199135/original/file-20171214-27575-1xga58h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199135/original/file-20171214-27575-1xga58h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199135/original/file-20171214-27575-1xga58h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199135/original/file-20171214-27575-1xga58h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199135/original/file-20171214-27575-1xga58h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199135/original/file-20171214-27575-1xga58h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199135/original/file-20171214-27575-1xga58h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This high-resolution scanning electron microscope image shows an unusual tube-like structural form that is less than 1/100th the width of a human hair in size found in meteorite ALH84001, a meteorite believed to be of Martian origin.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/exploration/marsexploration/html/s96_12609.html">NASA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In July 2017 <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-04910-3">researchers reported</a> that the surface of Mars may be more toxic to microorganisms than previously thought.</p>
<h2>A Mars colony warning</h2>
<p>There is <a href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2016/9/30/13099898/mars-death-risk-illustrated">no lack of warnings</a> regarding the colonisation of Mars.</p>
<p>If a colony was established it would take continuous efforts and major expense to keep it supplied, including likely rescue missions. Furthermore, the long-term isolation of the colonists may take its toll.</p>
<p>When the <a href="http://www.mars-one.com/">Mars One</a> project announced in 2013 that it was looking to recruit four people to send on a mission to colonise Mars, Chris Chambers, a professor of cognitive neuroscience at Cardiff University, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/head-quarters/2013/sep/09/neuroscience-psychology">warned of the psychological risks</a> the colonists would face.</p>
<p>Yet dreams stay alive. According to NASA’s <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/programmissions/overview/">mission statement</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Even if Mars is devoid of past or present life, however, there’s still much excitement on the horizon. We ourselves might become “life on Mars”, should humans choose to travel there one day.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Earth calling Mars</h2>
<p>Space colonisation dreams are not entirely devoid of economic interests. The international space industry is <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-24/what-australians-need-to-know-about-space/8979036">said to be worth</a> in the order of some US$400 billion a year, and <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/31/the-space-industry-will-be-worth-nearly-3-trillion-in-30-years-bank-of-america-predicts.html">predicted to grow</a> to nearly US$3 trillion over the next three decades. </p>
<p>Space travel and colonisation ideas are mostly promoted by engineers and entrepreneurs who stand to gain from these schemes, but far less so by biologists and medical scientists who understand the terrestrial origin and physiological limitations of the human body.</p>
<p>There can be little doubt that, given modern and future computer and space technologies, space stations could be constructed on Mars, where a few privileged humans may be able to live for periods of time.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-new-space-race-why-we-need-a-human-mission-to-mars-73757">The new space race: why we need a human mission to Mars</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>Should humans colonise a life-bearing planet, we should ask whether organisms would fare any better than <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/biodiversity/elements_of_biodiversity/extinction_crisis/">species extinguished on Earth</a>. </p>
<p>The ethical polarity between those dreaming of conquering space and those hoping to defend Earth from global heating and a nuclear calamity could not be greater. </p>
<p>The billions and trillions of dollars required to develop and maintain colonies in space could approach the <a href="https://www.sipri.org/research/armament-and-disarmament/arms-transfers-and-military-spending/military-expenditure">estimated US$1.69 trillion military spending globally</a> in 2016.</p>
<p>As a scientist who examines how a changing climate influences human evolution, I argue that funds on this scale would be better directed at the defence of the lives of <a href="https://www.census.gov/popclock/">more than 7 billion humans</a> on Earth, as well as protection of animals and of nature more broadly.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87770/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Glikson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The race may be on to send humans to live on Mars, but is it worth the effort – and the spend – when we have our own problems to deal with on Earth.Andrew Glikson, Earth and paleo-climate scientist, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/853742017-10-11T04:53:38Z2017-10-11T04:53:38ZHow we found our lost Mars lander after a decade of searching – and what’s next<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190144/original/file-20171013-11712-doqhen.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Images of the lost Beagle 2.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The last picture taken of the Mars lander <a href="http://www.beagle2.com/">Beagle 2</a> showed it being successfully ejected from <a href="http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Mars_Express">Mars Express</a> on Christmas Day in 2003. But sadly, we never got a signal back from the lander and have ever since tried to work out what happened, and where it is. Eventually we made a breakthrough – and our findings have now been <a href="http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/lookup/doi/10.1098/rsos.170785">published in Royal Society Open Science</a>. </p>
<p>Beagle 2 fascinated many people from all walks of life, including me as a young planetary science researcher. I was attracted by the sense of possibility that it opened up. Space exploration didn’t have to be carried out just by Americans and Russians in their vast missions. The UK-led Beagle 2 caught some of the sense of the British optimism in the late 1990s, and the contemporary pop band Blur and artist Damien Hirst actually <a href="https://www.channel4.com/news/colin-pillinger-rip-tribute-what-you-didnt-know">helped the late planetary scientist Colin Pillinger</a> to get funding for the project. </p>
<p>Our new results are based on a decade-long imaging campaign using the <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/mro/">NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter</a> HiRISE camera. Even with its pixel sizes of 0.3 metres on the martian surface, finding a small lander was always going to be difficult. Before the start of the <a href="https://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/">MRO/HiRISE</a> mission in 2006 it was even impossible.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189562/original/file-20171010-17720-1rmg5wn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189562/original/file-20171010-17720-1rmg5wn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189562/original/file-20171010-17720-1rmg5wn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189562/original/file-20171010-17720-1rmg5wn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189562/original/file-20171010-17720-1rmg5wn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189562/original/file-20171010-17720-1rmg5wn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189562/original/file-20171010-17720-1rmg5wn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Beagle 2 after separation, on the left.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ESA</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Luckily, using Mars Express trajectory data, the European Space Agency (ESA) recalculated the Beagle 2 landing zone (the shape of an ellipse) from an original axis of 174km to 57km – greatly reducing the area on Mars that needed to be searched. Even so, we had to find a 1.5 metre lander in over 1400km<sup>2</sup> of Mars. </p>
<p>Between 2006 and 2014, a total of 26 HiRISE images were examined for signs of Beagle 2 – without success. However, German citizen scientist Michael Croon (a former member of the Mars Express operations team) had noticed a gap between HiRISE images within Beagle’s landing ellipse. With HiRISE, anyone can suggest a target to be imaged on Mars – if the case for it looks good, it will be taken and put on the public website. </p>
<p>In November 2014, Croon noted possible identification of the lander in the image he had requested, and asked for repeat imaging. The spot was some 20km from the original landing target in <a href="http://sci.esa.int/mars-express/25650-isidis-planitia/">Isidis Planitia</a>, a vast basin with signs of an ancient habitable environment. The red, oxidised martian surface at Isidis reflects light in a diffuse way but here was a strikingly bright object showing specular reflections – just the way light would be expected to reflect off the metallic and solar panel surfaces of a man-made object like Beagle 2. </p>
<p>Careful examination of combined multiple HiRISE images taken to check our observations showed a flat-lying, multi-lobed structure – Beagle 2. It suggested that some of the four solar panels had indeed deployed after landing. There was also an object moving between seven repeat HiRISE images. This may well be the lander’s aeroshell rear cover with its small parachute moving around on its tether.</p>
<p>So why didn’t Beagle 2 communicate after landing? As a small, 33kg lander – compare that to the one tonne <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html">Curiosity rover</a> behemoth – fitting all the communication and science equipment into the conical lander aeroshell was challenging. If one or more of the solar panels failed to deploy fully due to some damage at landing, then the radio antenna underneath them in the lander base would not have been able to communicate back to us via the Mars Express Orbiter. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, it seems that much of the landing sequence worked, including stable atmospheric entry, parachute deployments, airbag inflation and separation, and at least the first part of the sequence of solar panels unfolding from the base. The next step is to take even more images – that should help us work out how much of the deployment sequence occurred.</p>
<h2>The future of Mars exploration</h2>
<p>Pillinger was in some ways ahead of his time in seizing a chance to land on Mars. Currently there are several credible plans to land robotic vehicles on Mars within the next five years. At a recent Lunar and Deep Space Exploration Conference in Beijing, China <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09/21/plans-2020-chinese-mars-probe-explore-possibility-human-settlement/">reaffirmed its intention to launch a rover to Mars</a> in 2020.</p>
<p>There are intriguing signs that China is opening up its ambitious space programme to the outside world and seeking collaborators. ESA and Chinese astronauts have trained together, and importantly data from the recent Yutu lunar rover <a href="http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2016/01281656-fun-with-a-new-data-set-change.html">were released</a> to the wider world. NASA have for a long time allowed everyone to access their data, and this culture of open access to science is clearly spreading. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189565/original/file-20171010-19989-im5soc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189565/original/file-20171010-19989-im5soc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189565/original/file-20171010-19989-im5soc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189565/original/file-20171010-19989-im5soc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189565/original/file-20171010-19989-im5soc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189565/original/file-20171010-19989-im5soc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189565/original/file-20171010-19989-im5soc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">ESA rover test near the Paranal Observatory in Chile.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>India is planning a follow up to their <a href="https://www.space.com/23203-india-mars-orbiter-mission-photos.html">Mangalyaan Mars orbiter</a> success with a <a href="http://indianexpress.com/article/technology/science/isro-seeking-proposals-for-mars-orbiter-mission-2-4396357/">Mangalyaan 2</a> – and this may have a lander as well. The Indian government has signed a letter of intent with the French Space Agency <a href="https://cnes.fr/en/web/CNES-en/460-about-cnes.php">CNES</a> to help enable this. CNES is also looking to participate in a mission to Mars led by the United Arab Emirates. Indeed, collaboration is increasingly important – there are signs that Europe, the UK, US, Russia and India are also opening up at least some parts of their space programmes. How many other spheres of human activity can say that? </p>
<p>But it’s not all about spacecraft. Since 2003, planetary scientists in the UK have continued to work on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Martian_meteorites">129 identified martian meteorites</a>. A natural development from this research is a sample return mission from an area on Mars that we think from its mineralogy was likely to have been habitable for microbial life. The NASA Mars2020 mission is envisaged as the first part of such a mission. Scientists in the UK are discussing plans to have a facility where samples from the solar system, including Mars, could be curated and studied. </p>
<p>Meanwhile SpaceX are leading the way for commercial organisations to reach Mars and the moon. Whether they can successfully make it to Mars by 2020 <a href="https://theconversation.com/private-companies-are-launching-a-new-space-race-heres-what-to-expect-80697">remains to be seen</a> but an exciting new commercial emphasis on the parts of space exploration that have until now been solely the domain of government and intergovernmental agencies has clearly arrived. </p>
<p>However, the crash landing of the 2016 ESA Schiaparelli technology demonstrator lander is a salutary reminder that <a href="https://theconversation.com/decades-of-attempts-show-how-hard-it-is-to-land-on-mars-heres-how-we-plan-to-succeed-in-2021-69734">landing on and exploring another planet is not yet routine</a>. We hope to learn from this in the ExoMars2020 rover mission. Excitingly the ExoMars 2020 rover has a two-metre drill and sophisticated instruments to test for signs of ancient life. </p>
<p>Beagle 2 shows the fine and indistinct line between success and failure in Mars exploration. It introduced a new generation to the possibilities of space exploration and successfully achieved the initial stages of landing before unsuccessful final deployment of the solar panels. It will remain a significant part of the UK’s space science heritage for many years to come.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/85374/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Bridges receives funding from UKSA, STFC, ESA, Horizon2020.</span></em></p>Beagle 2 shows the fine line between success and failure in Mars exploration. There’s a lot we can learn from it going forward.John Bridges, Professor of Planetary Science, University of LeicesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/847422017-09-29T02:35:41Z2017-09-29T02:35:41ZWorries about spreading Earth microbes shouldn’t slow search for life on Mars<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188019/original/file-20170928-2939-1iwisqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Viking landers in the 1970s were the last to look directly for life on Mars.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://images.nasa.gov/#/details-PIA00382.html">NASA/JPL</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There may be no bigger question than whether we are alone in our solar system. As our spacecraft find new clues about the presence of liquid water now or in the past on Mars, the possibility of some kind of life there looks more likely. On Earth, water means life, and that’s why the exploration of Mars is guided by the idea of following the water.</p>
<p>But the search for life on Mars is paired with plenty of strong warnings about how we must sterilize our spacecraft to avoid contaminating our neighbor planet. How will we know what’s native Martian if we unintentionally seed the place with Earth organisms? A popular analogy points out that Europeans unknowingly brought smallpox to the New World, and they took home syphilis. Similarly, it is argued, our robotic explorations could contaminate Mars with terrestrial microorganisms.</p>
<p>As an astrobiologist who researches the environments of early Mars, I suggest these arguments are misleading. The current danger of contamination via unmanned robots is actually quite low. But contamination <a href="https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2017.1703">will become unavoidable once astronauts get there</a>. <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/journey-to-mars-overview">NASA</a>, other agencies and the <a href="http://www.spacex.com/mars">private sector</a> hope to send <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/28/science/elon-musk-mars.html">human missions to Mars by the 2030s</a>.</p>
<p>Space agencies have long prioritized preventing contamination over our hunt for life on Mars. Now is the time to reassess and update this strategy – before human beings get there and inevitably introduce Earth organisms despite our best efforts.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188026/original/file-20170928-1449-h7tdl9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188026/original/file-20170928-1449-h7tdl9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188026/original/file-20170928-1449-h7tdl9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188026/original/file-20170928-1449-h7tdl9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188026/original/file-20170928-1449-h7tdl9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188026/original/file-20170928-1449-h7tdl9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188026/original/file-20170928-1449-h7tdl9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188026/original/file-20170928-1449-h7tdl9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Microbiologists frequently collect swab samples from the floor of clean rooms during spacecraft assembly.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://images.nasa.gov/#/details-PIA17368.html">NASA/JPL-Caltech</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What planetary protection protocols do</h2>
<p>Arguments calling for extra caution have permeated Mars exploration strategies and led to the creation of specific guiding policies, known as <a href="https://planetaryprotection.nasa.gov/">planetary protection</a> protocols. </p>
<p>Strict cleaning procedures are required on our spacecraft before they’re allowed to sample regions on Mars which could be a habitat for microorganisms, either native to Mars or brought there from Earth. These areas are labeled by the planetary protection offices as “<a href="https://www.nap.edu/catalog/21816/review-of-the-mepag-report-on-mars-special-regions">Special Regions</a>.”</p>
<p>The worry is that, otherwise, terrestrial invaders could jeopardize potential Mars life. They also could confound future researchers trying to distinguish between any indigenous Martian life forms and life that arrived as contamination from Earth via today’s spacecraft. </p>
<p>The sad consequence of these policies is that the multi-billion-dollar Mars spacecraft programs run by <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/programmissions/overview/">space</a> <a href="http://exploration.esa.int/mars/44997-the-red-planet/">agencies</a> in the West have not proactively looked for life on the planet since the late 1970s.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188014/original/file-20170928-1438-4xut2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188014/original/file-20170928-1438-4xut2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188014/original/file-20170928-1438-4xut2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188014/original/file-20170928-1438-4xut2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188014/original/file-20170928-1438-4xut2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188014/original/file-20170928-1438-4xut2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188014/original/file-20170928-1438-4xut2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188014/original/file-20170928-1438-4xut2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dr. Carl Sagan poses with a model of the Viking lander in Death Valley, California.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/images/151106main_image_feature_599_ys_full.jpg">NASA</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>That’s when NASA’s Viking landers made the only attempt ever to find life on Mars (or on any planet outside Earth, for that matter). They carried out specific biological experiments looking for evidence of microbial life. Since then, that incipient biological exploration has shifted to less ambitious geological surveys that try to demonstrate only that Mars was “<a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/mission/science/objectives/">habitable</a>” in the past, meaning it had conditions that could likely support life.</p>
<p>Even worse, if a dedicated life-seeking spacecraft ever does get to Mars, planetary protection policies will allow it to search for life everywhere on the Martian surface, except in the very places we suspect life may exist: the Special Regions. The concern is that exploration could contaminate them with terrestrial microorganisms.</p>
<h2>Can Earth life make it on Mars?</h2>
<p>Consider again the Europeans who first journeyed to the New World and back. Yes, smallpox and syphilis traveled with them, between human populations, living inside warm bodies in temperate latitudes. But that situation is irrelevant to Mars exploration. Any analogy addressing possible biological exchange between Earth and Mars must consider the absolute contrast in the planets’ environments.</p>
<p>A more accurate analogy would be bringing 12 Asian tropical parrots to the Venezuelan rainforest. In 10 years we may very likely have an invasion of Asian parrots in South America. But if we bring the same 12 Asian parrots to Antarctica, in 10 hours we’ll have 12 dead parrots.</p>
<p>We’d assume that any indigenous life on Mars should be much better adapted to Martian stresses than Earth life is, and therefore would outcompete any possible terrestrial newcomers. Microorganisms on Earth have evolved to thrive in challenging environments like salt crusts in the Atacama desert or hydrothermal vents on the deep ocean floor. In the same way, we can imagine any potential Martian biosphere would have experienced enormous evolutionary pressure during billions of years to become expert in inhabiting <a href="http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/ast.2015.1380">Mars’ today environments</a>. The microorganisms hitchhiking on our spacecraft wouldn’t stand much of a chance against super-specialized Martians in their own territory.</p>
<p>So if Earth life cannot survive and, most importantly, reproduce on Mars, concerns going forward about our spacecraft contaminating Mars with terrestrial organisms are unwarranted. This would be the parrots-in-Antarctica scenario.</p>
<p>On the other hand, perhaps Earth microorganisms can, in fact, survive and create active microbial ecosystems on present-day Mars – the parrots-in-South America scenario. We can then presume that terrestrial microorganisms are already there, carried by any one of the dozens of spacecraft sent from Earth in the last decades, or by the natural exchange of rocks pulled out from one planet by a meteoritic impact and transported to the other. </p>
<p>In this case, protection protocols are overly cautious since contamination is already a fact.</p>
<h2>Technological reasons the protocols don’t make sense</h2>
<p>Another argument to soften planetary protection protocols hinges on the fact that current sterilization methods don’t actually “sterilize” our spacecraft, a feat engineers still don’t know how to accomplish definitively.</p>
<p>The cleaning procedures we use on our robots rely on pretty much the same stresses prevailing on the Martian surface: oxidizing chemicals and radiation. They end up killing only those microorganisms with no chance of surviving on Mars anyway. So current cleaning protocols are essentially conducting an artificial selection experiment, with the result that we carry to Mars only the most hardy microorganisms. This should put into question the whole cleaning procedure.</p>
<p>Further, technology has advanced enough that distinguishing between Earthlings and Martians is no longer a problem. If Martian life is biochemically similar to Earth life, we could sequence genomes of any organisms located. If they don’t match anything we know is on Earth, we can surmise it’s native to Mars. Then we could add Mars’ creatures to the tree of DNA-based life we already know, probably somewhere on its lower branches. And if it is different, we would be able to identify such differences based on its building blocks.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188023/original/file-20170928-22252-1wes7l6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188023/original/file-20170928-22252-1wes7l6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188023/original/file-20170928-22252-1wes7l6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188023/original/file-20170928-22252-1wes7l6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188023/original/file-20170928-22252-1wes7l6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188023/original/file-20170928-22252-1wes7l6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188023/original/file-20170928-22252-1wes7l6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188023/original/file-20170928-22252-1wes7l6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Bacterial species <em>Tersicoccus phoenicis</em> is found in only two places: clean rooms in Florida and South America where spacecraft are assembled for launch.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://images.nasa.gov/#/details-PIA17369.html">NASA/JPL-Caltech</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Mars explorers have yet another technique to help differentiate between Earth and Mars life. The microbes <a href="https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2012.0906">we know persist in clean spacecraft assembly rooms</a> provide an excellent control with which to monitor potential contamination. Any microorganism found in a Martian sample identical or highly similar to those present in the clean rooms would very likely indicate contamination – not indigenous life on Mars.</p>
<h2>The window is closing</h2>
<p>On top of all these reasons, it’s pointless to split hairs about current planetary protection guidelines as applied to today’s unmanned robots since human explorers are on the horizon. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2009.08.015">People would inevitably bring microbial hitchhikers with them</a>, because we cannot sterilize humans. Contamination risks between robotic and manned missions are simply not comparable. </p>
<p>Whether the microbes that fly with humans will be able to last on Mars is a separate question – though their survival is probably assured if they stay within a spacesuit or a human habitat engineered to preserve life. But no matter what, they’ll definitely be introduced to the Martian environment. Continuing to delay the astrobiological exploration of Mars now because we don’t want to contaminate the planet with microorganisms hiding in our spacecrafts isn’t logical considering astronauts (and their microbial stowaways) may arrive within two or three decades.</p>
<p>Prior to landing humans on Mars or bringing samples back to Earth, it makes sense to determine whether there is indigenous Martian life. What might robots or astronauts encounter there – and import to Earth? More knowledge now will increase the safety of Earth’s biosphere. After all, we still don’t know if returning samples could endanger humanity and the terrestrial biosphere. Perhaps reverse contamination should be our big concern.</p>
<p>The main goal of Mars exploration should be to try to find life on Mars and address the question of whether it is a separate genesis or shares a common ancestor with life on Earth. In the end, if Mars is lifeless, maybe we are alone in the universe; but if there is or was life on Mars, then there’s a zoo out there.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84742/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alberto G. Fairén receives funding from the European Research Council.</span></em></p>Planetary protection protocols try to make sure we don’t seed places like Mars with life from our planet. An astrobiologist argues they’re misguided – especially with human astronauts on the horizon.Alberto G. Fairén, Research Scientist at Centro de Astrobiología, Spain, and Visiting Scientist in Astronomy, Cornell UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/837282017-09-15T00:38:20Z2017-09-15T00:38:20ZIce mined on Mars could provide water for humans exploring space<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185582/original/file-20170912-2967-17bq0ii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There is water on Mars - but it's buried, and frozen. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/martian-sunset-mars-planet-red-landscape-591994049?src=yEGsm8lOHk0TC_yGCNfwhg-1-33">from www.shutterstock.com </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As humans spread out across the Earth, the locations of new colonies were driven by the accessibility of resources: not only food and water, but also arable land, forests and minerals. </p>
<p>Access to such resources remains important as the economy moves into space. Here, water has emerged as the pre-eminent resource to exploit first. </p>
<p>The question then becomes, from where will we extract the water? Along with the <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/330/6003/463">Moon</a> and <a href="http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/onlinebks/ResourcesNearEarthSpace/resources01.pdf">near Earth asteroids</a> as potential sources, Mars is an <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2008GL036379/full">important candidate</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/space-mining-is-closer-than-you-think-and-the-prospects-are-great-45707">Space mining is closer than you think, and the prospects are great</a>
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<h2>Eyes on Mars</h2>
<p>Mars is the focus for human settlement in space, largely due to Elon Musk’s <a href="http://www.spacex.com/mars">Space X</a>, <a href="http://www.mars-one.com/">Mars One</a> and <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/">NASA’s activities</a> in this regard. </p>
<p>The NASA human landing site selection committee proposed 47 potential sites for a <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/journeytomars/mars-exploration-zones">human occupied base on Mars</a>. They considered not only scientific regions of interest but also “resource regions of interest” – where there is accessible water. </p>
<p>A number of conditions need to be met for an exploration zone to be considered useful for prospecting for water. Water needs to be accessible, located near the surface, and of sufficient size and concentration to meet the user needs. </p>
<p>For operational reasons the Mars water site also needs to be located with a latitude less than 50°. This ruled out the previously identified large surface ice deposits in the high latitude polar regions of Mars.</p>
<h2>Buried ice</h2>
<p>The Protonilus - Deuteronilus Mensae region on Mars is located in the northern mid-latitudes of Mars (~8°E and 60°E 38N and 50°N). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A flattened map of the surface of Mars shows the location (red box) of the buried ice deposits in the Deuteronilus-Protonilus Mensae region.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">MOLA – NASA/JPL</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>This region is host to numerous land forms which <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2008GL036379/full">appear to contain</a> large buried ice deposits, hundreds of meters thick and several kilometres wide. </p>
<p>If the ice is preserved as we believe, these features would represent a significant resource easily capable of satisfying the requirements for a human base. It is for this reason that three exploration zones have been proposed in the region.</p>
<p>At the low pressures in the Martian atmosphere, and the temperatures in equatorial regions, ice can “sublime” directly from the solid to gas state (evaporation being the transition from water to gas). The features we are observing protect ice under a layer of debris. </p>
<p>Because of this, it is not possible to evaluate directly the quantity of ice present. Instead we must rely on data collected by orbital spacecraft to work out the geological properties and potential water resources available. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185573/original/file-20170912-26996-1wefihj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/185573/original/file-20170912-26996-1wefihj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185573/original/file-20170912-26996-1wefihj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185573/original/file-20170912-26996-1wefihj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185573/original/file-20170912-26996-1wefihj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185573/original/file-20170912-26996-1wefihj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/185573/original/file-20170912-26996-1wefihj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Image of a buried ice deposit in the Protonilus Mensae region on Mars. These features are considered analogous to debris-covered glaciers on Earth.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CTX-NASA/JPL</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>If we were able to make measurements on the planet itself (as we can usually do on Earth), things would be much clearer. However, there have been no landed rover missions to this region of Mars, so we are reliant on remotely sensed data. </p>
<p>There is still a lot to be learned from data collected by satellites orbiting Mars. These give us high resolution imagery of the surface, along with insight into the geological properties of these features. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dear-diary-another-day-in-the-life-on-mars-75929">Dear diary: another day in the life on Mars</a>
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<p>We can make informed assessments about how much water there is, and where it is distributed, as well as about what lies over it (which will have to either be drilled through or excavated to reach the water). These interpretations can be used to guide future exploration activities, and assist equipment design and mine planning operations. </p>
<p>Rover missions could provide more certainty but planning such a mission will not occur until after site selection, and insight into the feasibility of mining ice deposits on Mars to support human missions to the Red Planet. </p>
<h2>Other mining in space</h2>
<p>It’s not only Mars which is being investigated as a potential source of water in space. The Moon with its supply of polar water ice is being considered as a potential resource to supply proposed lunar bases or propellant for Mars missions. The <a href="https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/abs/10.2514/6.2014-4378">Lunar Resource Prospector mission</a> set to launch in the early 2020s will help us better understand the resource potential of the Moon. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/all-of-humanity-should-share-in-the-space-mining-boom-57740">All of humanity should share in the space mining boom</a>
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<p>Asteroid mining companies such as <a href="http://deepspaceindustries.com/">Deep Space Industries</a> and <a href="http://www.planetaryresources.com/#home-intro">Planetary Resources</a> are looking to exploit water stored in near Earth asteroids and are working towards exploratory missions in the near future. </p>
<p>There are a large number of technical issues that must be navigated before such an ambitious mining enterprise is considered low-risk enough to be feasible. These are challenging, but not insurmountable. A <a href="http://www.spaceresources.public.lu/en.html">significant international effort</a> is afoot to solve the problems with several companies, the major space agencies and the government of Luxembourg committed to the task.</p>
<p>Representatives from these stakeholder groups will be in Australia to discuss these issues at the <a href="http://www.acser.unsw.edu.au/oemf2017">Off-Earth Mining Forum</a> to be held in Sydney, September 20-21, 2017.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83728/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sophia Casanova is a PhD Candidate at the University of New South Wales. She is a recipient of the University Postgraduate Award. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Dempster works for UNSW. He receives funding from the Australian Research Council. He is co-chair of the Forum mentioned in the article</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Serkan Saydam receives funding from Australian Research Council and ACARP, he is co-chair of Off Earth Mining Forum mentioned in the article. </span></em></p>Space exploration is exciting - but there are barriers for humans hoping to visit and even stay on planets. Buried ice on Mars could be a water source for interplanetary visits of the future.Sophia Casanova, PhD Candidate - Mining Engineering, UNSW SydneyAndrew Dempster, Director, Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research; Professor, School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.