We will one day grow food in conditions as extreme as Mars. Developing the controlled environments required will help not only space explorers but also support our own survival here on Earth.
Artist’s concept of the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft approaching Mars.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Musk dismisses one of the main technical challenges of being on the Martian surface: the temperature.
A view from the ‘Kimberley’ formation on Mars taken by NASA’s Curiosity rover. The strata in the foreground dip towards the base of Mount Sharp, indicating flow of water toward a basin that existed before the larger bulk of the mountain formed.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
We could learn a lot from any mission to send people to Mars, such as whether there’s life elsewhere in the universe or even the technology for new household appliances.
Suited up to simulate the conditions of working outside on Mars. Jonathan Clarke (the author, left) with visiting engineer Michael Curtis-Rouse, from UK Space Agency (right).
Jonathan Clarke personal collection
One of the best ways to find out the challenges of living on Mars is to simulate living on another planet here on Earth. So what’s it like to spend several months living the Martian life?
Between the Earth and the moon: An artist’s rendering of a refueling depot for deep-space exploration.
Sung Wha Kang (RISD)
To get us to Mars and beyond, a team of students from around the world has a plan involving lunar rovers mining ice and a space station between the Earth and the moon.
Ultrasonic “tractor beam”
Asier Marzo, Bruce Drinkwater, Sriram Subramanian
Earth is a relatively dry planet compared to some of the other ocean worlds in our Solar system. Life needs water so what about life on these other places?
Hydrothermal pool in the Dallol hot springs, Danakil Depression.
Barbara Cavalazzi, Geologist - Europlanet expedition 2017
A study is being done in Ethiopia’s Danakil Depression - a natural environment like no other on earth - to understand how microbes thrive in extreme environments such as those found on Mars.
Colonising other planets may be possible, but does that mean we should?
Mars image from www.shutterstock.com
Interplanetary colonisation was once the stuff of science fiction but now there are plans to colonise Mars. How have film-makers and writers dealt with our rapacious Anthropocene age?
The recently broadcast TV mini-series, “Mars”, combines fiction and nonfiction in a way that places them in balance. This kind of combination is likely to feature in more television series and films.
Recent high-profile disappointments make it tempting to this our efforts to explore Mars are cursed. But landing anywhere in space is hard – not least on the Red Planet.
Artist’s impression of Schiaparelli landing.
ESA/ATG medialab
ESA’s second mission to Mars has become prey to the curse of the Red Planet – although the orbiter is heading for success, the Schiaparelli lander seems to have disappeared.
Ion microscope image of ancient (probably fungal) structures in rock.
Newcastle University
A true plan for the colonisation of Mars should include both the social and technical feasibility of living there. Unfortunately, Musk left that bit out.