IS MARS HUMANS NEXT TARGET FOR HABITAT ? AND IF YES WHY MARS ?
As Earth and Mars are similar when it comes to their basic makeups, given that they are both terrestrial planets. This means that both are differentiated between a dense metallic core and an overlying mantle and crust composed of less dense materials. And looking at many such factors Mars already was in attention and interest of everyone. And many research continued for a long time looking for proper habitat on mars and different planets and still going on.
Once SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said that he plans to send a spaceX rocket to mars, with cargo only, by 2022, and also plans to send a million people to mars by 2050.
Image Source: Google Images
“I’ll probably be long dead before Mars becomes self-sustaining,” Musk also told “But I’d like to at least be around to see a bunch of ships land on Mars.”
BUT, Recently SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on February 1 revealed an ambitious plan to get humans on Mars by 2026.
Its clear that humans has its eye on MARS since a long time and not just Elon musk but Even NASA aims to get first humans on the Red Planet in 2033. It is also worth mentioning that it currently takes at least six months to get to Mars, however, Musk believes that could be down to as little as a month, with flights operating every two years
AND WHY MARS ?
It is because at an average distance of 140 million miles, Mars in one of Earth's closest habitable neighbors. Mars is about half again as far from the sun as Earth is, so it still has decent sunlight. It is a little cold, but we can warm it up. Its atmosphere is primarily CO2 with some nitrogen and argon and a few other trace elements, which means that we can grow plants on mars just by compressing the atmosphere. Gravity on Mars is about 38% of that of Earths, so you would be able to loft heavy things and bound around. Further more, the day is remarkably close to that of earth.
Elon Musk wants to use his SpaceX mission to help humanity and also plans to create a "Colony of Humans" on Mars. Musk said that his goal was to establish a self-sustaining Martian civilization. For the first time, he mentioned a time-line and said that he will get humans on the Red Planet in “five and a half years”. He said that the first colony will be a tiny, dangerous, “frontier-like” environment as they begin to establish propellant manufacturing, food production and power plants. He said that there are a number of technological advances that need to be made between now and 2026 before humans can travel to Mars on Starship. which is seven years before US space agency NASA aims to land astronauts on the Red planet.
Back in November, the tech tycoon had even said that he wants to make his own laws on the Red planet. Musk said that once SpaceX reaches Mars, it will colonize the planet as there are no “universal laws on the planet”. All Martian settlement will be dealt with using "self-governing principles”, Musk said in a document that lists Terms of Service of its Starlink internet project, declaring himself the governing entity in space. Further, the rocket company's satellite-based internet service, Starlink suggests that it will not recognize the land-based international law that governs Earth on the red planet.
According to SpaceX website, On march 3, starship serial number (SN10) successfully completed SpaceX's third high-altitude flight test of a starship prototype. similar to the high-altitude flight tests pf starship SN8 and SN9, SN10 was powered through ascent by three Raptor engines, each shutting down in sequence prior to the vehicle reaching apogee -- approximately 10 km in altitude. SN10 performed a propellant transition to the internal header tanks, which hold landing propellant, before reorienting itself for reentry and a controlled aerodynamic descent. Whereas, starship is designed to deliver satellites further and at a lower marginal cost per launch than their current Falcon vehicles. With a payload compartment larger than any fairing currently in operation or development, starship creates possibilities for new missions, including space telescopes even larger than james webb.
Image Source: SpaceX Website
Starship prototype test vehicle in flight
Image Source: SpaceX Website
Three Raptor Engines at the base of starship
Starship will enter mars' atmosphere at 7.5 kilometers per second and decelerate aerodynamically. The vehicle's heat shield is designed to withstand multiple entries, but given that the vehicle is coming into mars' atmosphere so hot, we still expect to see some ablation of the heat shield ( similar to wear and tear on brake pad ).
Image Source: SpaceX Website
Artist's rendering of a base on mars with multiple starships
Image Source: SpaceX Website
Artist's rendering of starship taking off on mars
Starship can deliver both cargo and people to and from the ISS. Starship's fairing provides significant capacity for in-space activities. The aft cargo containers can also host a variety of payloads.
"You want to wake up in the morning and think the future is going to be great - and that's what being a spacefaring civilization is all about. It's about believing in the future and thinking that the future will be better than past. And I can't think of anything more exciting than going out there and being among the stars." - ELON MUSK
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