NASA Is Serious About Mars; Are You Any Good At FarmVille?
The mission isn't even official yet and there are close to 80k applicants already. <a href="https://applicants.mars-one.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">applicants.mars-one.com</a> says the site, and the overwhelming response tells you just how ambitious the humans to Mars mission is going to be. If that wasn't enough motivation, #-Link-Snipped-# rooting for the cause. The #-Link-Snipped-# was held from May 6-8 at the George Washington University and attracted many enthusiastic space experts including Buzz Aldrin, who strongly believes it is time for the US Government to pull up their socks and act towards developing a colony on the Red Planet. A Colony. On Mars. Whoa!
Now the idea is amazing but going to Mars isn't going to be all fun and games. According to Doug Cooke, a former NASA associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, the mission would likely be split in three parts: one to launch the vehicle that carries the crew to Mars, the second to send inhabitants over, and the third to bring the crew back. The inhabitants will stay back, of course, and become farmers. That is the first challenge towards creating a sustainable environment on a foreign planet, assuming we have respiration sorted. NASA is actively researching how to farm on Mars but the obstacles aren't few. At about half the sunlight Earth receives, a pressurized greenhouse isn't a solution as it will further block the light reaching plants. The gravity on Mars is weaker than home and scientists don't quite know how that will effect plant growth. Supplying light would require significant power and that's another issue altogether. The plants, as well as the inhabitants for that matter, will also be prone to radiation as Mars lacks Earth's thick protective atmosphere. Despite all this, scientists believe farming is an achievable goal. Reminds me of the Doctor Who episode that envisioned us inhabited on Mars, albeit that didn't end well for the inhabitants. Here's hoping real life is better than science fiction.
Source: #-Link-Snipped-#
Now the idea is amazing but going to Mars isn't going to be all fun and games. According to Doug Cooke, a former NASA associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, the mission would likely be split in three parts: one to launch the vehicle that carries the crew to Mars, the second to send inhabitants over, and the third to bring the crew back. The inhabitants will stay back, of course, and become farmers. That is the first challenge towards creating a sustainable environment on a foreign planet, assuming we have respiration sorted. NASA is actively researching how to farm on Mars but the obstacles aren't few. At about half the sunlight Earth receives, a pressurized greenhouse isn't a solution as it will further block the light reaching plants. The gravity on Mars is weaker than home and scientists don't quite know how that will effect plant growth. Supplying light would require significant power and that's another issue altogether. The plants, as well as the inhabitants for that matter, will also be prone to radiation as Mars lacks Earth's thick protective atmosphere. Despite all this, scientists believe farming is an achievable goal. Reminds me of the Doctor Who episode that envisioned us inhabited on Mars, albeit that didn't end well for the inhabitants. Here's hoping real life is better than science fiction.
Source: #-Link-Snipped-#
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