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Colony on Mars The human race has always explored the unknown. At the dawn of the humanity new lands were the object of exploration. People stimulated by their curiosity and care for the future generations left their overcrowded or exhausted lands and went to unknown virgin territories in search of fertile soil, economic and political independence and secure life for their children. The technological progress of the twentieth century has changed life of the mankind to such an extent, that in early sixties, after the first successful flight of the man to space, people started thinking about exploration not only of new lands, but also about exploration of new planets and worlds. The motivation remains the same: people want to secure life of the next generations. In this light, exploration and colonization of an alternative planet has become a very important and responsible task of the whole humanity.
This will help us solve the problem of eternity of the mankind. In case anything may happen to our planet, the colony on another planet will serve as an emergency place that will save people from demise. And one of the most suitable planets for this purpose turns out to be Mars. Mars is one of the planets in the solar system and it is the fourth planet from the sun.
This planet has been known since prehistoric times. In ancient mythology Mars (Ares in Greek) was the God of War. The planet probably received this name due to its red color, now Mars is often referred to as the Red Planet. In the Roman mythology Mars was a god of agriculture before becoming associated with the Greek Ares. This fact may be an omen for humanity, it justifies colonization and terraform ing of the Red Planet. Mars is relatively small, with about half the diameter of Earth and about one-tenth Earths mass.
Though Mars is much smaller than Earth, its surface area is about the same as the land surface area of Earth. The force of gravity on the surface of Mars is about one-third of that on Earth. Mars has twice the diameter and twice the surface gravity of Earths moon. The surface area of Mars is almost exactly the same as the surface area of the dry land on Earth. The Martian day is about a half an hour longer than an Earth day.
Its year is about two Earth years long. Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos, which are named after the dogs of the Roman god Mars. The atmosphere of the Red Planet is thin and composed mostly of the tiny amount of remaining carbon dioxide (95. 3 %) plus nitrogen (2. 7 %), argon (1. 6 %) and traces of oxygen (0. 15 %) and water (0. 03 %). The average pressure on the surface of Mars is only about 7 millibars (less than 1 % of Earth's), but it varies greatly with altitude from almost 9 millibars in the deepest basins to about 1 millibar at the top of Olympus Mons, the largest mountain in the solar system. But it is thick enough to support very strong winds and vast dust storms that on occasion engulf the entire planet for months.
Mars' thin atmosphere produces a greenhouse effect, but it is only enough to raise the surface temperature by 5 degrees. The variation in pressure is caused by carbon dioxide freezing out at the poles of the planet in fall and winter. The pressure also varies with altitude and is about a factor of ten less on the top of Olympus Mons than on the floor of Hellas Planitia (a crater in the southern hemisphere over 6 km deep and 2000 km in diameter). As Mars' orbit is significantly elliptical, a temperature variation of about 30 C at the subsolar point between aphelion and perihelion. This has a major influence on Mars' climate. While the average temperature on Mars is about - 55 C, - 67 F, Martian surface temperatures range widely from as little as - 133 C, - 207 F at the winter pole to almost 27 C, 80 F on the daytime during summer. "There has been a global drop in temperature.
The planet is cooler and the atmosphere clearer than seen before, " said Steven Lee of the University of Colorado in Boulder ("Mars: Mankind's Future Lies in Space" website, 2004). "This shows the need for continuous monitoring of Mars. Space probes provided a close-up look, but it's difficult to extrapolate to long-term conditions based upon these brief encounters. " The researchers attribute the cooling of the Martian atmosphere to diminished dust storm activity, which was rampant when a pair of NASA Viking orbiter and lander spacecraft arrived at Mars in 1976. Two major dust storms occurred during the first year of the Viking visits, which left fine dust particles suspended in the Martian atmosphere for longer than normal. Warmed by the Sun, these dust particles (some only a micron in diameter, about the size of smoke particles) are the primary source of heat in the Martian atmosphere.
The atmosphere of Mars contains very little water vapor. The level of water vapor averages about 0. 016 percent, compared to the earths average level of about 2 percent. The water content in the atmosphere on Mars varies seasonally and by location and can form clouds and even frost. The Viking 2 lander recorded images of water-ice frost during the winter. Most of the water supply is held in the polar ice caps or near the equator in soil grains on the surface.
Carbon dioxide is the chief oxygen-bearing gas on Mars, though some trace amounts of atomic oxygen and ozone appear in the atmosphere as a result of chemical reactions with ultraviolet light. In general, the atmosphere of Mars is transparent. Dense clouds like those on Earth would not be expected in a tenuous carbon-dioxide atmosphere, and under normal conditions the surface features can be seen clearly, without obscuration. All these characteristics of the Red Planet prove that taking into account all the achievements of the technological progress the humans may colonize Mars. Though they still need to overcome a great number of obstacles connected with the optimisation of the natural environment and the huge distance between the planets. According to authors of the "Mars: Mankind's Future Lies in Space" website, 2004, technically it will be difficult to endeavor a human expedition.
Once committed to a journey to Mars, astronauts will not be able to return until the alignment of the planets allows their return. This is the most radical difference between this exploration and all previous explorations. There is a very narrow window within which return is possible, and the commitment to launch is a commitment to three years in space. That means that explorers should be ready to face all kinds of emergency situations that may be solved only by themselves. At the distance of Mars from the Earth, it can be as much as 40 minutes from the time a message goes out from Earth to the time an answer is received back on Earth. This fact suggests that not only the crew, but also all the systems in the spaceship should be extremely reliable and function very autonomously.
The settlement of Mars presents a lot of new challenges, but this planet possesses such great resources that allow us to create a livable, though artificial environment. According to Robert Zubrin, the potential of relatively near-term types of interplanetary transportation systems is examined, and it is shown that with very modest advances on a historical scale, systems can be put in place that will allow individuals and families to emigrate to Mars at their own discretion. But this prospect has to be postponed, from the technical point of view the colonization of the Red planet may start in fifteen-twenty years. One of the urgent problems that prevent this endeavour is financing of journeys to Mars. Many scientists all over the world more and more support the idea that expeditions to the Red Planet should be funded mostly by individual costs. That also may imply that this project should become an international one and the most progressive countries should contribute to its development, only then we will be able to plan Mars colonisation.
In his work The Economic Viability of Mars Colonization Robert Zubrin points out four main phases of activities necessary for the development of the Red Planet. He terms them "exploration, "base building, "settlement, " and "terraform ing. " The first phase has already started and is successfully carried out by American and European scientists. Japanese explorers launched apparatus Nozomi in 1998. Though it failed to come to Mars orbit, Japanese scientists did not stop their research and in the near future they are expected to launch one more space apparatus.
The main purpose of the exploration phase according to Robert Zubrin is to conduct a preliminary survey of the resources of Mars and determine optimum locations for future human bases and settlements, and to establish a modus operandi whereby humans can travel to, reside on, and conduct useful operations over substantial regions of the surface of Mars. The purpose of the second phase is to conduct agricultural, industrial, chemical, and engineering research necessary for turning Martian raw materials into useful resources. The base building phase in Robert Zubrin's opinion will require a division of labor entailing a larger number of people (on the order of 50), equipped with a wide variety of equipment and substantial sources of power. The base building phase could begin in earnest about 10 years after the initial human landing on Mars. When the two early phases are carried out successfully the settlement may start. Robert Zubrin suggests that the primary purpose of this phase is simply to populate Mars, creating a new branch of human civilization there with exponentially growing capabilities to transform the Red Planet.
The last phase is the most difficult to carry out. It will require new technologies that are not known so far and will last according to the estimations of different scientists from several decades to several centuries. Kevin Bonsor in his article How Terraforming Mars Will Work summarises all the suggested methods of terraform ing Mars and highlights three most efficient ones. They are: Large orbital mirrors that will reflect sunlight and heat the Mars surface. Greenhouse gas-producing factories to trap solar radiation. Smashing ammonia-heavy asteroids into the planet to raise the greenhouse gas level.
All these methods are very energy and time consuming and it will take us centuries to transform the cold, dry world of Mars into one that resembles Earth. Nevertheless, this transformation is worth all our investments, as the results of terraform ing Mars may exceed all our expectations and in the long run may even save the humanity. We also should not miss this chance, because among all other planets of the solar system Mars is the most appropriate one for terraform ing and colonization. First of all, it is the next closest planet to us.
And although it is a cold, dry planet today, it holds all of the elements that are needed for life to exist, including water that may be frozen at the polar ice caps, carbon and oxygen in the form of carbon dioxide (CO 2) and nitrogen. As Kevin Bonsor points out, there are amazing similarities between the Martian atmosphere that exists today and the atmosphere that existed on Earth billions of years ago. When the Earth was first formed, no oxygen existed on our planet and it, too, looked like a desolate, unlivable planet. The atmosphere was made entirely of carbon dioxide and nitrogen. It wasn't until photosynthetic bacteria developed on Earth that enough oxygen was produced to allow for the development of animals. Similarly, the thin Mars atmosphere today is almost totally composed of carbon dioxide.
Additionally, Mars has experienced the same sort of volcanic and hydrologic processes that produced a multitude of mineral ores on Earth. Robert Zubrin supposes that because of its complex geologic history, Mars may have concentrated mineral ores, with much greater concentrations of ores of precious metals readily available than is currently the case on Earth due to the fact that the terrestrial ores have been heavily scavenged by humans for the past 5000 years. Virtually every element of importance is available on Mars. Greg Bear attracted attention of the audience of the Great Terraforming Debate to the fact that people can also take pharmaceutical expeditions to Mars. People coming and looking for solutions to incredible problems that could occur here on Earth and finding them on Mars. That could generate income unforeseen.
Existence of water on Mars also makes it very valuable, as many scientists agree on the fact that water means life. Robert Zubrin indicates that if Mars were smooth and all its ice and permafrost melted into liquid water, the entire planet would be covered with an ocean over 100 meters deep. In addition, there is valid speculation that there is underground liquid water in which microbial life could exist and they would also represent oases providing water and geothermal power to future colonists. When the humanity further explores the Red planet, it could be used as a natural laboratory for studying climate changes. The researches conducted by this laboratory could help us predict the changes that our planet may also undergo. Taking into consideration all the facts about Mars and all the opinions and arguments of scientists, the prospect of Mars colonisation remains though remote on a time scale, but still technically feasible.
This fact should inspire explorers from all over the world to conduct further researches and unite their efforts for achieving the common aim, so abundantly described in science fiction. David Grinspoon in the Great Terraforming Debate compared the exploration and further colonization of Mars with planting a garden on a vacant lot. We " ve heard a lot different possible motivations, economic motivations, or curiosity, but I think ultimately the motivation should be out of love for life, and wanting there to be more life where there's only death and desolation. So, this love for life that has always ruled peoples actions should now direct all creative human energy to Mars terraform ing and colonization. References: 1. Astrobiology Science Conference (2004, March 30).
Giving Mars Back its Heartbeat. Great Terraforming Debate: Part I. [Electronic version]. Retrieved June 25, 2004, from web 2. Astrobiology Science Conference (2004, March 30). Should We Terraform? . Great Terraforming Debate: Part III. [Electronic version].
Retrieved June 25, 2004, from web 3. Bonsor K. (2004) How Terraforming Mars Will Work. Howstuffworks Website. Retrieved June 27, 2004, from web 4.
Filer G. A. (2004, March 17). Is Earth A Colony Of Mars? Filers Files # 13 - 2004 Sky watch Investigations. Retrieved June 24, 2004, from web 5. "Mars: Mankind's Future Lies in Space" website. Colonization of Mars.
Retrieved June 25, 2004, from web 6. Martian Federation website. Why We Must Colonize Mars. Retrieved June 26, 2004, from web 7. Zubrin R. The Economic Viability of Mars Colonization.
Lockheed Martin Astronautics. Retrieved June 25, 2004, from web
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