Will We Make It to Mars? Sep 23rd

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Human expeditions to Mars are still a goal for NASA in the 2030s. According to Redfern (n.d.) it would take around nine months to go to Mars using current technology. A whole mission might last two or three years by the time the planets align favorably for a return. The astronauts would require food, water, and oxygen, as well as radiation protection, for the duration of their mission. NASA keeps sending rovers for scientific exploration on Mars.  Let’s explore this fascinating topic.

Going to Mars is a long and difficult journey. Due to faulty components, rocket malfunctions, or catastrophic failures, a considerable number of the 50-plus missions launched toward Mars have been lost, with probes crashing into the Martian surface.

Humans will travel to Mars soon for further exploration. However, getting astronauts to the Martian surface and successfully returning them to Earth is a huge engineering task and a detailed knowledge of the Martian environment is very important for equipment safety and human health.

In 2012, the Mars One project appeared to the public. Their idea was to take people to Mars on a one-way trip. These humans would colonize Mars and live there for the rest of their lives there. However, there is a lot of questioning and criticism to the project. scientists pointed out the mission’s flaws. Based on a feasibility study conducted, the first settlers would choke and die within sixty-eight days if their habitats failed.

Mars One didn’t have funds for the equipment at first, that is why the project was converted into a self-funded reality television show, with viewers tuning in to see the aspiring astronauts go through the selection process and then training, before embarking on their adventurous voyage to Mars. Sadly, in 2019, Mars One was declared bankrupt and the project was suspended, even after they had already selected the crew.

SpaceX is an American aerospace corporation that was founded in 2002. It was the first private company to launch and return a spacecraft from Earth into orbit and back, as well as the first to launch and dock a manned spacecraft with the International Space Station (ISS). The company also proposed a plan to begin the colonization of Mars.

Elon Musk, SpaceX's founder and CEO, is eager to make his company's vision happen: to establish a permanent human presence on the Red Planet using SpaceX's Starship rockets to transport people and cargo to and from Mars. During an interview last December 1, 2020, Elon Musk said that he is "highly confident" SpaceX will launch people toward Mars in 2026, adding that the mission could happen as soon as 2024 "if we get lucky."

But space experts said that Musk's timeline for reaching Mars is not possible and it would take more years. Greg Autry, a commercial space industry expert, believes that Musk will get to Mars, on his own or with NASA in 2029 or 2031. He also highlighted that space programs are difficult and rarely completed on time.