Intense preparations are underway to find solutions to send humans to the red planet Mars. NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) has during the last 10- 15 years placed various unmanned rovers on the planet, but still there are 20- 30 years into the future before they will send the first man to Mars.
On a private basis However a group from the Netherlands established a nonprofit organization called One in March, which is scheduled to send humans to Mars in 2024 in a SpaceX Falcon Heavy to establish a permanent colony in 2025. The journey takes namely seven months.Reality TV
The training on Earth starts in 2015. Equipment for establishing settlement sent to Mars already in 2018 with a SpaceX Dragon variant, which also uses the 2.5 tons of food. A vehicle (planetary rover) and robots to find a suitable location on the surface, sent out two years later. The vehicle will also be used to transport units and solar panels that robots put together.
The idea is to fund the expedition through the sale of television and online rights, and plans a reality series that will extend over at least ten years and have worldwide as the public.
The special March One is that you do not plan on a return ticket back to Earth. With today’s technology it is impossible to bring enough fuel for a journey home. Since those traveling should plan on a life on the planet, it is up to the residents to decide what should happen to them. The contractor Mars One, Dutchman Bas Lansdorp, promises that a crematorium set up.
Bet greenhouses
But even if the economy is in place, we do not know if we have enough knowledge to provide the first Mars residents with food. Quite quickly they must be self-sufficient in an extremely harsh climate:
- The temperature fluctuates between 20 degrees during the day and down to -150 degrees at night.
- Lack of atmosphere means that the planet is very susceptible to cosmic radiation and eruption on the Sun. It can be dangerous for those who live there.
- Storms churning up dust that can cover the entire planet. Then the Sun did not penetrate, and the dust can be toxic for residents.
One solution is to grow food yourself in greenhouses on the planet. The question is whether seeds and plants from Earth can adapt to the harsh conditions on the planet.
New seeds in 85 days
Already in 2018 plan in March One sending a micro greenhouses to Mars be tested by put under approximately normal pressure – as is done in eg. aircraft cabin. For plant growth retrieves one carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, oxygen obtained by electrolysis of water – and eventually from the plants if they grow up. Nitrogen obtained by filtering the planet’s atmosphere. March One project has also chosen to focus on salad crops without using soil – a aeroponic system. The roots grow in the open air and sprayed regularly with water.
With today’s technology it is impossible to bring enough fuel for a journey home.
The International Space Station (ISS) has given us the opportunity to test the effects of weightlessness works on humans, animals and plants. At NTNU, we have over several years a center for planning and implementation of plant experiments on the space station ISS. Along with ia CMI and Prototech AS in Bergen has developed a mini greenhouses where we are trying to grow model plants for extended periods of growth. Together with the Department of Biology and Department of Physics at NTNU we grew in 2007 thale cress, which is a model plant. Developments from seed to new seeds took 85 days. It shows that we can grow plants from one generation to the next under such conditions as it is the ISS.
LED
Greenhouses on Mars will not be able to use sunlight directly, but called LED lighting that was also used in NTNU experiment on the ISS. Power is derived from batteries charged by solar panels. But no one can say today whether the seeds that are produced on Earth will sprout in the normal way in greenhouses on Mars. Nor do we know about the new seeds will be spiringsdyktige, or plants that are harvested can be used as food for humans.
The Nasa has had most attention so far is the possibility of finding water on Mars. Results from studies that both spacecraft Spirit rover Curiosity and sent back to Earth, suggests that there has been water on the planet. But today is not lakes and streams as we are accustomed to.
We do not know whether the plants obtained may be used as food for humans.
Nasa has results which estimates that up to three percent of the soil on the planet has minerals that have tied up water molecules. Heating of the Martian soil will therefore in principle be able to cast water. Pictures taken of Gale Crater near the equator, suggesting that there has been water here earlier. Surveys like other rovers have done shows that there might be frozen water during much of the Martian surface.
25-30 million EU million
As part of ESA / Nasas plans for plant growing on Mars, the EU has allocated NOK 30 million 25- for the next three to four years of space research group CIRiS at NTNU. Along with several organizations, businesses (including Prototech) and research centers in Europe, we will develop small greenhouses that we test the Space Station ISS. We hope it provides more knowledge about the possibilities and limitations of growing plants in greenhouses on Mars.
But our results do not come in time to be able to give advice to participants in March One project.
202.000 would travel
Who wants a one-way ticket to Mars? Amazingly enough had the entire 202,000 people from 140 countries expressed their interest to the Dutch company in March One when the deadline for registration had expired in August 2013. Among them were nearly 700 from Norway, and after the first election were two Norwegians again as potential candidates among the total in 1058 selected. One is Robin André Ingebrigtsen (20) from Stavanger and Eric Seedhouse (49) from Sandefjord. From this group should eventually selecting 40 people.
The Dutch entrepreneur Bas Lansdorp came upon the idea of March One when he met Jon de Mol – the man behind Big Brother success. He believed that one could raise money for a Mars trip by selling journey as a global reality show. In 2011 sold Bas Lansdorp their firm and founded the organization in March One who has since received considerable media attention and also to a certain extent the support of individual researchers.
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