Category Archives: Mars Colonization

Armed with a good cast and an intriguing premise, The Space Between Us nevertheless fails to launch.

Peter Chelsoms film was supposed to open in 2016 but didnt. Despite the delay, it seems unfinished, choppy, the storytelling almost of an after-school special variety.

The story involves Gardner Elliot (Asa Butterfield), whose mother was one of the first astronauts to travel to Mars and establish a permanent colony. She brings more than her toothbrush, though; she was pregnant and dies during childbirth on the red planet. Sensing a public-relations disaster, leaders of the Genesis project, as the colonization company is called, decide to hide the truth from the public.

Thus we have Gardner growing up on Mars, the only human ever born there, his existence one big secret. Hes raised mostly by Kendra (Carla Gugino), who keeps tabs on him and sees him as the son that she, we learn, can never have one of many melodramatic developments.

Hes also monitored on Earth by the Genesis staff, but not by Nathaniel Shepherd (Gary Oldman), who dreamed up the project. He left soon after Gardners birth. But the boy is 16 now and online friends with Tulsa (Britt Robertson), a foster kid, inexplicably unpopular at her high school. (With video chat, the distance between Mars and Earth is reduced considerably.) She and Gardner talk about various things, with Gardner telling her he has a disease and cant leave his Manhattan penthouse, so he cant visit. Tulsa doesnt really buy his story, but theres not much she can do about it.

But this isnt enough for Gardner. Hes only ever met in person the small group of astronauts in the colony, and never been around anyone his own age. After much cajoling he convinces Kendra he should visit Earth, the place about which he has heard so much but never seen. He wants to find his father (a photo and some video footage may hold clues). He wants to see all of the places hes only read about on his super-cool translucent computer.

And most of all he wants to meet Tulsa.

The problem is, his organs cant stand the switch to Earths atmosphere for long. So escaping the Genesis facility and running away with Tulsa for an impossibly picturesque search for his father is more complicated and dangerous than it might be.

Luckily for them the adults, led by Nathaniel and Kendra, are inept when it comes to pursuit, allowing Gardner and Tulsa to form a quick relationship on the road. Potentially interesting storylines, like finding the shaman who married Gardners parents, come and go, explored only in passing. The story seems to be in as much of a hurry as the characters.

Its a road-trip movie that travels to predictable places. A twist isnt much of a surprise. Thats not a fatal flaw in a film aimed at tweens and young adults. The bigger problem here is the chemistry, or lack thereof, between Butterfield and Robertson. His Gardner is a goofy innocent (though his naivet comes and goes), while her Tulsa is a rough-and-tumble outsider. Fine, opposites attract and all that. But Chelsom and Robertson make Tulsa abrasive, hard to relate to, even harder to like. Its Robertsons charm that prevents her from being completely unsympathetic.

The effect is to build a space between the characters and the audience probably not the space the title intended.

Bill Goodykoontz, USA TODAY Network

STX Entertainmentpresents a film directed by Peter Chelsom and written by Allan Loeb, Peter Chelsom and Tinker Lindsay. Rated PG-13(for brief sensuality and language). Running time: 120minutes. Opens Friday at local theaters.

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'The Space Between Us': Mission from Mars stays at surface level - Chicago Sun-Times

On Wednesday, famed astronaut and badass Buzz Aldrin took one small step for a man, and one giant leap for space fashion when he became the first astronaut to walk New York Mens Fashion Week. Aldrin walked the runway for designer Nick Grahams Life on Mars: Fall/Winter 2035 collection, closing the show in a sleek silver bomber jacket and shirt emblazoned with his catchphrase Get Your Ass To Mars.

Aldrin wasnt the only science celebrity working it at Grahams show. Bill Nye The Science Guy and host of the upcoming Bill Nye Saves the World narrated the fashion show, while Aldrin worked the runway. Graham, who says Mars is the new black, named the show as a tip of the hat to Aldrins prediction that humans will begin to colonize Mars in 2035 two years after NASA predicts we will land on Mars.

Ive walked on the moon, so how hard can it be to walk in a fashion show? Aldrin said in a statement before the show. Nicks collection is very Mars-friendly and every astronaut should look their best when they land there.

And diggity damn, did Aldrin and his fellow models look their best, sporting metallic rainwear, sharkskin suits, and space-themed formalwear.

While the show was based off the colonization of Mars, Nye offered a different, ever-so-slightly Elon Musk-bashing message in the closing remarks of his fashion lecture.

There thing is, to have colony on Mars I think thats not an especially good idea, Nye said. Theres not a substitute for Earth. This idea well go Terraform Mars, youre freaking high. Theres no way the Earth is it. So you gotta take care of it.

Aldrin, who claims that the first thing he did on the moon was pee, claimed to the Los Angeles Times that his astronautics degree from M.I.T. helped him along the fashion runway.

I wasnt sure what side to get on, said Aldrin. If I walked too close to the people, then not enough of them would see. Im always calculating time an distance.

He also calculated how to dish out a impressive Blue Steel.

Space inspired fashion has long been a thing, but the space industry has become increasingly fashionable as well. Well have to see if NASA is inspired by any of Grahams designs in the meanwhile, where can we get one of those Buzz friendship bracelets?

Photos via Getty Images / JP Yim

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SpaceX successfully tested its Raptor interplanetary drive prototype this week, but that was only a hint of what SpaceX has planned. On Tuesday, founder Elon Musk took the stage at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) to explain how SpaceX plans to make humanity a multi-planetary species. There are still some unanswered questions. But by focusing on fuel efficiency and reusable rocket design, Musk says he believes almost anyone will be able to go to the Red Planet and build a new society.

Before he got into talking about the Interplanetary Transport System, Musk explained why Mars would be the ideal target for human colonization efforts instead of the moon, for instance. While Mars is smaller than the Earth, it still has enough gravity for people to live and work in a similar way to how they do on Earth. The mineral wealth on Mars is also greater than what youd find on the moon. In addition, Mars has an atmosphere, although its very thin.

By increasing the temperature of Mars, Musk says the atmosphere could be thickened and enriched with oxygen. We already know theres plenty of frozen water on Mars, so increasing the temperature could result in liquid oceans. The carbon dioxide atmosphere Mars currently has could easily be compressed to grow plant life as well. Taken together, that makes Mars feasible for a self-sufficient human colony.

The technology technically exists to go to Mars because it is fairly close in astronomical terms. But its extremely expensive. A scaled up Apollo-style mission would cost about $10 billion per person transported. SpaceX plans to develop a fleet of reusable vehicles and can be refueled in orbit. With the right systems in place. SpaceX believes it can get the cost of a ticket to Mars down to $200,000, but this isnt an extravagant vacation youd pay $200,000 to start a new life on Mars after selling most of your possessions on Earth (cargo space is limited). Over time, that price might come down to as little as $100,000.

Its not clear what sort of training would be needed for the mission, but Musk said it probably wouldnt be much. Will those with health concerns be allowed to go? Will the colonists own land on Mars? The gravity on Mars is much lower, so will people be able to return to Earth with its high gravity after living on Mars? We dont know the answer to any of these questions yet.

The Interplanetary Transport System would be multi-stage, but the first stage is designed toland itself back on Earth after getting the spacecraft into orbit, just like the Falcon 9. This booster ispowered by 42 Raptor engines for 13,000 tons of liftoff thrust. Due to its size, the first launches will take place on the original Apollo 39A launchpad at Kennedy Space Center.

After its in orbit, several tankers of a similar design will be sent up to refuel the ship before it begins its Mars journey. Upon its arrival, the ship will land propulsively on the surface to drop off colonists and supplies. SpaceX chose to go with a methane fuel for the Raptor because thats easier to make on Mars. The ships that deliver people wont just sit there theyll be refueled and sent back to Earth. This will also allow colonists who have a change of heart to return to Earth.

The ITS passenger ship.

Musk says that the Interplanetary Transport System will take 100 to 200 people to Mars at a time, and the journey could take as little as 80 to 90 days. There are launch windows to Mars every few years, and SpaceX wants to have fleets of multiple ships ready to go for each one. In a few decades, there could be a million people on Mars, which would be enough to make it self-sufficient.

SpaceX plans to start launching to Mars in the next year or two with Falcon 9 Heavy rockets and Dragon 2 landers. This will serve as the first phase of testing for the colonization efforts. The Interplanetary Transport System should begin orbital testing around 2020, and SpaceX wants to send it on test flights to Mars in the early 2020s.

Thats a very aggressive timetable, and we dont have any information regarding how colonists would work to warm Mars or protect themselves from radiation. We might learn more as SpaceX begins transporting materials and supplies to Mars on the Dragon landers. Musk wants to have a Mars mission planned for every launch window to begin laying the groundwork for human habitation.

Theres still a lot that could go wrong. But colonizing Mars has never felt so real.

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Elon Musk lays out SpaceX's incredible plan for colonizing ...

National Geographic Channels new event series MARS mixes documentary with scripted drama to explore the colonization of Mars in the year 2033.

Former NASA astronaut Dr. Mae Jemison is involved with the series and shared with Foxnews.com SciTech the advice she gave the actors portraying these space travelers.

If youre using words like nominal and contingency what do they really mean? she explained. Here are some things about personalities what should you know about space and Mars to be comfortable? What is it like? And even doing some exercises about what does it feel like if youre walking in a new place or have been zero G for a long time and then its up to them to take that and move that along.

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Actor Ben Cotton plays the commander of the fictional Daedalus ship that heads to Mars in 2033 and spoke about the conditions while filming: Morocco was where we shot all the exterior stuff and it was challenging from the heat. It was hot. There were days it was 125 degrees in the desert and then you put the suit on, the helmet on, you start to lose your mind a little bit because you cant see straight but we had a great time.

And President of the Mars Society Robert Zubrin discussed what information we have from the Mars Desert Research Station in terms of what the conditions on the red planet would be like.

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What were really doing at the Mars Desert Research Station is what we call an operational simulation more than a technical engineering simulation, but we find out how you would run a mission on Mars, he said. So for example what weve discovered by running it a number of ways is the mission has got to be led from the front, that is, the commander of the mission is the commander of the crew. We dont even call our mission control mission control anymore we call it mission support - they are there to support the crew - this has got to be led from the front.

He also adds that when it comes to mobility systems there is a preference for ATV-size vehicles that enable a much more informal relationship with the environment in your space suit where you can reach down and pick up a rock and either throw it back or bring it back to sample.

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As for that 2033 date, Dr. Jemison, who was the first African-American woman in space, stresses we call it a human mission to Mars not a manned mission. When it comes to issues at hand, she adds that there are engineering challenges, but the engineering challenges to me are not as great as the public commitment and those challenges because as we do that then we are able to say heres how it benefits life on Earth.

MARS premieres November 14th on National Geographic Channel, which is majority owned by 21st Century Fox, the parent company of Fox News.

Fox News Entertainment Producer Ashley Dvorkin covers celebrity news, red carpets, TV, music, and movies. Dvorkin, winner of the 2011 CMA Media Achievement Award, is also host of "Fox 411 Country," "Star Traveler," "Fox 411 Big Screen," and "Fox on Reddit."

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Elon Musk addresses the International Astronautical Congress, Sept. 27, 2016.

SpaceX

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has given more details about his plan to colonize Mars.

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Space entrepreneur and Tesla founder Elon Musk unveiled a plan this week for putting a permanent human colony on the red planet. Musk estimates i...

Musk answered what he called great questions in a RedditAsk Me Anything session on Sunday. Many of the questions were highly technical, coming from SpaceX fans who have been following Musks public plans for colonization since the beginning.

The session was a follow up to Musks comments at a space conference in Mexico last month during which he unveiled his plan to send up to one million people to Mars over the next 100 years.

In that speech, Musk said that his companys rocket, spacecraft and economies of scale would bring the cost of Mars travel down to $200,000 per ticket compared to $10 billion per ticket, the estimate in todays dollars for sending an astronaut using the Apollo moon mission architecture.

Musk envisions 1,000 passenger ships flying en masse to the red planet, Battlestar Galactica style.

He elaborated on that plan Sunday, explaining that first an unmanned ship will be sent to Mars with equipment to build a plant to create refueling propellant for return trips to Earth. He says the first manned mission would have the job of constructing the plant.

The initial crew would comprise about a dozen people. After that, Musk wrote, he hopes to double the number of flights with each Earth-Mars orbital rendezvous, which is every 26 months, until the city can grow by itself.

Musk said last month SpaceX is already working on equipment for the project.

2016 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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This article is about the one-way manned trip to Mars proposed for 2026. For the first Soviet spacecraft for Mars, see Mars 1. For other uses, see Mars 1 (disambiguation).

Mars One is an organization based in the Netherlands that has proposed to land the first humans on Mars and establish a permanent human colony there by 2026.[1] The private spaceflight project is led by Dutch entrepreneur Bas Lansdorp, who announced the Mars One project in May 2012.[2] The project's schedule, technical and financial feasibility, and ethics, have been criticized by scientists, engineers and those in the aerospace industry.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]

Mars One's original concept included launching a robotic lander and orbiter as early as 2016 to be followed by a human crew of four in 2022. Organizers plan for the crew to be selected from applicants who paid an administrative fee, to become the first permanent residents of Mars with no plan of returning to Earth. Partial funding options, which have yet to be realized, include a proposed reality television program documenting the journey. In February 2015, the primary contractors on the initial pre-Phase A contracts had completed all studies paid for by Mars One at that time.[11] The current state of the Mission Plan Deliverables (either in the form of Studies or actual Hardware) will be tracked in Table 2 in the Technology section.

The Mars One organization is the controlling stockholder of the for-profit Interplanetary Media Group.

The concept for Mars One began in 2011 with discussions between the two founders, Bas Lansdorp and Arno Wielders.[12]

The Mars One project has no connection with Inspiration Mars, a similarly-timed project to send a married couple on a Mars flyby and return them to Earth over a period of 500 days.[13]

Mars One publicly announced the concept in May 2012 for a one-way trip to Mars, with the intention of an initial robotic precursor mission in 2020 and transporting the first human colonists to Mars in 2024.[14] In a 2015 debate, Bas Lansdrop clarified that "were not going to do, I think, the current design of the mission" and "Mars One's goal is not to send humans to Mars in 2027 with a $6 billion budget and 14 launches. Our goal is to send humans to Mars, period."[15] According to Mars One's website, "It is Mars One's goal to establish a permanent human settlement on Mars."[16]

Notes:

In December 2013, Mars One announced its concept of a robotic precursor mission in 2018, two years later than had been conceptually planned in the 2012 announcements. The robotic lander would be "built by Lockheed Martin based on the design used for NASA's Phoenix and InSight missions, as well as a communications orbiter built by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd."[26] In February 2015, Lockheed Martin and Surrey Satellite Technology confirmed that contracts on the initial study phase begun in late 2013 had run out and additional contracts had not been received for further progress on the robotic missions. Plans have been disclosed to raise the US$200 million or more needed to support the initial robotic mission,[11][26] but some critics do not find the economic plans to raise money from private investors and exclusive broadcasting rights to be sufficient to support the initial, or follow-on, mission(s).

Mars One selected a second-round pool of astronaut candidates in 2013 of 1058 people"586 men and 472 women from 107 countries"from a larger number of 202,586 who initially showed interest on the Mars One website, although this number is heavily disputed. Former Mars One candidate Dr. Joseph Roche claims the number of initial applicants was only 2,761,[27] which Mars One later conceded via YouTube video.[28]

Mars One announced a partnership with Uwingu on 3 March 2014, stating that the program would use Uwingu's map of Mars in all of their planned missions.[29][30]Kristian von Bengtson began work on Simulation Mars Home for crew on 24 March 2014.

The second-round pool was whittled down to 705 candidates (418 men and 287 women) in the beginning of May 2014. 353 were removed due to personal considerations.[31] After the medical physical requirement, which was similar to a normal FAA exam plus EKG, due either to financial, health or access reasons, only 660 candidates remained.[28] Notably, some applicants were notified of life-threatening conditions such as early-stage cancer and were able to immediately begin treatment.[32] These selected persons will then begin the interview process following which several teams of two men and two women will be compiled. The teams will then begin training full-time for a potential future mission to Mars, while individuals and teams may be selected out during training if they are not deemed suitable for the mission.[31]

On June 2, 2014, Darlow Smithson Productions (DSP) announced it has gained exclusive access to Mars One.[33]

On June 30, 2014, it was made public that Mars One seeks financial investment through a bidding process to send company experiments to Mars. The experiment slots will go to the highest bidder and will include company-related ads, and the opportunity to have the company name on the robotic lander that is proposed to carry the experiments to Mars in 2018.[34]

Mars One selected a third-round pool of astronaut candidates in 2015 of 100 people "50 men and 50 women who successfully passed the second round. The candidates come from all around the world, namely 39 from the Americas, 31 from Europe, 16 from Asia, 7 from Africa, and 7 from Oceania".

In a video posted on 19 of March 2015, Lansdorp said that because of delays in the robotic precursor mission, the first crew will not set down on Mars until 2027.[35] In August 2015, Lansdorp reiterated that their 12-year plan for landing humans on Mars by 2027 is subject to constant improvement and updates.[36]

The Space Review reported in October 2016 that while Mars One was "successful in generating a tremendous amount of publicity as well as enormous excitement about Mars, ... its proposal lacked substance both in mission architecture and in workable funding mechanisms. As such, it has faded from the public consciousness."[37]

According to their schedule as of March 2015, the first crew of four astronauts would arrive on Mars in 2027, after a seven-month journey from Earth. Additional teams would join the settlement every two years, with the intention that by 2035 there would be over twenty people living and working on Mars.[18] The astronaut selection process began on 22 April 2013.[38]

As of July 2015[update], the fourth round astronaut selection process, planned for Sept 2016, by which Mars One will choose six teams of four out of the 100 people selected in the third round, was announced.[39]

In December 2013, mission concept studies for an unmanned Mars mission were contracted with Lockheed Martin and Surrey Satellite Technology for a demonstration mission to be launched in 2017 and land on Mars in 2018. It would be based on the design of the successful 2007 NASA Phoenix lander,[40] and provide proof of concept for a subset of the key technologies for a later permanent human settlement on Mars.[41] Upon submission of Lockheed Martin's Proposal Information Package,[40] Mars One released a Request for Proposals[42] for the various payloads on the lander. The total payload mass of 44kg is divided among the seven payloads as follows:[42]

In 2022, an unmanned rover will be launched to Mars in order to pick a landing site for the 2027 Mars One landing and a site for the Mars One colony. At the same time, a communication satellite will be launched, enabling continuous communication with the Mars One colony.[43]

In 2024, the 6 cargo missions will be launched in close succession, consisting of two living units, two life-support units, and two supply units.[43]

A spacecraft containing four astronauts will be launched from Earth to meet a Transit vehicle bound for Mars.[43]

In 2027, the landing module will land on Mars, containing four astronauts. They will be met by the rover launched in 2020, and taken to the Mars One colony.[43]

The application was available from 22 April 2013 to 31 August 2013.[44][45] This first application consists of applicants general information, a motivational letter, a rsum and a video. More than 200,000 people expressed interest, so Mars One plans to hold several other application periods in the future.

By 9 September 2013, 4,227 applicants[46] had paid their registration fee and submitted public videos in which they made their case for going to Mars in 2023.[47] The application fee varies from US $5 to US $75 (the amount depending on the relative wealth of the applicant's country).[48]

Distribution of the 1,058 applicants selected for Round 2 according to the academic degree[49]

Other (37%)

The results of applicants selected for round 2 were declared on 30 December 2013. A total of 1,058 applicants from 107 countries were selected.[26] The gender split is 586 male (55.4%) and 472 female (44.6%). Among the people that were selected for round 2, 159 have a master's degree, 347 have bachelor's degrees and 29 have Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degrees. The majority of the applicants are under 36 and well educated.[50][51][52]

Medically cleared candidates were interviewed, and 50 men and 50 women from the total pool of 660 from around the world were selected to move on to the third round of the astronaut selection process:[53][54]

Although initial plans were for the Mars One selection committee to perform regional interviews around the world, applicants were ultimately remotely interviewed and recorded by Mars One over a relatively short Skype/SparkHire call regarding Martian-related orbital, temp/pressure, geological and historical parameters and the specific elements of the Mars One one-way mission.[27][55][56] Dr. Joseph Roche, one of the finalists, has accused the selection process of being based on a point system that is primarily dependent on how much money each individual generated or gave to the Mars One organization, despite many of the round three selectees having not spent any money in the process, apart from the application fee, which varied as a function of each applicant's country GDP.[27][55][56] Lansdorp acknowledges a "gamification" point system but denies that selection is based on money earned.[56] Roche also stated that if paid for interviews, they are asked to donate 75% of the payment to Mars One.[27][56] This was confirmed by Lansdorp.[27][56]

It was originally planned that the pool of roughly one thousand successful applicants would be narrowed through regional contests. These events did not take place, and the above-mentioned group of 100 candidates were selected through the remote interview process and selected directly to round 3 in February 2015.

In late 2013, details of the 2015 selection phases had not been agreed upon due to ongoing negotiations with media companies for the rights to televise the selection processes.[57][needs update]

It was planned that the regional selection may be broadcast on TV and Internet in countries around the world. In each region, plans included 2040 applicants participating in challenges including rigorous simulations, many in team settings, with focus on testing the physical and emotional capabilities of the remaining candidates, with the aim of demonstrating their suitability to become the first humans on Mars. The audience was to select one winner per region, and the experts could select additional participants, if needed, to continue to the international level.[58][59][needs update]

Round three takes place in 2016[needs update], over the course of 5 days. At the start of the event, the candidates organize themselves into groups of 105 men and 5 women of diverse nationalities and age groups.

The Mars One selection committee then sets up group dynamic challenges and provide study materials related to each challenge. This allow them to observe how the candidates work in a group setting and choose candidates for elimination.[39][needs update]

At the end of each day all the teams except the winner lose members; then they reorganize themselves for the following day. At the end 40 candidates remain.

The remaining 40 candidates are spending nine days in an isolation unit. The candidates are observed closely to examine how they act in situations of prolonged close contact with one another. This test is implemented because, during the journey to Mars and upon arrival, the candidates will spend 24 hours a day with each other and during this time the simplest things may start to become bothersome. It takes a specific team dynamic to be able to handle this, and the goal of this selection round is to find those that are best suited for this challenge.

After the isolation round, 30 candidates are chosen to partake in a Mars Settler Suitability Interview.[39]

The Mars Settler Suitability Interview measures suitability for long duration Space missions and Mars settlement and will last approximately 4 hours. 24 candidates are selected after the interview and will be offered full-time employment with Mars One.[39]

From the previous selection series, six groups of four are to become full-time employees of the Mars One astronaut corps, after which they are to train for the mission. Whole teams and individuals might be deselected during training if they prove not to be suitable for the mission. Six to ten[citation needed] teams of four people are to be selected for seven years of full-time training.

Mars One funding comes from private investment (undisclosed), intellectual property (IP) rights, the sale of future broadcasting rights, and astronaut application fees.[48]

Mars One's investment of revenues[60]

Concept design studies (78.3%)

Travel expenses (11.6%)

Legal expenses (3.3%)

Website maintenance (2.4%)

Communications (2.3%)

Office and other (2.1%)

On January 29, 2013, Mars One announced its initial batch of investors[61] from the Netherlands and South Africa. The value of the investment remains undisclosed.

Mars One initially estimated a one-way trip, excluding the cost of maintaining four astronauts on Mars until they die, at 6 billion USD.[62] Lansdorp has declined questions regarding the cost estimate because he believes "it would be very stupid for us to give the prices that have been quoted per component".[63] For comparison, an "austere" manned Mars mission (including a temporary stay followed by a return of the astronauts) proposed by NASA in 2009 had a projected cost of $100 billion USD after an 18-year program, including a NASA-required return component.[64]

Mars One, the not-for-profit foundation, is the controlling stockholder of the for-profit Interplanetary Media Group.[65] A proposed global "reality-TV" media event was intended to provide funds to finance the expedition, however, no such reality TV show has emerged and no contracts have been signed. The astronaut selection process (with some public participation) was to be televised and continue on through the first years of living on Mars.[66][67]

Discussions between Endemol, producers of the Big Brother series, and Mars One ended with Endemol subsidiary Darlow Smithson Productions issuing a statement in February 2015 that they "were unable to reach agreement on the details of the contract" and that the company was "no longer involved in the project."[68] Lansdorp updated plans to no longer include live broadcasts from Mars but instead rely on a documentary-style production, adding "Just like the Olympics, we watch highlights, we don't watch things that athletes do when they're not performing their abilities."[69]

On 31 August 2012, company officials announced that funding from its first sponsors had been received.[62] Corporate sponsorship money will be used mostly to fund the conceptual design studies provided by the aerospace suppliers.[62]

Since the official announcement of their conversion to a Stichting, Mars One has been accepting one-time and regular monthly donations through their website. As of 4 July 2016, Mars One had received $928,888 in donations and merchandise sales.[70] The recent donation update adds the Indiegogo campaign ($313,744) to the private donation and merchandise total.

Over three quarters of the investment is in concept design studies. Mars One states that "income from donations and merchandise have not been used to pay salaries". To date, no financial records have been released for public viewing.[71]

On 10 December 2013, Mars One set up a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo to fund their 2018 demonstration mission. The 2018 mission includes a lander and communications satellite, and aims to prove several mission critical technologies in addition to launch and landing. The campaign goal was to raise $400,000 USD by 25 January 2014. Since the ending date was drawing near, they decided to extend the ending date to 9 February 2014. By the end of the campaign, they had received $313,744 in funds. Indiegogo will receive 9% ($28,237) of the $313,744 for the campaign failing to achieve its goal.[72]

Mars One has identified at least one potential supplier for each component of the mission.[73][74] The major components are planned to be acquired from proven suppliers.[75] As of May 2013[update], Mars One has a contract with only one company, Paragon Space Development Corporation, for a preliminary life support study.[76]

The Falcon Heavy from SpaceX was the notional launcher in the early Mars One conceptual plan,[75] which included the notional use of SpaceX hardware for the lander and crew habitat, but, as of May 2013, SpaceX had not yet been contracted to supply mission hardware, and SpaceX has stated that it did "not currently have a relationship with Mars One."[76] By March 2014, SpaceX indicated that they had been contacted by Mars One, and were in discussions, but that accommodating Mars One requirements would require some additional work and that such work was not a part of the current focus of SpaceX.[77][24]

A manned interplanetary spacecraft, which would transport the crew to Mars, would be assembled in low Earth orbit and comprise two propellant modules: a Transit Living Module (discarded just before arrival at Mars) and a lander (see "Human Lander" below).[75][78]

A potential supplier for the Transit living module as of November 2012[update] was Thales Alenia Space.[79][non-primary source needed]

Contract has been signed with Lockheed Martin to build the Demo Lander with the same designs as the Phoenix lander that went to Mars.[21]

In December 2013 Mars One awarded a contract to Surrey Satellite Technology for a study of the satellite technology required to provide 24/7 communication between Earth and the Mars base.[80][81] Mars One proposed at least two satellites, one in areostationary orbit above Mars and a second at the Earth Sun L4 or L5 point to relay the signal when Mars blocks the areosynchronous satellite from line of sight to Earth.[81] It is possible that a third satellite will be required to relay the signal on the rare occasions when the Sun blocks the first relay satellite from line of sight with Earth.[81]

An early notional Mars One lander was shown in concept art as a 5 meters (16ft)-diameter variant of SpaceX's Dragon capsule. SpaceX has not agreed for their technoogy to be used by the Mars One project.[24]

The rover would be unpressurized and support travel distances of 80km (50 miles).[82] A potential supplier for the rover as of November 2012[update] was Astrobotic Technology.[79][non-primary source needed]

The Mars suit would be flexible to allow the settlers to work with both cumbersome construction materials and sophisticated machinery when they are outside the habitat while protecting them from the cold, low pressure and noxious gases of the Martian atmosphere.[83] The likely supplier of the suits is ILC Dover.[84] On 12 March 2013, Paragon Space Development Corporation was contracted to develop concepts for life support and the Mars Surface Exploration Spacesuit System. The Paragon Space Development Corporation study was stated to be finished late summer 2013; Mars One released the results of this (ECLSS portion only) study to the public in June 2015.[85][86] The Mars suit study portion of the original contract has just entered ITAR review, with a publicly accessible copy available once passed through review.

Mars One has received a variety of criticism, mostly relating to medical,[87] technical and financial feasibility. There are also unverified claims that Mars One is a scam designed to take as much money as possible from donors, including reality show contestants.[88][89] Many have criticized the project's US$6 billion budget as being too low to successfully transport humans to Mars, to the point of being delusional.[10][90] A similar project study by NASA estimated the cost of such a feat at US$100 billion, although that included transporting the astronauts back to Earth. Objections have also been raised regarding the reality TV project associated with the expedition. Given the transient nature of most reality TV ventures, many believe that as viewership declines, funding could significantly decrease, thereby harming the entire expedition. Further, TV reality show contestants have reported that they were ranked based on their donations and funds raised.[88][91]

John Logsdon, a space policy expert at George Washington University, criticized the program, saying it appears to be a scam[90] and not "a credible proposition".[92]

Chris Welch, director of Masters Programs at the International Space University, has said "Even ignoring the potential mismatch between the project income and its costs and questions about its longer-term viability, the Mars One proposal does not demonstrate a sufficiently deep understanding of the problems to give real confidence that the project would be able to meet its very ambitious schedule."[93]

Gerard 't Hooft, theoretical physicist and ambassador[94] to Mars One, has stated that he thought both their proposed schedule and budget were off by a factor of ten.[27][95] He said he still supported the project's overall goals.[95]

A space logistics analysis conducted by PhD candidates at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology revealed that the most optimistic of scenarios would require 15 Falcon Heavy launches that would cost approximately $4.5 billion.[96] They concluded that the reliability of Environmental Control and Life Support systems (ECLS), the Technology Readiness Levels (TRL), and in situ resource utilization (ISRU) would have to be improved. Additionally, they determined that if the costs of launch were also lowered dramatically, together this would help to reduce the mass and cost of Mars settlement architecture.[96] The environmental system would result in failure to be able to support human life in 68 days if fire safety standards on over-oxygenation were followed, due to excessive use of nitrogen supplies that would not then be able to be used to compensate leakage of air out of the habitat, leading to a resultant loss in pressurization, ending with pressures too low to support human life.[97] Lansdorp replied that although he has not read all the research, supplier Lockheed Martin says that the technologies were viable.[98]

Another serious concern uncovered in the research conducted by MIT is replacement parts. The PhD candidates estimated the need for spare parts in a Mars colony based on the failure rates of parts on the ISS. They determined that a resupply mission every two years would be necessary unless a large space in the initial launch were to be reserved for extra materials. Lansdorp commented on this saying, "They are correct. The major challenge of Mars One is keeping everything up and running. We don't believe what we have designed is the best solution. It's a good solution."[98]

In March 2015, one of the Mars One finalists, Joseph Roche,[99] stated to media outlets that he believes the mission to be a scam. Roche holds doctorate degrees in physics and astrophysics, and shared many of his concerns and criticisms of the mission. These claims include that the organization lied about the number of applicants, stating that 200,000 individuals applied versus Roche's claim of 2,761, and that many of the applicants had paid to be put on the list. Furthermore, Roche claimed that Mars One is asking finalists for donations from any money earned from guest appearances (which would amount to a minimal portion of the estimated $6 billion required for the mission). Finally, despite being one of 100 finalists, Roche himself has never spoken to any Mars One employee or representative in person, and instead of psychological or psychometric testing as is normal for astronaut candidates (especially for a lengthy, one-way mission), his interview process consisted of a 10-minute Skype conversation.[88][100]

Robert Zubrin, advocate for manned Martian exploration, said "I don't think the business plan closes it. We're going to go to Mars, we need a billion dollars, and we're going to make up the revenue with advertising and media rights and so on. You might be able to make up some of the money that way, but I don't think that anyone who is interested in making money is going to invest on that basis invest in this really risky proposition, and if you're lucky you'll break even? That doesn't fly."[101] Despite his criticisms, Zubrin became an adviser to Mars One on 10 October 2013.[102]

Canadian former astronaut Julie Payette said during the opening speech for an International Civil Aviation Organization conference that she does not think Mars One "is sending anybody anywhere".[56]

In January 2014, German former astronaut Ulrich Walter strongly criticized the project for ethical reasons. Speaking with Tagesspiegel, he estimated the probability of reaching Mars alive at only 30%, and that of surviving there more than three months at less than 20%. He said, "They make their money with that [TV] show. They don't care what happens to those people in space... If my tax money were used for such a mission, I would organize a protest."[103]

Space tourist Richard Garriott stated in response to Mars One, "Many have interesting viable starting plans. Few raise the money to be able to pull it off."[104]

Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin said in an interview that he wants to see humans on Mars by 2035, but he does not think Mars One will be the first to achieve it.[105]

Wired magazine gave it a plausibility score of 2 out of 10 as part of their 2012 Most Audacious Private Space Exploration Plans.[106]

The Daily Mail enumerated reasons why the project will never happen, calling the project "foolish". The project lacks current funding as well as sources for future funding. The organization has no spacecraft or rocket in development or any contracts in place with companies that could provide a spacecraft or rocket. While plans point to SpaceX for both resources, the company has no contracts with Mars One in an industry that typically plans contracts decades in advance.[24] The organization has not shared any research into the effects of microgravity on crews in flight or reduced gravity on the Mars surface. The organization has yet to provide plans or even study how crews might survive dust storms, supply challenges or the increased radiation on Mars.[107]

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Mars One - Wikipedia

Mars is the focus of much scientific study about possible human colonization. Its surface conditions and the presence of water on Mars make it arguably the most hospitable of the planets in the Solar System, other than Earth. Mars requires less energy per unit mass (delta-v) to reach from Earth than any planet except Venus.

One of Elon Musk's stated goals through his company SpaceX is to make such colonization possible by providing transportation, and to "help humanity establish a permanent, self-sustaining colony on [Mars] within the next 50 to 100 years".[1]

Earth is similar to its "sister planet" Venus in bulk composition, size and surface gravity, but Mars's similarities to Earth are more compelling when considering colonization. These include:

Conditions on the surface of Mars are closer to the conditions on Earth in terms of temperature and atmospheric pressure than on any other planet or moon, except for the cloud tops of Venus.[21] However, the surface is not hospitable to humans or most known life forms due to greatly reduced air pressure, and an atmosphere with only 0.1%oxygen.

In 2012, it was reported that some lichen and cyanobacteria survived and showed remarkable adaptation capacity for photosynthesis after 34 days in simulated Martian conditions in the Mars Simulation Laboratory (MSL) maintained by the German Aerospace Center (DLR).[22][23][24] Some scientists think that cyanobacteria could play a role in the development of self-sustainable manned outposts on Mars.[25] They propose that cyanobacteria could be used directly for various applications, including the production of food, fuel and oxygen, but also indirectly: products from their culture could support the growth of other organisms, opening the way to a wide range of life-support biological processes based on Martian resources.[25]

Humans have explored parts of Earth that match some conditions on Mars. Based on NASA rover data, temperatures on Mars (at low latitudes) are similar to those in Antarctica.[26] The atmospheric pressure at the highest altitudes reached by manned balloon ascents (35km (114,000 feet) in 1961,[27] 38km in 2012) is similar to that on the surface of Mars.[28]

Human survival on Mars would require complex life-support measures and living in artificial environments.

There is much discussion regarding the possibility of terraforming Mars to allow a wide variety of life forms, including humans, to survive unaided on Mars's surface, including the technologies needed to do so.[29]

Mars has no global magnetosphere as Earth does. Combined with a thin atmosphere, this permits a significant amount of ionizing radiation to reach the Martian surface. The Mars Odyssey spacecraft carries an instrument, the Mars Radiation Environment Experiment (MARIE), to measure the radiation. MARIE found that radiation levels in orbit above Mars are 2.5 times higher than at the International Space Station. The average daily dose was about 220Gy (22mrad) equivalent to 0.08Gy per year.[30] A three-year exposure to such levels would be close to the safety limits currently adopted by NASA.[citation needed] Levels at the Martian surface would be somewhat lower and might vary significantly at different locations depending on altitude and local magnetic fields. Building living quarters underground (possibly in lava tubes that are already present) would significantly lower the colonists' exposure to radiation. Occasional solar proton events (SPEs) produce much higher doses.

Much remains to be learned about space radiation. In 2003, NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center opened a facility, the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory, at Brookhaven National Laboratory, that employs particle accelerators to simulate space radiation. The facility studies its effects on living organisms, as well as experimenting with shielding techniques.[31] Initially, there was some evidence that this kind of low level, chronic radiation is not quite as dangerous as once thought; and that radiation hormesis occurs.[32] However, results from a 2006 study indicated that protons from cosmic radiation may cause twice as much serious damage to DNA as previously estimated, exposing astronauts to greater risk of cancer and other diseases.[33] As a result of the higher radiation in the Martian environment, the summary report of the Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee released in 2009 reported that "Mars is not an easy place to visit with existing technology and without a substantial investment of resources."[33] NASA is exploring a variety of alternative techniques and technologies such as deflector shields of plasma to protect astronauts and spacecraft from radiation.[33]

Mars requires less energy per unit mass (delta V) to reach from Earth than any planet except Venus. Using a Hohmann transfer orbit, a trip to Mars requires approximately nine months in space.[34] Modified transfer trajectories that cut the travel time down to seven or six months in space are possible with incrementally higher amounts of energy and fuel compared to a Hohmann transfer orbit, and are in standard use for robotic Mars missions. Shortening the travel time below about six months requires higher delta-v and an exponentially increasing amount of fuel, and is not feasible with chemical rockets, but might be feasible with advanced spacecraft propulsion technologies, some of which have already been tested, such as Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket,[35] and nuclear rockets. In the former case, a trip time of forty days could be attainable,[36] and in the latter, a trip time down to about two weeks.[37] In 2016, NASA scientists said they could further reduce travel time to Mars down to "as little as 72 hours" with the use of a "photonic propulsion" system instead of the fuel-based rocket propulsion system.[38]

During the journey the astronauts are subject to radiation, which requires a means to protect them. Cosmic radiation and solar wind cause DNA damage, which increases the risk of cancer significantly. The effect of long term travel in interplanetary space is unknown, but scientists estimate an added risk of between 1% and 19%, most likely 3.4%, for men to die of cancer because of the radiation during the journey to Mars and back to Earth. For women the probability is higher due to their larger glandular tissues.[39]

Mars has a gravity 0.38 times that of Earth and the density of its atmosphere is about 0.6% of that on Earth.[40] The relatively strong gravity and the presence of aerodynamic effects makes it difficult to land heavy, crewed spacecraft with thrusters only, as was done with the Apollo Moon landings, yet the atmosphere is too thin for aerodynamic effects to be of much help in aerobraking and landing a large vehicle. Landing piloted missions on Mars will require braking and landing systems different from anything used to land crewed spacecraft on the Moon or robotic missions on Mars.[41]

If one assumes carbon nanotube construction material will be available with a strength of 130 GPa then a space elevator could be built to land people and material on Mars.[42] A space elevator on Phobos has also been proposed.[43]

Colonization of Mars will require a wide variety of equipmentboth equipment to directly provide services to humans and production equipment used to produce food, propellant, water, energy and breathable oxygenin order to support human colonization efforts. Required equipment will include:[37]

According to Elon Musk, "even at a million people [working on Mars] you're assuming an incredible amount of productivity per person, because you would need to recreate the entire industrial base on Mars... You would need to mine and refine all of these different materials, in a much more difficult environment than Earth".[46]

Communications with Earth are relatively straightforward during the half-sol when Earth is above the Martian horizon. NASA and ESA included communications relay equipment in several of the Mars orbiters, so Mars already has communications satellites. While these will eventually wear out, additional orbiters with communication relay capability are likely to be launched before any colonization expeditions are mounted.

The one-way communication delay due to the speed of light ranges from about 3 minutes at closest approach (approximated by perihelion of Mars minus aphelion of Earth) to 22minutes at the largest possible superior conjunction (approximated by aphelion of Mars plus aphelion of Earth). Real-time communication, such as telephone conversations or Internet Relay Chat, between Earth and Mars would be highly impractical due to the long time lags involved. NASA has found that direct communication can be blocked for about two weeks every synodic period, around the time of superior conjunction when the Sun is directly between Mars and Earth,[47] although the actual duration of the communications blackout varies from mission to mission depending on various factorssuch as the amount of link margin designed into the communications system, and the minimum data rate that is acceptable from a mission standpoint. In reality most missions at Mars have had communications blackout periods of the order of a month.[48]

A satellite at the L4 or L5 EarthSun Lagrangian point could serve as a relay during this period to solve the problem; even a constellation of communications satellites would be a minor expense in the context of a full colonization program. However, the size and power of the equipment needed for these distances make the L4 and L5 locations unrealistic for relay stations, and the inherent stability of these regions, although beneficial in terms of station-keeping, also attracts dust and asteroids, which could pose a risk.[49] Despite that concern, the STEREO probes passed through the L4 and L5 regions without damage in late 2009.

Recent work by the University of Strathclyde's Advanced Space Concepts Laboratory, in collaboration with the European Space Agency, has suggested an alternative relay architecture based on highly non-Keplerian orbits. These are a special kind of orbit produced when continuous low-thrust propulsion, such as that produced from an ion engine or solar sail, modifies the natural trajectory of a spacecraft. Such an orbit would enable continuous communications during solar conjunction by allowing a relay spacecraft to "hover" above Mars, out of the orbital plane of the two planets.[50] Such a relay avoids the problems of satellites stationed at either L4 or L5 by being significantly closer to the surface of Mars while still maintaining continuous communication between the two planets.

The path to a human colony could be prepared by robotic systems such as the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity. These systems could help locate resources, such as ground water or ice, that would help a colony grow and thrive. The lifetimes of these systems would be measured in years and even decades, and as recent developments in commercial spaceflight have shown, it may be that these systems will involve private as well as government ownership. These robotic systems also have a reduced cost compared with early crewed operations, and have less political risk.

Wired systems might lay the groundwork for early crewed landings and bases, by producing various consumables including fuel, oxidizers, water, and construction materials. Establishing power, communications, shelter, heating, and manufacturing basics can begin with robotic systems, if only as a prelude to crewed operations.

Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander MIP (Mars ISPP Precursor) was to demonstrate manufacture of oxygen from the atmosphere of Mars,[51] and test solar cell technologies and methods of mitigating the effect of Martian dust on the power systems.[52][needs update]

Before any people are transported to Mars on the notional 2030s Interplanetary Transport System envisioned by SpaceX, a number of robotic cargo missions would be undertaken first in order to transport the requisite equipment, habitats and supplies.[53] Equipment that would be necessary would include "machines to produce fertilizer, methane and oxygen from Mars' atmospheric nitrogen and carbon dioxide and the planet's subsurface water ice" as well as construction materials to build transparent domes for initial agricultural areas.[54]

In 1948, Wernher von Braun described in his book The Mars Project that a fleet of 10 spaceships could be built using 1000three-stage rockets. These could bring a population of 70people to Mars.

All of the early human mission concepts to Mars as conceived by national governmental space programssuch as those being tentatively planned by NASA, FKA and ESAwould not be direct precursors to colonization. They are intended solely as exploration missions, as the Apollo missions to the Moon were not planned to be sites of a permanent base.

Colonization requires the establishment of permanent bases that have potential for self-expansion. A famous proposal for building such bases is the Mars Direct and the Semi-Direct plans, advocated by Robert Zubrin.[37]

Other proposals that envision the creation of a settlement have come from Jim McLane and Bas Lansdorp (the man behind Mars One, which envisions no planned return flight for the humans embarking on the journey),[55] as well as from Elon Musk whose SpaceX company, as of 2015[update], is funding development work on a space transportation system called the Interplanetary Transport System.[56][57]

As with early colonies in the New World, economics would be a crucial aspect to a colony's success. The reduced gravity well of Mars and its position in the Solar System may facilitate MarsEarth trade and may provide an economic rationale for continued settlement of the planet. Given its size and resources, this might eventually be a place to grow food and produce equipment to mine the asteroid belt.

A major economic problem is the enormous up-front investment required to establish the colony and perhaps also terraform the planet.

Some early Mars colonies might specialize in developing local resources for Martian consumption, such as water and/or ice. Local resources can also be used in infrastructure construction.[58] One source of Martian ore currently known to be available is metallic iron in the form of nickeliron meteorites. Iron in this form is more easily extracted than from the iron oxides that cover the planet.

Another main inter-Martian trade good during early colonization could be manure.[59] Assuming that life doesn't exist on Mars, the soil is going to be very poor for growing plants, so manure and other fertilizers will be valued highly in any Martian civilization until the planet changes enough chemically to support growing vegetation on its own.

Solar power is a candidate for power for a Martian colony. Solar insolation (the amount of solar radiation that reaches Mars) is about 42% of that on Earth, since Mars is about 52% farther from the Sun and insolation falls off as the square of distance. But the thin atmosphere would allow almost all of that energy to reach the surface as compared to Earth, where the atmosphere absorbs roughly a quarter of the solar radiation. Sunlight on the surface of Mars would be much like a moderately cloudy day on Earth.[60]

Space colonization on Mars can roughly be said to be possible when the necessary methods of space colonization become cheap enough (such as space access by cheaper launch systems) to meet the cumulative funds that have been gathered for the purpose.

Although there are no immediate prospects for the large amounts of money required for any space colonization to be available given traditional launch costs,[61][full citation needed] there is some prospect of a radical reduction to launch costs in the 2010s, which would consequently lessen the cost of any efforts in that direction. With a published price of US$56.5 million per launch of up to 13,150kg (28,990lb) payload[62] to low Earth orbit, SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets are already the "cheapest in the industry".[63] Advancements currently being developed as part of the SpaceX reusable launch system development program to enable reusable Falcon 9s "could drop the price by an order of magnitude, sparking more space-based enterprise, which in turn would drop the cost of access to space still further through economies of scale."[63] SpaceX's reusable plans include Falcon Heavy and future methane-based launch vehicles including the Interplanetary Transport System. If SpaceX is successful in developing the reusable technology, it would be expected to "have a major impact on the cost of access to space", and change the increasingly competitive market in space launch services.[64]

Alternative funding approaches might include the creation of inducement prizes. For example, the 2004 President's Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy suggested that an inducement prize contest should be established, perhaps by government, for the achievement of space colonization. One example provided was offering a prize to the first organization to place humans on the Moon and sustain them for a fixed period before they return to Earth.[65]

Mars Odyssey found what appear to be natural caves near the volcano Arsia Mons. It has been speculated that settlers could benefit from the shelter that these or similar structures could provide from radiation and micrometeoroids. Geothermal energy is also suspected in the equatorial regions.[66]

Several lava tube skylights on Mars have been located on the flanks of Arsia Mons. Earth based examples indicate that some should have lengthy passages offering complete protection from radiation and be relatively easy to seal using on-site materials, especially in small subsections.[67]

Robotic spacecraft to Mars are required to be sterilized, to have at most 300,000 spores on the exterior of the craftand more thoroughly sterilized if they contact "special regions" containing water,[68][69] otherwise there is a risk of contaminating not only the life-detection experiments but possibly the planet itself.

It is impossible to sterilize human missions to this level, as humans are host to typically a hundred trillion microorganisms of thousands of species of the human microbiome, and these cannot be removed while preserving the life of the human. Containment seems the only option, but it is a major challenge in the event of a hard landing.[70] There have been several planetary workshops on this issue, but with no final guidelines for a way forward yet.[71] Human explorers would also be vulnerable to back contamination to Earth if they become carriers of microorganisms.[72]

Mars colonization is advocated by several non-governmental groups for a range of reasons and with varied proposals. One of the oldest groups is the Mars Society who promote a NASA program to accomplish human exploration of Mars and have set up Mars analog research stations in Canada and the United States. Mars to Stay advocates recycling emergency return vehicles into permanent settlements as soon as initial explorers determine permanent habitation is possible. Mars One, which went public in June2012, aims to establish a fully operational permanent human colony on Mars by 2027 with funding coming from a reality TV show and other commercial exploitation, although this approach has been widely criticized as unrealistic and infeasible.[73][74][75]

Elon Musk founded SpaceX with the long-term goal of developing the technologies that will enable a self-sustaining human colony on Mars.[76][77] In 2015 he stated "I think weve got a decent shot of sending a person to Mars in 11 or 12years".[78]Richard Branson, in his lifetime, is "determined to be a part of starting a population on Mars. I think it is absolutely realistic. It will happen... I think over the next 20 years, we will take literally hundreds of thousands of people to space and that will give us the financial resources to do even bigger things".[79]

In June 2013, Buzz Aldrin, American engineer and former astronaut, and the second person to walk on the Moon, wrote an opinion, published in The New York Times, supporting a manned mission to Mars and viewing the Moon "not as a destination but more a point of departure, one that places humankind on a trajectory to homestead Mars and become a two-planet species."[80] In August 2015, Aldrin, in association with the Florida Institute of Technology, presented a "master plan", for NASA consideration, for astronauts, with a "tour of duty of ten years", to colonize Mars before the year 2040.[81]

A few instances in fiction provide detailed descriptions of Mars colonization. They include:

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Colonization of Mars - Wikipedia

First Posted: Sep 22, 2016 06:04 AM EDT

In less than a week, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is reportedly going to explain his colonization plans for Mars, a goal close to his heart and one that he has championed for many years. According to speculations, Musk will talk about the technologies and vehicles needed to transport people to the Martian surface, and create a settlement there.

The Tesla cofounder is going to talk about his plans on September 27. Incidentally, the announcement coincides with an awkward time for SpaceX, after the company faced a major debacle when one of its Falcon 9 rockets exploded in the Cape Canaveral launch pad. However, going by Musk's talk schedule, it doesn't seem like the plan to discuss his Mars vision next week has changed.

"I think there is a strong humanitarian argument for making life multi-planetary in order to safeguard the existence of humanity in the event that something catastrophic were to happen,"Elon Musk had stated previously in 2014. However, the CEO of SpaceX has never absolutely cleared what his plans for Mars entail. Based on periodic information released by Musk and SpaceX, regarding various technologies, here is what can be gathered about the Mars colonization plan as of now, until the real picture is presented by the man himself.

The plan to reach the red planet, as forwarded by Musk, is based on two main elements that comprise of a rocket booster and a giant spaceship that will transport people and cargo. After being launched by the booster, the spaceship will continue on its long journey to Mars. The two vehicles have been referred to as the Mars Colonial Transporter (MCT); however last week the name was changed to Interplanetary Transport System, because Musk believes the vehicles can also make a journey beyond Mars. Over the past few years, Musk has indicated that rocket used to propel the spaceship will be reusable, and he hopes to launch the first manned spaceship in 2024. However, a test to launch a person into space has still not been conducted by SpaceX.

A key part of the rocket and spaceship will be the Raptor, a huge engine that the company has been working on since 2009. According to Musk, the Raptor will be capable of 500,000 pounds of thrust at liftoff, which implies it will be as strong as the main engines of the space shuttle. The component will reportedly be fueled with liquid methane, unlike the kerosene dependent Merlin engines used for powering the Falcon 9 rockets. Furthermore, a whole group of such raptors will power the Interplanetary Transport System, though their precise numbers are still unclear at the moment. Incidentally, the first full-scale Raptor was transported to the SpaceX testing facility in Texas earlier this year.

Musk had also revealed SpaceX's plan to launch a series of Red Dragon missions, starting in 2018 whose sole purpose will be to see if the vehicle can drop off supplies to the Martian surface to set up the framework of hardware and equipment in preparation for the people journeying from Earth. In addition, Musk has also revealed that his spaceship will be brought back to Earth and won't be on a one way journey like the Mars One project. "These spaceships are expensive, okay, they're hard to build. You can't just leave them there. So whether or not people want to come back or not is kind of - like they can jump on if they want, but we need the spaceship back," Elon Musk has stated.

At the moment, it is not clear how the spaceship is going to make a return journey or where exactly will the people, who travel to Mars, live. The details will only be revealed once Musk talks about his plans next week.

TagsMars, Elon Musk, spacex

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Mars Colonization: Elon Musks Plans And SpaceX ...

Artist's conception of a terraformed Mars.

The Terra-forming of Mars is the hypothetical process by which the climate, surface and known properties of Mars would be deliberately changed with the goal of making it habitable by humans and other terrestrial life; and thus providing the possibility of safe and sustainable colonization of large areas of the planet.

Terra-forming is when you alter the current environment of a planet's topography to create a living and habitable biosphere.

Based on experiences with Earth, the environment of a planet can be altered deliberately; however the feasibility of creating an unconstrained planetary biosphere is undetermined. At present the economic resources required to execute such methods as are required for terraforming are far beyond that which any government or society is willing to allocate to such a purpose. An open source space colonization strategy may be the only viable solution under the current economic climate.

In the not-too distant future, population growth and demand for resources may create pressure for humans to colonize new habitats such as the surface of the Earth's oceans, the sea floor, near-Earth orbital space, the moon and nearby planets, as well as mine the solar system for energy and materials. Thinking far into the future (in the order of hundreds of millions of years), some scientists point out that the Sun will eventually grow too hot for Earth to sustain life, even before it becomes a red giant star, because all main sequence stars brighten slowly throughout their lifetimes. When this happens, it will become imperative for humans to migrate away to areas farther from the sun if they have any hope of surviving. Through terraforming, humans could make Mars habitable long before this 'deadline'. Mars could then be in the habitable zone for a while, giving humanity some thousand additional years to develop further space technology to settle on the outer rim of the solar system, before Mars becomes uninhabitable due to the sun's increasing heat.

Ascension Island style terraforming is terraforming by implanting suitable species, without any prior violent geological alterations. On Mars, trenches and craters do have sufficient atmospheric pressure to give water some liquidity range, and seasonal liquid water do occur in such places at the warmer latitudes.

Plants need some amount of oxygen to germinate and survive the night, and the soil on Mars contains corrosive hydrogen peroxide, but it is possible to "turn lemons into lemonade" by implanting bacteria capable of producing catalysts that speed up the transformation of hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen. There are many different types of bacteria, and even if no species can do it, it could still be solved by genetically engineering bacteria. If Mars is warmed first, even this may not be necessary since it is known that oxygen levels on Earth increased sharply at the end of Snowball Earth, most likely because of the hydrogen peroxide-derived oxygen stored in the ice over millions of years of ultraviolet radiation that was suddenly released when the ice melted. That makes the soil livable for tough plant species as well as producing oxygen enough for plants to germinate and survive the night (and for insects and worms to breathe). To keep the soil good, the bacteria should be engineered in a way that makes the catalysts fairly persistent, enough to last a whole Martian freeze season. The oxygen would also form a rudimentary ozone layer as well as shielding against much ionizing radiation due to the denser atmosphere. That denser atmosphere would also widen the range where liquid water can exist at the warmer latitudes during the warmer seasons, so the bacteria in question could spread throughout the tropics barring high mouintains.

The next step is implanting suitable plant species. The plants would have to be fairly UV tolerant because of the still rudimentary ozone layer, but such plants do grow in mouintainous regions on Earth. There is not enough atmospheric CO2 on Mars for the plants to convert into a human-breathable atmosphere (and trying would remove a precious greenhouse gas, probably eliminating the tepid season altogether), but that can be solved by introducing genetically engineered mykorrhiza fungi capable of extracting CO2 from minerals, which they then provide into the roots of the plants. That would, apart from of course releasing oxygen, turn mineral carbon into biomass carbon, founding an ecosystem that can survive without plate tectonics. It is possible that such ecosystems exist naturally on exoplanets without plate tectonics, an argument against the Rare Earth hypothesis.

Warmer temperatures can be achieved by introducing plants and animals that produce strong greenhouse gasses such as methane and nitrous oxide.

Terraforming Mars would require building up the atmosphere and keeping it warm. Mars has a very thin atmosphere thus very low surface pressure (0.6 kPa). 95% of Mars' atmosphere is carbon dioxide, 3% is nitrogen and 1.6% is argon, it contains traces of oxygen, water and methane. Since its atmosphere consists mainly of CO2, a known greenhouse gas, once the planet begins to heat, more CO2 enters the atmosphere from the frozen reserves on the poles, adding to the greenhouse effect. This means that the two processes of building the atmosphere and heating it would augment one another, favoring terraforming. However, on a large scale, controlled application of certain techniques over enough time to achieve sustainable changes, would be required to make this theory a reality.

As to how to achieve the warming, many ideas have been suggested. Some have suggested using very strong greenhouse gases like CFC, but they have the disadvantage of being ozone-destroying. A cocktail effect of many more moderate greenhouse trace gases like methane, ammonia and nitrous oxide may do it (different greenhouse gases blocks different parts of the infrared heat radiation spectrum, making their combined effect much stronger than the sum of the gases). The production of such gases can, after successful terraforming, be kept going by organisms and keep the planet warm. Another solution would be satellites (mirror, lens or prism) focusing light on the poles, heating them to release the frozen CO2. It would also be possible to warm the frozen CO2 by covering the poles in albedo-lowering black pigments (preferably small particles to spread over large surfaces but heavy to sink into the polar caps as they vaporize instead of blowing away, in other words high density black particles). The "painting" can be combined with light focusing. "Painting" can also be applied to areas with much water ice or even generally over Mars. In the latter case, the particles would blow all over the place and making them heavy would be less important.

To build the atmosphere on Mars, We would need the importation of water (not necessarily since there is lots of frozen water on Mars). Adding water as well as heat would be the key of changing this dry world into a world suitable for life. Depending on the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, importation and reaction of hydrogen would produce heat, water and graphite. Alternatively, reacting hydrogen with the carbon dioxide atmosphere would make methane and water. Another way is importation of methane or other hydrocarbons, that are usual in Titan's atmosphere. The methane could be vented into the atmosphere where it would act to compound the greenhouse effect.

Just like oxygen levels increased abruptly at the end of Earth's snowball period, most likely due to hydrogen peroxide-derived oxygen stored in the ice over millions of years of ultraviolet radiation and released suddenly when the ice melted, so would a thawing of Mars be likely to immediately produce an oxygen-rich atmosphere. However, photosynthesis would be important for keeping the atmosphere oxygen-rich in a longer run. That may not be a problem, since the combined elimination of hydrogen peroxide from the soil and formation of an oxygen-rich atmosphere with some degree of ozone layer would make it much easier to introduce plants.

There's no point in spending time, money, and resources building up an atmosphere on Mars if it's just going to blow away. Even to this day, solar wind is still blowing away what little atmosphere the Red Planet has left.

Mars is geologically dead. The core solidified a long time ago. Without a dynamo in the core, Mars has no magnetic field.

There are various ways to fix the magnetic field problem, and maybe we should do that before taking any other steps in the terraforming process (though the atmospheric loss is slow, so postponing the magnetic field a few centuries past terraforming does hardly any harm at all). The first, and easiest way would be to place a network of artificial satellites in orbit around Mars to generate and create an artificial magnetic field. That would, however, require the function of the satellites and should mostly be considered a preliminary solution.

The other, "impossible" way would be to start up the core again. Planting nuclear bombs in the center of Mars would not blow the planet apart since no known nuke is strong enough to overcome the mass and gravity of Mars. Nuking Mars core into action could be done by serially inserting many relatively small devices and blowing them up one by one and not simultaneously, which is also more realistic in terms of manufacturing. The radioactive material produced would stay in the core and help a more long-term heating similar to that in Earth's core. One other way would be to put large, dense objects in orbit around Mars and heat the planet via tidal forces. Mars already has two such objects: Phobos and Deimos. That's not enough. We might need Ceres, in addition to a few more asteroids. However, not only mass matters but also orbital eccentricity, so even just making the orbits of Phobos and Deimos more eccentric may do the trick. And even if that is not enough, the imported worlds need not be as big as Ceres, as long as they are made eccentric enough. Manipulated spacetimes would be another way to create tides. Sonic or artificial "seismic" waves could also be used to create friction heating inside Mars.

In the future, if we terraform Mars or other popular planets, there will be people who do not want these planets to be terraformed (for issues such as the natural preservation, or preserving possible undiscovered alien life), and people who do may spark conflict between them and the people who want to terraform.

Another argument is, "We've nearly destroyed our own planet. Why destroy another?"

The anti-congestion argument counter-criticisms the conflict notion as well as the myth of Humans being inherently destructive, but it does not counter-criticism environmental conservation.

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Terraforming of Mars - Space Colonization Wiki - Wikia

Early pioneering work on Mars is expected to help develop the means to sustain a colony of people.

Long-term human colonization of Mars is feasible, as long as Red Planet pioneers "live off the land," a recent NASA report concludes.

"There are massive resources on Mars obtainable from the atmosphere and extracted from the regolith which are capable of supporting human colonization," write the authors of the report, which is called "Frontier In-Situ Resource Utilization for Enabling Sustained Human Presence on Mars."

Using Martian resources, existing technologies could supply water, oxygen, fuel and building materials, the report adds, "to relax the dependence on Earth during the buildup of a colony on Mars." [Red Planet orBust: 5 Crewed MarsMission Ideas]

The report, which was published in April, was written by Robert Moses and Dennis Bushnell, both of whom work at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

Moses and Bushnell said that the purpose of their work is fourfold:

One small step toward Mars colonization? Living off the Red Planet via in-situ resource utilization is key to sustained settlement on Mars, a NASA report suggests.

Moses, who's based at Langley's Atmospheric Flight & Entry Systems Branch, told Space.com that the duo's ISRU-heavy plan strives to achieve Earth-independent pioneering of Mars.

"If the best that we can hope for is to get Matt Damon [star of the recent film "The Martian"] back to Earth alive, then we may have failed miserably in our pursuit of pioneering Mars and achieving Earth Independence," Moses said.

Extensive ISRU application may offer a solution that allows the Mars pioneers to come back to Earth when and if they want to, he said "not because they have to."

NASA has followed a strategy of "follow the water" for space exploration, Moses said.

But with respect to pioneering Mars, and defining some potential ISRU missions, the space agency should seek to "bottle the water," Moses said.

"Until we demonstrate that we can do that reliably on Mars using resources there, then there's no compelling foundation for extensive ISRU and pioneering there," he said.

The report suggests that NASA should match up ISRU with frontier technologies, including robotics, machine intelligence, nanotechnology, synthetic biology, 3D printing and autonomy.

Technologies on and off Mars are part of a toolkit to cultivate independence of residents on Mars from Earth.

"These technologies, combined with the vast natural resources, should enable serious, pre- and post-human arrival ISRU to greatly increase reliability and safety and reduce cost for human colonization of Mars," the technical paper explains.

For example, plastics can be produced from carbon, hydrogen and oxygen processed from Martian water and the planet's atmosphere, according to Bushnell, the chief scientist at NASA Langley.

Bushnell told Space.com that plastics will likely be designed crudely on Mars, except where they absolutely have to be finished.

"What is produced can be oversized as required for whatever strength is required," he said. "Plastic equipment, parts, structural members, buggies, habs [habitats], pipes, etc., can be heavy and large to make up for lack of materials properties excellence."

Such work can begin on Mars before any humans get there, thanks to autonomous robots, Bushnell said.

By exploiting all Martian resources, he added, small initial payloads of stuff can eventually produce major effects, products and functionalities.

"Mars is different from Earth time is our friend," Bushnell said.

Taming a resource-rich Mars can assure that future inhabitants live long and prosper. This image was taken by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on April 3, 2016.

The extensive implementation of ISRU on Mars could possibly be the "game changer" that achieves the requirements necessary "for pioneering and ultimately colonization," the report suggests.

Moses and Bushnell stress that the Red Planet can become the "proving ground" for many new technologies "that not only improve Earth independence but set up Mars to become the supply source for fuels, oxidizers, life support, spare parts, replacement vehicles, habitats and other products" for spacefaring beyond low-Earth orbit.

Indeed, using Mars-produced fuel and transforming Martian resources would constitute "an effective inner solar system Walmart for, eventually, nearly everything required for spacefaring and colonization," the memorandum concludes.

The full technical paper can be found at: http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20160005963.pdf

Leonard David is author of "Mars: Our Future on the Red Planet," to be published by National Geographic this October. The book is a companion to the National Geographic Channels six-part series coming in November. A longtime writer for Space.com, David has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebookor Google+. Originally published onSpace.com.

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Mars Colonists Must Live Off the Land: NASA Report