Category Archives: Mars Colonization

By Mike Wall

File photo.(REUTERS/NASA/Handout)

You can help choose one of the science payloads that a Mars colonization effort will launch toward the Red Planet in 2018.

The Netherlands-based nonprofit Mars One has selected 10 finalists from dozens of proposed payloads submitted by university groups around the world. One of these experiments will be chosen to fly on Mars One's robotic lander mission in 2018 and the public will pick the winner.

"These 10 final projects are unique and creative, and we are very happy with the payload proposals these teams have presented," Mars One co-founder and chief technical officer Arno Wielders said in a statement. "It would be highly interesting to see each and every one of these projects being launched to Mars. Now it is up to the public to decide which project they would like to have on Mars."

The 10 finalists are a diverse group. One of the experiments would use cyanobacteria to convert carbon dioxide from Mars' atmosphere into oxygen, while another would demonstrate the production of oxygen from water in the Red Planet's soil. Two of the proposed payloads would attempt to grow plants in self-contained greenhouses on Mars.

Voting will open early this month and run through Dec. 31, Mars One representatives said. You can find more information, including a complete list and description of all 10 finalists, here.

Mars One aims to land four people on the Red Planet in 2025 as the vanguard of a permanent colony. New crews would arrive every two years thereafter, building up the settlement. At the moment, there are no plans to bring any of these pioneers back home to Earth.

The 2018 mission will send a robotic lander and orbiter to Mars to demonstrate some of the technologies necessary for human settlement. Other unmanned missions in 2020 and 2022 will launch a scouting rover and lots of cargo to the Red Planet.

Mars One plans to pay for its ambitious activities primarily by staging a global media event around the entire effort, from astronaut selection through the colonists' time on the Red Planet. More than 200,000 people applied to be Mars One astronauts; about 700 candidates remain, and interviews will soon narrow this pool down further.

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Private Mars colony project wants help choosing 2018 ...

You can help choose one of the science payloads that a Mars colonization effort will launch toward the Red Planet in 2018.

The Netherlands-based nonprofit Mars One has selected 10 finalists from dozens of proposed payloads submitted by university groups around the world. One of these experiments will be chosen to fly on Mars One's robotic lander mission in 2018 and the public will pick the winner.

"These 10 final projects are unique and creative, and we are very happy with the payload proposals these teams have presented," Mars One co-founder and chief technical officer Arno Wielders said in a statement. "It would be highly interesting to see each and every one of these projects being launched to Mars. Now it is up to the public to decide which project they would like to have on Mars."

The Dutch nonprofit Mars One aims to land four colonists on the Red Planet in 2023. Do you want to be one of them?

The 10 finalists are a diverse group. One of the experiments would use cyanobacteria to convert carbon dioxide from Mars' atmosphere into oxygen, while another would demonstrate the production of oxygen from water in the Red Planet's soil. Two of the proposed payloads would attempt to grow plants in self-contained greenhouses on Mars.

Voting will open early this month and run through Dec. 31, Mars One representatives said. You can find more information, including a complete list and description of all 10 finalists, here.

Mars One aims to land four people on the Red Planet in 2025 as the vanguard of a permanent colony. New crews would arrive every two years thereafter, building up the settlement. At the moment, there are no plans to bring any of these pioneers back home to Earth.

The 2018 mission will send a robotic lander and orbiter to Mars to demonstrate some of the technologies necessary for human settlement. Other unmanned missions in 2020 and 2022 will launch a scouting rover and lots of cargo to the Red Planet.

Mars One plans to pay for its ambitious activities primarily by staging a global media event around the entire effort, from astronaut selection through the colonists' time on the Red Planet. More than 200,000 people applied to be Mars One astronauts; about 700 candidates remain, and interviews will soon narrow this pool down further.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter@michaeldwallandGoogle+.Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebookor Google+. Originally published onSpace.com.

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Private Mars Colony Project Wants Help Choosing 2018 Lander Experiments

Yesterday morning, Italys first female astronaut arrived at the International Space Station, carrying well, more accurately, clutchingin her arms like a first-born child the first zero-g Certified Italian Espresso coffee machine. The machine, called the ISSpresso, was created by a couple of Italian companies after another Italian astronaut returned from the space station in 2012 and complained about the lack of good coffee while in Earth orbit. This might just seem like a very costly first-world frivolity at the expense of real science, but the introduction of a coffee machine to the ISS isnt just for fun: The good times that will be enjoyed over a hot plastic pouch of perkare expected togo a long way towards reducing the extreme isolation and stress that astronauts experience aboard the ISS.

The ISSpresso was developed by Lavazza and Argotec both based out of Turin, Italy, with the former being one of the topcoffee machine companies in Europe. The machine, which weighs in at a bulky 20 kilograms (44 lbs), was deliveredby the three Expedition 42/43 astronauts including Samantha Cristoforetti, Italys first female astronaut.

How the ISSpresso coffee machine works

While creating espresso is fairly simple here on Earth, forcing high-pressure water through coffee grounds is a complex and dangerous task when youre 300 miles above Earth, with no gravity assistance and only a few millimeters of easily-punctured aluminium protecting you from the infinite harshness of space.

The ISSpresso, then, is not like your Starbucks espresso machine. The astronaut starts by filling a pouch of water from the ISSs water reserve and connecting it to the ISSpressos input valve. The water is then aspirated, pressurized (to 9 bar), and heated to 94 degrees Celsius (201F) optimal espresso-making temperature. The water is then shot down a pipe that can withstand up to 400 bar, through a Keurig-like capsule of coffee grounds, and into another pouch. The astronaut then (carefully) drinks the coffee through a straw. According to Lavazza, the end result is a certified pouch of Italian espresso, and tastes pretty good though I suspect the lack of aroma (its a sealed system) probably detracts from the experience (and taste) somewhat.

ISSpresso, squirting espresso into a pouch

Due to the lack of gravity on board the space station, the ISSpresso cant yet produce a latte or flat white. On Earth, gravity is used to separate the steamed foam from the liquid milk up in space, theyd have to use a centrifuge, which might be taking things just a little too far. (Plus, without gravity, would the milk even float on the coffee anyway?)

The ISSpresso machine will be the centerpiece of the space stations new corner cafe, which will be a place for Expedition astronauts to kick back, unwind, and reflect over a pouch of coffee. Astronauts usually spend about six months on the ISS, which can be quite isolating when you absolutely cannot return to Earth to see your friends and family until the end of the mission. Living in odd conditions and carrying out space walks can obviously be rather stressful, too.

The first interplanetary coffee machine joins the first zero-g 3D printer, which was carried to the International Space Station back in September. Like the ISSpresso, the 3D printer serves a scientific purpose: Being able to build stuff in space, rather than brute-force launching everything from within Earths gravitational grip, would make deep-space exploration and eventual colonization a much more realistic prospect. Obviously, if theres a decent cup of coffee waiting on the surface of Mars, humanitys first interplanetary colonists might be a little more willing to leave home.

Now read:Caffeine: The science of why were all hooked

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The first zero-g real coffee machine arrives at the Space Station (thanks to the Italians, of course)

Zach Gallegos, a graduate Earth and planetary science student, is intent on being a member of the first astronaut team to establish a permanent colony on Mars.

This Dutch non-profit agency has set a goal of sending the first four-person crew to Mars in 2024, and then successive crews every two years after, according to the Mars One website.

There is, however, no return mission planned. The astronauts would live out the rest of their lives on the Red Planet.

The program plans to raise some of its funding through a reality TV program that will follow the astronauts selection process through their first few years on Mars.

The Daily Lobo spoke to Gallegos about making the cut and his potential journey.

How did you hear about Mars One and did you know immediately that you wanted to participate?

I remember hearing about the Mars One mission when it was still only an idea. Immediately is the correct word there was virtually no time between my discovery of the mission and my decision to go to Mars. I applied for many reasons: it is an historic event, it is scientifically exciting as a planetary geologist, and it is an opportunity for me to influence the world for the better and inspire humanity.

How did it feel to find out you passed the next selection round and are now one out of 700 applicants down from more than 200,000?

It was amazing. I was ecstatic. Like a lifelong dream becoming reality.

MIT recently released a study illustrating the problems with the mission. Mars unsafe oxygen levels, unreliable water supply and no certain way for crew members to get supplies were the main points of concern. What are your feelings towards this study and do you believe the necessary technologies will be available in time?

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Grad student one step closer to Mars

The only realistic video about Human Mars Exploration!
Watch the only video on YouTube that is not an irrealistic fantasy product about Mars colonization and exploration (it #39;s recommended you read the whole descr...

By: Thermospecialist

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The only realistic video about Human Mars Exploration! - Video

How to get to Mars with tons of loads!
This is the only video on YouTube that is not an irrealistic fantasy product about Mars colonization and exploration, like all the others are. Nonetheless, also this video is somewhat optimistic...

By: Thermospecialist

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How to get to Mars with tons of loads! - Video

Donald Goldsmith is a freelance science writer and co-author (with Neil Tyson) of "Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution." Goldsmith contributed this article toSpace.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

"I'm deeply afraid of flying," admits Andy Weir, self-titled space nerd and author of the best-selling novel "The Martian," now being filmed by director Ridley Scott with actors Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain and Kristin Wiig. Buoyed by the just-released paperback version of his book but unwilling to take any flights to promote it Weir met last week with investor Steve Jurvetson, fortunately close to Weir's home on the San Francisco peninsula.

This videotaped encounterbetween the two space-colonization enthusiasts the visionary and the venture capitalist was the brainchild of Keri Kukral, the leader of the new internet channel RawScience.tv.

Jurvetson, a partner in Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ), sits on the board ofElon Musk's SpaceX ; his company has also invested in Planet Labs, which aims to provide daily satellite images of Earth. His deep and abiding interest in space travel finds embodiment in the dozens of artifacts displayed in DFJ's lobby and his personal office. Meeting for the first time, Weir and Jurvetson seemingly out-rhapsodized each other in their desire to resolve the issues that confront anyhumans seeking to establish long-term residence on Mars .

Mars and "The Martian"

Weir, who spent 25 years as a computer programmer, began posting chapters of his book as a blog to explore key issues: How do we get to Mars? What could go wrong there? How could we solve those problems? What if more than one arose simultaneously? He made his "hapless" main character suffer as many misfortunes as he could foresee and somehow overcome them.

His blog grew into a single electronic file, and then into a Kindle version, which attracted attention from a hard-copy publisher.

"I've been really surprised by the reaction," he noted happily, "not just science geeksit turned out to have mainstream appeal!" [Andy Weir:If We're Serious About Going to Mars, We Need Artificial Gravity]

In his novel, Weir succeeded in vividly imagining life-threatening problems that may arise for a planetary colonist "The Martian" protagonist, a botanist on a one-month mission to establish a base on Mars, finds himself left for dead by his fellow astronauts after an accident that causes them to return to Earth. The "martian" is left jury-rigging equipment to survive the four-year interval before anyone can return to help him.

The Mars reality

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'The Martian' Author Andy Weir & Steve Jurveston Mind-Meld on Mars Colonies

Donald Goldsmith is a freelance science writer and co-author (with Neil Tyson) of "Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution." Goldsmith contributed this article toSpace.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

"I'm deeply afraid of flying," admits Andy Weir, self-titled space nerd and author of the best-selling novel "The Martian," now being filmed by director Ridley Scott with actors Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain and Kristin Wiig. Buoyed by the just-released paperback version of his book but unwilling to take any flights to promote it Weir met last week with investor Steve Jurvetson, fortunately close to Weir's home on the San Francisco peninsula.

This videotaped encounterbetween the two space-colonization enthusiasts the visionary and the venture capitalist was the brainchild of Keri Kukral, the leader of the new internet channel RawScience.tv.

Jurvetson, a partner in Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ), sits on the board ofElon Musk's SpaceX ; his company has also invested in Planet Labs, which aims to provide daily satellite images of Earth. His deep and abiding interest in space travel finds embodiment in the dozens of artifacts displayed in DFJ's lobby and his personal office. Meeting for the first time, Weir and Jurvetson seemingly out-rhapsodized each other in their desire to resolve the issues that confront anyhumans seeking to establish long-term residence on Mars .

Mars and "The Martian"

Weir, who spent 25 years as a computer programmer, began posting chapters of his book as a blog to explore key issues: How do we get to Mars? What could go wrong there? How could we solve those problems? What if more than one arose simultaneously? He made his "hapless" main character suffer as many misfortunes as he could foresee and somehow overcome them.

His blog grew into a single electronic file, and then into a Kindle version, which attracted attention from a hard-copy publisher.

"I've been really surprised by the reaction," he noted happily, "not just science geeksit turned out to have mainstream appeal!" [Andy Weir:If We're Serious About Going to Mars, We Need Artificial Gravity]

In his novel, Weir succeeded in vividly imagining life-threatening problems that may arise for a planetary colonist "The Martian" protagonist, a botanist on a one-month mission to establish a base on Mars, finds himself left for dead by his fellow astronauts after an accident that causes them to return to Earth. The "martian" is left jury-rigging equipment to survive the four-year interval before anyone can return to help him.

The Mars reality

Read more:
Andy Weir and Steve Jurveston Mind-Meld on Mars Colonies

Fuck Earth! Elon Musk said to me, laughing. Who cares about Earth? We were sitting in his cubicle, in the front corner of a large open-plan office at SpaceX headquarters in Los Angeles. It was a sunny afternoon, a Thursday, one of three designated weekdays Musk spends at SpaceX. Musk was laughing because he was joking: he cares a great deal about Earth. When he is not here at SpaceX, he is running an electric car company. But this is his manner. On television Musk can seem solemn, but in person he tells jokes. He giggles. He says things that surprise you.

When I arrived, Musk was at his computer, powering through a stream of single-line email replies. I took a seat and glanced around at his workspace. There was a black leather couch and a large desk, empty but for a few wine bottles and awards. The windows looked out to a sunbaked parking lot. The vibe was ordinary, utilitarian, even boring. After a few minutes passed, I began to worry that Musk had forgotten about me, but then suddenly, and somewhat theatrically, he wheeled around, scooted his chair over, and extended his hand. Im Elon,he said.

It was a nice gesture, but in the year 2014 Elon Musk doesnt need much of an introduction. Not since Steve Jobs has an American technologist captured the cultural imagination like Musk. There are tumblrs and subreddits devoted to him. He is the inspiration for Robert Downey Jrs Iron Man. His life story has already become a legend. There is the alienated childhood in South Africa, the video game he invented at 12, his migration to the US in the mid-1990s. Then the quick rise, beginning when Musk sold his software company Zip2 for $300million at the age of 28, and continuing three years later, when he dealt PayPal to eBay for $1.5billion. And finally, the double down, when Musk decided idle hedonism wasnt for him, and instead sank his fortune into a pair of unusually ambitious startups. With Tesla he would replace the worlds cars with electric vehicles, and with SpaceX he would colonise Mars. Automobile manufacturing and aerospace are mature industries, dominated by corporate behemoths with plush lobbying budgets and factories in all the right congressional districts. No matter. Musk would transform both, simultaneously, and he would do it within the space of a single generation.

Musk announced these plans shortly after the bursting of the first internet bubble, when many tech millionaires were regarded as mere lottery winners. People snickered. They called him a dilettante. But in 2010, he took Tesla public and became a billionaire many times over. SpaceX is still privately held, but it too is now worth billions, and Musk owns two-thirds of it outright. SpaceX makes its rockets from scratch at its Los Angeles factory, and it sells rides on them cheap, which is why its launch manifest is booked out for years. The company specialises in small satellite launches, and cargo runs to the space station, but it is now moving into the more mythic business of human spaceflight. In September, NASA selected SpaceX, along with Boeing, to become the first private company to launch astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). Musk is on an epic run. But he keeps pushing his luck. In every interview, there is an outlandish new claim, a seeming impossibility, to which he attaches a tangible date. He is always giving you new reasons to doubt him.

I had come to SpaceX to talk to Musk about his vision for the future of space exploration, and I opened our conversation by asking him an old question: why do we spend so much money in space, when Earth is rife with misery, human and otherwise? It might seem like an unfair question. Musk is a private businessman, not a publicly funded space agency. But he is also a special case. His biggest customer is NASA and, more importantly, Musk is someone who says he wants to influence the future of humanity. He will tell you so at the slightest prompting, without so much as flinching at the grandiosity of it, or the track record of people who have used this language in the past. Musk enjoys making money, of course, and he seems to relish the billionaire lifestyle, but he is more than just a capitalist. Whatever else might be said about him, Musk has staked his fortune on businesses that address fundamental human concerns. And so I wondered, why space?

Musk did not give me the usual reasons. He did not claim that we need space to inspire people. He did not sell space as an R & D lab, a font for spin-off technologies like astronaut food and wilderness blankets. He did not say that space is the ultimate testing ground for the human intellect. Instead, he said that going to Mars is as urgent and crucial as lifting billions out of poverty, or eradicating deadly disease.

I think there is a strong humanitarian argument for making life multi-planetary, he told me, in order to safeguard the existence of humanity in the event that something catastrophic were to happen, in which case being poor or having a disease would be irrelevant, because humanity would be extinct. It would be like, Good news, the problems of poverty and disease have been solved, but the bad news is there arent any humans left.

Musk has been pushing this line Mars colonisation as extinction insurance for more than a decade now, but not without pushback. Its funny, he told me. Not everyone loves humanity. Either explicitly or implicitly, some people seem to think that humans are a blight on the Earths surface. They say things like, Nature is so wonderful; things are always better in the countryside where there are no people around. They imply that humanity and civilisation are less good than their absence. But Im not in that school, he said. I think we have a duty to maintain the light of consciousness, to make sure it continues into the future.

People have been likening light to consciousness since the days of Plato and his cave because, like light, consciousness illuminates. It makes the world manifest. It is, in the formulation of the great Carl Sagan, the Universe knowing itself. But the metaphor is not perfect. Unlike light, whose photons permeate the entire cosmos, human-grade consciousness appears to be rare in our Universe. It appears to be something akin to a single candle flame, flickering weakly in a vast and drafty void.

Musk told me he often thinks about the mysterious absence of intelligent life in the observable Universe. Humans have yet to undertake an exhaustive, or even vigorous, search for extraterrestrial intelligence, of course. But we have gone a great deal further than a casual glance skyward. For more than 50 years, we have trained radio telescopes on nearby stars, hoping to detect an electromagnetic signal, a beacon beamed across the abyss. We have searched for sentry probes in our solar system, and we have examined local stars for evidence of alien engineering. Soon, we will begin looking for synthetic pollutants in the atmospheres of distant planets, and asteroid belts with missing metals, which might suggest mining activity.

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The Elon Musk interview on Mars colonisation Ross ...

Published time: October 25, 2014 13:31

A possible look of the future Mars One mission settlement (Image by mars-one.com)

The Mars One mission - to bring humans to the Red Planet - is underway, with nearly 80,000 applicants for a possible one-way trip. But will they go forth and multiply? Low gravity and cosmic rays lie in the path of the ambitious plan.

Mars is considered to be the most hospitable planet in the solar system, after Earth. The dreams of the Martian Chronicles author, Ray Bradbury, or Mr. Nobody director Jaco Van Dormael, could be turned into reality with the colonization project.

The mission is aimed at sending first four Mars inhabitants in 2024, and their journey will become a Dutch reality TV program. One of the things the first settlers will not be allowed to do, however, is to have children.

The reason is that The human ability to conceive in reduced gravity is not known, neither is there enough research on whether a fetus can grow normally under these circumstances, the mission states.

Still, Mars One acknowledges that to lead true life on Mars, having children is vital, so Adams and Eves could still descend on Mars. But whats in store for them?

The planets gravity is just 38 percent of Earths, the atmosphere is so thin it resembles a laboratory vacuum, and is terribly cold. Typical nighttime temperatures close to the equator are -70 C.

Scientists have been examining the issue of reproduction in space for decades in conditions of reduced gravity and limited space.

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Infertile Field of Mars? Colonization plans marred by ...