Category Archives: Mars Colonization

SpaceX scrubbed Monday's scheduled launch of a robotic Dragon cargo capsule to the International Space Station, due to a helium leak on the Falcon 9 rocket's first stage.

Word of the postponement came a little more than an hour before the Falcon 9 was to lift off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

NASA said that the next opportunity for launch would come at 3:25 p.m. ET Friday.

Photographers focus on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket as it sits on its launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Monday.

"A fix will be implemented by the next launch opportunity ... though weather on that date isn't ideal," SpaceX said in a status update.

Forecasters had put the chance of acceptable weather for launch at 80 percent for Monday, but only 40 percent for Friday.

SpaceX's Dragon capsule is packed with about 4,600 pounds (2,100 kilograms) of supplies and equipment for the station. This is the third of 12 round-trip resupply flights that SpaceX is conducting under the terms of a $1.6 billion contract with NASA.

Billionaire's grand vision

This particular mission is notable because it's the first time the Falcon 9 has been outfitted with a set of four landing legs. The 25-foot-long (7.6-meter-long) foldable legs are part of a long-term experiment to see whether the Falcon 9 rocket can be recovered and reused.

This time around, the legs won't play a useful role. They're just part of a test to relight the rocket engines after stage separation and ease the first stage's fall into the Atlantic Ocean, so that it can be recovered intact by a SpaceX team.

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SpaceX postpones launch

WATCH: Seven Minutes of Terror

TORONTO If humans are going to settle on Mars, it means better technology will be needed to deliver heavier payloads. And NASA already has a plan for that.

NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) revealed its Supersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerators (SIAD) on Wednesday, a system that will be able to deliver 15 times the weight of the last payload to Mars, the Mars Science Laboratory, more familiarly known as Curiosity.

Mars has very little atmosphere (therefore less drag to slow things down), which makes landing there somewhat challenging. The exciting landing of Curiosityused several technologies, but it still relied on technology that was 40 years old, mainly a parachute.

But the parachutes that are currently available for landing on the red planet arent capable of being affixed to large payloads. Thats where NASAs UFO-looking braking mechanism comes in.

The atmosphere of Mars is extremely thin. Its about one per cent the thickness of Earths atmosphere, which means that in order to slow down, you need really big things to react against the atmosphere, more surface area, or drag area, and thats why you need bigger parachutes, said Ian Clark, Principal Investigator for the Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) program.

READ MORE: Mars dirt a water reservoir, Curiosity finds

Eventually, humans are going to land on Mars, Clark said. And the task of sending materials ahead of time or even human beings themselves will require improved accuracy and heavier payloads.

When you start talking humans, you start talking masses 10 to 15 tons. MSL was a one-tonne rover, and that was a very difficult landing, in it took all of the technologies we had available, said Clark.

If we want to go bigger, were going to need something new.

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NASAs new Martian braking system paving way to easier human colonization

With a projected settlement date of 2025, the Mars One project has received over 200,000 applications for the one way trip to the Red Planet. But creating a living, sustainable community on the distant planet for the select inhabitants will require not only unique technological and engineering solutions, but also novel architectural systems. Bryan Versteeg is a conceptual designer whos been working with the Mars One team in anticipation of the planets eventual colonization.

Versteeg is the founder of SpaceHabs.com, which launched in 2011 in order to focus on the conceptual visualization for space exploration after he was approached by the founders of the Mars One Foundation.

Versteeg took time away from his Martian renderings to speak with Gizmag about the projects unique challenges and the inspirations behind his futuristic SpaceHab projects.

Gizmag: Mars One has received countless amounts of attention from both the media and persons looking for a literal one way trip to the red planet. Where do your designs fit into the project as a whole and what kind of earth-bound influences and empirical experiences were included in the process?

Versteeg: I started working with Mars One over 2 years ago, well before the entire project was announced. The plan is to design and build and ship parts of the infrastructure required to help people live on Mars, then send 4 people at a time to grow a (eventually) self sustaining settlement.

My job is to communicate what it could look like and help to identify some of the necessary parts required. At the front end of this project, my job is purely conceptual, creating images and animations that help people to relate to the mission. As we move forward however, the tasks involved are gigantic. Trying to identify the necessary building blocks of technology, industry, agriculture and society that would enable an isolated group of people to live long, healthy, happy lives is a monumental task. What excites me most is that the building blocks of a self sustaining infrastructure are something that can be used where ever people live. So much of what we learn in the development process can be used immediately here on earth. Projects like this help to identify and spur innovation in areas that could ultimately add to the quality of life. The sustainable and efficient growing of food is one of the most exciting examples of how innovation can potentially help everyone, whether they live in an isolated community, urban center, or Mars.

Gizmag: What specific challenges do you foresee in designing habitats for life on Mars?

Versteeg: Designing habitats for space or other planets presents many challenges that are unique to their specific environment. We don't have the benefit of being able to use the precedents available and the lessons learned from a millennium of home design here on Earth. On Earth, every aspect of our homes has been an evolving process for generations. When designing a new home for here on Earth, you can easily choose from an endless number of variations, styles and details to customize your space, using parts and techniques you know will work. But things like doors, windows, life support systems, etc. for other planets, however, require an extensive amount of research and creativity to work in application in that worlds specific environment. Unfortunately, we don't have a significant library to choose from on the subject, so innovation in almost every aspect is required.

Gizmag: In terms of adapting to Mars' extreme climate, what ideas or requirements do you foresee when it comes to creating Martian habitats and how do you see that affecting Earth-based materials?

Versteeg: Environment in this case can be a very difficult variable to design for. In space, equipment exposed to the Sun on certain planets can bake at 250 C (482 F) but once in the shadows, the temperature can plummet below -160C (-256 F). These temperatures will not only cause certain materials to melt or become brittle, but a 410 C (782 F) temperature fluctuation could significantly affect structural members as a result of extreme expansion or contraction.

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SpaceHabs: One man's architectural vision for colonizing Mars

An Indie Look - Sol 0
The Transatlantic Gamer takes a look at an indie game, Sol 0! A mars colonization RTS type game thingamajig! You can find Sol 0 here: http://www.solzerogame....

By: TransatlanticGamer

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An Indie Look - Sol 0 - Video

Worth the Wait - Extra! - Episode 2
On this episode of Worth the Wait - Extra!, we sit down with the developers of PeriAreion, an exciting Mars colonization game based in scientific reality. Th...

By: Just OK Gamers

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Worth the Wait - Extra! - Episode 2 - Video

S

Anyone dreaming of casting off the shackles of Earth for the microgravity wasteland of Mars is in for some (more) bad news. In addition to a host of other problems, the necessary 18-month spaceflight would, apparently, lead to one very unhealthy (and spherical) astronaut heart.

The new findings come from a recent NASA study in which 12 astronauts aboard the ISS took ultrasound images of their hearts before, during, and after their six-month stint in space. What they found confirmed scientists' previous prediction: In microgravity, the human heart becomes more spherical by a factor of nearly 10 percent. According to James Tomas, M.C., Moore Chair of Cardiovascular Imaging and Lead Scientist for Ultrasound at NASA:

The heart doesn't work as hard in space, which can cause a loss of muscle mass. That can have serious consequences after the return to Earth, so we're looking into whether there are measures that can be taken to prevent or counteract that loss.

At least for the short amount of time ISS astronauts are in space, the heart condition seems to be only temporary; the participants' hearts returned to their longer, typical shape not long after returning to Earth. And though scientists know a more spherical heart likely means it's performing less efficiently, the long term cardiovascular effects of the change in shape have yet to be determined.

Stil, it's probably safe to assume that a circular heart doesn't mean anything great for the long run. That's not to say that Mars colonization is out of the question, but if we're ever going to get there in one piece, we're only just scratching the surface of what we'll be up against. [Science Blog]

In a new study that's sure to make everyone's world just a little darker, scientists have discovered that sex in space could lead to severe Read

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The Human Heart May Not Be Able to Handle the Trip to Mars

NASA Astronaut on #39;Gravity #39;, Mars Colonization Sex in Space | Interview with Dr. Leroy Chiao
Abby Martin #39;s exclusive interview with former NASA Astronaut and ISS Commander, Leroy Chiao, about US-Russian cooperation in space, life on other words and t...

By: breakingtheset

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NASA Astronaut on 'Gravity', Mars Colonization & Sex in Space | Interview with Dr. Leroy Chiao - Video

Planet Mars Colonizing
Planet Mars Colonizing . . . . . .Colonization of Mars - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonization_of_Mars The colonization of Mar...

By: s.v.p vijayalakshmi

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Planet Mars Colonizing - Video

March 27 (UPI) -- Mars One is a a private, Netherlands-based push to realize a human colony on the red planet by 2025.

In an email statement to Popular Science Thursday, Mars One announced plans to build a simulated colony here on Earth to vet astronauts and make sure they can withstand the cramped and isolated conditions colonists will have to endure before awarding them their one-way ticket.

They are currently in the process of courting financial sponsors and construction companies, and while the simulated Martian digs wont actually boast extraterrestrial life-support right off the bat, the company intends to retrofit the technology to the structure down the line.

More than 200,00 people applied for the chance to be among the first colonists. Mars One has already narrowed the pool to just over a thousand candidates, and intends ultimately to send a cadre of 24-40 colonists to the planet.

According to Popular Science, spaceflight contractors Lockheed Martin and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. are already working with Mars One to develop a robotic lander and a data-link satellite for an unmanned, exploratory mission to Mars in 2018.

Mars One has said in the past that they intend to televise the colonization as a means of funding.

So whos ready for Big Brother: Martian Edition? That will be reality television worth watching.

[Popular Science]

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Mars One building simulated colony to vet potential colonists

Description

Build the most successful colonies on Mars. With Science!

Mars Colonies is a RTS game about building and protecting your own colonies on Mars. Hire skillful colonists, help them survive marsquakes, dust storms and other threats, and build the most successful colonies on Mars. With Science!

* Speed up the game with [F] key.

* Review how much energy and water a building needs in pop-up menu when you move cursor on building icon. After placing a new building you need to connect it with energy or water if building need any; make sure to connect power lines and water tubes to the right places on the South-West side of a building. If a building don't have water/energy, the warning icon will appear.

* Hire new colonists via "HIRE" button on the bottom-center of the screen. Colonists need food and oxygen.

* Review colonist's needs in the bottom-right corner by clicking on him. You can change the name or fire the colonist.

* Set up jobs for each colonist at "JOBS" window. It's not necessarily, but can make your colony and colonists more effective.

* Order resources at "ORDER" window. Helpful when you lack of oxygen or food.

* Cancel build mode by pressing ESC.

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Mars Colonies | Strategy Games | Play Free Games Online at ...