Category Archives: Transhuman News

The US, Russia, China, India, the EU, and even private companies are in a race to colonize Mars. There are lots of technical things to work out, from food supply to protection from solar radiation. Though few smaller countries have jumped into the Mars race thus far, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is looking far beyond planting a flag or a few threadbare shelters. Their motto seems to be, go big or go home. The country recently released its plan to build a futuristic city on the Red Planet by 2117. The proposal and accompanying images look like something ripped from the pages of a sci-fi novel.

The UAE is a collective, an oil rich federation of seven smaller states. They are late coming to the space race. But the country developed extremely quickly, from a Gulf backwater to one of the richest and most developed countries in the region, in less than half a century.

A rustic, pearl diving village a little over 40 years ago, Dubai today is a glittering metropolis full of modern skyscrapers. It even boasts the worlds tallest. This financial hub of the region hosts impressive sites including an archipelago of manmade, palm islands, The World islands, and the planets largest indoor ski resort, among others. Read into this, maybe they can pull it off.

The UAE launched its space program in 2014. Though a newcomer, if the countrys development is any indication, it could become a major player in the next great space race. The Emerati agency plans to work with their British and French counterparts, beginning next year, in order to send up an unmanned Mars probe named Hope, by 2021, reaching the Red Planet two years later. The Martian city announcement was made recently at the World Government Summit in Dubai. Visitors were able to gaze at a 3D model of the proposed city.

Model of the city. HH Sheikh Mohammed via Twitter.

Entering into the space race adds cache to a country. It telegraphs that youve come a long way, in terms of wealth and technological development. Theres no way theyll be the first to put people on Mars, starting their own space agency so late. Instead, the UAE found a different way to distinguish itself. No newcomer to city design in and of itself, officials are planning to establish the first urban living community, based on human happiness, in oncoming years. So placing the first metropolis on Mars may not be out of its wheelhouse.

The City of Wisdom as its being called, will be about the size of Chicago, according to the announcement. Vice president of the UAE and sovereign of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, announced the project. Human ambitions have no limits, and whoever looks into the scientific breakthroughs in the current century believes that human abilities can realize the most important human dream, he said.

The first step he said, was building up science programs in schools and universities. Just as Sputnik triggered advanced science and math education programs in the US, so too will this spur such learning in the UAE. Besides that, the Sheikh plans to build an Emirate scientific group, which will include international experts. These will be broken up into teams.

Another conceptualization. HH Sheikh Mohammed via Twitter.

Each will investigate a certain aspect, such as the faster transportation to Mars, as it now takes 150-300 days, depending on where each planet is in their journey around the sun. Thats way too slow, considering that the first toehold colony will be supplied with dried food from Earth, at least at first, and will depend on such shipments. Other teams will look at growing food, creating energy, methods of transportation across the planets surface, and more.

Scientific and research committee manager Saaed Al Gergawi, told CNBC that the city is expected to house 600,000 people. He said, We came up with that number because it's like someone going to an exotic island, not everyone can go first, then we get advancement of rocket tech, which makes people move there easily, then the advancement of oxygen tech to make it more earth like, which would incentivize people.

A lot of questions remain. For instance, will substantial radiation shielding be needed? If so, how do they plan on doing it? Solar radiation bombards the Red Planet, which will put human health at serious risk. One theoretical NASA plan is to build a magnetic shield which protects the planet. But if it doesnt work, buildings will have to have special shielding in order to protect colonists.

Other questions include, How will the city be built, and where on the surface will it reside? This is a long-term project, but the expansive timeline could give the UAE space agency the time it needs, to make sure this considerable feat becomes a reality. As the earliest colonies take shape in the next few decades, UAE scientists will be able to adjust their plans to fit conditions on the ground.

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Forget Colonization. The UAE Plans to Build a City on Mars by 2117 - Big Think

The aerospace and defense giant Lockheed Martin announced that it plans to colonize the Red Planet in 12 years. The first objective of the mission would be to place a manned mission on the orbit of mars for three years.

Lockheed executives unveiled the ambitious plan during a meeting of the National Space Club Florida Committee last week. The company said that the astronauts orbiting the Red Planet would perform a series of scientific tasks and remote exploration of the planet.

The astronauts would control rovers and drones which will explore the surface and beam back data aboutthe most suitable places to set up a colony. The official outline showed that the concept is quite simple: the astronauts in the Martian orbital laboratory will conduct science from above, analyze the planets soil and rocks, and find the best site for humans to settle down.

The head of the Lockheed Martins civil space programs Tony Antonelli said the plan is doable by 2028. However, the company will need the U.S. governments help along with international cooperation.

Still, the U.S. is not the only nation that seeks a Mars mission. In the coming years, many states and space agencies plan to explore the Red Planet. Obama administration wished for the U.S. Mars mission to land the first man on Mars by 2030.

The U.S. Congress is about to approvea bill that granted NASA $19.1 billion in funding, with the Mars Mission being a top priority. Trump administration and congressional Republicans want a manned mission to Mars to be launched as late as 2033.

In the meantime, the United Arab States said they are eyeing the construction of the first Martian city. They didnt give a deadline, but they said the city would be Chicago-sized.

The Dutch have also said that they plan to build a similar structure on the Martian soil, while SpaceXs founder Elon Musk said his company was working on colonizing Mars as well.

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Lockheed Martin Gears Up for Mars Colonization National Daily ... - National Daily Press

In Brief

Bill Nye doesnt believe well ever colonize Mars, but if we do, he has an idea of how our bodies might adapt to survive on the Red Planet. He recently shared it via his Tuesdays with Billseries for Big Think.

Humans born on Mars might have a tough time surviving on Earth. The surface gravity of Mars is only 38 percent of what we have here on Earth. That means the hearts of humans born on that planet might not be able to tackle as much aerobically on Earth. In fact, astronauts who travel to Mars and stay therelong enough for their bodies to adjust to the lower level of gravitywill likely experiencepermanent changes in circulation, muscle strength, and bone density, making it impossible for them to return to Earth.

Would our bodies ever truly adapt to Mars? Well, evolution is slow. In fact, the process is barely noticeable. Serious selection pressure would be necessary for it to have a discernible effect on the population, for example, only the offspring of women who could handle Martian gravity surviving long enough to reproduce.

Some people believe that terraforming planets such as Marsis a better idea rather than waiting for our bodies to adapt to the planets environment, wed change the environment to adapt to us. In the case of Mars, wed have to alter its ecology, atmosphere, topography, temperature, and other traits.

Ultimately, Bill Nye doesnt see it happening although he likes the question being asked!

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Bill Nye Answers: If Humans Colonize Mars, How Will We Evolve? - Futurism

March 16, 2017 Buzz Aldrin wants to establish a permanent colony on Mars and he has a plan to make it happen. But bringing that plan to fruition requires communicating his vision to others.

Dr. Aldrin set out to do so at South by Southwest this week, describing a small but permanent colony of 150 residents on the planet. Unlike the one-way journeys proposed by some advocates of Mars colonization, he pictures prospective residents signing up for 10-year round trips. The moon, which made him a household name in 1969, features in his plan as a resupply station for the Mars colony.

On Tuesday, Aldrin revealed a new tool for sharing his dream: a 10-minute virtual reality immersion into life on the moon and Mars, produced in partnership with virtual reality company 8i and guided by Aldrin himself. By giving people the tools to "experience" the possibilities for themselves, he hopes to encourage enthusiasm for Mars exploration something scientists say can only help.

Anything that elevates people above the petty daily realm is good, says Paul Davies, a physics professor at Arizona State University who has written extensively about Mars colonization, in a phone interview with The Christian Science Monitor. What Buzz Aldrin is doing, its inspiring.

Many, including Aldrin, have been fascinated by Mars since around the time of the first moon landing. In the past few years, a journey to Mars has taken off in the public consciousness. NASA satellites have produced images of the planets surface, while rovers have collected soil samples and sniffed for life. The Obama administration set a goal of going to Mars and returning humans safely to Earth some time in the 2030s, while billionaire and SpaceX founder Elon Musk has released plans to create a self-sustaining city of 1 million people on the planet. And from The Martian to National Geographics MARS miniseries, its become ever easier for people to envision life on the red planet.

His status as the second man on the Moon, as well as his academic background, mean Aldrin is uniquely positioned to advocate for colonizing Mars. Aldrins stature definitely gives him a power to inspire enthusiasm that others lack, writes Dirk Schulze-Makuch, a professor at Washington State Universitys School of the Environment, in an email to the Monitor.

Nor is this his first foray into virtual reality. A holographic image of Aldrin guided visitors to the Kennedy Space Centers Discover: Mars exhibit, which ended in January.

The opportunity to get up close and personal with a walk on Mars is so exciting, said Therrin Protze, chief operating officer of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, in a press release. "We cant wait for our guests to experience the thrill of it."

That exhibit closed on January 1, but Aldrin's new virtual reality experience can continue to bring the possibilities of Mars to a broader audience. It will be released on Friday through a number of VR providers.

The immersive tool provides a "great experience of almost being there and that's going to be wonderful for expressing a number of ideas, Aldrin told CNBC in an interview at South by Southwest.

But the challenge may not be as Aldrin seems to suggest inspiring recruits, Professor Schulze-Makuch says.

When Paul Davies and I suggested the Mars One-Way Mission Concept many years ago, we had about 1,000 emails from people who wanted to volunteer though we never asked for volunteers (and obviously did not have ourselves the means or technology)," he says.

The missing ingredient is the money and political will.

But virtual reality has proven itself as a fundraising tool for charities, helping them engage with key audiences in a meaningful way. Aldrins film could similarly help space-travel advocacy groups encourage Congress or private investors to fund a colony on Mars.

Professor Davies, however, is uncertain of the merits of this approach. NASA is an inherently conservative organization, he says, and there are simply too many risks for them to consider sending human missions at this point.

With that in mind, he says, the virtual reality experience is going to be pretty marginal in terms of its impact on public policy.

Even if NASA or some other entity were to agree, creating a self-sustaining community on Mars will likely take centuries, he says, adding that we currently have very little idea of what it would take to have a self-sustaining ecosystem on Mars.

For now, the virtual reality experience may inspire people to get involved with planning for such missions. Virtual reality is increasingly available in classrooms, Davies notes, describing a virtual field trip to a Mars-like environment in Australia in which his Arizona State students participate.

But its important that the possibilities of virtual reality not become more enticing than exploration itself, Schulze-Makuch points out.

It might inspire many people, but it could also have the opposite effect, that people become content to experience it in virtual reality and not willing to undergo the hardships of spaceflight anymore, he writes.

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Buzz Aldrin dreams of a colony on Mars: Could VR make it a reality? - Christian Science Monitor