Ever thought to live on another planet? Well in 2023 this will be a reality for 4 astronauts, sent to live on mars, never to return. Ever thought about that? Sent to another planet? You and 3 others astronauts, alone! Well after the initial 4 arrive mars one will send a group of 4 more astronauts every 2 years to join the colony. Oh, and this will also be a reality TV show.
Here is a timeline on how the events will take place.
2013: The first 40 astronauts will be selected.
2014: The first communication satellite will be produced.
2016: A supply mission will be launched with 2500 kilograms of food in a modified SpaceX Dragon.
2018: An exploration vehicle will launch to pick the location of the settlement.
2021: Six additional Dragon capsules and another rover will launch with two living units, two life support units and two supply units.
2022: A SpaceX Falcon Heavy will launch with the first group of four colonists.
2023: The first colonists will arrive on Mars in a modified Dragon capsule.
2025: A second group of four colonists will arrive.
2033: The colony will reach 20 settlers.
In as little as 2 years will the mission actually start. I personally am excited and can not wait for this to actually take shape. The Mars One website claims that anybody can sign up for this mission. Will you try?
This is the chance for humans to hand-pick its favorite specimens to live on another planet. Do you think they will choose a man 5’5 weighing in at 140 to be an astronaut? I think not.
Here are a few of the FAQ that I found interesting.
Can The Astronauts Have Children
In the first years, the Mars settlement is not a suitable place for children to live. The medical facilities will be limited and the group is too small. Furthermore, 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. Mars One will therefore strongly advise the settlement habitants not to attempt to have children.
In order to establish a true settlement on Mars, having children is very important. This will be an important point of research on Mars.
How has mars one worked on the dates
The exact dates and years that we plan to execute the various stages of our plan were chosen for the beneficial position they put us in, astronomically speaking. We explain below how this can be.
You need a great deal of energy to travel from Earth to Mars, which is why it is of vital importance that you choose the route that will use up the least amount. This route that takes you from Earth’s orbit to that of Mars is called the ‘Hohmann Transfer Orbit’. As the adjacent illustration shows, you leave Earth facing one side of our sun, and arrive at Mars on the opposite.
It is possible to extrapolate when you need to launch in order to take this course, and it is these calculations that have given us the dates for our missions.
This is a simplification of the process, as both Earth and Mars’ orbits are not perfect circles, and when determining the course to Mars we also kept the maximum travel time in mind for the astronauts.
Water, Oxygen, Food
Our astronauts will be settling on Mars indefinitely. It’s not feasible to send water, oxygen and food from Earth to the astronauts: they will produce those on Mars.
Water
On Mars, water can be extracted from the soil. The Rover will select the location for the settlement primarily based on the water content in the soil. We expect this to be at a latitude of between 40 and 45 degrees North. Water extraction will be performed by the life support units. The Rover will deposit soil into a water extractor in the life support units. The water extractor will heat the soil until the water evaporates. The evaporated water will be condensed and stored, the dry soil expelled, and the process repeated to extract more water.
About 1500 liters of reserve water will be stored in each Life Support Unit, which will be consumed primarily at night, and during periods of protracted low power availability, for example during dust storms.
Since Mars has gravity, water can be used in the same way as on Earth. There will be regular showers, toilets and a washing machine. Each astronaut will be able to use about 50 liters of water per day. The water will be recycled, which takes much less energy than extracting it from the Martian soil. Only water that can not be recycled will be replaced by water extracted from the soil.
Oxygen
Oxygen can be produced by splitting water into its constituent parts, hydrogen and oxygen. The oxygen will be used to provide a breathable atmosphere in the Living Units, and a proportion will be stored in reserve for conditions when there is less power available, for example at night, and during dust storms.
The second major component of the Living Units’ atmosphere, nitrogen, will be extracted directly from the Martian atmosphere by the Life Support Unit.
Food
When the astronauts land, there will be limited rations of food available for them to use. As soon as possible however, they will begin producing their own food. The astronauts will make use of highly intensive greenhouses called Plant Production Units. There will be sufficient plant production capacity to feed about three crews of four. Any plant production surplus will be stored as emergency rations for the second crew, and for other emergencies.
During winter, when less power is available, less food will be produced.
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