We've come so far from that very first
'small step for a man.'
But not as far as our dreams will take us.
Within a decade or two,
Mars will be our next destination.
This red planet is our neighbor
in the Solar System.
But it has none of the components
that make life possible here on Earth.
It's full of radiation
and too cold for liquid water.
It has an atmosphere we can't breathe,
and soil that we can't grow anything in.
Its gusts of wind come close
to what we classify as hurricanes
here on Earth.
And now we want to make it our new home.
I honestly doubt Matt Damon
could have survived being stuck
on Mars all by himself.
Luckily for you,
we've put together a list of five tips
that'll help you to get through it.
Before you can even board the spaceship,
NASA will be testing
and training you for months.
And I'm not just talking about
your physical strengths.
Your mental health is just as important.
You're going on a very long trip,
where you'll be stuck in small quarters
with the same people.
If NASA's tests have shown anything,
it's that you'll get irritated
with your crew members.
So you'd better have
a high degree of agreeableness,
a strong desire to work together,
and good humor.
And if you lied on your resume
about how well you handle
high-pressure situations,
the tests will show it.
Mars isn't going to welcome you
with open arms.
Its atmospheric pressure is so low
that it'll make your blood boil
inside your body.
Its night temperatures drop
from a comfortable 20°C (70°F)
to -153°C (-225°F).
Its surface is coated with dust
so finely-grained that it would
damage your lungs if you inhaled it.
Top that all off with the winds
rampaging at 97 km/h (60 mph),
and a whole lot of cosmic radiation.
You get the picture.
If you just crash on Mars
with only your spacecraft,
and a single suit on your back,
you won't last longer than one hour.
If you want to survive on Mars,
you'll need multiple spacesuits
that will reflect all the radiation,
keep you warm, and provide you
with oxygen and sufficient pressure.
You'll also need a craft you'll live in
until a bigger habitat is constructed,
and vehicles to take you
on your Martian adventures.
The soil on Mars is a very fine,
powder-like dust covering the basalt rock.
That's precisely the opposite of fertile.
If you want to grow anything
on the red planet,
you'll need a ton of solid biomass waste.
Yeah, you'll be collecting all your poop,
and all your crew members' poop.
And then you'll plant potatoes,
or whatever it is you want to grow,
in that mass of poop.
You could eventually start growing some
lettuce, garlic, and even potatoes.
But you'd better stock up with supplies
before you go on the mission.
And make sure those supplies will
last you at least a year.
That's how long it takes for
another crew to arrive to Mars.
Mars is too cold to have liquid water.
Instead, it has its water frozen
as the polar ice caps.
Of course, you can't bring a year-long
supply of water with you
all the way to Mars.
But here's what you can do.
Some initiatives suggest ways that you could
extract water in Martian conditions.
One of them being an aerogel developed
by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
This silica substance is meant
to warm the surface of Mars by 65°C (150°F).
That's a way to melt Martian water ice,
and have a supply of drinking water,
as well as water for irrigation.
Or you could filter your pee, as astronauts
on the International Space Station do.
This should really be the number one
tip on this list, but I wanted
to leave this hard truth to the end.
You can't go to Mars
simply because you won some contest,
or paid big bucks to join the crew.
You'll have to be a trained astronaut
with at least one master’s degree
in engineering, biological or physical science,
computer science, or mathematics.
You could have a masters in botany,
but you can't be a tourist.
If you fit the description,
your typical day on Mars will include
tending to plants, maintenance checks,
and repairs to all the water,
electrical and filtration systems
that keep your habitation operational.
And some light exploration of the planet.
You'll be sending updates
to Earth-based agencies,
and you'll most likely be
missing Earth very much.
It's just hostile.
The process of making Mars
our new home will be very slow,
but theoretically, it's doable.
We've already tried it on our other show
called WHAT IF.
And now we're here to help you survive
whatever awaits you.