Colonizing Mars has long been a dream for many on planet Earth. But what seemed impossible
a few decades ago, is increasingly becoming a feasible reality. Nowadays,
we’re no longer asking “will it happen?” but “how will it work?” And we’re picturing what
the crucial first few years will look like when we finally establish a colony there.
This is Unveiled, and today we’re answering the extraordinary question:
What will the first 1,000 days on Mars be like?
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Before you start packing your bags and preparing for life as an interplanetary settler, there are
a few things you should know about our dusty, red neighbour. For starters, the trip is going
to take anywhere from three-and-a-half months to a year, depending on the positions of Earth and Mars
at the time of take-off. Upon arriving, you’ll be greeted by a seriously harsh environment. The wild
west has nothing on the brutal conditions of the red planet. Not only is Mars a barren desert, but
it’s also an incredibly cold, incredibly hostile desert. With average temperatures around minus-60
degrees Celsius, very little oxygen, and extreme solar radiation due to the lack of atmosphere,
the only way to enjoy the great outdoors on Mars would be in a spacesuit. However,
you may have some fun with Mars’ gravity. With 62% less gravity than Earth, bouncing around would be
exhilarating. And with a year on Mars lasting almost twice as long as on Earth, you’d have
plenty of time to practice cutting some shapes. Mars wasn’t always so hostile to life,
though. Once, it was a lot like Earth. Around the time life was emerging on our planet some four
billion years ago, Mars was home to rivers and lakes. While we don’t know for sure,
the conditions certainly seemed like they were favourable for life. However, that changed
when Mars lost its magnetic field, allowing its surface to be ravaged by solar winds, effectively
eliminating any chances of life from that point forward. So what if, upon arrival, we changed the
surface of Mars back to something more suitable? Terraforming Mars would be a massive
undertaking. For starters, it’s far too cold, and its atmosphere far too thin,
to support liquid water - something all life as we know it needs. And there’s precious little
breathable air. First of all, then, we’d need to warm its surface. Which is easier said than done.
Elon Musk has famously suggested exploding nuclear weapons over the Martian polar caps to
release what we need. But, even if we were able to do that, the carbon dioxide created by the
evaporating water might never be enough for our requirements. So, what are the other options?
Some have suggested mining the trapped carbon within Mars’ surface, and building an atmosphere
out of that. But that also seems unlikely to provide enough of what we need. Scientists are
currently experimenting with a bacteria, too, that could potentially convert Mars’ current atmosphere
into breathable oxygen. There have been some promising results, but any technology
capable of transforming the entire surface of a planet is still a long way away. On top of that,
we’d need to fix Mars’ broken magnetic field, if we ever wanted to maintain an atmosphere - an
impossible task with current tech. And, in the context of today’s video, even if we were able
to address all these issues, it would likely still take more than 1,000 days to properly transform
Mars into a life-sustaining planet. We might set things up in our first three years, but it’s
doubtful that we’d yield the reward so quickly. So, while instant terraforming may be off the
table, that doesn’t stop us from planning a future on Mars - it’ll just mostly be
confined to indoors. And, in truth, the work would begin long before any humans arrived.
The first few trips will likely be unmanned, depositing robots and cargo to prepare for the
eventual arrival of us, humans. These robots will scout a suitable location for the establishment
of a permanent colony. They’ll make sure there’s plenty of resources nearby and may even
flatten out an area to create a landing space for future shuttles. If mining were the way to go,
then the robots could also start drilling for CO2, and any other resources we may need.
When Mars has been suitably prepared for our arrival, the first few crewed shuttles will
launch. According to a June 2020 study by French Professor Jean-Marc Salotti,
and published in Scientific Reports, the minimum number of people needed to properly settle a
planet for long-term habitation is 110. When those 110 people get to Mars, though, they’ll
likely spend the first couple of years - 700 days or so - aboard the ship that brought them there.
That’s because the settlers will have to spend their time constructing permanent housing
structures… but, in the meantime, their ship will already have everything they need for shelter.
The permanent structures will need to be self-sustaining, be protected from Mars’
high levels of radiation, and be capable of supporting life for long periods of time.
Perhaps the simplest solution, then, would be to build them underground.
It’s estimated that building structures under at least ten feet of soil would be soil enough to
protect people from the intense radiation. The next big challenge, however, would be providing
these structures with enough oxygen. Relying on shipments of oxygen from Earth could present a
major problem in the event of a disaster. But this is where the MOXIE project comes in.
MOXIE, or Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment, is a prototype being tested on the
Perseverance Rover. The small unit, about the size of a car battery, is able to take
Mars’ CO2-rich atmosphere and convert it into breathable oxygen. Currently, in its small form,
it’s able to create one hour’s worth of oxygen with each test. For it to work for just one human,
it would need to be at least 100 times larger. But there’s no doubt that, here,
we have already made an exciting start. Nevertheless, if not for oxygen, then during
the first few years on Mars… settlers will have to rely on cargo drops from Earth for food. This is
because Mars is a very poor place in which to grow crops. Its soil isn’t really soil, it’s regolith,
a loose, rocky material. And it contains a salt called perchlorate which is toxic
to humans in large quantities. The sunlight on Mars is also a lot weaker than it is on Earth,
which hurts any crops that require it to grow. All of which means that hydroponics, currently
being used on the International Space Station, are probably our best bet. This involves growing crops
indoors and providing all the nutrients plants need via liquid solutions. The problem, however,
is that it’s tough to produce food that’s high in calories this way. While lettuce may be great
for a salad, you can’t subsist entirely on it. Even with hydroponics up and running, it still
may only be able to account for much less than half the required food for a colony. So, here’s
hoping those cargo drops are always on time. Medicine will also be a challenge on Mars.
For a colony to be truly self-sufficient, it needs to manufacture its own medicine.
Scientists are, of course, currently working on that problem. Artificial leaves being developed
by a team of scientists at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, for example,
are said to be able to take small amounts of sunlight and turn it into enough power to fuel
the chemical reactions needed to make medicine and other compounds - in what could prove a huge
breakthrough for health and first aid on Mars. So, now that we’ve dealt with many of the
technical problems, what would life be like day-to-day for the average person? The first week
or so upon arrival would likely be spent adjusting to Mars’ gravity. The long trip and the change of
atmosphere will certainly be hard on the body and the mind - so those making the journey will need
time. After that, it’s straight to the daily grind of building habitable structures,
mining materials, conducting experiments, and trying not to get lonely. Because of the positions
of Earth and Mars, shuttles may only come and go every two years. This small launch window
means that the first group of settlers might be on their own for at least that period of time…
But then, when a new group does arrive, and some of the originals perhaps return to Earth,
we could start to see a lot of growth on Mars. Fresh faces, new ideas, and new networks combined
with the priceless experience of the original team, and by “Day 1,000” the first permanent Mars
base may well have been established. Complete with its own dock and refuelling station,
this is when Mars will start to truly resemble something out of a Sci-Fi movie.
But, between now and then, there’s so much work ahead of us. And those brave
first groups of settlers will spend most of their time building what could become a future
second home for the people of Earth. And that’s what the first 1,000 days on Mars will be like.
What do you think? Is there anything we missed? Let us know in the comments, check out these other
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