WHAT WILL THE FIRST CITY ON MARS LOOK LIKE?
How many humans will it take to build it?
What will happen to the effects of the planet's low gravity?
And will it be ruled by any country on Earth, or will it have its government?
In today's video, we will find out!
THE DREAM OF LIVING IN ANOTHER WORLD For many years humanity and the most
enthusiastic scientists have dreamed of the possibility of some to build a city
on the planet Mars, from the first science fiction stories of the Adventures of John Carter to the
discovery of the canals of Percival Lowell, who believed that there was an extraterrestrial
civilization on the red planet that had built water channels all over the planet to distribute
the vital liquid to all the population. The idea of being able to populate our
red neighbor has always been on everyone's mind, but it is until now that we can glimpse a slight
possibility of making that dream possible. IS IT POSSIBLE TO ESTABLISH OURSELVES ON MARS?
Since the 60s, scientists and space agencies worldwide began to send the first space
exploration probes to Mars. The first mission to successfully reach the orbit of the red planet
was the Mariner 4 exploration probe, which passed just 6,120 miles from Mars and sent
22 photos to Earth, with which we had sharp images for the first time in the history of our neighbor.
However, these images disappointed many dreamers who expected to see forests and oceans on Mars,
as the photos only showed an arid, dry planet with no signs of life.
Since the arrival of the Mariner 4 probe to the current date, a total of 51 missions to
Mars have been sent, of which only a third have been successful; that is, in more than 60 years,
less than 20 missions have managed to reach the orbit or the Martian surface successfully.
Those missions have been enough to gather a lot of information about the red planet that helps
us better understand how the geology of the planet has developed, what are the conditions
that prevail in that place, and many other important discoveries, such as the fact that
on Mars there is frozen water at the poles. There may also be water below the surface
We currently have the following data on Mars: 1. It has a radius of 2,106 miles (3,389.5 km) and
is three times smaller than Earth, with a radius of 6,093 miles (9,807 km).
2. Duration of one day = 1d 0h 37m; the day is very similar to on Earth.
3. Force of gravity = 3,721 m/s², the attraction of Mars' gravitational pull
is one-third of Earth's. 4.
Temperatures range from 68 ºF (20ºC) during the day to -196 ºF (-127ºC) at night;
in general, it is much colder than the Earth. 5. Mars not has a magnetic field;
the solar wind reaches the surface with great intensity, wiping out all the organic matter.
6. There is a lot of methane in its atmosphere, and the air of Mars is not breathable.
7. The atmospheric pressure varies greatly depending on the year's season,
reaching such low levels that the ice at its poles sublimates; that is, it passes from the solid
state to the gaseous state instantaneously, without going through the liquid state.
All these conditions make us realize that the conditions are extreme on Mars,
and any human being who planted himself on its surface without the protection of a spacesuit
would die in a few minutes. It would not be possible to establish a city on
Mars if all these problems were not solved first. REQUIREMENTS FOR THE FIRST CITY ON MARS
The first city of Mars will have to overcome many obstacles and challenges
that no one has ever faced. Some of those problems to solve before
establishing the first city are: 1. WATER
Without water, there is no life; this has always been the case; on Mars, there is water,
but this is not available for consumption because it is frozen at the poles
or hidden many meters underground. Although this is not a problem,
there are many methods to obtain water, some of the methods that could be used
by the first astronauts who will lay the foundations of a future Martian city are:
Melting: For this, we would only have to obtain the frozen water at the poles
and melt it with heat; yes, we would have to do this procedure inside a spacecraft
or space capsule since by the low pressure of the atmosphere of Mars this would evaporate instantly.
Extraction: We could also extract it and store the water in vacuum-sealed containers.
Carry it from the Earth: As contradictory as it sounds, perhaps the most viable option at first
will be to carry the water from the ground and reuse all the body fluids such as sweat and urine
to produce more water as the International Space Station does.
2. AIR
Once the water problem has been solved, we would have to solve the air problem. For this,
we could rely on the Martian air. On Mars, 95% of the atmosphere is composed of carbon dioxide,
and do you know what things produce oxygen from carbon dioxide? Exactly. The plants!
If we can plant plants on the surface of protected Mars within a habitat where high
temperatures do not harm them, we could inject air from the outside loaded with carbon dioxide
so that the plants produce oxygen. 3. MAGNETIC FIELD
Perhaps this is one of the most challenging problems to solve.
At first, astronauts will be going to Mars could shelter from high doses of radiation
inside capsules or inside an underground room. Still, if, over time, we want to build a city
on the red planet, we will have to have some method to protect everyone from radiation.
On Earth, what protects us from solar flares and wind solar is the magnetic field that the
Earth has due to the movement of the iron core that is in the center of the planet.
Mars does not have a similar field, so the only way to protect ourselves
would be to build an artificial magnetic field around the entire planet.
Many ideas have been proposed to achieve this, but so far,
the most realistic seems to be the idea of the research team of Dr. Jim Green of NASA;
they propose that a solution to the absence of a magnetic field on Mars
could be to build a high-power magnetic dipole and place it at the Martian Lagrange L1 point, the
position at which an object would remain in orbit around the Sun in sync with the orbit of Mars.
In the video about the James Webb Telescope, we talk briefly about the Lagrange points,
but, in short, these are areas of space where the combined gravitational attraction
of two massive bodies generates a balance point where objects can stay there indefinitely, each
planet has 5 Lagrange points concerning the Sun. The Dr. Green states that this magnetic dipole
would form a magnetopause, that is, a magnetic tail that would envelop the entire red planet,
reducing the radiation and the effect of the solar wind to allow a new atmospheric balance
that would protect humans on the surface and allow the process of building cities.
THE FIRST CITY Undoubtedly, all these challenges will sooner
or later be solved. Once it is achieved, the few astronaut colonies that have successfully settled
on the surface of Mars will be ready to receive more people who are ready to build the first city.
The first city on Mars will probably be built near the first astronaut settlements,
the place is not yet clear, but indeed a place will be sought where the day and
night temperatures are not so high, where the storms are not so intense,
and above all, where there is some deposit of water that we can provide.
This first city will be built with the same technology that will be used to build the
bases on the moon and with materials very similar to those that cover the spacecraft,
capable of withstanding the planet's harsh conditions and where people can be safe.
The astronauts' stay on Mars will not be permanent as low gravity conditions will eventually cause
severe damage to the bones and muscles of the body, so every astronaut who goes to Mars to work
on building the city would have a time limit and then return to Earth to recover.
Every so often, a new fleet of astronauts would arrive who would be responsible for
replacing those on Mars to return to Earth. At first, the missions will be carried out
every 26 months because this is the time it takes for Earth and Mars to
reach their point of maximum approximation. But as spacecraft perfect themselves and
become faster and faster over the years, the time it would take for Earth's journey
to Mars gets shorter and shorter, going from several months to a couple of weeks.
After a few decades, as more astronauts arrive in large numbers,
the city on Mars will begin to take shape; due to the low force of gravity of the planet, it
will be much easier to make large constructions, and we will form huge cupulas of tens or hundreds
of kilometers where humans can live without the need for a spacesuit, just like on Earth.
The arrival of more plants and animals would help make an increasingly self-sustaining colony. The
maximum use of water would allow extended stays on the planet without the need to return to Earth.
THE EFFECTS OF GRAVITY As we already mentioned, the gravity of
Mars is only a third of that on Earth; at first, this will be a big problem since astronauts will
not be able to adapt to this in any way; it has been shown that even astronauts who remain in good
physical condition, exercising on the ISS, still show severe damage to their muscles and bones.
Although it is impossible to predict, many analysts think that it is likely that in the
future, we will find a way to adapt to the low gravity of Mars; perhaps the only way
is by modifying DNA or with the natural selection that gives better capabilities
to future babies born to couples living on Mars. For now, it is unpredictable to know how we will
combat this problem; what is certain is that somehow we will have to do it.
MARTIAN GOVERNMENT What laws will be obeyed on Mars? Will there
be a government that tells astronauts what to do, or will astronauts be free to do as they please?
Initially, astronauts arriving on Mars will be controlled entirely by the space agencies
and governments of which they are part; if there is a Japanese astronaut on Mars,
the direct head of this astronaut will be the Japanese space agency as, the Japanese government.
But what will happen to astronauts born on Mars? What will happen when all the people on Mars are
born on that planet, and none were ever on Earth? To which government will they belong?
This is not a simple answer to answer. An easy rule could be that people born
on Mars will have the same nationality as their parents, but what if both parents had
different nationalities? In theory, parents should decide their child's nationality before they die.
At first, things will likely be very similar to what happens in Antarctica.
In Antarctica, there are different research missions where scientists worldwide
live daily inside small camps that protect them from the harsh inclement weather.
Although many parts of the world countries are at war or conflict, in Antarctica,
these conflicts do not interfere with daily work since people are busy trying not to die of cold.
In the first city of Mars, something similar will happen; although everyone will have different
nationalities, no matter how many wars take place on Earth, each inhabitant of the red planet
will have a task to fulfill and will not have time to worry about the
political conflicts that occur on Earth. But what will happen many decades later
when many people live on Mars and are all different nationalities?
Which government will answer for them? Will there be a possibility that all governments will agree
to intervene in what happens on another planet? In this scenario, it is likely that the Martians,
that is, the people born on Mars, with time, will cease to depend on a government on Earth
and begin to govern themselves, establishing their own rules and their Marcian government.
Now, what do you think? Which of these scenarios do you think will be the most difficult for people
who have to build the first city on Mars to solve? Let us know your opinion in the comments.