The Apollo 11 mission landed the first men on the moon. It not only captivated the entire world but
also changed the course of humanity towards a space-faring civilisation. It was the first
time in history that humans walked on another celestial object. Since then it's been 50 years
and we haven’t been to the moon. But that is set to change! NASA’s Artemis program will set
the course for Humanity’s return to the moon. But there is another much anticipated mission
that will break the records and imagination of Apollo 11- The first human landing on Mars!
But landing humans on the red planet is no easy task. It requires a lot of technological advances
that we currently lack and the greatest minds of the world are working on them.
What are these technologies that will land humans on mars? How important are these
for making a self-sustainable settlement on Mars? We will discuss all of that and more!
Number 7- 3-D Printing
The dream of establishing a colony on mars is slowly getting closer. And one important
technology that we will need is 3D printing. The International Space Station has been using
3D printers for many years to make tools, but they are just the beginning of what 3D printing can do.
3D printing will help us to build different types of habitats on mars safe and economical
and above all protect us from cosmic radiation. It wouldn't make sense to carry structures from earth
to build things on mars. With 3D printing we can build habitats, tools etc. And many more on mars
itself. Printers can now produce tens of thousands of units at a cost similar to standard production.
As a result, we will see 3D printing spread far and wide across aircraft in all industries,
including those aimed at basic life systems. And that will help future Martian settlements
make custom solar panels, air cleaners, heat exchangers, special vehicles, agricultural
tools and other things we have not yet seen. No matter how many probes we send in advance,
Martian colonists will face surprises and need to upgrade with flexible 3-D printers.
Number 6- Energy
Surviving on Mars requires an uninterruptible power supply.
In the same way that we require a consistent supply of electricity to keep the lights on,
astronauts will want a dependable source of energy that can provide power under any circumstances.a.
Generating Renewable energy on mars will be the key to have a self-sustaining
settlement and also technologically challenging. For starters, main energy supplies like sun and
wind are poor in comparison to Earth due to relatively low air pressure
and limited solar irradiation. Second, due to the terrible climatic conditions, the high level of
automation necessary, and the extraordinary effort and cost of transporting material to the planet.
For an efficient renewable energy solution, it is critical to integrate complementary resources,
just as it does on Earth. One of the things that will be crucial to attain
would be the ability to use in-situ materials and generate energy. Due to the insanely high
cost of transportation, relying on Earth for energy is not a very good option.
Utilizing in-situ resources to generate energy would be the key to a base on mars. Nuclear power
too could prove to be a great source of energy on mars. The first tests of nuclear power will occur
on the moon during the artemis mission and once they are proven viable they will be used on mars.
Number 5- Inflatable heat shield
Heat shields are a critical part of landing humans on earth and on mars.
They protect the spacecrafts from atmospheric hazards like intense heat and friction.
The amount of heat shielding that a spacecraft can have is limited by weight and space constraints.
NASA, for example, is nearing completion of an inflatable heat shield capable of
providing maximum surface area coverage while remaining as small as feasible while not in use.
The largest rover we have ever encountered on Mars is the size of a car, and sending people to Mars
will require a much larger spacecraft. The new technology will allow heavier spacecraft to enter
Martian space, get closer to the surface, and stay close to where the astronauts want to explore.
NASA operates a breathable heat shield that allows a larger space to take up less space
in a rocket than a solid one. Technology can make spaceships on any space planet. It
can grow and explode before entering the Martian atmosphere to land safely and in space.Technology
is not ready for the Red Planet yet. Upcoming 6-meter-wide (approximately 20-foot) flight tests
will show how aeroshell works as it enters Earth's atmosphere.
Experiments will prove that it can survive extreme heat as it enters Mars.
Number 4- Laser communication
Communication with astronauts on mars will be an important aspect that scientists
will have to focus on. They will need to use lasers to keep in touch with the astronauts.
The laser communication system on Mars can transmit large amounts of real-time data and
information, including high definition video feeds and images from astronauts.
With the current technology Shipping a Mars Earth map may take up to nine years, but nine
weeks with laser communication. Technology will also allow us to connect with the astronauts,
see and hear more about their experience on the Red Planet. NASA has already proven the benefits
and utility of laser communication from the moon in 2013. The next demo of the agency will work
with a variety of operating conditions, optimize the identification system, and address technical
challenges from low-Earth orbit - things like clouds and other communication disruptions.
For this purpose NASA is developing small spacecraft surveillance systems, including
the ISS and its first Artemis mission. Other ventures of laser communication will go into deep
space to understand more about this technology when it's millions of miles away from earth.
Number 3- Martian home and Lab on wheels
This will be a very unique state of the art technology that NASA is working tirelessly to make
a reality. A Martian home and lab on wheels, much like the one we saw in the movie ‘The Martian’
will be very crucial for astronauts in the initial phase of the settlement.
NASA plans to combine the first Martian home and vehicle into a single rover, which will reduce the
items needed to land on the surface and mobility. They have already done extensive rover testing on
Earth to develop a mobile home like this on the Moon. Future Artemis astronauts who live
and work in the pressurized Moon rover will offer valuable feedback which will help refine the rover
capabilities for astronauts on Mars. NASA robots will help with Martian design, too - everything
from the best wheels on Mars to the way a giant car will travel in difficult terrain.
Very much like an RV, the pressurized mars rover and lab will have everything that astronauts will
need to live and work for weeks. It will have all the life support systems, comfortable clothing and
many more. They can even drive tens of miles from spacecraft that will launch them back to space for
the return trip to earth. While encountering special locations, scientists can put on
their high-tech spacesuits and exit the rover to collect specimens and conduct science experiments.
Number 2- Sustainable High-tech Space-suits
Spacesuits are an important aspect for going into space. They are like spacecraft
designed for astronauts. NASA’s Current space suits are very high-tech with their modular
design to be developed for use anywhere in space. The first woman and the next man on the Moon
will wear NASA's next-generation space shuttle called the exploration extravehicular mobility
unit or xEMU. Aerospace clothing puts workers' safety first while allowing Artemis Generation
pedestrians to perform more natural, Earth-like movements and perform tasks that were not possible
during the Apollo missions.Upcoming developments to address the differences on Mars may include
life-saving technology in a carbon dioxide-rich environment and outerwear designed to keep the
atmosphere warm during the Mars winter and to prevent overheating in the summer.
Number 1- Powerful Propulsion systems
The first step to build a settlement on Mars is to first reach the planet.
The journey to mars will not be an easy one, and a lot of challenges will be faced by us. It will be
one of the hardest endeavors humanity will ever attempt. To reach Mars, astronauts will have to
take a 140 million miles journey in Deep Space. The current methods we use to send spacecraft
to mars are not viable for sending humans. The current method we use to send spacecrafts to outer
space and other worlds is –The gravity assist, a method of propulsion that uses the gravity
of a gravitational body to literally pull the spacecraft into a new trajectory. Even though we
can build these spacecraft and send them to other worlds to explore with gravity assist methods,
sending ourselves in Space and to other planets is a completely different thing. We cannot use a
method like Gravity assist to travel to other planets. 35 years is a long time for a human.
So far, the furthest humans have traveled into space is to the dark side of the moon,
which is just 400 000 kilometers away. If our goals to establish colonies on Mars are
to be realized, we will need quicker and more efficient spacecraft than we presently have.
Humans aren't accustomed to staying in space for so long. The Hohmann transfer technique, with
launch windows every 26 months, is the quickest and most efficient way we know for reaching Mars,
and it takes around 9 months to accomplish. A round trip would take about 21 months to complete.
We would need to spend thousands of dollars a second to just get to the red planet and
would have to sacrifice a large amount of payload, based upon our current technology
and not to mention the kind of impact such a long trip would have upon human psychology.
Advancements in our propulsion technologies are the key to reach Mars safely and quickly.
Currently Scientists are working on a lot of different propulsion technologies that might
achieve this goal for us. Right now it's still very early to predict which nuclear propulsion
method will take astronauts to Mars, but most probably it will be a nuclear-enabled method
to reduce the time taken to reach mars. Scientists are also working on ion propulsion
which might also help us reach mars efficiently. As of today, NASA is working on multiple options,
including nuclear thermal propulsion and nuclear electric propulsion. Both of these methods
use nuclear fission as their core principle but are very different from each other.
A nuclear electric rocket is more suffienect but it doesn't generate a lot of thrust. Whereas
Nuclear thermal propulsion provides much more thrust. Whichever system is selected,
the fundamentals of nuclear propulsion will reduce the crew’s time away from Earth.
The agency and its partners are developing, testing, and maturing critical components
of various propulsion technologies to reduce the risk of the first human mission to Mars.
Landing on mars doesn't mean taking a big rocket and going on a journey to the red planet.
In order to reach the planet and return safely, sophisticated advanced technologies will be
required. Currently a lot of government and private companies are working to achieve
these technologies. Most of these technologies are already in the testing phase as we speak.
So what do you think about the technologies we need to land humans on mars?
By which year do you think the first Human will set foot on mars? Let us know your thoughts in the
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