Crossing theVoid

CrossingtheVoid

Theproblemsof going to M ars and how we'll solvethem

By Carter Brooks

Over fifty years ago,two men away,it takesaminimum of six just onesingular view of how thefirst becamethefirst to walk on the monthsjust to get therewith current manned mission will play out,and surfaceof theMoon,marking anew technology.Thesurfaceis also multipledifferent groupshave chapter in history.Sincethen,the inhospitableto human settlement, different ideas for how humanswill sights of spaceexploration havebeen with temperatures that can plummet reach thedusty plains of Mars.Take set much higher ? and much farther to -243degreesFahrenheit and a NASA,for example.Their ambitious away ? to Earth?snearest neighbor: carbon-dioxide-rich atmosphereless ?Moon to Mars?program will seethe theplanet Mars.Visiting thered than 1% asthick asEarth?s.Despite Moon transformed into ahub for planet has long been afar off dream, all of thesemajor roadblocks,the interplanetarytravel,aswell as a confined to therealm of science international communityhas decided destination for refueling.Assuming fiction.In recent years,however,the that paying theplanet avisit is worth theplan?s first phase,theArtemis prospect of amanned mission to therisk becauseof everything it has program,is asuccess,this will Mars within thenext few decadeshas to teach us. hopefullybecomeareality bythe increased everyday dueto our Government agencies and private 2030s.In contrast,theprivate expanding knowledgeof theplanet, businessesfrom all over theworld company SpaceXprefers amore thanks to numerous robotic missions. havebeen working toward acommon direct approach and plans on using That being said,therearestill quitea goal:makeMars aplacewhere their Starship rocket to flystraight few hurdles that need to bejumped humanscan live,and do it by theend from Earth to Mars.However,before for such amission to succeed.At an of thecentury,at thelatest. anyof theseoptions can ever averagedistanceof 158 million miles Even with this goal in mind,thereisn? t b o ec f o o b m st ea acl reality, es that there requir areanumb eimmediat er e

Imagecourtesyof NASA

Of all thecomponentsthat makeup a Mars mission,themost dangerous is likely thejourney itself.Thefarther away humans travel from Earth and thelonger wespend in space,the moreproblemsthat begin to arise.Amajority of these problems can betraced back to thebody,which isn? t adapted to living in aZero-Genvironment (that is,an environment without theusual pull of gravity experienced on Earth).Retired colonel John Allen, chief program executivefor crew

health and safetyat NASA,has long been at theforefront of addressing theseissues.

?Therearecertain hazards and risks that welook at that can potentially impact thebody,and westudythose risks very diligentlyto seewhat might happen,?Allen said.

Oneparticular areaof concern is the human skeletal system.

?Theboneitself has alatticetypeof architecture,?Allen said.?Wefind that from being in spaceflight,that Scientists areunsureif astronautson hypothetical Mars missions will be

ableto immediately stand up and begin working oncetheyreach theplanet.After spending months in littleto no gravity(G),there?s a chancethat their bones could degradeto thepoint wherethey would haveto spend timeadapting to the? Gof Mars,cutting down on the availabletimeto completetheir objectives.

Another issuerelated to theabsence of gravity in spacehas to do with balance.On Earth,under normal G,a human?s senseof direction is determined byfluids in thevestibular system of theear,with ?down?being thedirection the fluidsarepulled in. Astronautslack a senseof direction in space.This is dueto thosepreviously mentioned fluids, which areleft to float freelyin microgravity environments. Becauseof this,the bodycan? t determine itsorientation, leading to nausea and other similar As of now,themost effectivemethod of combating theseproblemshas been frequent exercise, which has been put into effect aboard the International Space " u p Station,wher sually stayfor eriod. e a astronaut 6-month s

?They exercisefor two hoursaday on board thespace station,?said Allen.?It?soneof those thingsthat?s very deliberateto try and keep them healthy.?

Dueto thestation?s proximity to Earth,it?s much easier to both replace broken equipment and deliver newer, moreeffectivemeans of exercisefor theastronauts to use.On ajourney to Mars though,such aluxury won? t be an option.Theamount of space dedicated to such equipment will also bemuch smaller,sinceacraft traveling between thetwo planets would haveto carryeverything needed for the crew to remain healthy.

?Wehaveto look toward developing exercise capabilities that will beequally effective,and on a much smaller platform,?Allen explained.

Another possible solution could

Wedon't reallyknow[what'l happen] becauseweneedto " l collect moredataontheeffects - MelissaPore,scienceteacher

involvetheuseof moreexperimental technology,though some current-day analoguescan befound in thepressuresuitsjet pilotswear.

?What Ithink is going to help is somesort of pressuresuit that mitigates thenegative effects and counteracts them to makeit more Earth-like,?said MelissaPore,a scienceand engineering teacher at Bishop O?Connell High School in Arlington, Virginia.

Such aconcept for apressuresuit has actually been tested in microgravity before.During his year in space,astronaut Scott Kelly took part in an experiment in which he donned apair of pressurized pants, normalizing theflow of blood in his legs and returning thesensation of gravity to his body.Similar technologies could beutilized to mitigatetheeffectsof being in microgravity on thewayto Mars.

In addition to thenumerous physical problemsthat are expected to occur,scientists arealso considering thepossiblesideeffects along-duration mission to Mars could haveon themental well-being of thecrew.Chieflyamong thoseis theissueof instant communication between Earth and Mars being impossible.

?As westart moving on to Mars,[our] communication becomesdelayed,so theability to havefrequent interactions will beimpacted significantly,?said Allen.

Radio waves travel at thespeed of light,or approximately 671million miles per hour.As fast asthis sounds, it still takes light just over 1second to reach theMoon from Earth.Now comparethis to Mars,which is over a

hundred timesfurther away. Messagessent by NASAto oneof their many robotic missions or satellitesoperating on Mars can take upwards of 20 minutes just to travel onedirection.

Sinceinstant communication with mission control will beimpossible,a crew traveling to Mars will only have themselvesto immediately rely on in theevent of an emergency, Mission-inhibiting problemswill have to besorted out on-sitewithout external aid.

?We? retrying very hard to build autonomoussystems,?said Allen. ?Not necessarilyrobotic,but we? re working together with robotic systems;systems that will use artificial intelligenceand other approachesto help thecrew membersbetheir own treatment providers if something comes about.?

If acrew wantsto beat peak efficiency,it?s important to makesure they?rewell-fed.At themoment, solutionsto thefood problem arefew and far between,though work is being doneto tackletheissue.On the International SpaceStation,most rationsarecontained in closed bags with hot water being added to preparethem.

However,amission to Mars could last years,and theviability of using similar rations has been called into question.As has been previously mentioned,storagespaceon aship traveling to thered planet will need to beconserved,so dedicating alarge portion of that spaceto food and water storageisn? t an option.

However,thereareanumber of

Melissa Pore (center) with her students. Image courtesy of Bishop O'Connell High School.

There potent " arecertainhazardsandrisks...that ially impact thebody,andwestudy can thoserisksverydiligently toseewhat might happen" - JohnAllen,NASA programexecutive

proposed solutions,such asone offered by thecompany Nanoracks. Their design of their Bishop Airlock would promotetheself-sustainability of acrew whilealso not cutting down on theamount of usablespacein the interior of theship.

?TheBishop Airlock has ahugeclear areawherethey? regoing to put plants and seeif they can grow easily when attached to anon-living area,?said Pore.?You pull it in from theoutside and open it,and they?regrown and don? t need care.?

Even if therewas adesignated space to grow food,it?simportant to make surethat thespaceis utilized as efficiently as possible. Thereareamultitude of different waysto ensurethis.

?Themost important thing is to grow stuff that has ahigh edible mass ratio,?said Pore. ?Themoreedible mass,themore worthwhileit isbecausespaceisso limited.?

Through experiments such as the ?veggie?experiment,where astronauts aboard theISS successfully grew lettuceplants,it?s been demonstrated that food can be grown in microgravity.

?There?s currentlywork being doneto expand that capability,to look at a larger suiteof possibilities,?said Allen.

On theway to Mars,it?s likely that this knowledgewill be used to grow a sustainablefood supply for thecrew.Thereare also methodsbeing considered by scientists and government agencies in which theliquid wasteof astronautswill be converted into potablewater.This is a highlyefficient option,sinceit would not onlyreducetheamount of water that has to bestored aboard theship, but also createaclosed system so that no water is lost.

Scientists havebeen hard at work discovering thebest solution to satisfy thecrew?s water needs on the

Martian surface.Thanksto numerous robotic missions to theplanet,the presenceof water-icehas been confirmed (whereas it was previously believed that just dry iceexisted on thesurface).Despitethis,theactual quantity of iceto befound on Mars still remains unknown.

?Futuremissions to Mars aregoing to partiallybring their own supplies of water,of course,?said Pore.?Westill need to investigatehow much ice thereis,and then go land near it.?

Utilizing icefrom thenorth pole,or liquid water extracted from below thesurface,it?s doubtful that it? ll becomeamajor issueoncea manned mission actuallyreaches Mars and establishes surface operations.

Despiteall of theprogress that?s been madein thefield over thepast few decades,there?sstill achancethat a previously unknown problem may arise.After all,there?sno way to predict all theissues that mayoccur until themission is actually attempted.

?Wedon? t reallyknow [what? ll happen] becauseweneed to collect moredataon theeffects,?said Pore. ?Wehaven? t had theexperienceto be ableto try multipledifferent things to seethegood effects payoff.?

Although traveling to Mars presents many challenges,optimistic people and organizations from across the world arealreadyhard at work to find thebest solutions.Through their dedication,and mankind?s unquenchablethirst for knowledge, it?s only amatter of timebeforea journey to thered planet leaves the pagesof sciencefiction and makes history.

A concept design of what a possible greenhouse on the Martian surface could look like. Image courtesy of the Marshall Spaceflight Center. Image courtesy of N