Space is not as safe and empty as you might imagine. Dangerous meteoroids
move at extreme speeds, thousands of miles an hour. Some even though
they
are only the size of a grain of sand, can rip through a space
craft. If we are to travel to mars, we must develop smart materials to
combat the harshness of space. It's not only solid particles that space
travelers need to worry about, cosmic rays are also a real risk and
could potentially cause cancer by invisibly destroying vital DNA. If
some how you were left unprotected in space or on the Martian planet
surface, the gas in your lungs and the solutions in your blood stream
would expand and kill you. For this reason a space suit that meets these survival needs must be fine-tuned.
The
first unmanned space craft was launched in the fall of 1957 by
the USSR, bringing the first artificial satellite out of Earth’s atmosphere,
and beginning the great space race
to see which country would be the first to land a man on the moon. The United
States won the race in the summer of 1969 and has had its sites set on
expanding its horizons even further ever since Mars, for several reasons, meets the
criteria of the next planet of man to concur. Both the U.S. had made numerous
attempts to explore the red planet in the years leading up to, and in the
decades following the moon landing, but it was not until 1997 that the U.S.
successfully landed the Mars Pathfinder on the surface of the planet.
Several rovers have made the trip in the years since and have brought back
valuable pieces of scientific data to be studied in Earth-bound laboratories.
Now, the question to be answered is, when will man walk on Mars? Better yet,
could man be able to leave Earth behind and live on Mars?
Back in 2013, Bas LAndrop, foiunder of the Mars One SpaceProject, presented
an idea for a small group of volunteers to be sent to Mars on a one-way flight
in 2023. While, I do commend the level of commitment that involvement in this
type of project would require, and can understand the desire for people to
travel beyond what they already know, I cannot imagine leaving the life I know
behind, even if it means having a large impact on the advancement of both science
and human life.
