CAN YOU believe what you just read! It’s just phenomenal! This is not science fiction anymore, my fellow Guyanese! It’s going to become a reality soon! More than 100,000 people are eager to make themselves at home on another planet. They’ve applied for a one-way, yes, a “one way” trip to Mars, hoping to be chosen to spend the rest of their lives on unfamiliar territory. This is according to an organization called “Mars One”, which is planning the missions that will last forever… If you do reach!

The Mars One project wants to colonize the ‘Red Planet’, Mars; people are actually going to make Mars their home at the beginning in 2023. There are financial and practical questions about this venture that haven’t been clarified. Will there be enough money? Will people really be able to survive on Mars?

For the first crew, the Mars One mission will cost a whopping US$6 billion! Sounds like a lot, but some experts say it’s a not enough to make the trip. It is envisaged to be funded by sponsors and media that will pay for broadcasting rights of shows and movies, recording everything, from the astronauts’ training on how to use programs and technological devices on Earth to their deployment and colonization of Mars. Nothing much has been said about what kind of technology is, and will be, in usage; what we do know is that it is something astonishing. Lots of devices, gadgets and software will play their part in the making of this new ‘Red World’. This plan is built upon existing technologies available from proven suppliers. Mars One is not an aerospace company, and will not manufacture Mission hardware. All equipment will be developed by third-party suppliers, and integrated in established facilities.

Of all the applicants, Mars One said it will select a multi-continental group of 40 astronauts this year. Four of them (two men and two women) are set to leave for Mars in September 2022, landing in April 2023.Another multi-continental group of four will be deployed two years later, by 2033, it is hoped to have 20 people spend the rest of their lives on the ‘Red Planet’, if all goes well. None of them will return to Earth! It’s a virtual one-way ticket!

The astronauts will endure eight to nine years of vital training in a secluded location to master the usage of all the software and gadgets; diagnose and troubleshoot them effortlessly, in the event something tragic should happen. While doing so, they will learn how to repair habitat structures; grow vegetables in cramped spaces; and address both routine and serious medical issues, such as dental upkeep, muscle tears, and bone cracks/breakages, ALL with the help of technology from earth… For a while. They will need the skills to solve any potential problem, some of which will be completely unforeseeable. The combined skills of each team member must cover a very wide range of disciplines. The astronauts must be intelligent, creative, psychologically stable, and physically healthy.

Each ‘lander’ that Mars One sends will be able to carry approximately 5,500 pounds of useful load. After eight missions, more than 44,000 pounds of supplies and people are expected to have arrived. Earth won’t be sending much water or oxygen though; those will be manufactured on Mars. Now, here is where greater technology and ingenuity will come into play.

Rover: Two Rovers will be sent to Mars to set up an outpost before the humans arrive. One of them will explore the surface of Mars in the hope of finding the most suitable location for the settlement; for the transport of large hardware components, and then general assembly. It will be accompanied by a second Rover, a trailer used for transporting the landing capsules.

Mars-suit: All astronauts must wear their ‘Mars-suits’ when exposed to Mars’ atmosphere. Like those used by the Apollo astronauts on the Moon, ‘Mars-suits’ will protect astronauts from extreme temperatures, the very thin, non-breathable atmosphere, and otherwise harmful radiation.

Communications system: The communications system will consist of two communications satellites and Earth ground stations. It will transmit data from Mars to Earth and vice versa.

Astronauts will filter Martian water from Mars’ soil, evaporate it, then condense it back into a liquid state. From the water they will make hydrogen and oxygen, and will use the oxygen for a breathing atmosphere inside the habitat. This will be prepared by the Rovers autonomously before the humans arrive.

A dangerous mission

In spite of the risks involved in space travel, the Mars One team is convinced of the viability of the project. However, some space travel experts say the risks are far too high to carry out these manned missions to Mars, a distance that humans have never before travelled.

Radiation is a big concern as well. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA, the United States government agency that is responsible for the nation’s civilian space program, and for aeronautics and aerospace research) does not allow their astronauts to expose themselves to radiation levels that could increase their risk of developing cancer by more than 3%.

To maintain the radiation exposure standards that NASA requires, the maximum time an astronaut can spend in space is anywhere from 300 days to about 360 days for the solar minimum activity.

A round-trip journey to Mars could expose astronauts to the maximum amount of radiation allowed in a career under current NASA standards, according to a recent study by NASA scientists. Mars One is planning a one-way journey, which doesn’t exclude the problem, and being on Mars could expose astronauts to even more radiation, depending on how long they stay, and what technological shielding conditions are like.

Interestingly, an astronaut’s risk of dying of cancer is lower than that of the general public, because they tend to be in shape, eat well, don’t smoke, and are carefully monitored by doctors.

Can it be done?
Mars One isn’t the only group hoping to make history by sending people to the ‘Red Planet’. The Inspiration Mars Foundation wants to launch two people – a man and a woman – on a 501-day, round-trip journey to Mars and back in 2018 without ever touching down. 501 days in space with your spouse: Could you handle it? At this time there is no technology that can protect astronauts from an excess of space radiation, we will have to wait and see what the experts can do to eradicate it.

At this point NASA is working on engines intended to cut the travel time to Mars by the 2030s, but those systems won’t be ready for many years. In the meantime, engineers could try to limit travelers’ exposures by designing a spacecraft in such a way that it provides more protection. But, Mars One founder insisted his group will get people landing on Mars by 2023.

The risks of space travel in general are already very high; so, radiation is really not our biggest concern. If that all sounds good, you can still sign up! But remember! You can never, ever, ever go home again!