WEBVTT - TechStuff Visits Mars 0:00:04.120 --> 0:00:07.160 Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:13.760 stuff works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:17.040 I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 0:00:17.040 --> 0:00:20.120 How Stuff Works, and I heart radio and I love 0:00:20.480 --> 0:00:24.520 all things tech. And in our last episode, I talked 0:00:24.520 --> 0:00:29.680 about NASA's Insight Lander, which is taking a lot of 0:00:29.720 --> 0:00:33.280 measurements on Mars and it's all about helping us unlock 0:00:33.400 --> 0:00:37.159 the secret of how rocky planets in general are formed 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:40.200 and Mars in particular, as well as other details about 0:00:40.240 --> 0:00:42.920 the Red planets, sort of like a hey, what's what's 0:00:42.960 --> 0:00:45.400 your core made out of? Man? I see you've been 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:48.239 working on your core. Well, today I want to talk 0:00:48.240 --> 0:00:52.080 about the various proposed missions to Mars that would see 0:00:52.120 --> 0:00:56.800 people human beings set foot on the planet and what 0:00:57.200 --> 0:01:02.120 that would require to make it successful and not a terrible, 0:01:02.280 --> 0:01:05.319 terrible mistake. And let me tell you it's gonna require 0:01:05.400 --> 0:01:10.200 a lot, y'all. Mars, as it turns out, wants to 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:14.040 kill you. Well, I guess it doesn't really want anything, 0:01:14.280 --> 0:01:19.399 but conditions on Mars are not particularly suited towards supporting life, 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:22.760 specifically not supporting human life. So let's go down the 0:01:22.800 --> 0:01:25.760 list of what's going on over at Mars, so we 0:01:25.800 --> 0:01:29.240 can identify the challenges we have to overcome if we're 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:33.520 to ever land there and survive the experience. So the 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:35.319 first thing we can get of what out of the 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:37.440 way is something I talked about in the last episode, 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:41.440 and that's how far away Mars is from us. The 0:01:41.480 --> 0:01:45.200 Moon is about two nine thousand miles from Earth or 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:49.559 about three thousand five kilometers, which is a pretty good job. 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:52.280 But we can get there in a few days. As 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:58.240 proven by the Apollo lunar missions. Mars is much much 0:01:58.320 --> 0:02:02.760 further away, and the distance changes throughout the year between 0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:06.440 Earth and Mars because both planets are on their own 0:02:06.600 --> 0:02:09.600 orbits around the Sun, as opposed to the Moon, which 0:02:09.639 --> 0:02:12.720 obviously orbits the Earth, so the distance you must travel 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:16.680 depends upon the respective orbits of the two planets. There 0:02:16.760 --> 0:02:19.680 is a launch window that represents the lowest amount of 0:02:19.840 --> 0:02:23.840 energy required to get from Earth to Mars, and that 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:27.360 window comes around every couple of years, so you have 0:02:27.680 --> 0:02:30.480 time to plan out your mission, and you want to 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:33.600 time it just right to minimize the amount of energy 0:02:33.639 --> 0:02:35.760 you're going to need to get there. That minimizes the 0:02:35.800 --> 0:02:38.880 amount of fuel you have to carry two Mars, and 0:02:38.919 --> 0:02:42.480 once you're on Mars you should pretty much wait around 0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:45.320 for the next launch window in order to get back 0:02:45.680 --> 0:02:49.079 using the minimum amount of energy needed, because the more 0:02:49.160 --> 0:02:51.799 energy you required to make the trip, the harder it's 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:53.880 going to be to do. You know, you're gonna have 0:02:53.919 --> 0:02:56.320 to carry more fuel, it's going to be more expensive, 0:02:56.600 --> 0:03:00.360 you have to design bigger spacecraft. So these things matter 0:03:00.960 --> 0:03:04.639 more on that a little bit. Next, the atmosphere. So 0:03:04.800 --> 0:03:08.920 Mars has an atmosphere. Ya, that's a good thing, but 0:03:09.160 --> 0:03:13.559 it's not like Earth's atmosphere. Earth's atmosphere is a cocktail 0:03:13.880 --> 0:03:17.440 made up of about seventy eight percent nitrogen, twenty one 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:20.480 percent oxygen, and then a bunch of other gases in 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:25.639 very small amounts, like argone and carbon dioxide. Mars's atmosphere 0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:32.320 is about nine five three percent carbon dioxide. The atmosphere 0:03:32.360 --> 0:03:36.240 is only two point seven percent nitrogen and only about 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:42.160 point one three percent oxygen. There's also very little water 0:03:42.240 --> 0:03:45.400 vapor in Mars's atmosphere. It has a point zero three 0:03:45.440 --> 0:03:48.520 percent water vapor, whereas on Earth it's closer to one percent. 0:03:49.480 --> 0:03:53.960 So we're not talking about a breathable atmosphere. Mars also 0:03:54.000 --> 0:03:57.800 has a much thinner atmosphere than Earth does, and there's 0:03:57.800 --> 0:04:02.280 not much atmospheric pressure i they're On average, the atmosphere 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:05.880 exerts about six point one mill of bars of pressure 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:10.360 on the surface of Mars. On Earth, the average sea 0:04:10.480 --> 0:04:15.400 level atmospheric pressure is one thousand, thirteen point to five 0:04:15.600 --> 0:04:18.919 mill of bars six point one compared to one thousand, 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:22.760 thirteen point to five. That is a huge difference, though 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:25.000 you could argue some of that difference also comes down 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:28.400 to Mars's gravitational pull, which is about point three eight 0:04:28.480 --> 0:04:32.160 times that of Earth's, so you would be lighter on Mars, 0:04:32.720 --> 0:04:36.600 you know, you'd be more than more than half as light. Also, 0:04:37.200 --> 0:04:41.080 air pressure changes on Mars throughout the year. During the 0:04:41.120 --> 0:04:45.960 Martian summer, the Sun's heat will start to heat up 0:04:46.040 --> 0:04:49.880 frozen carbon dioxide which is at the polar ice caps 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:53.960 on the Martian poles, and the frozen carbon dioxide will 0:04:54.000 --> 0:04:58.040 begin to sublime. That means it will convert directly from 0:04:58.200 --> 0:05:01.760 solid form into a gas us and so the atmosphere's 0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:06.279 carbon dioxide content will increase, which means the atmospheric pressure 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:10.320 will also increase by a whole two milo bars. That's 0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:12.440 still a tiny amount of pressure, but it is a 0:05:12.480 --> 0:05:15.240 significant increase when you're looking at an average of just 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:19.560 six point one mela bars. In the winter, carbon dioxide 0:05:19.560 --> 0:05:21.559 in the atmosphere will start to freeze at the polar 0:05:21.600 --> 0:05:25.880 ice caps, and you will even see carbon dioxide snow, 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:29.880 which is kind of wild. The low atmospheric pressure and 0:05:29.960 --> 0:05:33.800 temperatures means that liquid water does not exist on the 0:05:33.839 --> 0:05:37.320 surface of Mars. Liquid water would either freeze because of 0:05:37.320 --> 0:05:41.840 the temperature or evaporate because of the very low air pressure, 0:05:42.120 --> 0:05:44.440 and it would just depend upon the local conditions at 0:05:44.480 --> 0:05:47.960 that time. And since we humans rely heavily on water, 0:05:48.440 --> 0:05:50.200 that's one of the things we would have to deal 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:51.960 with if we were to go to Mars. There is 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:55.600 water on Mars, but not really in liquid format, so 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:58.880 we would have to extract the water from various Martian 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:02.080 environments in some way and process it in order to 0:06:02.120 --> 0:06:04.640 make use of it. And we would absolutely have to 0:06:04.680 --> 0:06:07.360 do that if we wanted to stay there for any 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:10.279 real length of time and keep our water supply to 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:13.640 a level that can sustain life. You could recycle water, 0:06:14.160 --> 0:06:16.440 and in fact, we see this done a lot in 0:06:16.600 --> 0:06:20.159 space missions like the International Space Station. They're really good 0:06:20.160 --> 0:06:23.320 at recapturing water and reusing it. But even so you're 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:27.520 gonna lose some through various means, so it's good to 0:06:27.560 --> 0:06:30.679 have a way of replenishing that in the Martians spring. 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:33.480 In summer, the sun heats up the atmosphere of Mars 0:06:33.640 --> 0:06:37.719 enough to cause convection currents or wind. Sometimes that wind 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:42.000 gets pretty gusty despite the very thin atmosphere, and it 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:46.240 can blow hard enough to start picking up dust particles 0:06:46.240 --> 0:06:48.919 and blowing them around. Uh, it does have to be 0:06:48.960 --> 0:06:51.880 a pretty strong wind. Because there is so little atmosphere, 0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:55.040 it's tough for the atmosphere to move the dust. So 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:58.080 to stir up dust clouds it takes winds traveling at 0:06:58.120 --> 0:07:01.480 speeds of around six any miles per hour or one 0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:05.960 two hundred kilometers per hour. These dust storms can last 0:07:06.000 --> 0:07:09.880 for months and spread across enormous regions across the surface 0:07:10.000 --> 0:07:13.640 of Mars. So we would likely be at least partly 0:07:13.680 --> 0:07:17.040 reliant on solar power for any sort of human presence 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:20.040 on Mars. So this is another challenge because if there's 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:22.480 a really bad dust storm, you're not going to get 0:07:22.560 --> 0:07:25.840 very much solar exposure to your solar panels, so you 0:07:25.880 --> 0:07:29.680 have to have enough energy storage systems there to get 0:07:29.720 --> 0:07:33.080 you through any long periods where you have limited to 0:07:33.280 --> 0:07:36.600 no solar access. You also have to have a way 0:07:36.640 --> 0:07:39.000 of clearing those solar panels if they get covered in dust. 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:41.920 So we may not be able to depend upon the 0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:45.800 sun as the sole means of generating electricity, and in fact, 0:07:45.840 --> 0:07:49.040 a lot of the proposals I see suggest bringing along 0:07:49.120 --> 0:07:54.240 other types of sources for generating electricity, like nuclear power 0:07:54.320 --> 0:07:59.400 plants for example portable ones. Also that thin air presents 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:02.840 more challenge is than just breathing. For one thing. As 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:04.880 I said in the last episode, it really makes it 0:08:05.000 --> 0:08:09.400 hard to slow your spacecraft down as you're descending to 0:08:09.600 --> 0:08:12.680 the planet from outer space. The atmosphere is thick enough 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:15.320 to present thermal problems as you come in at high speeds, 0:08:15.320 --> 0:08:17.840 because your spacecraft will compress the air in front of it, 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:20.600 and that will cause the temperature of the surface of 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:22.480 your craft to climb quickly. So you'll need to get 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:25.240 some good heat shielding on your entry craft. But the 0:08:25.280 --> 0:08:29.080 atmosphere is so thin that a parachute is not nearly 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:31.040 as effective as it would be on Earth. It will 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:32.640 slow you down a little bit, but not as much 0:08:32.679 --> 0:08:34.640 as you would need and not as much as it 0:08:34.679 --> 0:08:38.520 would in Earth's deliciously soupy atmosphere, so you'll need some 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:42.240 sort of other method like retrorockets on your landing craft 0:08:42.280 --> 0:08:44.960 to keep things from getting too rough on arrival. The 0:08:45.000 --> 0:08:48.120 thin atmosphere also means Mars doesn't hold on to heat 0:08:48.240 --> 0:08:52.000 from the sun very effectively, even though that thin atmosphere 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:55.720 is almost entirely made up of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. 0:08:56.120 --> 0:08:58.360 The temperature on Mars can vary by as much as 0:08:58.400 --> 0:09:03.559 a hundred degrees fahrenheit or sixty degrees celsius in a day, 0:09:03.640 --> 0:09:06.200 So how the heck do you dress for that weather? Yeah? 0:09:06.200 --> 0:09:09.599 I thought Georgia was bad, and we're not done yet. 0:09:09.640 --> 0:09:13.600 The soil itself on Mars is a problem. You may 0:09:13.600 --> 0:09:17.080 have heard that on Earth where developing soil that's meant 0:09:17.120 --> 0:09:19.920 to mimic that of Mars. You can actually buy this stuff. 0:09:20.240 --> 0:09:24.160 I think it's like ten bucks a pound. So this 0:09:24.240 --> 0:09:28.120 is typically called simulant, and simulant is intended for use 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:31.559 and experiments that could lead to developing techniques for growing 0:09:31.600 --> 0:09:35.240 food crops on Martian soil, for example, or using Martian 0:09:35.320 --> 0:09:38.280 soil in other ways, like as part of a way 0:09:38.280 --> 0:09:43.440 of creating construction material. It's another uh necessity for any 0:09:43.440 --> 0:09:46.360 mission to Mars with humans is being able to grow 0:09:46.480 --> 0:09:49.040 stuff once you get to Mars, because if you're gonna 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:51.280 be on the planet for a couple of years, chances 0:09:51.320 --> 0:09:53.320 are you're not going to be able to carry all 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:56.200 of the food you're going to need for that time 0:09:56.320 --> 0:09:59.480 along with you. You just won't have the cargo capacity. 0:09:59.800 --> 0:10:02.840 It would be better if you could bring stuff that 0:10:02.920 --> 0:10:06.800 you could plant and grow at your destination. It would 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:10.560 take up less space and you would become sufficient on 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:14.480 the planet. Also, plants generate oxygen, so that would be good, 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:18.760 So simulants are good for running those kind of experiments. However, 0:10:19.120 --> 0:10:22.560 simulants tend to leave out the stuff in Martian soil 0:10:22.760 --> 0:10:25.719 that's really harmful to humans. Makes sense, you don't want 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:28.640 to put human lives at risk while you're running these experiments. 0:10:28.679 --> 0:10:31.800 But actually on Mars it's a different story. You have 0:10:31.840 --> 0:10:36.600 stuff like perchlorate chemicals, so in high concentrations such as 0:10:36.720 --> 0:10:39.360 what you would find in Martian soil, that stuff is 0:10:39.440 --> 0:10:43.080 toxic to humans. The good news is it's also a 0:10:43.080 --> 0:10:46.439 common component of rocket fuel, so maybe you could use 0:10:46.600 --> 0:10:49.120 stuff on Mars to help manufacture the fuel you would 0:10:49.160 --> 0:10:52.040 need for a return trip to Earth, but you would 0:10:52.040 --> 0:10:54.520 also need to figure out a way to thoroughly clean 0:10:54.679 --> 0:10:57.680 any component that was to pass from the surface of 0:10:57.720 --> 0:11:01.959 Mars into an inhabited area, as particles of that dust 0:11:02.080 --> 0:11:06.440 could be deadly to humans. The percolorates could have other uses, 0:11:06.640 --> 0:11:09.480 like manufacturing oxygen, but we would have to be very 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:12.840 clever in how we manage our interactions with the Martian 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:17.600 regulars to avoid the possibility of contaminating any habitats. Uh. 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:22.160 The stuff can really mess up thyroids, for example. So 0:11:23.679 --> 0:11:26.319 even the dirt on Mars is trying to kill you. 0:11:27.160 --> 0:11:31.920 But wait, there's more. I'll explain in just a moment, 0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:34.960 But first let's take a quick break to thank our sponsor. 0:11:42.559 --> 0:11:47.360 All Right, So the atmosphere on Mars cannot support life. 0:11:48.040 --> 0:11:50.840 There's no liquid water to be found on the planet. 0:11:51.160 --> 0:11:57.559 The soil itself will kill you. And then there's radiation. 0:11:58.240 --> 0:12:01.880 So on Earth, our atmosphere and the Earth's magnetic field 0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:06.439 or the magnetosphere protect us from the most harmful radiation 0:12:06.480 --> 0:12:09.120 that comes from the Sun and other sources stuff like 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:13.440 cosmic rays. But as we've mentioned, the Martian atmosphere is 0:12:13.480 --> 0:12:16.360 not so thick, and the planet has a very weak 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:21.680 magnetic field, so there isn't much protection against radiation. Also, 0:12:21.920 --> 0:12:25.760 the trip to Mars would take months, as we mentioned earlier, 0:12:25.880 --> 0:12:28.400 and during that time you would be on a space 0:12:28.400 --> 0:12:33.640 ship and potentially exposed to incredible amounts of radiation, like 0:12:33.760 --> 0:12:38.040 fifteen times more than the annual radiation limit we put 0:12:38.080 --> 0:12:41.120 in place for people who work at nuclear power plants. 0:12:41.760 --> 0:12:45.280 So the Curiosity Rover, when it was traveling from Earth 0:12:45.320 --> 0:12:49.920 to Mars, monitored how much radiation it was it was 0:12:49.960 --> 0:12:53.199 subjected to as it went through that trip, and it 0:12:53.760 --> 0:12:59.520 accumulated the equivalent radiation of twenty four cat scans on 0:12:59.559 --> 0:13:02.360 the duryation of that trip. Oh, and that long trip 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:05.640 could also cause other problems, not just the radiation. The 0:13:05.800 --> 0:13:09.079 micro gravity, the fact that you are quote unquote weightless 0:13:09.160 --> 0:13:12.480 in space can lead to stuff like loss of bone 0:13:12.559 --> 0:13:16.320 density as well as loss of of muscle tissue. So 0:13:16.559 --> 0:13:22.000 some proposed plans of sending humans to Mars include a 0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:26.760 method of generating artificial gravity, typically by spinning the spacecraft 0:13:26.920 --> 0:13:30.600 so that you have this centripetal force thing going on 0:13:31.200 --> 0:13:36.839 that you would kind of fake gravity, But that also 0:13:36.960 --> 0:13:40.719 has challenges associated with it. A big one being that 0:13:40.800 --> 0:13:45.760 if your spacecraft is not large enough, then the the 0:13:45.880 --> 0:13:49.679 radius of rotation it will be so different between your 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:52.920 feet and your head that probably messy up big time, 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:57.280 Like it would be very difficult to move around and 0:13:57.280 --> 0:14:01.400 and adapt to that kind of environment. So even creating 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:06.160 artificial gravity has its own challenges. Cosmic radiation and solar 0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:10.199 particles could continue to cause real problems on the surface 0:14:10.240 --> 0:14:13.040 of Mars even after you've gotten off the spacecraft. The 0:14:13.080 --> 0:14:17.040 threat of radiation is such that exobiologists, as to say, 0:14:17.080 --> 0:14:20.000 scientists who are studying the possibility of life on other 0:14:20.120 --> 0:14:25.040 celestial bodies, have suggested that if any organics still exist 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:29.120 on Mars, assuming they ever did exist on Mars, they 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:33.239 would likely be several feet below ground because the radiation 0:14:33.360 --> 0:14:37.760 would otherwise scour the surface of the planet clean of life, 0:14:38.120 --> 0:14:39.720 at least any kind of life that we would be 0:14:39.720 --> 0:14:44.120 familiar with. So some of those cosmic particles are traveling 0:14:44.160 --> 0:14:46.520 at such speed that when they hit Mars they actually 0:14:46.960 --> 0:14:51.240 penetrate the soil itself and bury themselves in by a 0:14:51.280 --> 0:14:54.040 few feet. So you'd probably have to dig down at 0:14:54.120 --> 0:14:56.400 least a meter or so if you hope to find 0:14:56.440 --> 0:14:59.480 evidence of organic material like the kind we have here 0:14:59.520 --> 0:15:04.360 on Earth. All right, So any mission to Mars with 0:15:04.480 --> 0:15:07.640 human beings is going to have to take into account radiation, 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:13.480 atmospheric issues, landing challenges, water supply, food supply, some means 0:15:13.520 --> 0:15:16.840 of cleaning off contaminants to avoid thyroid issues brought on 0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:20.360 by exposure to percolorance. The Hey, we've been to the Moon. 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:23.840 We can totally do this, right, Well, it's It's certainly 0:15:23.840 --> 0:15:27.720 a goal that several people and organizations have set for themselves, 0:15:27.880 --> 0:15:31.440 though not all of those proposals have been met with enthusiasm. 0:15:31.520 --> 0:15:34.520 Let's take one of the more questionable ones first, because 0:15:34.560 --> 0:15:37.120 I remember being incredibly skeptical of it when I first 0:15:37.120 --> 0:15:40.520 heard about it back in two thousand twelve. I'm talking 0:15:40.760 --> 0:15:46.520 about Mars One now. According to co founder Bas Lansdorp, 0:15:46.560 --> 0:15:49.880 he and his co founder ar No Wielders created this 0:15:49.960 --> 0:15:53.080 organization back in two thousand eleven. Their plan was to 0:15:53.080 --> 0:15:56.520 create a project with the goal of sending humans to Mars, 0:15:56.680 --> 0:15:59.320 and it would be a one way trip. Those humans 0:15:59.320 --> 0:16:03.440 were meant to a stay, publish a permanent colony on Mars, 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:07.640 and they also wanted this project to make use of 0:16:07.680 --> 0:16:10.720 as much existing technology as possible, which would help cut 0:16:10.760 --> 0:16:13.280 down costs. They wouldn't have to do research and development 0:16:13.520 --> 0:16:16.360 on new tech. They wanted to manage this with as 0:16:16.480 --> 0:16:19.920 much existing tech as they could, and they thought by 0:16:19.920 --> 0:16:22.480 making it a one way trip and by relying on 0:16:22.880 --> 0:16:27.760 existing technology, they could cut the cost down significantly. They 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:30.560 produced a roadmap back in two thousand twelve with a 0:16:30.640 --> 0:16:34.920 timeline for various key elements they identified as being necessary 0:16:35.120 --> 0:16:37.480 to lead up to the point of sending the first 0:16:37.720 --> 0:16:41.520 crew to Mars. The selection process was to begin in 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:45.280 two thousand and thirteen. Originally, the company's goal was to 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:49.480 land a small crew of four people on Mars by 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:55.000 twenty three. Well it's twenty eighteen now, so we're getting 0:16:55.040 --> 0:16:58.160 pretty darned close to that date. But no worries because 0:16:58.160 --> 0:17:02.320 over time Mars one has pushed that date back more 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:06.520 than once. The latest version of the roadmap now estimates 0:17:06.560 --> 0:17:11.320 a twenty thirty two touchdown for the first crew mission. 0:17:11.960 --> 0:17:14.640 Between now and then would be other missions to test 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:19.280 various technologies and to establish communication satellites, as well as 0:17:19.400 --> 0:17:23.640 the infrastructure that will be necessary for the colony moving forward. 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:27.679 News of the project spread very quickly in two thousand twelve. 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:31.200 Some people thought this was a really interesting idea, some 0:17:31.320 --> 0:17:37.160 people considered it interesting but really super ambitious, and some 0:17:37.280 --> 0:17:40.960 felt that it was just whackadoodle crazy talk. Now wrapped 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:45.159 up with this incredibly challenging goal of getting people to 0:17:45.240 --> 0:17:49.600 Mars safely and then keeping them alive was a reality 0:17:49.800 --> 0:17:55.280 television element. The organization sent out the equivalent of a 0:17:55.359 --> 0:17:59.760 casting call for perspective colonists. So to apply, you were 0:17:59.800 --> 0:18:02.960 so happosed to pay a forty dollar application fee and 0:18:03.040 --> 0:18:06.679 submit your application. Mars one claims that around two hundred 0:18:06.680 --> 0:18:10.880 thousand people submitted applications. I have not found any sources 0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:13.760 to back that up, but if it's true, that means 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:18.160 a cool eight million dollars flooded the organization's coffers. That's 0:18:18.160 --> 0:18:21.520 probably not true. Though NBC counted up the number of 0:18:21.600 --> 0:18:25.359 video applications that were on the Mars one website that 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:28.040 was part of the application process was submitting a video 0:18:28.160 --> 0:18:31.399 that would be hosted by Mars one. That number was 0:18:31.440 --> 0:18:36.280 two thousand seven two, which is a far cry away 0:18:36.520 --> 0:18:43.720 from two hundred thousand and then the reality television element 0:18:43.760 --> 0:18:46.199 was supposed to kick in during the training process and 0:18:46.200 --> 0:18:49.679 the selection process. There was to be a reality television 0:18:49.680 --> 0:18:53.879 show program that would document all of this, and the 0:18:54.040 --> 0:18:58.800 proceeds the money raised by advertising on that program would 0:18:58.800 --> 0:19:03.800 go towards supporting the project. That program never really materialized. 0:19:04.080 --> 0:19:07.760 There were some sort of questionable circumstances around that. I'm 0:19:07.760 --> 0:19:09.560 not going to go into it, but it just sounds 0:19:09.600 --> 0:19:13.680 like things just didn't work out properly. And anyway, even 0:19:13.680 --> 0:19:17.560 if you assume that two hundred thousand people did apply 0:19:18.080 --> 0:19:22.000 as the company suggests, that would still only mean eight 0:19:22.040 --> 0:19:24.080 million dollars and no eight million dollars and a lot 0:19:24.080 --> 0:19:27.680 of money, but it's peanuts when it comes to space travel. 0:19:27.920 --> 0:19:33.080 NASA has estimated that it would cost one hundred billion 0:19:33.160 --> 0:19:36.520 dollars to send people to Mars, although to be fair, 0:19:37.160 --> 0:19:41.399 NASA's estimate also includes bringing them back to Earth, and 0:19:41.440 --> 0:19:44.320 those estimates have ranged from one hundred billion dollars to 0:19:44.400 --> 0:19:48.960 four hundred fifty billion dollars. And keep in mind that 0:19:49.000 --> 0:19:53.280 does include bringing people back to Earth, so that obviously 0:19:53.359 --> 0:19:56.560 adds a lot to the expense, right, And that was 0:19:56.640 --> 0:19:58.520 one of the points that the Mars One folks said, 0:19:58.600 --> 0:20:00.680 is that we aren't planning on breaking them back. That's 0:20:00.720 --> 0:20:03.560 where they're gonna live, so we can cut that out 0:20:03.600 --> 0:20:08.959 of the the project entirely, but the Mars One estimate 0:20:09.200 --> 0:20:12.480 is that sending the first four colonists will cost six 0:20:12.680 --> 0:20:17.600 billion dollars. That's still an astronomical number pun intended, but 0:20:17.640 --> 0:20:19.720 it's just a drop in the bucket of what other 0:20:19.760 --> 0:20:24.479 people have estimated it cost to get a colony started 0:20:24.520 --> 0:20:28.840 on Mars. Mars One's plan is to send up living 0:20:28.920 --> 0:20:33.040 units as in habitats. These sort of like the space 0:20:33.119 --> 0:20:36.080 living rooms. The artists renderings make them look a lot 0:20:36.160 --> 0:20:38.800 like the space capsules from the Apollo missions. They kind 0:20:38.800 --> 0:20:40.960 of have that sort of general shape to them. The 0:20:41.000 --> 0:20:44.800 initial habitat would include two living units, to life support 0:20:44.920 --> 0:20:47.600 units and a supply unit, plus a couple of rovers. 0:20:48.200 --> 0:20:51.320 The first rover would actually arrive before anything else, and 0:20:51.359 --> 0:20:53.800 it would be in charge of scouting out a good 0:20:53.840 --> 0:20:59.639 location for the actual colony and then hauling the various 0:21:00.520 --> 0:21:03.439 units like the habitat and life support units to the 0:21:03.480 --> 0:21:08.960 appropriate locations at that destination. The project is pretty vague 0:21:09.359 --> 0:21:11.680 about a lot of details about stuff that would need 0:21:11.720 --> 0:21:14.480 to happen for this to all work, but it doesn't 0:21:14.480 --> 0:21:17.240 make claims that the facilities on Mars would be generating 0:21:17.280 --> 0:21:21.560 oxygen and water by processing the Martians soil and using 0:21:21.600 --> 0:21:26.840 plant systems inside habitats. The colony, according to the company, 0:21:26.840 --> 0:21:30.760 would also make use of inflatable habitats that would provide 0:21:31.080 --> 0:21:34.920 one thousand cubic meters of space. Now, if those were 0:21:34.920 --> 0:21:37.280 on the surface of Mars, you would still have the 0:21:37.280 --> 0:21:40.440 problem of radiation to deal with. But one proposed solution 0:21:40.960 --> 0:21:43.639 is to send robots up ahead that would dig out 0:21:44.200 --> 0:21:49.280 a space and inflate the habitats inside the holes, and 0:21:49.359 --> 0:21:52.800 that way you would have an underground habitat, and the 0:21:52.840 --> 0:21:57.480 soil of Mars itself could provide protection against radiation, assuming 0:21:57.480 --> 0:22:01.680 you dug down deep enough. But that does present lots 0:22:01.680 --> 0:22:04.760 and lots of other challenges. Also, Mars One isn't in 0:22:04.800 --> 0:22:09.080 the business of making this technology. They plan on contracting 0:22:09.520 --> 0:22:13.560 with other companies to provide spacecraft, launch vehicles rovers that 0:22:13.640 --> 0:22:16.080 kind of thing. As far as I know, there are 0:22:16.160 --> 0:22:19.320 no existing contracts to do any of that right now. 0:22:19.400 --> 0:22:22.000 There were some feasibility studies that were done early on, 0:22:22.080 --> 0:22:24.160 but as far as I can tell, that's all that's happened. 0:22:24.720 --> 0:22:27.679 There's also been no real information about who is developing 0:22:27.880 --> 0:22:31.680 those habitats or what the spacecraft is going to be like, 0:22:31.960 --> 0:22:35.800 or how it will even land on Mars. So, in short, 0:22:36.200 --> 0:22:40.120 there's a whole lot of stuff that's like really super 0:22:40.240 --> 0:22:44.720 necessary to make sure people don't, you know, die, and 0:22:45.080 --> 0:22:47.360 a lot of it hasn't been talked about at all. 0:22:48.080 --> 0:22:51.320 For those and many other reasons, there are plenty of 0:22:51.400 --> 0:22:54.640 people in the space business who think that Mars one 0:22:54.880 --> 0:22:59.080 is at best completely out of its element, that it 0:22:59.560 --> 0:23:02.080 has been enough way more than it can chew. There 0:23:02.119 --> 0:23:06.360 are others who worry that it's a total scam and 0:23:06.520 --> 0:23:10.679 not even a legitimate project. More than a few of 0:23:10.720 --> 0:23:13.440 the people who had made it through the initial round 0:23:13.480 --> 0:23:17.040 of the crew selection process have since left the project, 0:23:17.160 --> 0:23:20.960 many of them disillusioned about the lack of information and preparation. 0:23:21.560 --> 0:23:23.760 And it may very well be that the founders of 0:23:23.800 --> 0:23:27.359 Mars one are completely sincere in their desire to send 0:23:27.359 --> 0:23:31.119 people to Mars, but it doesn't sound like the work 0:23:31.240 --> 0:23:33.960 that was needed to make that happen and to keep 0:23:33.960 --> 0:23:37.760 people alive has been done, and I seriously doubt it 0:23:37.840 --> 0:23:42.359 will get done. There's also lots of reports about various 0:23:42.400 --> 0:23:46.360 financial problems that the company has encountered over recent times, 0:23:47.200 --> 0:23:53.159 so I would be truly shocked if even within the 0:23:53.200 --> 0:23:57.520 next twenty years, this company is able to capitalize on 0:23:57.520 --> 0:24:01.520 on even of the plans they've made. My guess is 0:24:01.560 --> 0:24:05.040 that it will limp around for a bit longer and 0:24:05.080 --> 0:24:08.040 then eventually just sort of fade away and no one 0:24:08.080 --> 0:24:12.480 will have heard of it afterward. Uh. But that's a guess. 0:24:12.480 --> 0:24:15.280 They could prove me totally wrong, and I kind of 0:24:15.280 --> 0:24:18.320 hope they do, because it would be incredible, but the 0:24:18.359 --> 0:24:22.600 odds are stacked against them. I have other Mars Colony 0:24:22.680 --> 0:24:25.080 projects to talk about, but before I get into that, 0:24:25.160 --> 0:24:35.760 let's take another quick break to thank our sponsor. Next, 0:24:35.840 --> 0:24:39.920 I want to talk about Mars Direct. This is a 0:24:39.960 --> 0:24:43.320 plan that was developed by Dr Robert Zubrin, and Zubran's 0:24:43.359 --> 0:24:46.919 plan would allow humans to not just travel to Mars, 0:24:47.200 --> 0:24:49.800 but to come back from Mars, so this is not 0:24:49.960 --> 0:24:54.000 a one way trip situation. To do so, we would 0:24:54.000 --> 0:24:57.840 have to develop methods to manufacture rocket fuel from materials 0:24:57.840 --> 0:25:02.600 on Mars, particularly materials that are found in Mars' atmosphere, 0:25:02.840 --> 0:25:05.800