Why no human has yet reached mars

Humans have not yet reached Mars because of the many challenges astronauts would face on the journey and once there:

  • Radiation Solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CME) can kill astronauts before they reach Mars. It’s also not clear how effective Mars’ atmosphere would be as a radiation shield. 
  • Gravity Astronauts would experience weightlessness during the six-month journey to Mars, and then have to live and work in gravity that’s about a third as strong as Earth’s. They’d also have to readjust to Earth’s gravity when they return. 
  • Equipment Astronauts would need to overcome the possibility of equipment failure that keeps them alive. 
  • Atmosphere Mars’ atmosphere is 95.32% carbon dioxide, 2.7% nitrogen, 1.6% argon, and 0.13% oxygen, and the atmospheric pressure is over 100 times less than Earth’s. Humans can’t breathe Martian air. 

NASA has sent rovers, landers, and orbiters to Mars to gather information that will help keep future astronauts safe. NASA is also working on new technology through Artemis that could eventually enable humans to travel to Mars

Focusing all our efforts on reaching Mars in that window would mean we’d only have a chance every 15 years—it would be something of a “one-trick pony” in other words. Technology of course plays a role in all of this. Most rockets that we’ve launched out of the atmosphere have been propelled by rocket fuel

When will humans go to mars

As of March 2024, NASA hopes to land humans on Mars by the 2030s. NASA is also planning three analog missions to Mars to better understand the requirements for a habitat on the planet. The first mission is scheduled to begin in 2023, the second in 2025, and the third in 2026

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is also working on plans to send humans to Mars. In February 2024, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Nova-C lander for the IM-1 mission, which could be a major milestone towards Musk’s plans

2030s

NASA is advancing many technologies to send astronauts to Mars as early as the 2030s

Will humans ever live on Mars?

Mars might not be somewhere we could live. We are not sure how effective Mars’s atmosphere would be as a radiation shield (how will astronauts hide from radiation on Mars?) And we must remember that the explorers will have to spend a long time on the planet. There can be no quick there-and-back dash, as with the Moon

Mars has called to us since ancient times. To humans across the eons, the red-tinted speck glinting in the night sky has garnered special attention, with myths and legends wound around its possible ties to Earth. As we observed Mars with telescopes, this fondness graduated into a scientific fascination

Within only about the last half century, as science has continued to advance, we gained the ability to land scientific instruments on the Red Planet. Beginning with the Viking probes in 1976 and continuing through the Perseverance rover and its flying companion, the Ingenuity helicopter drone, this robotic exploration has allowed humans to discover complex secrets of Mars

But this is far from the end of our ambitions. Indeed, humans have planned crewed missions to Mars since at least as far back as the 1950s. Scientists and CEOs alike have crafted intricate ideas to establish a presence on the Red Planet, ranging from small-scale research outposts to major settlements. Elon Musk’s plans to put a million people on Mars stand as a particularly bold example

The first step 

Let’s look at things as they are now. Earlier in 2023, NASA and DARPA announced a partnership to design nuclear rockets, which some attest could be the first step toward a Mars mission. Elsewhere, analog habitats funded by organizations like the Mars Society simulate missions to Mars to prepare potential travelers for the journey. And futurists like Robert Zubrin and Elon Musk draw up plans to send people to Mars by as soon as the late 2020s, with Musk claiming he can establish a colony of one million people by 2100

It’s fascinated us for centuries, inspiring astronomers, science fiction writers and more than a few star-gazing entrepreneurs who have plans to launch their own missions to Mars. But will we really ever set foot on the red planet where a year lasts 687 days?

The next frontier

After the Apollo Moon missions in the 1970s, sending astronauts to Mars seemed the next logical step, but it would be a ‘giant leap’, politically and financially. Space is big: while it took the Apollo astronauts only four days to reach the Moon, with present technology it would take about nine months to reach Mars. By the time the planets align favourably for a return, a complete mission might last two or three years. Throughout that time, the astronauts would need food, water and oxygen, plus protection from radiation

Why we explore Mars—and what decades of missions have revealed

Humans explore Mars for many reasons, including:

  • Searching for life Mars is one of the few places in our solar system where life may have existed. Studying rocks, sediments, and soils on Mars can help scientists find clues about the planet’s history and potential for life. For example, NASA’s Perseverance rover is searching for evidence of microbial life at a landing site that may have been a lake with rivers 3.5 billion years ago. 
  • Understanding Earth’s past and future What we learn about Mars can help us understand Earth’s past and future, and may help answer whether life exists beyond Earth. For example, studying Mars’ ancient magnetic field can provide information about its past interior structure, temperature, and composition. 
  • Preparing for future human exploration Robotic missions can help scientists find potential resources and assess the risks of working on Mars. 
  • Developing new technologies The space program has led to the development of many technologies, including GPS, medical diagnostic tools, wireless technology, and camera phones

Mars remains our horizon goal for human exploration because it is one of the only other places we know where life may have existed in the solar system. What we learn about the Red Planet will tell us more about our Earth’s past and future, and may help answer whether life exists beyond our home planet

Why is Elon musk exploring mars

Elon Musk has expressed interest in Mars since at least 2001, and has said that he wants to eventually enable human exploration and settlement of Mars. His SpaceX company has stated its goal is to colonize Mars to ensure the long-term survival of the human species. Musk has said that he envisions a future where Mars colonization is accessible to the masses, and that future trips to Mars will be as routine as domestic flights. He has also said that he plans to use the natural resources on Mars to transform its atmosphere, turning the planet into a warmer, wetter place

As early as 2007, Elon Musk stated a personal goal of eventually enabling human exploration and settlement of Mars, although his personal public interest in Mars goes back at least to 2001 at the Mars Society. SpaceX has stated its goal is to colonize Mars to ensure the long-term survival of the human species

SpaceX’s Mars mission is called Starship, which is a fully reusable and orbital rocket system that includes a Super Heavy first stage booster and a Starship second stage spacecraft. The goal of Starship is to reduce launch costs and maintenance between flights. Musk has said that Starship could take people to Mars almost like a daily flight. However, a recent Starship flight ended in an explosion, and progress on the project remains slow

The company’s current Mars plan was first formally proposed at the 2016 International Astronautical Congress alongside a fully-reusable launch vehicle, the Interplanetary Transport System. Since then, the launch vehicle proposal was altered and renamed to “Starship”, and has been in development since

The Artemis mission to moon and mars

NASA’s Artemis program is a lunar exploration program that aims to prepare for human missions to Mars. The program’s goals include: 

  • Establishing a long-term presence on the Moon 
  • Landing the first woman and person of color on the Moon 
  • Exploring the Moon using new technology 
  • Laying the groundwork for sending astronauts to Mars

The Artemis program was established in 2017 and is expected to cost over $93 billion between 2012 and 2025. NASA is collaborating with international and commercial partners on the program, including ESA, JAXA, DLR, ASI, ISA, and CSA. 

The Artemis program is intended to reestablish a human presence on the Moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972. The program’s stated long-term goal is to establish a permanent base on the Moon to facilitate human missions to Mars. Artemis 2 ( NET September 2025

As of May 2024, no humans have been to Mars in person. However, NASA has sent robotic landers and rovers to Mars, including the Mars Exploration Rovers and the Mars Science Laboratory. These missions have provided valuable information about the planet’s geology, atmosphere, and potential for habitability. NASA hopes to land the first humans on Mars by the 2030s

Have astronauts landed on Mars?

A Mars landing is a landing of a spacecraft on the surface of Mars. Of multiple attempted Mars landings by robotic, uncrewed spacecraft, ten have had successful soft landings. There have also been studies for a possible human mission to Mars including a landing, but none have been attempted

The mars habbitat

Mars habitat is a hypothetical place where humans could live on Mars, which has a very different environment than Earth. Mars habitats would need to withstand extreme cold, low pressure, high radiation, and almost no oxygen in the air. They would also need to provide a pressurized environment for humans to live in for long periods of time

Some Mars habitat concepts include:

  • Foster + Partners A 3D-printed dwelling for up to four astronauts made from regolith, the loose soil and rocks on Mars’ surface. The habitat would be delivered in two stages, with semi-autonomous robots first digging a crater and then inflatable modules being delivered to form the core of the settlement. 
  • MARSHA An upright, multi-level, egg-like structure that stands on the surface of Mars. Its shape minimizes mechanical stresses at the base and top, and is optimized to handle thermal stresses and internal atmospheric pressure. 

NASA has also created a simulated Mars habitat at its research base in Houston, Texas, for three planned experiments called the Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analogue (CHAPEA). The CHAPEA base has a work area, living and kitchen area, private bedrooms, bathroom, medical area, comms center, exercise room, airlock, and an “outside” area that mimics the Martian surface. 

Mars habitat is often conceived as part of an ensemble of Mars base and infrastructure technologies. Some examples include Mars EVA suits, Mars rover, aircraft, landers, storage tanks, communication structures, mining, and Mars-movers (e.g. Earth-moving equipment

Mars habitats could be made from a variety of materials, including:

  • Martian soil A weakly consolidated material made of regolith, aeolian deposits, fluvial deposits, mineral sediments, ores, and dust. When compressed, the particles can bond together to form building blocks that could replace bricks. 
  • Space bricks A combination of Martian soil, bacteria, and urea, a waste product eliminated by mammals through urine. 
  • Chitin An organic polymer found in arthropods and fish scales that can be mixed with a mineral that mimics Martian soil to create a material for building shelters and tools. 
  • Sulfur concrete A waterless material that can be used in 3D printers and is workable in Mars’s atmosphere and temperatures. 
  • Fungi A lightweight material that can be brought to Mars in a compact habitat. Once there, water can be added to the fungi, which will grow around a framework to create a habitat.

Electronic devices and lights generate heat that rises in the air, even as there are extreme temperature fluctuations outside. One idea for a Mars habitat is to use a Martian cave or lava tube, and an inflatable air-lock was proposed by Caves of Mars Project for making use of such a structure

The sleeping pod on mars missions

NASA and other space agencies are developing suspended animation projects for missions to Mars and beyond. These projects could allow astronauts to enter a hibernation-like state called torpor for weeks or months, instead of being frozen in time. If successful, these projects could make spaceships more compact and less expensive to propel through space

Some suggest that hibernation pods for Mars missions should have the following settings:

  • A quiet environment 
  • Low lights 
  • Low temperature, less than 10 °C 
  • High humidity 
  • Astronauts wearing clothing that avoids overheating 
  • Wearable sensors to measure posture, temperature, and heart rate 
  • Water containers around each capsule to shield against radiation 

Inflatable sleeping pods could also be used by astronauts to sleep and relax, and to shield themselves from radiation during solar storms. 

For sleep they crawl into a sleeping bag and anchor themselves to a wall. In the case of the ISS they have a small sleeping compartment they secure themselves into. In the case of Starship it may be more like a bed they seatbelt into or whatever. After all, they have to use it on Mars too, where there is gravity

As of December 2021, NASA has a cryogenic sleep chamber that can lower an astronaut’s body temperature to 32–34°C, which can trigger hibernation for up to two weeks. This type of artificially-induced hibernation is called cryogenic sleep. In this state, astronauts would need less food and water, and could travel for months without noticing

NASA has also partnered with SpaceWorks Enterprises to develop a cryosleep chamber for future deep space exploration missions. SpaceWorks has a team of engineers, former astronauts, physicians, and hibernation researchers who are considering how to safely send astronauts into torpor and design a spacecraft to accommodate them. 

However, as of December 2022, there is no technology to revive people in cryosleep without causing irreparable damage. This is because the human body is full of water, which expands when it freezes. 

Mars our future home

Mars is not currently habitable for humans, but many scientists believe it could be in the future if some fundamental problems are solved. Mars has many challenges, including: 

  • Atmosphere: Mars’ atmosphere is very thin and made up of almost entirely carbon dioxide, and it contains less than 1% oxygen. It’s also not clear how effective the atmosphere would be as a radiation shield. 
  • Temperature: Mars can get very cold at night, below -100 degrees Fahrenheit. 
  • Radiation: Mars has dangerously high levels of radiation. 
  • Soil: Most of Mars’ soil is poisonous. 
  • Gravity: Mars has less gravity than Earth. 
  • Travel time: It takes nine months to travel to Mars.

Some say that Mars is the best candidate for a home in our solar system because it’s the most similar planet to Earth. Mars has polar ice caps that grow and recede with the seasons, and evidence of water channels similar to those on Earth. Evidence also suggests that Mars was once warmer, had a thicker atmosphere, and was full of water, which could have made it habitable

Other reasons why some say Mars could be our next home include:

  • Self-sustaining A self-sustaining settlement on Mars would be unaffected by planet-wide catastrophes on Earth. 
  • Scientific discovery Mars is a rich destination for scientific discovery, and could teach us about how life forms and dies on a planet. 
  • Technological advances The journey to Mars and the challenges of living there will require new technology, which could advance fields like robotics, artificial intelligence, and space medicine. 
  • Backup planet Some argue that colonizing Mars as a backup planet could ensure that some portion of humanity would survive if something happens to Earth. 
  • Like the Moon, Mars is a rich destination for scientific discovery and a driver of technologies that will enable humans to travel and explore far from Earth. Mars remains our horizon goal for human exploration because it is one of the only other places we know in the solar system where life may have existed

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