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Exploration of MarsThe exploration of Mars has been an important part of the space exploration missions of the Soviet Union (later Russia), the United States, Europe, and Japan. Dozens of unmanned spacecraft, including orbiters, landers, and rovers, have been launched toward Mars since the 1960s. These missions were aimed at gathering data and answering questions about the red planet and its past that may yield further insight into Earth's past, present, and future.
The exploration of Mars has come at a considerable financial cost with roughly two-thirds of all spacecraft destined for Mars failing before completing or even beginning their missions. Part of this high failure rate can be ascribed to the large number of things that can go wrong, but enough have either failed or lost communications for no apparent reason that some researchers half-jokingly speak of an Earth-Mars "Bermuda Triangle" or of a Great Galactic Ghoul which subsists on a diet of Mars probes. This phenomenon is also known widely as the Mars Curse. [Top]
Shortly after the launch of Mars Express, NASA sent a pair of twin rovers toward the planet as part of the Mars Exploration Rover Mission. On June 10, 2003, NASA's MER-A (Spirit) Mars Exploration Rover was launched. It successfully landed in Gusev Crater (believed once to have been a crater lake) on January 3, 2004. It examined rock and soil for evidence of the area's history of water. On July 7, 2003, a second rover, MER-B (Opportunity) was launched. It landed on January 24, 2004 in Meridiani Planum (where there are large deposits of hematite, indicating the presence of past water) to carry out similar geological work.
Despite technical difficulties with the rovers (believed to have been
caused by corrupted flash memory) delaying exploration for several days,
both rovers eventually began exploring their landing sites. The rover
Opportunity landed in a particularly interesting spot, a crater with
bedrock outcroppings. In fast succession mission team members announced on
March 2 that data returned from the rover showed that these rocks were
once "drenched in water", and on March 23 that it was concluded that they
were laid down under-water in a salty sea. This represented the first
strong direct evidence for liquid water being on Mars at some time in the
past. [Top]
The next mission to Mars is the Phoenix Mars lander,
expected to launch in 2007. [Top]
Many people, from Wernher von Braun on, have long
advocated a manned mission to Mars as the next logical step for a manned
space program after lunar exploration. Aside from the prestige such a
mission would bring, advocates argue that humans would be easily able to
outperform robotic explorers, justifying the expenses. [Top] Space TourismSpac [Top]
After initial successes in space, many people saw
intensive space exploration as inevitable. In the minds of many people,
such exploration was symbolised by wide public access to space, mostly in
the form of space tourism. Those aspirations are best remembered in
science fiction works, such as Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey
and Larry Niven's Known Space stories; however, during the 1960s and
1970s, it was common belief that space hotels would be launched by 2000.
Many futurologists around the middle of the 20th century speculated that
the average family of the early 21st century would be able to enjoy a
holiday on the Moon. [Top]
With the realities of the post-Perestroika economy in
Russia, the space industry was especially starved for cash. It was decided
to allow Toyohiro Akiyama, a reporter for Japanese television company TBS,
to fly in 1990 to Mir with the eighth crew and return a week later with
the seventh crew, for a price of $28m. Akiyama gave a daily TV-broadcast
from orbit and also performed scientific experiments for Russian and
Japanese companies. However the cost of the flight was paid by his
company, which makes of Akiyama a business traveller rather than a
tourist. [Top]
More affordable space tourism is viewed as a money-making
proposition by several companies, including Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin,
Armadillo Aerospace, XCOR Aerospace, Rocketplane, and others. Most are
proposing vehicles that make suborbital flights peaking at an altitude of
100 kilometres. Passengers would experience several minutes of
weightlessness, a view of a twinkle-free starfield, and a vista of the
curved Earth below. Projected costs are expected to be in the range of
$100,000 per passenger, with costs dropping over time to $20,000. [Top] Space ColonizationSpace colonization, also called space settlement and space humanization, is the hypothetical permanent autonomous (self-sufficient) human habitation of locations outside Earth. It is a major theme in science fiction. Several design groups at NASA and elsewhere have examined the feasibility of various schemes. They have determined that there are ample quantities of all the necessary materials on the Moon and Near Earth Asteroids, that solar energy is readily available in very large quantities, and that no new scientific breakthroughs are necessary, although a great deal of engineering would be required.
[Top]
For humans to live permanently outside Earth, the habitat
must maintain variables within an appropriate range, ie. homeostasis. The
habitat must contain non-human species--for example, microorganisms and
crop plants.
A combination of the above is also possible. [Top]
Self-replication is an optional attribute, but many think it the ultimate goal because it allows a much more rapid increase in colonies, while eliminating costs to and dependence on Earth. It could be argued that the establishment of such a colony would be Earth's first act of self-replication. Intermediate goals include colonies that expect only information from Earth (science, engineering, entertainment, etc.) and colonies that just require periodic supply of light weight objects, such as integrated circuits, medicines, genetic material and perhaps some tools. [Top]
In 2002, the anthropologist Dr. John Moore estimated that
a population of 150-180 would allow normal reproduction for 60-80
generations--equivalent to 2000 years.
[Top]
Location is a frequent point of contention between space colonization advocates. [Top]
Mars is a frequent topic of discussion. Its overall
surface area is similar to the dry land surface Earth, it has large water
reserves, and has carbon (locked as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere). It
may have gone through similar geological and hydrological processes as
Earth and contain valuable mineral ores, but this is debated. Equipment is
available to extract in situ resources (water, air, etc.) from the Martian
ground and atmosphere. [Top]
Due to its proximity and relative familiarity, Earth's Moon is also frequently discussed as a target for colonization. It has the benefits of close proximity to Earth and lower gravity, allowing for easier exchange of goods and services. A major drawback of the Moon is its low abundance of volatiles necessary for life such as hydrogen and carbon. Water ice deposits thought to exist in some polar craters could serve as significant sources for these elements. [Top]
There is a suggestion that Mercury could be colonized using the same technology, approach and equipment that is used in colonization of the Moon. [Top]
The Artemis Project designed a plan to colonize Europa, one of Jupiter's moons. Scientists were to inhabit igloos and drill down into the Europan ice crust, exploring any sub-surface ocean. It also discusses use of "air pockets" for human inhabitation. [Top]
A colony ship would be similar to a space habitat, except
with major propulsion capabilities and independent power generation.
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e tourism is the recent phenomenon of space travel by
individuals for the purpose of personal pleasure. As of 2005, space
tourism is only affordable to exceptionally wealthy individuals and
corporations, with the Russian space program providing transport. Some are
beginning to favor the term "personal spaceflight" instead, as in the case
of the Personal Spaceflight Federation.
