It
is time to
colonize mars and the solar system. Colonization will create
new homes,
societies, and environments; produce
spectacular advances in science and technology; generate enormous
wealth from the solar system's natural
resources; and
protect the earth's environment. By
using the resources from space instead of the resources from earth, we will
reduce the impact of global
warming, resource extraction and use,
and human overpopulation.
A manned
mission to mars should be our first objective. Mars is the most
earth-like planet in our solar
system, and the easiest
one to terraform. A
terraformed mars would become a home for humanity, a green
world that is filled
with
life,
and a
biological refuge for earth's life in case the earth becomes
uninhabitable. The spectacular Martian scenery would make
mars a premier
tourist destination. The great distance between mars and earth would force us to develop the advanced
technology necessary to go to mars and
colonize it. The same
technology would also be used to colonize the rest
of
the solar system.
The crew on
the first manned mission to mars would build a permanent base on the
surface of mars, and build or place a space station in orbit around mars as backup. The base
on the surface would be a habitat, science
laboratory, and centre for Martian exploration. The space station would be a command
centre,
habitat, supply depot, rest and
relaxation centre, and emergency shelter. The
space station would also carry an ion drive that would enable
it to travel as
a
space ship between
mars and earth.
We should use the ISS (International Space Station) to go to mars. It could be converted into a spaceship in one or two years. The ISS already contains a habitable environment for long term space voyages; a crew; docking
facilities for resupply vehicles and mars landers; and lots of room to transport crew
members, mars landers, and the
necessary supplies, equipment and buildings for living on the
surface of mars and the ISS.
Ion drives and fuel modules could be attached to the ISS to convert it into a mars spaceship. The
ion drives' constant acceleration would likely take the ISS
to mars
in a year or less without too much stress on the space station's
components.
Mars landers that could return to the space station from mars could be sent to the ISS later if they were
not available when the ISS left for mars. Non returnable landers might be used by crew members to set up a base
on mars with the expectation that they would be able to return to ISS
when returnable
vehicles became available.
The ISS could also be resupplied and recrewed during its trip to mars and when it was in mars orbit. Periodically replacing ISS crew members with new crew members would reduce possible medical problems caused by
space radiation and weightlessness inside the space station.
Crew members should be able to live in the space station's weightless environment for 2 to 3 years
without difficulty. Cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov spent 437.7 days or about
1.2 years during one tour on the Russian Mir space station.
Cosmonaut Gennady Ivanovich Padalka spent the most combined time
in space with 879 days or about 2.41 years during tours on both Mir and
the International Space Station. Both cosmonauts did not suffer any
permanent harm from their space tours.
The next mars space station after the ISS should be a large rotating wheel or cylinder that produces
an artificial earth-like gravity
on its inner surface. The gravity on the rotating space station would be generated by the centrifugal force
of rotation about
the station's longitudinal axis. The gravity would
prevent the space station's
crew from losing muscle mass
that would otherwise be lost in
a
weightless environment. The
low gravity of mars would also cause the crew members on
the surface to lose muscle mass. They would fly up
to the
space station periodically to regain muscle mass in its gravity.
Large
rotating wheel shaped or
cylindrically shaped
space ships with ion drives would be used
to colonize
all of the
solar system.
Single ships or groups of ships would travel to every
planetary body to form permanent
orbiting space
colonies. Each ship
would contain an earth-like
gravity and environment that would enable the colonists to live
on the ships. The ships would also carry landing craft to enable
the
colonists to
construct permanent colonies on the surfaces of the planetary
bodies. The materials necessary
for the construction of the orbiting and surface colonies would be obtained inexpensively from low
gravity moons,
asteroids and comets.
Rotating
wheel shaped or
cylindrically shaped starships with ion
drives would also be used to colonize the star systems in
our galaxy with potentially habitable planets. The
starships would travel near light speed so that relativistic
time
dilation would cause ship time
to run much slower than normal time. The colonists could then to reach their
destinations
within their lifetimes. Only a few years
would likely pass for the colonists
while many
years would pass for the people that stayed behind.
The starship
engine would likely be an ion drive because it can produce
a constant acceleration that would
take you near the
speed of
light. The starship engine would be fueled by a
powerful energy source such as nuclear fission, nuclear fusion and/or
antimatter. A starship engine
is
mostly doable with current technology. New technology would be developed as necessary to complete it.
The Alpha
Centauri triple star
system will likely be the first star system that we colonize because it is the nearest one to our solar system. Alpha
Centauri contains the stars: Alpha
Centauri A, Alpha
Centauri B,
and the red dwarf Proxima
Centauri. Proxima Centauri contains an approximately
earth sized, rocky planet in orbit around in its
water supporting habitable zone. The planet maybe
suitable for our form of life. It may also contain its own life
forms.
Please
visit the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), European Space Agency (ESA), and National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), The Planetary Society, and The Mars Society websites for more information
about planetary exploration and settlement. Their website
URLs are listed at the bottom of this web page. The Mars and
Planetary Societies would like you to become members. They would welcome your ideas,
participation and commitment.
Ronald
Hunter
Member of the Planetary and Mars Societies
April 29, 2017