With summer just around the corner – be patient, it will happen – the time has come for appropriately seasonal thoughts, something light and breezy perhaps, or something out of this world, like, say, a trip to Mars, be it a quick fly-by or a one-way ticket to a pioneering colony on the Red Planet. There is more to this than you might think. In fact, there is a lot of serious thinking and lots of serious money now being devoted to Mars expeditions of various sorts.
The first of these is the brainchild of American billionaire Dennis Tito, who has been to space himself and now wants to send a man and a woman, most likely a married couple, to Mars and back in 2018 – five short years from now. In fact, it would happen in less than five years because the probable launch date is Jan. 5, 2018, which would allow the mission to take advantage of a favourable alignment of Mars and Earth. If the launch goes ahead on that date, the entire trip would take 501 days, with a trajectory that would take the speeding space capsule to within a couple of hundred kilometres of the surface of Mars. A feasibility study for the mission has determined the two-person space crew would need a roll of toilet paper every three days. Serious study, indeed.
The second project is Mars One, which expects to spend some $6 billion to land four settlers (two men and two women) on Mars in 2023. The first group would be followed by more groups every two years until there is a thriving colony on the planet, living in modules, growing their own food, making their own laws, and presumably living in peace and harmony. Getting along with others is essential because there is no return to Earth with this scheme. It’s one-way only to Mars, which is why the project has an elaborate training and screening process. Some 80,000 people worldwide have already applied, including several dozen Canadians. Take note: If you’re interested, the deadline for applications is Aug. 31.
A third project – and the one to watch – is taking shape under Elon Musk, the visionary who made a fortune with PayPal, founded the Tesla electric car company and formed Space X, the space transport company that builds rockets and spacecraft for cargo and humans. Musk plans to use Space X to establish a permanent human colony on Mars. That’s a goal shared by Mars One, but Musk has a track record of accomplishment that makes it more likely he will succeed. He expects to put humans on Mars within 10 to 20 years, and – no small detail – bring them home in re-usable Space X spacecraft. He certainly seems undaunted by the challenges of a Mars colony. Speaking at a recent futurists’ conference, he acknowledged that the atmosphere on Mars is thin, but expressed confidence it could be improved.
“You could warm Mars up, over time, with greenhouse gases,” he said. “Mars is a fixer-upper of a planet, but we could make it work.”
Indeed we could. That is the triumph of the human spirit, and just the thing to contemplate this summer of a glass of good Scotch.
