Humanity is preparing for migration to Mars: what will we travel on, what will our food be, and how will we reproduce?

Are you still boiling over, as they said in a famous advertisement? Meanwhile, people are already flying to Mars. And these are serious people – just think of Elon Musk! Recently, the richest person on the planet announced that by 2026, he plans to send 5 transport spacecraft to Mars, and if the flight goes smoothly, the first contingent of astronauts from Earth will land there in 2028-2029. The prospects for Mars colonization were recently discussed at the IV Congress of Young Scientists at the Sirius University. Settling the neighboring planet has become possible thanks to remarkable discoveries and breakthrough technologies. Here’s what you need to know about human flights to Mars.

1. What will we fly on?

Flights to Mars have ceased to be science fiction after the successful tests of the super-heavy rocket Starship. So far, Elon Musk's creation has completed six test launches, with 25 full orbital flights planned for next year. Starship is not only the largest and most powerful rocket in history (standing 121 meters tall and 9 meters in diameter), but it is also the first fully reusable rocket in human history: its first stage (the booster) and the second stage, which is also the spacecraft, can return.

- Starship was specifically designed for flights to Mars. For this purpose, methane was chosen as the fuel for the engines, - says Alexander Khokhlov, head of the small spacecraft project department at Geoscan, a member of the Russian Federation of Cosmonautics. - Because methane can be produced from the Martian atmosphere and used to refuel the ship right on the planet for its return to Earth.

Another Martian feature was demonstrated in October during the fifth flight of Starship when the first stage was caught by the “Mechazilla” capture system. Why is this important? Because landing directly on the launch tower allows the spacecraft to be used in airliner mode. Refueling and pre-flight servicing will take just a few hours – and then off again! Musk envisions sending 1 million people to Mars by 2050. This is no easy task, considering that Starship is designed for 100 passengers. Moreover, such an ultra-precise landing system on the launch tower is only possible during flights to Mars. Searching for and then transporting the ship if it lands even a few kilometers away from the target will be impossible.

Flights to Mars have ceased to be science fiction after the successful tests of the super-heavy rocket Starship

Photo: GLOBAL LOOK PRESS.

2. What will the Martian settlement look like?

The main threat to colonists is radiation. Mars lacks a magnetic field and atmosphere, which protect us from cosmic radiation on Earth. It’s likely that settlements will need to be built underground to shield against Martian soil. Therefore, The Boring Company, a tunnel construction firm founded by Elon Musk, is involved in the project to create a Martian colony.

- I believe that the skill of tunnel construction will be very useful on Mars.

We will need to extract ice and minerals, - says Musk. - With the right drilling technology, we can build a vast number of tunnels. Then, based on these, we can create underground cities that can provide protection from radiation.

According to Elon Musk, to establish a viable colony, humanity will need to transport about one million tons of materials to the neighboring planet. However, no space trucks will be enough to supply colonists with water, air, and food. All of this will have to be produced on-site.

Mars lacks a magnetic field and atmosphere, which protect us from cosmic radiation on Earth

Photo: GLOBAL LOOK PRESS.

Technology for life support systems that allow living away from Earth is being developed on the ISS.

On orbit, the "Electron-VM" system produces oxygen from water. Another domestic development is a system for recovering water from atmospheric moisture condensation. Devices have been created that allow obtaining water from carbon dioxide exhaled by astronauts and even from urine. Ideally, scientists aim to create a fully closed environment where all human waste products are chemically or biologically processed and reused.

3. What will the colonists eat?

The domestic life support system BIOS-3, developed by scientists in Krasnoyarsk, is considered the most advanced in the world. It models a closed material cycle in the biosphere and allows the crew to exist in autonomous mode for more than a year. Scientists have managed to achieve complete closure of the system for gases and water, and to meet the crew's food needs up to 80%. In greenhouses with artificial lighting, special varieties of wheat, soy, lettuce, carrots, radishes, beets, potatoes, cucumbers, sorrel, cabbage, dill, and onions were grown. During this process, carbon dioxide is absorbed, and the much-valued oxygen is produced.

Currently, the Chinese are using an analogue of BIOS-3 on their orbital station "Lunar Palace." However, they manage to obtain animal protein, albeit in a rather unconventional manner: the Chinese eat flour made from mealworm larvae. In other words, they eat worms, to put it plainly.

However, meat can be obtained in less brutal ways.

- One of the technologies that will be in demand on Mars is the cultivation of cellular meat, - says Dmitry Krivosheev, head of research and educational projects at Genotek LLC. - This involves growing a culture of cells from individual cells on a nutrient medium. As a result, you get a beef patty with no harm to any cow during its production.

There is a small issue with this meat: it lacks the familiar taste and texture. But progress in flavor protein modeling can rectify this misunderstanding. Colonists will be able to print a certain product on a 3D bio-printer; it may not resemble the food we are used to, but will have a specified taste, shape, and consistency.

No space trucks will be enough to supply colonists with water, air, and food. All of this will have to be produced on-site

Photo: EAST NEWS.

QUESTION - ON THE TABLE!

Why bother growing crops on Mars?

Practical-minded individuals might wonder: if survival on Mars involves such difficulties, shouldn’t we just avoid farming there?

The answer to this question comes from Hero of Russia Sergey Ryazansky, the first scientist in the world to command a spacecraft (Sergey holds a PhD in biological sciences).

- We plan to fly to Mars not for flag planting, - says the astronaut. - It’s important to understand that the technologies developed for Mars flights will fundamentally change human life on Earth itself.

ABOUT THIS

Can humans reproduce beyond Earth?

Elon Musk has stated that a colony on Mars is needed to make humanity a multi-planetary species and to create a sort of backup of civilization in case of a global catastrophe on Earth. But will humans be able to reproduce beyond their own planet?

- We are often asked: can a child be conceived in space? - says astronaut and PhD in biological sciences Sergey Ryazansky. - We do not know the answer to this question. Because all experiments in orbit with embryos were halted in the late 70s and early 80s. It was then that biologists realized that we were not studying the effects of weightlessness and conditions of space travel on embryo development. In fact, we were studying the effects of cosmic radiation on embryo development. The issue is that we have no protection from heavy ions of cosmic radiation. The results of scientific experiments have shown that the mutation rate reaches 78 percent. Because if heavy particles of cosmic radiation hit an astronaut, it doesn