In Search of the March Settlement .. How are the UAE Seeking to Enter the Space Race to the Red Planet?

Sahar News March is one of the most talked about planets in science fiction novels, and people have long dreamed about it. As an alternative planet to the Earth, facing environmental problems and climate change on our planet. What is the nature of Mars? To what extent can it accommodate human life? How are scientists trying to send humans to the red planet? Will we soon see cities inhabited by humans on Mars? And how does the UAE intend to handle this frantic race?

Mars: Facts and Figures on the Red Planet

Mars is the fourth planet in the solar system known as the Red Planet: rocks, soil and sky appear in red or pink. Mars appears in this color as a result of the interaction of iron in its surface soil, with the amount of oxygen available on the planet, making it rust, about half the size of the earth and the mass of 0.107 of the mass of the earth. It has a very thin atmosphere, composed mainly of carbon dioxide, its main component, as well as nitrogen and argon, followed by oxygen and low water. debit.
The average temperature recorded on Mars is 63 ° C below zero, with a maximum temperature of 20 ° C and a minimum of 140 ° C below zero, with an estimated surface length of 24.6 hours Floor, and complete a cycle around the sun every 687 days of the Earth.

Surrounded by two natural satellites, Phobos and Démos, Phobos contains deep pits and holes on its surface, as well as some of the most varied and interesting terrains of any planet. For example, Mount Olympus Mons is the largest mountain in the solar system. It has a height of about 22 km and has a diameter of more than 500 km.

What to consider before thinking about the colonization of the red planet

First we must know that access to the surface of the red planet is not not easy: the overall success rate of Martian missions since 1960 is less than 50%, NASA has the best success rate of about 70%. Twenty-one missions have been sent to Mars since 1960, of which only six have been successful.

This is due to the harshness of the planet, extreme temperatures at low pressure, the average pressure on its surface is only about seven milliseconds (less than 1% of the Earth's pressure). In addition, there is not yet a spaceship capable of landing humans on Mars, the thin atmosphere of Mars can not quickly blow up very large umbrellas, which is necessary to slow down a large spaceship with fairly lethargic humans. However, the race for Martian colonization is about to reach the surface of the moon in the last century, which means that some of us will see the arrival of humans on the red planet and will see astronauts walking in the coming decades.

The idea of ​​colonizing Mars seems so exciting and ambitious, so ambitious that she blinded her owners of hyperbole and enthusiasm, and makes them forget to pose the necessary questions, and to appreciate the consequences of landing on the planet.

Some astronomers believe that we should wait a bit, first find out if there is life on the surface of our fourth neighbor before our exploration destroys it. For any kind of active life on Mars, as primitive as it is, the first step is to find, understand, and study it, and then we can try to make informed decisions about the right action that we can make.

Well, the knowledge we gathered around him would be of great value to help us understand ourselves, from where we come from and the possibilities of existence of life forms in the extraterrestrial universe and on Mars.

March 2030. NASA plans to send humans to Mars

The landing on Mars remains NASA's biggest target since the 1950s. The successful landing of the spacecraft Koryosti in August 2012, that Charles Boulden, then director of the agency, said began to open the human trail on Mars, was a great hope to continue efforts and a prelude to sending human missions .

NASA aims to send humans to Mars in the 1930s. NASA's plan is divided into three phases: as a first step, NASA tests life support, communication skills, and human health. Mars, through his experiences at the International Space Station.
Embedded from Getty Images
In the second stage, NASA will test how the spacecraft is driven, the accommodation facilities needed for the flight and the Orion capsule developed by the company. crew, inside a space rocket called Space Launch System. They will fly to Mars. NASA conducted a test for Orion in 2014 and parts of the SLS in the summer of 2016 and their first test flight is scheduled for 2018.

For the third phase, scheduled for 2030, the NASA will send astronauts from humans to the red planet. It is likely that these plans will continue to change and adapt based on the results of sending robotic missions to Mars and new information on the red planet.

In the summer of 2020, NASA plans to send a new robotic vehicle to the red planet called Mars 2020, which will carry a new device called MOXIE, designed to convert carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Martian atmosphere in carbon monoxide and oxygen Thus, it can be used to generate an energy of self-impulse for a return trip to the Earth.

Elon Mask, the billionaire and CEO of SpaceX, the first private space company in the United States to take delivery of goods to the International Space Station, Sending an astronaut on Mars, he wants to create a human colony on the red planet that can accommodate 80,000 people.

Previously announced his desire to provide flights to Mars, costs about $ 500,000 per person. Recently, he announced his intention to build a small colony on the red planet, starting by sending a crew of 10 members in the next 50 to 150 years, to start construction and construction of the village infrastructure.

After settlement establishment, Mask plans to send 100 people to Mars aboard a highly sophisticated vehicle, which takes about 80 days to reach Mars, and then keep them in colonies for 30 days. As for the launch program, the trip will start every two years as Mars approaches Earth, the distance between them is about 57.6 million km. According to the plan, the first steps to build and colonize Mars will begin in 2022 or 2023.

Until that date, Mr. Mask still faces many challenges before such a plan becomes a reality including knowing how humans land on the surface of the planet. How to keep them alive, as well as how to deal with harmful radiation on Mars, as soon as the magnetic field of the protectors of our planet begins to accumulate in the body of astronauts, causing cancer risks and explosions such as eruptions. Solar, or active particles extrusion mm doses Six spacecraft radiation.

In the same context, the United Arab Emirates usually enter the global race to Mars a local space program, said last year at the World Summit of Governments in Dubai, that he is looking to build a small town on Mars by En 2117, as part of his 100-year national program for a better understanding of the Red Planet. And plans to launch his first mission on the red planet by 2021 and hopes to install in 99 years.

The project entitled "March 2117" was announced by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Sovereign of Dubai and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. The project will allow humans to live on Mars, provide food and produce energy on the red planet. "The UAE is one of the nine most important countries in the world to invest in space science," said Sheikh Mohammed during the presentation.

The UAE has joined the elite club that is trying to send humans on March, China, Russia and a group of European countries, as well as the self-help of American businessman Elon Mask and his private company SpaceX. The UAE hopes to become the first Arab country to send a mission to the Red Planet by designing, developing and sending a probe to the Red Planet.

The Gulf State has so far invested 20 billion dirhams ($ 5.4 billion) in its space program as part of a plan to diversify its economy into the world. 39, moving away from oil and gas by developing new areas of expertise. And plans to send a spacecraft called the Martian Hope probe in 2020 to reach and orbit Mars by 2021, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the founding of the United Arab Emirates.

Mars Mars Probe will study the atmosphere of the planet at different times of the day, and during different seasons, and the data it collects will be available internationally to benefit the world. If things go as planned, in a century, the UAE will be able to build an integrated city of 600,000 people on Mars.