US President Donald Trump has stated that it is his goal to send a man to Mars. Experts consider the task difficult in a fast schedule.
Mars is a life-threatening place for humans – and far away. Despite this, the President Donald Trump says his goal is to take the star flag to Mars.
The billionaire planning to conquer Mars with Trump Elon Musk estimated last Septemberthat manned flights could be successful in four years.
The experts who visited in the morning doubt that the goal will be achieved. There are many reasons for this.
One of them is money.
Professor of computational space physics at the University of Helsinki Minna Palmroth points out that in the 1960s about five percent of the US gross domestic product went into the US Moon program.
– There is not nearly as much money on the table as there should be. That very challenging, I would say almost impossible, in four years [Marsiin].
Another reason is lack of technology.
Assistant professor at Aalto University I share Praks agrees with the schedule. The technology needed to land on Mars does not exist, and if it did, it would need to be tested on the Moon before going to Mars.
– At the moment, we don’t even have the technology to land on the Moon, Praks states.
Mars is significantly further away from the Moon – and often far too far. According to Praks, the trip to Mars takes about nine months, when the planets are aligned.
– The launch windows, when the planets are in such a state that they can generally use the usual orbit to get to Mars, are approximately every 16 months, Praks says.
Mars is a tricky place for humans
The third reason is the harsh conditions of Mars, such as radiation.
According to Minna Palmroth, the sunspot cycle is entering a phase where there will be many solar flares. Some of them also hit Mars.
– The astronauts are in danger of their lives there. That is, if we had to send a person to Mars, the first thing I would think is that it would be worthwhile to extend the duration of the project by at least 20 years.
According to Jaan Praks, it is a good question whether it is worth sending a human to Mars at all. Despite this, he estimates that people still go there.
That’s why Praks isn’t sure if they want to stay longer on Mars, because the conditions are really miserable.
– Do we want science about how terrible it is to live on the surface of Mars?