Incredible Space - The Red Planet

Space is larger than we can imagine, smaller than we can imagine. An infinity full of everything or infinity full of nothing. It’s fascinating!! Isn’t it? The mystery of space has been part of pop cultural for very long time, from Star Wars to Nolan’s interstellar space has been shown in different ways as per the fantasy of the creator, but one thing is clear that it creates a curiosity to know what is beyond our mother earth and how can we know and reach everywhere. With same curiosity in minds, I am starting new series 'Incredible Space". Where i will talk about various Space Marvels and human's reach to space. Humans have been fascinated by space so much that space exploration literally have one of the largest share in  budgets of most major economies. Out of these today our most famous space exploration topic is Mars, which is often known as Red Planet. Let’s dive into the topic and try to understand everything that humans have contributed to Mars exploration and its future potential.

 

Earth, along with other several celestial bodies belongs to Milky-way Galaxy.  A massive spiral entity that includes more than a billion stars including our own sun. The galaxy stretches more than 100000 light-years across and is full of stars, gas-clouds, Planets and Dark matter. There is a giant black hole at the centre of Milky-way Galaxy. Within the Galaxy recites our Solar system - (A system that has its own sun and the entities surrounding around that sun and are all bound with gravitational phenomenon, collectively this formation is known as solar system). Our solar system is located in Galaxy's spiral arm known as Orion arm, which is approximately 26000 light years away from the Centre of the Galaxy.

Milky-Way Galaxy

Inside the Orion arm lies our solar system, which includes Sun, 8 Planets, several asteroids and a dwarf planet. The solar system was formed approximately 4.6 billion years ago from a giant floating gas cloud. Under the force of space and gravity, this cloud burst and almost all material was pulled at the centre and created what we call today- The Sun. and the remaining material created the planets, stars, asteroids, comets etc.

These Planets are further classified into 2 categories.

1. Rocky Planets - Mercury to Mars

2. Gas planets - Jupiter to Neptune

 

Solar System

Mars is the fourth Planet in the solar system just after earth and before Jupiter it is nearer to the asteroid belt. It is the most earth like Planet physically and environmentally, it has colour of rust because of Iron oxide on the surface giving it taint Red colour, due to which Mars is often also known as 'The Red Planet'. Because of its manageable climate extreme and signs of ancient water makes Mars prime candidate for our future space exploration and possible colonization.

 

Apollo 11

Human space exploration began with our own satellite i.e. Moon. In 1969 the Apollo 11 made history with first man ever to put a foot on a foreign celestial body. With 'Neil Armstrong' taking the giant leap for the mankind, we shifted our vision of space exploration from dreams to reality.  In the decades that followed, multiple lunar missions, both manned and unmanned, were launched by countries like the United States, Russia, China, and India. After the success of Moon exploration, the scientist and various countries have shifted their focus on a new prospect of our next space exploration 'The Red Planet.

 The attention shifted to mars following the success of Moon. The Journey began with NASA's mariner missions in 1960's and 70's which took first ever close images of Martian surface. After that Viking 1 and 2 mission became first success in landing on the Mars ground in 1976. Almost 20 years later, in 1997, Mars Pathfinder and its rover Sojourner demonstrated the feasibility of robotic exploration.

The early 2000s brought twin rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, which discovered compelling evidence of past water activity on the planet. This exploration has progressed with Curiosity, which landed on the planet in 2012, and is still active collecting and analysing the climate and geology of Mars. In 2021, NASA's Perseverance rover landed on Mars with the goal of looking for signs of ancient microbial life, as well as to collect samples to return to Earth later. On the same mission as Perseverance was a small helicopter, Ingenuity, which became the first powered flight on another planet. Other nations also joined in the search for extra-terrestrial life: India’s Mangalyaan (Mars Orbiter Mission) reached Mars orbit on its first attempt in 2013, and successfully made India the first Asian nation to reach Mars orbit. In February 2021, the Tianwen-1 mission by China was able to deploy an orbiter, lander, and rover to Mars, and in July 2021 the United Arab Emirates' Hope Probe began to study the Martian atmosphere.

As humanity looks outward from Earth to explore new worlds, Mars has captured the attention of scientists and dreamers alike. Often called the Red Planet due to its rusty colour, Mars has intrigued astronomers, scientists, science fiction writers, and now space agencies around the world. Why Mars? What inherently marks it as a primary target of interest over the other planets in our solar system? There are many factors that raise Mars to the top of our list for exploration and eventual colonization, but perhaps the best reason is that it shares many more natural features with earth than any other planet in the solar system. This includes many basic aspects that could still make the prospects for human missions possible.

First of all, Mars is relatively close to Earth. While the average distance is around 225 million kilometres (140 million miles), that still makes it far more accessible than the outer gas giants. Mars is the next star in the orbit of the Sun if Earth is the first star, meaning it is a common sense target for robotic and human missions. At a time of opposition or favourable alignment with the orbits of Earth and Mars, current spacecraft can make the journey in about 6 to 9 months.

Mars undergoes seasonal changes, similar to those on Earth, because Mars is tilted at an angle of approximately 25 degrees very similar to Earth's 23.5-degree tilt. The seasons on Mars do produce variations in temperature, winds, and even polar ice caps, as the ice caps grow and shrinks with the seasons. Although the average temperature on Mars is very cold, -63 degrees Celsius (or -81 degrees Fahrenheit), some equatorial regions have temperatures that rise above freezing in the summer, and some regions are more habitable for robotic or human use compared to extremely cold environments. Another significant similarity is the presence of polar ice caps that contain water ice, and carbon dioxide ice. These polar ice caps contain, at least in part, two of the essential elements of life. They are at the north and south poles of the planet, and they indicate most clearly that there is water, as well as carbon dioxide on Mars. But it has not stopped there. Over the last twenty years, orbiters and rovers have collected substantial evidence of ancient rivers, lakes, and deltas on the Martian surface. The dry riverbeds and sedimentary deposits provide remarkable evidence that some time ago perhaps billions of years ago when Mars had a thicker atmosphere and Earth like climate liquid water flowed continuously on the surface of Mars.

Adding to the excitement, new evidence suggests that liquid water could still exist underground, perhaps within briny aquifers under ice and rock layers. What an exciting prospect for Martian microbial life to exist below the Martian surface, sheltered from destructive cosmic radiation by layers of rock and ice.

From a geological perspective, Mars is nothing less than a wonderland. It supports the largest volcano in the solar system, Olympus Mons, which is nearly three times the height of Mount Everest. It boasts Valles Mariners, an enormous canyon system that could comfortably cover the distance from coast to coast of the United States. These features tell a story about Mars in the geological past, and they represent possible locations for exploration, residence, or even colonization and settlement.

                  Olympus Mons

Valles Mariner

That being said, while Mars has some similarities to Earth, it is a very alien world. Mars has an atmosphere that is 100 times thinner than Earth's atmosphere, mostly carbon dioxide (95%) and other elements only in trace amounts, like oxygen. The atmosphere makes the surface environment unbreathable, and humans would need advanced life support systems. The thin atmosphere offers less protection for further harmful solar and cosmic radiation, which must be part of the long-term consideration for settling humanity there.

Nonetheless, from a compatibility perspective with Earth, and scientific curiosity, Mars stands out as the only realistic choice for such an endeavour. Firstly, what it actually offers scientists is a chance to study the potential for living organisms to exist beyond Earth, plus the chance to better understand climate and geological evolution, and to verify technologies for potential use for helping us survive on those other worlds. For dreamers and space explorers, Mars is a goal, but it becomes a necessity. Mars is a potential second home for humankind, especially with pressing threats to humanity's existence, climate change, overpopulation or other planetary cataclysms.

So basically, Mars is close by and familiar. We are currently closer to getting to Mars than anywhere else to continue our journey as a multi-planetary species to expand human activity beyond Earth and into the cosmos.

Historical Progress

One of the earliest and influential mars exploration scientist was a German-American rocket scientist Wernher von Braun. In 1950’s Braun published detailed plans to settle humans on mars, including interspace fleets and multistage approach of colonization. Though just imagination and far from reality, his ideas provided blueprint for future Mars exploration. Around the same time Mars became popular in sci-fi novels and stories. Fame of “The Martian Chronicles’1950 by Ray Bradbury is a prime example of Mars’s inclusion in popular cultures.  

Practically, first step in exploring Mars started in 1960 with robotic missions. NASA’s ‘Mariner’ became first ever spacecraft to fly towards mars and retrieving photos of Martian space in the year 1965. Followed by Mariner 9 in 1971, which was first ever spacecraft to complete an orbital of another planet and mapped almost entire Mars. Then comes the breakthrough, a landmark mission by Viking 1 & 2, which sent high resolution images of Martian surface. Although it didn’t find any possible form of life but it became pioneer for all future space explorations.

Interest in Mars was dipped in 80’s but was reignited in 90’s, thanks to robotic mission that created interest of masses in the topic. In the year 1996 Dr. Robert zubrin founded The Mars Society, promoting human colonization of Mars and proposing affordable mission architectures. His book, The Case for Mars, argued that Mars could be colonized using Martian resources. Around the same time NASA’s pathfinder rover reached the surface of mars proving feasibility of robotic missions.

The first decade of the 21st century was a defining time for long-duration robotic missions. NASA launched twin rovers, Spirit and Opportunity in 2004 and the rovers lived lifetimes greater than their mission timelines. They sent back evidence of ancient water flows on the planet and they may have established the most science nuggets of any robot mission in history. In 2008, Phoenix landed near the north pole of Mars and confirmed the existence of subsurface water ice. NASA’s rover Curiosity landed in Gale Crater in 2012. The nuclear-powered car-sized rover is still on Mars exploring geology and climate and determining habitability of the surface.

During the 2010s, new global players and private innovators began to emerge. In 2014, India's ISRO made notable history by inserting Mangalyaan (Mars Orbiter Mission) into Martian orbit, this made India the first Asian nation to reach Mars and achieve this on its first attempt with one of the least expensive missions ever undertaken. Meanwhile, Elon Musk's SpaceX fundamentally altered public and institutional rhetoric about Mars and announced that Musk had a plan to send humans to Mars in a settlement, in conjunction with Starship's development as the next generation fully reusable vehicle, fuelling an obvious urgency with timelines and open-source spacecraft design within the space opportunity landscape.

The 2020s brought us into an entirely global era for Mars exploration. NASA's Perseverance landed on Mars in 2021 with sophisticated instruments on-board and the original Ingenuity helicopter that performed the first powered flight on another planet. In the same year, China's Tianwen-1 made history with its orbiter, lander and rover (Zhurong) on it's first attempt.

 

Current condition

The Red Planet depicts a very complex and dynamic concept of a hostile yet Earth-like world. Current scientific narrative states that Mars is devoid of living things, dry and geologically past, possibly having been able to sustain life, (at least in microbial form), at one point in time.

The most significant conclusion to be made is that Mars is once believed to have been warmer and wetter than it is today. Geological evidence, such as dried up river beds, historical lake beds, and mineral deposits formed from water gives powerful evidence to suggest that there was once a dense atmosphere, rich with liquid water on the surface of Mars billions of years ago. In this case, all the conditions could have been provided for life, specifically microbial life, and undoubtedly makes humans want to know if this were the case.

Traces of Ancient River (River bed Mars)

Today's conditions on the surface of Mars is still a cold, dry desert with very thin atmosphere primarily of carbon dioxide, and incapable of sustaining human life as it is. The pressure is less than 1% (one percent) of Earth's (32,000) twenty-eight (28) mili-bars / one percent of a human's suffocation with as atmosphere. The average temperature of Mars falls to -80 degrees Fahrenheit (-62 degrees Celsius), with up to 100 degrees colder in some instances. Mars's surface is bombarded by solar radiation and cosmic radiation which must be shielded against with artificial shielding and deep circulation magnetic field is to be built for providing an atmosphere that is liveable for human life.

Mars has seasons like Earth, and both planets have a similar axial tilt, but each season is about twice as long since a Martian year is nearly 687 Earth days. Dust storms on Mars are common and can even reach global proportions where they can blanket the entire planet and last for weeks. These dust storms in fact, are an important part of Martian weather and redistribute fine dust across the planet.

Scientifically speaking, current ginoresteworldworks of primary 3 Mars point to a planet that had conditions suitable for life at one time and may still host life beneath the surface. Mars has also experienced dramatic climate change through the ages, this is represented as a geological record and so it makes sense as a natural laboratory for planetary evolution and the limits of habitability.

Organization to 'Red Planet'

SpaceX

Founded by Elon Musk, is the most forward-thinking inventory and aggressive rollout in its pursuit of Mars colonization. It is developing the Starship rocket as a fully reusable, human-carrying spacecraft that can also carry cargo to Mars. Musk's ultimate vision is to develop a self-sustaining true human settlement on Mars within the next few decades, making SpaceX the leader in what is sure to be a lucrative, private interplanetary business.

Blue Origin

Founded by Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin emphasizes reusable rockets and infrastructure to support a future when millions of people can live and work in space. Blue Origin has not indicated specific Mars missions publicly, but it is developing technologies—such as long-duration habitats and launching systems that would be necessary to support Mars missions in the future.

Boeing

Boeing is substantially engaged in the development of the Space Launch System (SLS), NASA's powerful rocket to support deeper-space missions that include the missions to Mars. Although Boeing doesn't have a Mars program of its own, it has provided crucial launch infrastructure that could potentially take humans and cargo to the Red Planet.

Other Global Companies

Companies outside the U.S. are also getting into the game. In Europe, Airbus is working with ESA (European space Agency) on Orbiter and rover systems for Mars. ISRO's commercial arm NSIL in India is beginning to open up more to private collaboration. Chinese companies are also starting to participate in CNSA’s similarly ambitious Mars missions. These international companies are starting to build Mars-related capabilities throughout the planet.

 

ISRO's Mangalyan

Is it really possible to build civilization on the RED PLANET?

The idea of establishing a civilization on Mars has shifted from a fiction based exercise to serious planning but the transition from exploration to long-term habitation has unique considerations. Mars has aspects in favor of future habitation; for example, it has a 24.6-hour day, large amounts of water ice and land potentially suitable for habitation. However, Mars also has profoundly large challenges as well.

Mars's atmosphere is very thin, mostly carbon dioxide, very cold and has no magnetic field to protect settlers from high radiation on the surface. Mars only has 38% of Earth's gravity and scientists are still studying the long-term impacts of reduced gravity on human health. This makes not only habitation, but the building of community, difficult without advanced life support systems.

In the meantime, developers are constructing technologies such as in-situ resource utilization (extracting water and oxygen from Martian ice), solar or nuclear powered systems and 3D printed habitats, with the ambition of minimizing resupply from Earth and depending more on resources from Mars. However, these missions still need to be timed right and will still need a significant investment of resources and time for the trip to Mars.

Also, in addition to addressing technical concerns, the social and psychological issues of living in the isolated Martian environment, distance from Earth, and mental health need to managed. Ultimately, as the mission unfolds and years pass, success will no longer be determined by survival alone. Sustainable success will require construct a functional society including elements of government, education and living.

 

Future Expectations from Red Planet

In looking forward the global Mars roadmap is moving into a new phase. The 2030's is seen as a principal inflection point for a number of planned sample-return missions from NASA and ESA, and possibly the start of crewed missions led by NASA with CNSA (China) and possibly SpaceX. These missions are expected to produce the most direct evidence yet with respect to life on Mars, and will also help us prepare for supporting humans in actual settlements.

Some technical areas, including habitat designs, energy systems, radiation shielding and resource extraction technologies, are expected to mature over the next 20 years. It is also anticipated that the increased global interest shown by space faring nations may start to have the effect of bolstering and sharing data and infrastructure, and some form of human cooperation may form joint missions.

India too is expected to grow its involvement in this complex global challenge. With ISRO through its space agency towards space commercialisation and a growing budget can become a low cost key partner in robotic missions, support to satellites, and possibly in support systems to crewed missions. Indian private entities, under the new frameworks, the IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre) and NSIL (New Space India Limited), may also become involved in Mars-related research, manufacturing and technology innovations in the future.

In conclusion, the next 10-30 years may well involve unmanned sample-return missions from Mars and eventually human exploration and the initial construction of long-term infrastructure for humans on Mars. India has already shown it can credibly contribute towards this human endeavour.