For centuries it has been the substance of myth -- Mars, the fourth planet from the sun, the Earth's brother.
Great minds have peered at the ripples and craters that sweep across Mars' amber-red surface with the naked eye -- Ptolemy, Aristotle, Copernicus and others. They wondered, This planet, so similar to our Earth -- could it support life?
Arthur C.Clarke says it can, and now he has a blueprint describing how -- in virtual reality.
The science-fiction writer, philosopher and inventor of the communications satellite has a habit of taking science's most challenging concepts and transforming them into reality. In his new book, The Snows of Mount Olympus, Clarke plots the course of terra-forming (creating an Earth-like environment) of Mars in virtual reality on a computer. Clarke believes, by importing resources, the habitat of Mars can be made similar to Earth. He says the problems of vegetation, surface water, climate change and even the creation of an ozone layer can all be solved, leaving gravity as the only remaining problem for life on Mars.
Deep in the hollows of Ivy League universities and NASA research centers scientists have searched for decades to find the best way to colonization of Mars. Their research has produced working plans for a number of colony types.
Al Globus, a research scientist at MRJ Inc., is one of them. Globus agrees that colonization is a possibility but doesn't fancy terra-forming alone. Instead, he prefers The Lewis One Space Colony.
The Lewis One Space Colony, an offshoot of a proposed design in 1991, is a virtual reality conceptual design for a man-made, hollow space colony, designed to float in orbit and house up to 10,000 people. It was arranged using computers at NASA Ames. The orbiting station would have an unlimited life span and be propelled by fuels made from recycled materials in outer space and would not have to leave orbit to sustain itself.
"All the materials you need, you can get locally on Mars, if you process them," Globus says.
Carbon dioxide, nitrogen, carbon, oxygen, metals and solar energy are the requirements, he says.
Carbon dioxide is found in abundance in the Martian atmosphere.
Globus says it can be used to fuel plants that will convert it into oxygen for life support.
" I would expect the bulk of the life support to be biological -- making food and absorbing pollutants," he says.
Recent studies with potato plants have found the plants can support respiratory needs and nutrition for extended periods of time. Similar studies were conducted in the late 1980s on lettuce and wheat by the, now defunct, Space Exploration Initiative.
Thousands of solar panels will power the Lewis One, taking advantage of a 24-hour stream of sunbeams in space.
"The sun is a completely reliable fusion reactor," Globus says. "The use of electricity will be very cheap, easy and reliable."
Electricity will be used for lighting gadgets and transportation vehicles within the orbiting colonies.
But the sun doesn't always shine on Mars.
Globus says settlements on Mars would suffer from a lack of 24-hour solar energy. He also says Martian night and dust-storms will compromise the energy surface dwellers receive.
Richard Berendzen, professor of physics and astronomy at The American University in Washington D.C., sees a problem with concepts for colonization.
"The technology is largely there," he says. "The cost is staggering.
On Mars itself, Berendzen says, settlers would have to mine the planet, find sub-surface ice scientists believe exists and convert it into water.
"We'd need to know how to get the water out of the soil, and how to get air out of the soil," he says. "We'd need an artificial atmosphere to protect one from solar radiation."
Mars doesn't have an ozone layer like the Earth that absorbs harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun. To live on Mars a special construct would be needed to provide protection from the elements. Berendzen says colonists would also have to move underground to shield themselves from solar radiation and the harsh chill of the Martian night.
"The temperature is like that of Antarctica or even colder," Berendzen said.
The cost of settlement coupled with the cost of transit to Mars from the Earth, Berendzen says, pushes back the time-frame for colonization of Mars by decades. NASA is pushing toward settlement sometime in the late 21st century.
"To put a team of five to six astronauts on Mars would be expensive, but to take the entire city of Washington would be almost impossible," Berendzen said.
Most of the cost is related to launch, entry and re-entry.
"I think the requirements are reachable, if they were funded," Berendzen said. "All of this hinges on Congress and the public. At the moment, it's not going to happen. The money could be used on Earth for other purposes."
Globus believes that the concept of orbiting colonies will be brought down to Earth if new research by British scientist Eric Drexler pans out.
"There's another way," Globus said. "If the nanotechnology folks are successful, that might enable space colonization without the trillion dollar cost."
Nanotechnology is a broad range of scientific research that aims to rearrange atoms in materials and form other materials.
Drexler's studies, cited a few years ago in the British Interplanetary Journal, suggest the use of less dense but many times stronger diamonds with impurities to build spacecraft, fuel tanks and reusable launch vehicles. Globus said the "diamonoid materials Drexler is investigating are 75 times as strong as steel and stable to 1800 degrees Fahrenheit."
Globus performs research on computational nanotechnology for the NASA Ames Research Center. He is part of a group doing preliminary research on Drexler's vision by using computer simulations and mathematical formulas. The group is currently trying to develop a design for a computer five times as fast and three to 10 times as small as the best desktops available today.
"If Drexler's right, then we may be able to build launch vehicles that are so capable, eventually an extremely large corporation or a country or a group of countries can handle the cost," he says. "If you can make them 10 or 20 times lighter, you ought to be able to make a much better spacecraft."
If this happens, Globus says, a market for space tourism will prosper. The cost of a week in orbit around the Earth for one person is currently about $7 million to $10 million with the current manufacturing technology, he says. If Drexler's research yields a better building material, he says the cost drop to as low as $10,000 to $12,000. Ten thousand dollars for what Globus calls the "trip of a lifetime" will be an offer most families will not likely refuse. The revenue will help fund space exploration and settlement on Mars.
The National Space Society, a public, space-interest group, is already working toward giving civilians the opportunity to purchase a ticket to ride into orbit.
Clarke's concept of terra-forming does not alter gravity on Mars. That, Globus says, is what Clarke's concept cannot make up for. Gravity is significantly lower on Mars than on the Earth.
"Let's say you're raising your kids and they're on Mars at 1/3 gravitational pull (1/3 g)," Globus says. "The force on them is going to be 1/3 of what it is on Earth (1g). They won't be strong enough to visit Yosemite and climb Halfdome, and they'll never be able to stand up."
Humans raised on the Earth will have abilities that their counterparts on Mars will not, Globus says. It can be called the Superman effect. Earthlings will be able to leap Martian ripples and race Martian dust storms three times as fast as colonists' descendants on Mars.
Adapting to gravity, Globus says, will limit the options of colonists' descendants.
" If you're raised in an environment where gravity does not stress your bones and muscles from Earth, they will grow very weak and won't be able to support activity, Globus said. "My feeling is, if I'm going to be a colonist in the first generation, I would want my children to have the option to go to Earth and have a good time.
The orbiting colony provides a solution to the dilemma. The colony is designed to be ready to rotate. By simply setting the knob that controls rotation to 1g (the gravity of Earth), two rotations per minute for a 500-meter large object at a speed of approximately 60 m.p.h., Globus says colonists will not be affected by gravity on Mars.
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