How difficult will it be for future astronauts on Mars to establish a sustainable settlement? This is what a recent preprint submitted to Elsevier hopes to address as Dr. Florian Neukart, who is an assistant professor at Leiden University and sole author of the study investigated the myriads of concerns that future Mars astronauts will face when trying to establish a sustainable settlement on the Red Planet, specifically since it’s tens of millions of miles from home. This study holds the potential to help scientists, engineers, and the public better understand the steps that need to be taken to mitigate potential risks involved in sending humans to Mars and trying to establish a long-term human presence on the Red Planet.
“The quest to transcend our planetary boundaries and establish a presence on another celestial body is one of the most ambitious endeavors undertaken by humanity,” the study notes. “Mars, with its relative proximity and some similarities to Earth, emerges as the prime candidate for colonization. Establishing a sustainable human presence on the Red Planet is a testament to human engineering and determination and may also act as a potential safeguard against global threats to humanity.”
For the study, Dr. Neukart conducted a detailed quantitative and qualitative analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of sending humans to Mars and establishing a sustainable settlement, including technological, logistical, transportation, energy production, life support systems, and even psychological challenges future astronauts will likely face on the Red Planet. In the end, Dr. Neukart recommends certain areas receive greater focus, including resource quantification, technological refinement, economic models, human health, infrastructure durability, and communication systems.
The study concludes by saying, “As the contours of space exploration in the 21st century become sharper focus, Mars emerges not as a distant, aspirational target but as a tangible frontier for human colonization. The challenge of establishing a sustainable presence on the Red Planet is marked by intricacies that extend beyond mere engineering feats, encompassing critical environmental, technological, physiological, and economic dimensions.”
What challenges will future Mars astronauts face when they attempt to establish a sustainable settlement on Mars in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: arXiv
Featured Image Credit: NASA/JSC/Pat Rawlings, SAIC