From getting there, to setting up a base that
is functional, to slowly getting the place up to snuff for a larger colony, and more! Join me as we explore what it would take to
set up a base on Mars! For many decades now, humanity has dreamed
about on another world. Whether it was a distant world in another
galaxy, or just making colonies on all the worlds and moons that made sense, we've gone
and envisioned all kinds of futures for our race. And on a base level, doing so is kind of vital. The Earth is growing more and more populated,
but our resources are slowly but surely going to wear out. So, we need to start setting up places outside
of Earth for us to inhabit. The two best options at present are the moon
and the planet Mars. And believe it or not, both the moon and Mars
have plans in place to not just put people back on its surface, but, to potentially set
up very large and functional bases for us (that's humanity) to live on. But doing so is no small feat. While there have been many missions to the
moon, they've only been for historical and research purposes. And even with it being MUCH closer to the
Earth than Mars, setting up a colony there is not going to be easy. Yet, if you were to ask NASA, SpaceX and a
whole bunch of other agencies what the main goal is for the 2020's, you would get "We're
going to get people to Mars to start building a colony." A noble goal, but one that is going to be
fraught with problems and will not be easy to get off the ground. But just so we can prove this to you, let's
break down everything you would need in order to make just a basic base on Mars. First and foremost, you don't just send people
to Mars and hope that they are going to make it, that would be catastrophic on all counts. Which, thankfully, the appropriate space agencies
aren't aiming to do. Whether you look at NASA or Space X you'll
see that there is a "setup mission" that will happen before the first batch of colonists
even arrive. The point of this setup mission is simple,
it's going to dump a wide variety of items for the group to use when they arrive. Think of it like airmailing a package to a
vacation spot you're going to be going to. In this case though, that "package" will likely
be a small base where the group will live for the first 9 months (more on that later),
a large series of supplies, potential vehicles, generators, and more. You might wonder why they're going to outfit
all of this stuff on a setup mission versus just putting it on the craft that has the
group themselves. The reason is time, money, and weight. The more stuff you have to put on a craft,
the more risk you're taking that something is going to go wrong. Not to mention endanger the lives of the crew,
as well as slow down the craft. Even with some of the best minds working on
it, a journey to Mars is going to be SLOW. Thus, launching a setup mission to get the
equipment there is a good first move because A) it shows we really can get to the red planet
with a ship (which we've never done before). B) it shows that landing these very large items
on the surface without serious damage is NOT impossible. And C) should the worst happen, we're only
losing inanimate objects and not human lives. Because the moment that happens, a lot of
delays are going to happen, and the colonization of Mars will be likely delayed infinitely
until people are sure that they can get to Mars safely
So all told, the setup mission is the first and most important thing...in a long chain
of important things that needs to happen on Mars for a base to be setup. Before we dive even more into the base on
Mars scenario, be sure to like or dislike the video so we can continue to improve so
we can make the best videos possible for you the viewer! Also, subscribe to the channel so that you
don't miss ANY of our weekly videos. Alright, so let's assume that we are able
to do the setup mission, and the first group of settlers/researchers are able to successfully
be on the planet, ok? What would be one of their immediate challenges? One of the obvious ones is a notion of continual
power. After all, to run a base, and especially a
large colony, you need power. Now, the setup mission will be delivering
a wide variety of generators no doubt. But that's only a partial solution. You need a long-term one. The notion of Solar Power has been floated
around by many, and it could work. But, it's problematic. Mars is known for having storms that'll block
out the sun for days on end. Plus, due to distance, the solar power we'd
get is only 40% of the kind we'd get on Earth. That could still help, but it won't solve
everything. Likewise, wind and geothermal power...is a
no go. So what can we do? Well...there is the nuclear option. No, not a bomb, but nuclear power. While dangerous a nuclear generator could
easily power the colony for a few years while things get worked out. Again, it's dangerous, but with enough shielding
and protection, it would get us a major step of the way until a more permanent solution
is worked out. Alright, now let's move to another big problem,
what we breath. AKA, Oxygen. On Mars, the atmosphere is incredibly thin,
and 95% of what's left is made up of Carbon Dioxide, which is what we exhale, and thus
not something we can breathe. Not shockingly, whatever base we make would
need to be one that can be not just pressurized, but one that can filter in a ready-made atmosphere
so that we can breathe not just Oxygen, but Nitrogen too (don't forget that our atmosphere
is comprised of many different things, and Oxygen is not in the majority). But...even just trying to do that is a problem. You see, when it comes to establishing a pressurized
environment, the pressure really wants to crush everything in sight. And thus, it will look for weakpoints and
exploit them. This means that whatever base is used for
the initial group (and the groups to follow) will have to be shaped perfectly AND be able
to withstand the various pressures that both Mars and the interior atmosphere push on it. As for the atmosphere itself, you'd need an
airlock to go from the Mars pressure and transform it into the Earth pressures, which means that
this airlock CANNOT fail...not even once. If you recall the movie The Martian with Matt
Damon, his character had an airlock malfunction that not only almost killed him, but blow
out a part of the base he was in to the extent that he lost everything organic that was in
there and almost lost a lot of other things. If that happens even ONCE on the initial base? That could wipe out the entire crew that's
in there at the time, and would again cause many delays in the future colonization of
Mars. Think we're done? Not even close. Because there's another danger that we've
touched on in past videos, and that's the radiation of Mars. Mars has a very thin atmosphere as noted,
but, it also has no magnetosphere, which is a major deterrent of all solar and cosmic
radiation that is put onto a planet. We have some radiation here on Earth, but
the magnetosphere and atmosphere combined filter, block, or reflect most of it so we're
not overtly affected. On Mars? That doesn't happen. So both the spacesuits that the astronauts
need to wear AND the base that the colonists live in will need to be able to block out
any kind of radiation that is burst onto the planet. Or at the least keep the exposure to safe
levels. Too much radiation can cause the astronauts
to get sick, get cancer, and of course, die. Which would be very bad indeed. Now, there are many ideas about how to go
and keep the crews and colonists safe, but it's untested because we haven't been to Mars. Still, it could be worked out. However, most ideas would ensure that the
places we live in will be without windows, which means you won't get to see Mars unless
you go outside. Which, as some note, is not the best idea. True, the "dream" is to walk on Mars freely
and without restrictions outside of the spacesuit, but as you look deeper into the dust of Mars,
you'll find a lot more problems. You see, Mars dust is a lot finer than Earth
dust, and it gets everywhere. That's why many rovers on Mars have died over
the years, and when our astronauts get there, they'll find it'll seep into every crevice
of their spacesuit that is possible. That's bad because the dust is poisonous in
its own right, and because it'll get everywhere on their suits, it could mean that it could
be breathed in by the astronauts, which means they'll get sick just by inhaling the dust
that's literally all over the planet. Simple solutions to this including having
chambers where the suits never truly enter the base, and are thus isolating the dust
from everyone else, including the astronauts via special entranceways into the suits. Are you seeing how much work it's going to
take to get us to a base on Mars? It's a lot of work. And we're still several major factors away
from making it feasible. After all, what are going to eat and drink
on Mars? As we know, Mars does have water via its polar
ice caps, and potentially even water under the surface. So, if positioned correctly, we could have
easy access to water that we would just need to filter and make sure it's clean before
drinking. But as for food? Yeah...that's a problem. Now, not unlike The Martian, it's very feasible
that NASA or whoever would make a large pantry of food via simple to make meals for the first
colonists to eat. It won't be 5-star meals every night (or even
morning), but it'll keep them fed, which is the point here. But, not unlike the power problem, it's not
a long-term solution. You need to be able to grow plants on Mars. But, as noted, the Martian soil is anything
but safe in certain cases, plus, it lacks the Nitrogen to grow various Earth plants. So, we'd need to do a serious decontamination
of the Martian soil, and then use our own biological waste as a fertilizer (again, used
in The Martian to great effect) to try and grow things. Feasible? Yes. Expensive and time-consuming? Definitely. A workaround is using Aquaponics to grow plants
and fish together to allow for more of a balanced meal. But that too would take time and effort to
make work on a Martian base. Then, there is problem of gravity, the Martian
gravity is much less than that of Earth, so, not unlike the international Space Station,
a large portion of every day on Mars will be focused on exercising to keep the crew
healthy. Because in a microgravity environment, your
bones will get brittle, your muscles will waste away, and even your health can deteriorate. And let's not forget that this is just the
FIRST group to make it to Mars. SpaceX has noted that the first group will
last for about 9 months on the planet, and then come back to Earth for study, testing,
and health checks. More than likely, as we build up to a major
colony, there would be a rotating staff of people that would go to Mars, do work, then
be cycled back home to Earth to have a more normal life instead of being cooped up all
day (more or less) on a Martian base. This process would continue until a true self-sustaining
colony is made on Mars. But how long will that take to happen? That's a bit hard to determine. Not the least of which is because Earth and
Mars don't line up all the time, and so sending people to Mars is literally a time-sensitive
thing. Plus, when it comes to the large-scale construction
of a colony, there would need to be a constant shipment of supplies both in the materials
aspect, and the tools, vehicles, and of course, basic supplies to ensure that people can even
survive as they're building everything. Elon Musk says he has an idea for "space cranes"
that can help us with construction and getting materials down to the surface. But whether that's actually feasible is another
matter entirely. Musk also said that he feels that should things
go right, we'll have a full-on human colony by 2050. However, that's a bit bold, and not really
accounting for things that are likely to go wrong. So given all of this struggle and hardship
to overcome, why would we even want to settle on Mars? Well it's just like we said at the beginning
of the video, we want to, and we need to. If we are able to make the Mars colony work,
it'll be the first of many that'll help us colonize a whole planet. The potential in that is limitless, and should
we truly get a foothold on Mars, it could set us up to colonize places like Titan, or
Pluto, or even start us up on an intergalactic journey. It'll be hard, REALLY hard, to setup Mars
for people to live there. But the payoff? Yeah, that'll be worth it. Thanks for watching everyone! What did you think of this look at the mission
to Mars and what it would take to make a base that could truly support human life? Do you have a greater appreciation for everything
that NASA, SpaceX and more have to account for? Do you think that we will be able to work
out all the problems so that we can truly colonize the moon like the sci-fi stories
of old said we could? Let me know in the comments below, be sure
to subscribe and I'll see you next time on the channel!
