COLDPLAY - UP&UP
https://youtu.be/BPNTC7uZYrI
When I read and see this amazing mankind dreams to transverse into the universe exploration, the first deep impression within my mind is as though we are following the footsteps of our 'extraterrestrial ancestors' for a new home.
2016
https://youtu.be/t9c7aheZxls
SpaceX wants to send people to Mars. Here's what the trip might look like.
SpaceX's desire to put humans on Mars is nothing new; the company was founded with that goal in mind. But now, the company is testing early versions of the spacecraft it envisions using on such journeys, evaluating potential landing sites and thinking through what a long-term base on the Red Planet might look like many years from now.
"In terms of the vision that we're moving toward, it's really to enable cities on Mars and everything that comes with having a city, having a large and growing population," Paul Wooster, principal Mars development engineer at SpaceX, said during a May 20 meeting of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) focused on human missions to Mars.
"This obviously is a very significant endeavor, something that will take many years, many decades even, to really achieve," he said. But the company is targeting a characteristically ambitious timeline of perhaps 2022 for the first uncrewed missions to Mars, Wooster said.
https://www.space.com/amp/spacex-plans-journey-to-mars.html
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3rd December 2020
DOME WORLD
TERRAFORM MARS: ELON MUSK SAYS A MARS CITY OF ‘GLASS DOMES’ COMES FIRST
The SpaceX CEO wants to build a city on Mars by 2050.
MIKE BROWN
11.19.2020 3:20 PM
ELON MUSK WANTS TO BUILD a city on Mars — a project that would be a precursor to making the planet more Earth-like.
On Wednesday, the SpaceX CEO explained via Twitter that this city would involve "life in glass domes at first." The planet would "eventually" be "terraformed to support life, like Earth." While the planet-changing process would be "too slow to be relevant in our lifetime [...] we can establish a human base there in our lifetime." If the worst comes to the worst, Musk explained, "at least a future spacefaring civilization — discovering our ruins — will be impressed humans got that far."
The comments outline what is perhaps SpaceX's most ambitious plan: send the first humans to Mars, build out a city, and establish a permanent settlement. No biggie.
While Musk does not believe humans will terraform the planet in his lifetime, he said in 2019 that SpaceX's plan would enable humanity to "become a multi-planet civilization while that window is open."
The company is currently developing the Starship to fulfill the first step in this plan. The fully-reusable ship, measuring around 400 feet tall when paired with the Super Heavy booster, is designed to send over 150 tons or 100 people to space at once. SpaceX launched a full-size prototype of the ship in August to an altitude of 500 feet, and plans to launch even higher over time.
Its Raptor engines use liquid oxygen and methane as fuel as opposed to the kerosene-fueled Merlin engines on the Falcon 9. That means humans can land on Mars, harvest fuel from the planet, and either return home or venture out further. New York-based Air Company released designs in October for such a fueling station.
SpaceX confirmed a fuel station would form part of the initial base, with the ships acting as the initial habitats. Musk claimed in October that the first crewed Starship missions to Mars could launch in 2026.
From there, the firm plans to expand the base and make it self-sustaining. SpaceX engineer Paul Wooster explained in September 2018 the initial focus would be on establishing life support systems, enabling surface power, developing habitats, and building greenhouses. As the city expands, it could support scientific research projects in a similar fashion to the International Space Station. Musk has previously suggested the planet could even host pizzerias.
Terraforming would come much later, possibly after releasing carbon dioxide stored inside the planet. In August 2018, Musk shared a 1993 research paper that claimed humans could release the stores, walk around Mars with just a breathing apparatus, and ditch the need for a spacesuit. One of the author's papers, Mars Society president Robert Zubrin, claimed the soil may hold enough carbon dioxide to create an atmosphere of 300 millibars — comparable to that of Mount Everest.
THE INVERSE ANALYSIS — Musk may never see his long-term goal come to fruition, but the vision does generate excitement around the Starship project and SpaceX's plans to improve rocket technology.
There are some questionable elements of the plan. Researchers Bruce Jakosky of the University of Colorado Boulder and Christopher S. Edwards of Northern Arizona University found in August 2018 that Mars may only have enough carbon dioxide to create an atmosphere of 15 millibars.
Chinese billionaire Jack Ma clashed with Musk in August 2019 over the plans, which could cost up to one percent of global gross domestic product, declaring that Earth "needs more heroes."
Economics professor Guenter Lang, speaking to Inverse, also suggested the city could struggle to attract rich Earth-citizens willing to pay for the trip.
But the excitement generated by the long-term proposal could help support the shorter-term goals, like establishing a base and supporting scientific discovery. These goals are more likely to see results in Musk's lifetime.
Update 11/20 6 a.m. Eastern time: The article has been amended to clarify that 2026 refers to the first crewed Starship missions to Mars, rather than the first crewed Starship missions.
https://www.inverse.com/innovation/spacex-mars-city-terraforming/amp
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4th December 2020
Astronauts on a Mars mission will need to be 'conscientious' to work well together
By
Ashley Strickland, CNN
Updated 6:26 AM EST, Tue November 24, 2020
(CNN) The astronauts selected for the first human mission to Mars will need to have more than "the right stuff." People on this very long mission will need to possess an eagerness for doing the right thing, too.
Conscientiousness, defined as "wishing to do what is right, especially to do one's work or duty well and thoroughly," has emerged as the key trait requirement for astronauts that will live and work on the surface of Mars millions of miles from Earth, according to a new study.
This trait was identified as more important than honesty, humility, emotionality, extroversion, openness and agreeableness.
"Conscientiousness, an individual personality trait, can be thought of as a pooled team-resource," said Julia McMenamin, the study's first author and a doctoral student in psychology at Western University in Canada, in a statement. "The more conscientiousness a team is, the better they will likely be at accomplishing tasks."
The study published last week in the journal Astrobiology.
Conversely, traits like "social loafing," or the habit of a team member putting in less effort than when they work solo, are undesirable in a potential Marstronaut. Traits that seem counterproductive and negative behaviors are likely to cause more trouble and disruptions in a team environment.
The researchers consider these traits and behavior "non-negotiable" for long-duration spaceflight crews.
A careful focus on crew selection, emphasizing effective communication and very detailed work and planning processes, could help avoid any negative factors.
Some of the same things identified in the study could be used to help people coping with isolation during the pandemic as well.
Simulating a mission to Mars
Currently, NASA is targeting the 2030s for the first human mission to Mars. Depending on the alignment of Mars and Earth for launch and landing and the duration of the mission on the Martian surface, this crew could spend five years together -- not including training together beforehand.
To test what this crew dynamic might be like ahead of a real mission, researchers studied a team of five "astronauts" during an exercise analogous to a Mars mission. This event was hosted by the Austrian Space Forum in Oman in 2018. The Dhofar region of Oman is a good analog for the Martian environment in terms of isolation and extreme conditions.
McMenamin was joined by Natalie Allen, a professor of psychology at Western Univeristy, and Ottawa-based space exploration company Mission Control Space Services Chief Science Officer Melissa Battler for the study.
The AMADEE-18 analog space mission lasted for four weeks. Five astronauts, including four men and one woman between the ages of 28 to 38, lived in a simulated Mars environment.
Before, during and after the mission, the astronauts filled out surveys addressing the performance of their team and any team conflicts as well as their stress levels.
At the end of the mission, the astronauts rated themselves and each teammate. They also answered questions about their behavior in their respective roles and identified any counterproductive behaviors, including social loafing.
This particular team worked well together as a team, but the researchers were not surprised because they had prepared for their "mission." The team was also supported by field and mission control teams.
The team members were also familiar with each other before the mission began. All of these factors can be identified in examples of positive teamwork on Earth, the researchers said.
"How familiar team members are with one another has been shown to help teams work better together likely because it provides team members with knowledge about each other and helps them communicate better and more efficiently," McMenamin said.
Stress is a common negative factor that can influence team performance on Earth and in space. It's distracting, increases anxiety, causes cooperative difficulty, increases task overload and contributes to destructive emotions.
"Anyone who has worked on a team knows conflict amongst team members can harm team performance and make for a negative experience. When people argue about how to get things done, or get into personal disagreements, there is less time and energy left for completing tasks," McMenamin said.
"What's interesting is that there are different types of conflict, and so long as interpersonal issues and arguments about how to go about accomplishing tasks are avoided, differences in views and opinions might actually improve team performance likely because this allows for the team to benefit from each member's knowledge and perspective."
Given that this particular analog mission only lasted for about a month, the researchers are interested to know how things might play out over the course of a long-duration mission.
"Major issues caused by psychological distress and interpersonal problems don't tend to show up until months or even years spent in an isolated, confined, and extreme environment, which highlights the need for longer-duration simulations," McMenamin said.
Teamwork makes the dream work
Being a good team player has almost always been part of the astronaut playbook, going back to the days of the Apollo missions.
Former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino spoke to CNN in September about the Netflix series "Away," which focuses on an international crew leading the first human mission to Mars. Massimino served as a consultant for the show.
The show crew was most interested in hearing about the human side of being an astronaut, Massimino said. For example, they asked him about the emotional aspects of leaving your family behind on Earth, the camaraderie between the crew and "what it's like in your heart and soul, rather than the process," he said.
Massimino, who flew on multiple missions during the Shuttle era, told them that "the Earth looks like heaven. It makes you realize we're so lucky to be here."
Regarding the teamwork aspect of spaceflight, "we really do love each other as astronauts," Massimino said. "It's like a hybrid between a family member and a friend. You really do care about each other. And there were seven of us on the Shuttle crew. We became like a family, having all of these experiences in training and spaceflight. They're extraordinary and there is not anything I wouldn't do for these people."
Massimino was selected to be an astronaut in 1996. When asked about the traits that would be important for astronauts going to Mars, he said he feels that the selection process would be similar to the way NASA chooses astronaut candidates now for long-term spaceflight on the International Space Station.
"We're looking for people who would be good candidates for long-duration spaceflight that get along, personalities that would let things roll. If things go wrong, you make mistakes because you're not perfect, you need to be able to roll with it. They should be able to contribute and be a good positive crew member, not only for their crewmates, but the people helping them back on Earth."
One of the most important aspects that helps the crew's morale and performance is a connection to Earth and the people they care about on it -- something that will be increasingly more difficult as a spacecraft leaves Earth for Mars, causing communication delays.
People tend to think of astronauts as superheroes, Massimino said.
"But we're really just regular people who care about each other and have really awesome jobs."
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/11/24/world/mars-astronaut-traits-wellness-scn-trnd/index.html