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Week 5 [7.11-13.11] SpaceX and colonization of Mars

      Probably each of you has heard about Elon Musk and his grand space program. Is he a genius like Steve Jobs? Or maybe he is just another “legend” like S. Jobs? I think that we have to wait to judge him. We have, however, clues right now to believe that his name will be written in history books. Why?

     The answer is: SpaceX. This is his most extraordinary company right now, and this company is mankind’s only hope. As you see, there is a reason why Elon Musk is the real life Iron Man!

He has a reason to smile...

      It is pretty obvious that humans have to explore not only the Earth but the rest of the Universe. Our home is doomed; there are limited resources for us to live long and prosperous. There will come a day when our planet will not be habitable any more. It looks like, the only real solution to this problem is to explore and colonize the rest of the Universe. Right now, the closest planet with a possibility for us to live is Mars.

      Elon Musk and his company, SpaceX, have a great plan: they want to send a human expedition to Mars in 2025. At first, SpaceX wants in 2018 to send unmanned capsule to Mars with the aim of testing low-cost lander technologies. This will begin a series of missions to research and test necessary technologies a human crew would use.

     In order to do that, they are developing ITS – Interplanetary Transport System. ITS is a project to create a system needed to colonize the Mars. This system is a combination of several elements. The key element of ITS is a fully reusable super heavy-lift launch vehicle. This project very ambitious because SpaceX wants to reuse a rocket bigger than Saturn V used in Apollo missions! The next element that is crucial in every space mission is fuel. In order to get to the Mars, you have to burn a lot of fuel; to have a lot of fuel, you have to bring it to the orbit from the surface of the Earth. To do that, you have to burn even more fuel. This sounds stupid, right? SpaceX idea is to refuel spacecraft in orbit, rather than haul necessary fuel from the surface. Another of their idea is to produce fuel on the surface of Mars. Their spacecraft will be powered by a right propellant that will be easy to produce on Mars.

Rockets comparison: Scale comparison of, from left to right: the full stack ITS launch vehicle; NASA's upcoming Space Launch System; the Big Ben clock tower; Falcon Heavy; and a 1.8 meters human.
     For me, it is insane, that one private company wants to send a manned expedition to Mars, when the world power like China right now doesn’t even view crew mission to Mars as a real possibility. Of course, the risk of SpaceX failure is high, but, as we know from the history, only brave explorers discover new lands.

     What do you think? Is it our future? Would you like to take a trip to Mars one day? Share with me your opinion!





Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interplanetary_Transport_System
https://www.ft.com/content/e9a0a88c-84f1-11e6-a29c-6e7d9515ad15
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/09/elon-musk-s-path-mars-begins-red-dragon-what-science-will-it-do
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-89xTT1Ctbrk/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAABcc/Kg0vilTzpKI/photo.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4f/SpaceX_Interplanetary_Transport_System%2C_Size_Comparison.svg/373px-SpaceX_Interplanetary_Transport_System%2C_Size_Comparison.svg.png

Comments

Unknown said…
The question of why huge countries aren't sending expeditions to Mars has a simple answer - why would they bother? It's not like there's a huge profit in doing that other than a bit of prestige, and there's a lot of costs. Private men like SpaceX can do this on a whim, like "you know what I haven't done with all that money? Flew someone to space!".

I still believe that in my lifetime I'd be watching the first man on Mars on my TV. That's way better than landing on the moon. And "The Martian" was pretty great, if we can grow potatoes on Mars than it's basically colonized.
Unknown said…
I have read about this before and I think that this is amazing. C'mon - in few years people may walk on Mars!
It may be a company, but it is well organized and it has a clear structure, its goals and everything is well known - unlike in China, so maybe that's why :)
I'm looking forward to see how it will be in this 2018 :)
Unknown said…
I tkink this is the future. In my opinion it will be possible later. Colonies one the Mars for me to day are not necessary. But it can be helpful for future generations. I don't know how life on the Mars will look. I would like to travel to Mars but I heard that today one way flight is more than one year and it's expensive. It is enought to see the Earth from space.
Sylwia Pechcin said…
It's amazing that our grandparents haven't even thought about Mars and what can people do there, and now it is really possible to go there and someday build a house and live there! I only regret that I probably won't be alive to for example visit my friends living on Mars, but in the future it won't be something special to go there to visit someone or just to spend holiday with your family. Contrarily it's a kind of a depressing story: wherever human appears - whole surrounding is devastated and destroyed, so that happened to Earth.
Adam Nowak said…
On other celestial bodies you could find, at example, minerals that are extremely uncommon on our planet, thus extremely valuable. Building a mine on Mars could make a huge profit...
Adam Nowak said…
Recently, NASA unofficialy proved that EmDrive really works. What's EmDrive? It is a sort of spaceship engine, that doesn't need a fuel to work. It is agains newton's third law of motion, but it works anyway. Using those engines on spaceship to Mars could cut travel time to only two months...
Ihor Ahnianikov said…
I'm a huge fan of this guy and his vision. There're a lot of issues related to Mars colonization, but it's an important step for humanity and it should be done - we should spread in Space to protect our existence. Imagine that future Mars is just another country with it's government, places to visit etc. but actually it's a separate sphere floating in Space and humanity is a multi-planet civilization, that's seems to be amazing.
Unknown said…
To be honest Mars exploration is just happening. I am very interested in this topic. Elon is a great visioner - when you look on his other projects you will probabely say that Mars expansion is imminent. If he release his final way of transport between Earth and Mars which - two ways journey and the tickets will costs a reasonable money I'd love to visit Mars.

For me the most interesting issue connected with Mars expansion is that Boeing says it will win the race to Mars. We will definitely see a great competition and challange, I can't wait when Boeing reveals its strategy. I hope that it will be influence the ticket's price. The more competitors, the lower price.
Unknown said…
First of all, it's interesting topic :) Thank you Adam!

As you said, probably everybody has heard about Elon Musk. Damian said Musk is a great visioner, but I would go further - for me he is a perfect leader with own vision. He can sell his ideas not only for business, but also cooperators and employees. It's very important (or necessary) skill for every leader, but it's unbelievable it works for people all over the world.

If it comes to Mars expansion, Damian said about "Boeing-SpaceX race". For us, it's not just race, but very important jump (not a step!) - regardless of winner. When it will finish, our daily life may be changed a lot! I look forward to every single piece of news about it.
Unknown said…
Last is pretty loud about expeditions and exploration of Mars. I'm very curious what will be the effect of all this. I don't think I'd be able to leave the Earth but I am full of admiration for people who are ready to do it.
Piotr Basiński said…
I am very interesting who will be first man on the Mars. Probably Musk will look for voluntary candidate. This person with one way ticket to Mars becomes famous, but question is, did he ever find candidate for one way trip to Mars? I am not sure.
Dajana Kubica said…
I think it was a great idea. It is true that the expedition could be a failure, but I think it's worth a try. It seems to me that for 200 years our descendants will can visit Mars as part of interplanetary flights. Too bad that I won't live enough to see it, because I would happily went to Mars for the holidays. Who knows, maybe thanks to this we will be able to meet other civilizations outside our solar system. We'll see what time will tell. At the moment I think that people willing to go for Mars should begin to set in the queue.
Colonization of Mars is getting a really hot topic recently and I'm very positive about that. It's amazing that all of this is happening right now, in front of our eyes. I'm very glad that I live in an age when I can track progress in matters so important for the future of mankind. I also really appreciate Elon Musk and support all of his projects (not only SpaceX). He is a man who has a clear vision of making the world a better place and consistently implements his ideas. I would love to visit Mars one day as long as travel time wouldn't be so long.
Unknown said…
I think this is the future, people for a long time dreams about to conquest and create life on the others planets and finally they found the one which has the possibility of life. So it is the matter of time when people will go for trips to another planets.
Unknown said…
The whole idea also sounds insane to me. I'm pretty sure the mission won't be a success, moreover it's sure death sooner or later, however, they want us to hope for the best.

Why I'm so sceptical? First of all there's no possibility to breath normally on Mars; there's only 0,1% of O2 and CO in the atmosphere and we won't be able to use oxygen capsules for so many years we would wish to leave there.
Furthermore, we can't walk in a normal way there, because of a weak magnetic field.
Next argument - the temperature; avarage is now -55°C, maximum could be 27°C but during the night in the winter there is about -130°C. There would be global warming of course but to such extent? And what about such huge hesitation of temperature?
What we're going to do than? Use materials and technology from Eath to help us survive there, while allegedly there would be no Earth as we now know, so from where we would be taking supplies?

Why wouldn't we instead create conditions for living still on our planet? It sounds more rational and probable for me.

I think that it's good that someone is making a project like that. World needs people with great fantasy and ideas that in the future might be called visionary. But also there is reality - and like Apollo missions, I think this kind of missions will go on with many sacrifice in the future. The project may go on but it will not happen soon. As I read in the project page - "The [US] government doesn't have the budget for Mars colonization" and if a big country with lot of money, that has NASA on the other side, says that it cost too much and it's impossible right now - I believe them.

But maybe in 40 years where there will be an opportunity for a safe trip like that ? Why not.
Adam Nowak said…
It would be possible to terraform Mars. Right now, there is a possibility that we will find life on Mars.
As far as i remember, the reason why Mars doesn't have a dense atmosphere is because of weak magnetic field. Magnetic field protects planet from solar wind. When a planet doesn't have a magnetic field, then solar wind will strip away its atmosphere. That's what happened on Mars. To colonise Mars, we have to somehow create magnetosphere on Mars first. And i think, that it is easier to do than trying to find more and more new resources on our planet.
Maciej Główka said…
Elon Musk is really interesting person, he created paypal, so he knows how to create and run business.
I am really amazed, that private company has got more successes than NASA in developing reusable rockets. I think, that NASA is already using SpaceX rockets to send food,parts etc to National Space Station. I really keep my fingers crossed for SpaceX to be successful in their plans. I think, that Mars colonization is very important for our species to survive. However, we can't forget about our Earth, we should do everything we can to keep it in best shape.
Unknown said…
I would like to their plan is successful. It would have been nice if people lived on Mars. Cosmos very interested me. is probably still many mysteries about whom we don't know. I'd like to go to Mars, although per hour Haha :)
Unknown said…
I love the way the compete with NASA. SpaceX’s rocket is definitely bigger. Elon Musk is an amazing person. He’s extremely smart guy and a fast learner. The way how fast he learns makes him and his team so successful.
But should we colonize Mars? What if there is a microscopic life on Mars? And we will destroy it. I’m sure this argument will not stop people. The idea of producing fuel on Mars is great.

Another question is who’s law will be on Mars? Elon Mask’s law? The USA’s law? Or maybe Russia’s? Probably near 2035 we would have a real space war. Star Wars if you like. Divide and concur. I hope it’s not true.
It’d be great to visit Mars. Maybe when our generation will be old (50-80) the prices of going to Mars will be cheaper and w ae can make our dreams come true.
Colonising Mars sounds cool but what for we should do it? There is still a lot of space on our beautiful planet. Mars atmosphere is very "unfriendly" for us. Lacking of oxygen, problems with walking and extreme temperatures. Maybe it's all about the money. I heard that SpaceX is going to make a tv show similiar to Big Brother that is going to let us see "what's up" with the crew living on Mars.
Kacper Zaremba said…
I strongly believe in Elon Musk and his plan. I think humans need to become interplanetary species in order to survive. Right now single asteroid could finish our life on Earth, just like it happened with dinosaurs. Colonisation of Mars brings up many interesting problems. For example, how will the first generation of people born on Mars perceive people from Earth? How will they differ from humans from Earth? There are many interesting questions that need to be answered.
Moode said…
I agree with you, this guy is a genius. Right now the main problem with discovering the universe around us is the huge amount of fuel needed for the rocket to launch. What ITS might bring, might be the beginning of new era.

And what I do like about him is that he didn’t have in mind the idea of finding new home but he is trying to protect the existing one by redefining the transportation earth too by bring fully-electric vehicles to the market.
kondrat said…
interested*

Actually he has opted into first human flight to Mars. Moreover Musk ensured, that the SpaceX management is prepared to continue development of the BFR after he eventually accidentally dies in that trip.
I really root for him. It's about time we start to explore a little further than Moon. There are two interesting things that I wonder about. When we reach the point where Mars is habitable whose laws will Martians follow? What kind of clocks or calendars will they use and how it will refer to Earths one? Are they going to invent everything from scratch?
Andrzej Gulak said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
That's true, eventually life on Earth will be impossible due to depleting of natural resources and the fact that we're slowly killing our natural ecosystem through various ways.

Personally I'm very happy to see that somebody has ambitions to attempt something like this, and I strongly believe that we'll be able to live on other planets, maybe even before our death :). It's great to see how science progresses, and definitely I'm cheering for him and his entire idea. Go science!
Unknown said…
Musk is just an extraordinary person. He was dreaming about space and Mars from early childhood. It's not only about spending money somewhere, it's about opening a new world for everyone. For now, it's really difficult to imagine how people can live on Mars, but the truth is that Mars is becoming our reality. Maybe for our children and grandchildren a trip to Mars will be like a trip to US for us. It's really mind blowing!
Michał Pycek said…
I am not going to be original, when describing him as a super inspiring figure and a genius man who just follows his beliefs and guts. I think everybody would like to be so brave to go for every dream they have one by one.
In my opinion the future is already happening and in a couple of years it will be possible to go to Mars. The question is whether it will be one way ticket or two ways ticket. We have already heard that a project has been created, where people are seeked, those, who would like to travel to Mars and stay there in order to explore the planet. I believe that next generation will not only have a change to travel there but it may happen that they will be also able to live there, once the planet becomes explored and colonized. We just do not know when this happens precisely :-)
I think that is an amazing idea. The colonization of Mars would be a HUUUUUGE step for mankind :)
Elon Musk is no doubt a genius, in my opinion much bigger than Steve Jobs. He really tries to make world a better place. I really recommend reading his biography “Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future” by Ashlee Vance.
In in the previous millennium we had cold war which engulfed millions of dollars - also on the conquest of space. Humanity has built satellites and travel on the moon. Now nobody want to stand on moon at this moment even SpaceX is a far of that without NASA. We are not ready for explore universe and perhaps never will be. It is sad but true, our human body is too weak to "discover America" again, first of all we will have to sent a thousands of robots and spacecraft before human can stay on the Mars. Of course I do not negate progress but if anybody stay on mars today we get the same situation as moon. Okay, we get this. But what now? We need more technology to be able perform terraforming.
Wojtek Kania said…
I've read this book. It was a pleasure to know Elon Musk. Steve Jobs was a genius. But he change "only" our entertainment world. Music - iPod, iTunes. Books - iPad, iBooks. Movies - Pixar. Smartphones - iPhone.

I think Elon Musk and Steve Jobs are very similar person. And it's hard to say which one is "bigger genius". But for me Elon is focused on much important parts of our life. His idea are expanding our civilization! Thanks God for Steve and Elon.

"The ones who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones that do." - S. Jobs
Unknown said…
And we really HAVE to develop intersetllar travel on huge scale. Sending people to Mars is necessary step in that development. Earth won't always be hospitable place to live for us.
I believe the mars tv project is called Mars One. SpaceX is only about exploration.
Of course I would like to take a trip to Mars... provided it's a round trip ;) Im huge Elon fan. Love his visions. However I believe we should also focus on repairing state of our planet, not abandoning it just because it's "doomed". I believe there are still many inventions to be made to make Earth habitable a bit longer.
Unknown said…
It's great that we're working on settling Mars, maybe one day we'll at least be able to travel there. Looking at how quickly and irresponsibly we are draining our own natural resources - a new planet definitely might come in handy.
That is a good question actually. I did some reading on this topic and found out that the basis of international law governing space is the Outer Space Treaty. One of its principles says that "outer space is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty". However it says nothing of private enterprises, so in case of SpaceX the answer is not so obvious. I think we need a good lawyer here :D
Maybe because we are simply destroying it?
I think we should try to understand our environment and live in harmony with it. We are the only living organism that is actually destroying his inhabitant world. :(
I think we should explore our world and try to understand more the rules that it goes by. We are the only organism on earth that is destroying its inhabitant world without any reason.
Of course exploration of new world would be a great thing but as for me we should parallelly try to understand our world.
Elon Musk is a man of science. I mentioned earlier that I'm his huge fan. I love that his main goals is to develop technology, discover new things and he never stops.

Colonization of Mars would be a great achievement for human mankind. We can't predict every threat for our planet. Scientists have a couple scenarios for world end. Who knows if mars colonization won't be last chance to save humans from extinction in the future? Maybe Elon Musk is our saviour and we don't know about it yet.
KamilG said…
It's a tempting proposition - travel to planet Mars. If it was possible I would go there but only as a tourist.
I don't see any sense in living on Mars. No liquid water, no air, only endless desert. In short, the planet is very hard to live in. It's the opposite with Proxima
Centauri b. This planet supposedly is similar to our Earth, but the distance is 7 milion kilometers. If in future we will have spaces to travel there, then I would live on
Proxima Centauri b.
Unknown said…
The colonization of Mars is a very distant issue. Certainly sometime in the future, it will be necessary, but we are talking here about the future hundreds or thousands of years from now. This subject captures people imagination this days, including the powerful Elon Musk. In far future it will definitely be necessary for one simple reason: overpopulation on Earth. As for the work of Elon Musk I am more interested in his self driving cars and AI research. Now, Mars for me is more interesting in terms of searching for any kind of life there.
Unknown said…
SpaceX want send people on mars but know we dont have any engine to do this. We have to consider what we really want to do when we get to the Mars. For me its good idea but its really expensive and dangerous mission. I suppose we could be able to do this after 20 years but after this time we should send firstly our development Artificial intelligence

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