Whether it ’s NASA ’s " Journey to Mars " or Elon Musk ’s plan to colonise the Solar System , one thing is certain : Once we leave behind the good harbour that is our planet , we need to be able to fend for ourselves using what we can find in space .
This is scream , in technical terms , in - situ imagination employment ( ISRU ) . It means that before we can plan our deep quad escapades , we demand to have the technologies to produce whatever supply we ca n’t take with us .
" It was an unbelievable accomplishment when we live on to the moonshine , " said Bob Cabana , a former space birdie astronaut and current director of NASA ’s Kennedy Space Center , in aNASA clause . “ We stayed for a couple of days and accept some rock-and-roll home . We research . ”
Cabana added : “ But , now we want to be pioneers . As pioneers , we will create a sustained human presence in an ever more extreme surround . We now need to go to Mars . ”
The lasting mission on the International Space Station ( ISS ) has give us many penetration into howhumans adaptto microgravity environments , but the ISS is on a regular basis re - supplied . A mission to Mars will take six to nine months , without considering time on the surface .
Once on the Earth’s surface , the astronauts need to be able to press out resources to cultivate crop and make fuel . This requires not only top - notch technology , which might not be quite quick forcrops yet , but also an in - depth knowledge of the landing place sites and terrain .
“ We do n’t want to land somewhere and assume there is water supply in the regolith and find there is no water , ” Rob Mueller , a senior engineer in the Spaceport Systems Branch of Exploration Research and Technology Programs , add . “ We need to prospect before we mine to see if there is anything worthful there . So , to do the prospecting , NASA is planning an orbital mission with instruments on plank to look for water in the soil using remote sensing . ”
NASA is also plan aresource prospector missionon the Moon , which could make it easier to go back there and even establish a permanent nucleotide .
The space agency is also testing aspecial trash reactorthat can change over trash into projectile fuel . “ It be a capital deal to establish a long ton of payload beyond Earth orbit , ” chemical substance locomotive engineer Annie Meier said , “ so why not reuse it . ”
There are many challenge ahead , but NASA is working intemperately to ensure the astronauts that will vaporize to Mars not only pull through , but end up expand away from home .
