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Elon Musk's bold vision of Moving a million people to Mars

Elon Musk’s Bold Vision of Moving a Million People to Mars

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Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, has revealed a bold plan to bring one million people to Mars in order to create a human population there. Musk has always aspired to make mankind “multi-planetary” and ensure the continuation of civilization beyond Earth’s boundaries, and this grandiose project reflects this goal.

A Mission with Vision

Elon Musk's bold vision of Moving a million people to Mars

Image Source: techspot.com

Musk’s declaration, shared on social media, emphasises his unwavering dedication to interplanetary colonisation. The “single-planet Great Filter” must be overcome by civilization by guaranteeing that Mars can support life independently of Earth, he says, highlighting the planet’s significance as a possible haven.

Starship Rocket: Mars Gateway

SpaceX’s Starship rocket, billed as a breakthrough transport capable of ferrying humans to Mars with unprecedented simplicity and efficiency, is central to Musk’s Martian dreams. Musk sees Starship opening the door to a day in which interplanetary travel is as commonplace as domestic travel.

A Schedule for Settlement on Mars

Musk has long envisioned a thriving Martian colony, but new information indicates SpaceX is moving more quickly to carry out this goal over the next several years. Musk is so optimistic that he believes SpaceX can reach the Moon in five years, demonstrating the company’s dedication to expanding space exploration in many ways.

Getting Past Technical Obstacles

Musk has set an ambitious timeframe, but there are several technological obstacles in the way of Martian colonisation. The recent test flight of SpaceX’s Starship, which ended in a catastrophic crash, serves as a reminder of the difficult challenges that lay ahead. Musk, meanwhile, seems unfazed and sees obstacles as chances for improvement and creativity.

Beyond a Moon Base

Musk imagines humans colonising not just Mars but also the Moon and going farther into space. Musk’s belief in the significance of space exploration for guaranteeing the long-term survival and prosperity of mankind is reflected in this ambitious ambition.

Also Read: The Rise of Deepfakes: Why They’re Spreading and How to Stop Them

Conclusion

Relocating a million people to Mars as part of Elon Musk’s “game plan” is a daring step towards fulfilling humanity’s destiny as a multi-planet race. Even if there are many obstacles to overcome, Musk’s unflinching perseverance and SpaceX’s innovative spirit give optimism for a day when human civilization will spread beyond Earth’s bounds.

 
UAE first mission to mars

UAE Successfully Launches Its First Interplanetary Mission

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The United Arab Emirates successfully launched its first interplanetary mission today. The launch took place in Japan, and the team sent to space, and eventually to Mars, a probe the size of a car. This launch marks the beginning of the UAE country’s most ambitious space project. The project aims to study Mars, its geography, and weather by following it throughout an entire year. Here’s a look at how important the launch was, and how the team got to where they are now.

Hope
for the Future

Hope,
which was the nation calls the spacecraft, launched out of Tanegashima Space
Centre in Japan. The probe took off via an H-IIA rocket that Japan frequently
uses for their launches, and the rocket launch occurred at 6:58 AM. The device
will take seven months to venture into deep space. Throughout its journey, it
will correct its course using engine burns to direct and align itself
correctly. The probe will try to align itself with the Martian orbit sometime
in February, next year. Once into the orbit, it will stay on to analyse the
Martian atmosphere and gain insight into the planet’s climate and
geography. 

Great
Timing

For the UAE, the launch came at a critical time. The government came up with the idea for such a project in 2014 as a means to inspire their youth. Furthermore, the project was a way for the country to mark its 50th anniversary in December, next year. To ensure that the probe would be in the Martian orbit by then, the team needed to launch the satellite by the end of this summer. Also, the launch had to take place within a short window of time. This window was critical because it brought the Earth and Mars close together during their journey around the Sun. Since such a planetary alignment only occurs once every twenty-six months, the team needed to get their launch right, if they wanted to meet their deadline for next year.

Fears
Subside

As far as experts can tell, the launch was a great success. However, briefly, after the launch, the scientists were afraid that the spacecraft’s solar panels had not opened correctly. Shortly afterward, the UAE government confirmed that they had deployed avoiding complications. Furthermore, the team stated that the spacecraft is in good shape and that communications have been established. This will allow them to continue monitoring the probe, ensuring it stays on course. Furthermore, the scientists will continue to analyse and process the data the probe collects along its journey.

Happy
News Worth Celebrating

The UAE Ambassador to the US, Yousef Al Otaiba, stated that the launch ensures that years of hard work has paid off. During a live stream after the launch, he also congratulated the team and noted that this was just the beginning for the country. Up until recently, UAE dealt only with Earth satellites, making this a prestigious leap for them. The team comprising of engineers and scientists were able to turn a dream into a reality within six years. Furthermore, the team was able to do so by sticking to their budget of $200 million.

Project manager, Omran Sharaf said that the government was clear about the fact they wanted a new model of delivery. Rather than opting for something big budget, they wanted something efficient and fast. The team partnered with several institutions in the US, including the Universities of California, Colorado and Arizona State. All these educational institutions have experience building components for deep space probes. The partnership gave the team access to testing infrastructure, practical know-how, and experienced advice.

Big
Steps Coming

The
launch is big news for the UAE, but they still have a long way to go. Within
the next month, they will perform the first manoeuvre needed to correct the
probe’s course. It will need to keep accomplishing these engine thrusts to get
itself to Mars. However, the biggest test will come in February next year
wherein Hope must perform a 30-minute thruster burn to enter the Martian orbit.
The move will also slow the craft, reducing its speed from 121,000 kmph to
18,000 kmph. However, by then, the craft will be too far away from the Earth.
Hence, it will have to do so on its own, without any instructions from back
home. 

But, February is a long way off, and for now, UAE is celebrating its successful launch. If everything goes according to plan, Mars will see quite a few spacecraft, with China planning their own launch in the days to come. NASA will follow up soon enough with their Perseverance rover, making the Martian landscape a new exploration ground.

Nasa’s Curiosity Detects Methane Spike on the Martian Surface

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Many of the scientists are curious about the whereabouts of Mars, and the biggest space organisation, NASA, is one of them. According to a report by the New York Times, Curiosity, the motor vehicle sent by Nasa to Martian surface, has discovered the largest amount of methane ever measured during its mission. Times published the news on Saturday, after receiving a private email from Ashwin Vasavada, one of the project scientists on the mission.

Curiosity Mars Rover
Image Source: bgr.com

NASA on Monday confirmed the news, by saying that the amount of the methane that Curiosity has found, in the span of seven years of its mission, is about three times higher than previous detections. The organisation also doubts that the origin of the gas may be biological, arising hopes for the possibility of life on Mars, one of the sources of methane can be microbial life. Though, methane can be originated through other sources including geothermal reactions involving water and heat, or through interactions between water and rock. But, Curiosity lacks the tools that can identify the origin of methane on Mars, and from where it is generated. So Nasa has also denied commenting on the same.

According to the blog post published by Nasa on Monday, the finding reveals that the rover discovered about 21 parts per billion units by volume (ppbv) of methane, through its Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) tunable laser spectrometer. And, one ppbv means that if a volume of air is taken to Mars, one billionth of the volume of air will be methane.

The organisation also revealed that the rover has detected Methane on the Martian surface several times before, and always there was a difference between the level of methane during every other season. Nasa hasn’t been able to know the reason behind the difference in the level of methane in these different seasons. The organisation also detected the gas on the surface of Mars in 2004, but the scientists were unable to detect its source, at that time.

Nasa will be conducting a few more experiments to know more about the sources of Methane and will be collaborating with different space organisations, including the European Space Agency’s Trace Gas Orbiter. The latter has been exploring the Mars’ orbit and has notified that it has not detected any methane during the period of one year of its research. Nasa mentioned that it will be matching up the reports from the latter and will carry out some experiment to get extra details on the finding.

Nasa’s Mars InSight Probe Successfully Arrives at the Red Planet

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Nasa’s Mars InSight probe has successfully landed on the surface of Mars after a long journey of 300m-mile, that is covered in seven months. InSight – short for “Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport,” is an $830 million robot, that has been sent to Mars to know the planet better.

The robot landed at the quietest place on Mars, Elysium Planitia, a vast, smooth lava plain, also called as “the biggest parking”, shortly before 8 pm GMT on Monday. There were cheers and hugs among the scientists at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in California, when the InSight robot sent the signals of its successful arrival on the planet.

insight
Image Source: spaceflightnow.com

“It was intense, and you could feel the emotion,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, on receiving a congratulatory phone call from Vice President Mike Pence. “What an amazing day for NASA,” he added. The robot also sent a picture of itself, soon after a few minutes of its arrival on the surface. Due to the dust, the picture came out to be a bit blurred, but NASA claims that the next pictures will be more clear.

NASA launched the mission on May 5, this year, from the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, unlike the other missions, that were launched from the Cape Canaveral. The robot landed on Mars successfully, after it blasted off its heat shield and fired retro-thrusters to slow its descent when it entered into the thin Martian atmosphere and released a parachute.

The robot will accomplish a two years mission and will be studying more about the core, crust and mantle of the planet. The robot is further focused on researching the climate and the formation of the planed more than 4.6bn years ago. The InSight mission is one of the 40% Mars missions that have been successful in the past. The lander is embedded with a seismometer, that will work as an ear listen to the vibrations on the ground. It is capable of recording a dozen to 100 Marsquakes of magnitude 3.5 or greater, during its two years mission on the planet.

It also consists of a heat probe, that will measure the Mars’ heat rate under the ground. The scientists will also calculate the size of the Mars’ core, with the help of the antenna attached to the robot, that will measure the Mars’ wobbles on its axis. There are a lot more enclosed in the mission that will be revealed in steps after the mission moves further.

Bruce Banerdt, the mission’s lead scientist from JPL, said, “When we look at the crust of Mars, that’s a snapshot into the past, of what the crust of the Earth might have looked like 4.5 billion years ago before it got all busy. It will take about two years to collect the data needed to answer the mission’s “deep questions.” depending on how many quakes Mars has in store.”

Team Indus: An Indian space technology startup in the race to land on moon

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Team Indus a Bangalore, India based technology startup is one of few companies in the world and only company from India that have ventured into highly costly and research intensive aerospace industry. Team Indus (Axiom Research Labs) founded by Rahul Narayan, Dilip Chabria, Indranil Chakraborty, Sameer Joshi and Julius Amrit has plans to land on moon. ISRO a Govt. of India organization is the only agency in India that works in aerospace field and has been working on a mission to mars called Chandrayaan since 2003.  There are only three countries in world that have soft-landed on moon (China, USSR & US). Soft landing means lading with controlled speed without any damage to spacecraft and surface.

rover on moon Image Credit: Wikipedia

This Indian space startup is participating in Google Lunar XPRIZE competition and working on a spacecraft that will be capable of landing on the moon along with a rover that will explore moon. Google will be offering $30 million as  prize money to the winners of this competition (cost of this kind of project is way hire than prize money offered by Google). Team Indus was one of five teams selected to compete in the Milestone prizes and they won $1M as a Milestone prize for their landing technology. To win the contest participating team has to land a robot on the moon, cover 500 meters over the lunar surface, and send data and pictures back to the earth.

Team Indus started working in 2010. The team which had no experience in space technology worked hard for three years and came up with first design in 2013. Adimurthy, a retired  ISRO scientist rejected their design after first review in 2013. Indus team worked hard and was ready with a new propulsion system in a year.

Propulsion technology innovation

Since propulsion technology used by other countries is highly confidential and inaccessible, Team Indus decided to design their own propulsion system. Team Indus is going to use a propulsion systems that  has never been used before for such critical space mission. They are using a combination of small fixed thrust engines and produce the variable thrust effect using control algorithms. So what other space organizations have been doing with hardware, Team Indus is trying to do with software algorithms.

Team Indus is being led by Rahul Narayana along with more than 20 ISRO scientist. Team Indus with more than 100 employees has secured funding to the tune of $35 M from Pallav Nadhani (Fusion Charts), Subrata Mitra & Shekhar Kirani (Accel Partners), Sharad Sharma (former Yahoo India R&D head), Vivek Raghavan (chief product manager of UIDAI), Pallaw Sharma (director of analytics at Microsoft),  Bala Parthasarthy(AngelPrime angel investors), Sunil Kalra(entrepreneur & investor) and Paras Chopra.

Team Indus has acquired a launch vehicle (PSLV) from ISRO on commercial rates for sending their spacecraft and rover to moon from Sriharikota in 2017. It would be interesting to see who lands on moon first, ISRO, Team Indus or Elon Musk‘s SpaceX which has already started booking for earth to moon flight.