Red Planet: New Land for Human Settlement?

The mission Mars-One has been in the news for quite some time. The ground breaking mission will establish a permanent settlement on the planet Mars. The Mars One is a not-for-profit organization and believes that the human settlement is possible on the planet with existing technologies. On the strong belief that, the first foot print on Mars and lives of the crew thereon will captivate and inspire generations and therefore developing public interest which will help finance the mission.

The crew will be sent every two years to prepare the habitable settlement, followed by human landing. The search for the crew started in the month of April in 2013. A huge number of 78,000 registered for this selection process. Over 1,000 aspirants have been shortlisted out of which 62 are Indians.

Press Trust of India quoted Space.com that those who made in the first cut, 297 are from the United States, 75 from Canada, 62 from India followed by Russia with 52. This comes as a huge opportunity for the country to uplift its self on the world map. The aspirants come from different sectors of life and are very excited for the final round of the selection. The hopefuls will finally be put into a group of 40 and will leave for the mission to Mars. The Indians all around the world have felt sheer sense of proud as India comes as the 3rd country with largest selected candidates after the United States of America followed by Canada.

Almost 77% of selected aspirants are employed while a good percentage of 15% percent are still in school. Before leaving for the red planet, each astronaut will be put through an eight years of rigorous training. They will be isolated from the world for a few months in groups of four in every two years in simulation facilities. They shall learn to respond living in close quarters while isolated from all the humans except for the three crew members. Before they leave the Earth’s atmosphere to travel to Mars, each astronaut will be put through the required eight years of training. In addition to the expertise and work experience they must already possess, they have to learn quite a few new skills: physical and electrical repairs to the settlement structures, cultivating crops in confined spaces, and addressing both routine and serious medical issues such as dental upkeep, muscle tears and bone fractures.

A great deal of research will be conducted on Mars. . The astronauts will research how their bodies respond and change when living in a 38% gravitational field, and how food crops and other plants grow in hydroponic plant production units. Research will include extra-settlement exploration to learn about the ancient and current geology on Mars. Of course, much research will be dedicated to the determination if life was once present or now exists on Mars.