Tag: Solar system

To MARS, Or Not To MARS ?

Strap yourself in, we are going on a trip in our favorite rocket ship, steering through the clouds like little Einsteins. Climb aboard and get ready to explore, the Red Planet- Mars. From hostile deserts, to lonely islands and the highest mountains, wherever there is space to expand into, humans do so.

Hence it is hardly surprising that we are all ready to set foot into Mars and create the first permanent colony outside of Earth maybe even terraform another planet and turn it into a second blue home.

If you don’t know who is Elon Musk, then you better start googling his name and get to know him. Not only is he the billionaire founder of Tesla Motors, this a.k.a. Iron man superhero Tony Stark has ambitious plans to send humans to Mars by 2025.

If this is a trip then like any other, there is a need for a checklist with list of items to be taken to Mars and items we can conveniently leave back on Earth. Let’s get started fellow Martians.

A MARS COLONY CHECKLIST :

  • PORTABLE OXYGEN GENERATOR- You need to breathe. In case of emergency, a standby kit to generate oxygen is required. But considering humans, we might need a mask too because air is our favourite natural element to pollute.
  • PORTABLE SOLAR POWER KIT- Low battery and no charger sounds as scary as the trip itself. Whatever electronics you are bringing, as long as there is no electricity, forget about your entertainment. You don’t want to die of boredom.
  • PORTABLE WATER FILTER- We know there is frozen water on the planet. But we dont know if ita drinkable. All the ice deserves a drink, so bring a filter and soda-making machine if excess luggage permits (check with your airline)
  • PLANT SEEDS- Once you run out of your snacks you should look into farming. Be prepared, bring some seeds and check some tutorials on gardening (preferably in space).
  • LONELINESS- Self isolation might be needed to avoid radioactive exposure, well looks like the year 2020 is indeed a good practice for it. Also aren’t we all lonely from inside (No? just me? Okay…. *crawls back into my hole*)
  • NUCLEAR REACTORS- For creating a safe atmosphere and not the nuclear weapons that Nations own for “defense purposes” Let those weapons stay on Earth along with the people who threaten to use them because there isn’t much spice in their lives.
  • MULTIMILLION DOLLAR SPACESHIP – So large that it could fit the 150 Million homeless around the world, people who have been disappointed by the Politicians and their promises.
  • A HIGH TOLERENCE – A tolerance level higher than what we have to everything on social media and to the lifestyle of new generations.
  • MAA KE HAAT KA KHANA – A nice Tupperware tiffin box with food made by your Moms because, The M.O.M on Mars doesn’t cook or do ALL your work. (M.O.M –Mars Orbiter Mission also called Mangalyaan)

Lastly a desire to get away from it all. Elon Musk is not crazy, but a visionary, a modern adventurer who dares to dream. NASA is behind him by committing to send the first batch of astronauts on his mission. More than 200,000 people have signed up for the one-way ticket to Mars including Leonardo DiCaprio. Musk hopes to send 1 million people to the Red Planet and a ticket is estimated to cost around USD200,000 for each passenger (Hefty I know, but you get to travel with Leo as your travel buddy, hopefully this space- SHIP doesn’t sink).

Well as scary and uncertain as everything sounds it all comes down to one very important factor, Does Mars have Wi-Fi?

Europa Ocean could support life

Europa is one of the smallest moons among all 4 Galilean moon (Lo, Ganymede and Callisto) orbiting around Jupiter. Astronomer Galileo Galilei discovered the first of Jupiter moons around 400 years ago.

Recent searches have found that there can be an evolvement of life and that’s why the search of existence of life typically revolve around the Jupiter’s moon Europa that it could be the best bet to find the habitat.

According to NASA’s Researchers, the subsurface ocean can be habitable of life. The surface of the Europa is all covered with icy shells and According to the researchers, there is an ocean under the icy shells which could have the potential of the evolvement of life.

Scientists have found a new theory according to which the ocean’s water came from the water-rich minerals which released their water because of heating caused by the radioactive decay of the satellite’s core. Europa gravitational interaction with Jupiter-giant planet in the solar system and all the moon has played a vital role.

Europa is 31,000 km in diameter which makes it smaller than Earth’s moon but slightly bigger than the Pluto. Europa’s distance from the sun is nearly 485 million miles and estimated to be nearly 4.5 billion years old. Europa is Jupiter’s sixth satellite. Many spacecraft have done flybys of Europa including Pioneer, Voyagers and Galileo Spacecraft which around Jupiter through which scientist have discovered the oceans could be under the ice surface and the composition is not clear till now.

The scientists have found that this ocean would originally not as much acidic as they initially thought, and along with high concentrations of carbon dioxide, calcium and sulfate. It was thought that this ocean could still be rather sulfuric” said Mohit Melwani Daswani, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Jet. According to researchers they have seen the traces of chloride on Europa’s Surface which suggests that the water will become chloride rich which implies the Europa’s Ocean could be same as Earth’s Ocean and could support life.

Using the data of Galileo mission the lead researcher Mohit Melwani Daswani, has said “We were able to model the composition and physical properties of the core, silicate layer, and ocean. We find that different minerals lose water and volatiles at different depths and temperatures.”

He also said that the Europa is one of the best bet to find the habitat in the solar system .And this theory could be also the possibility of Saturn’s moon Titan to be formed by the same process as Jupiter Moon Europa. He also told about the further missions NASA’s Europa Clipper mission will launch a few years later, whose aim is to find the habitat in Jupiter moon Europa.

Obviously, some questions are still unanswered could life be possible on Europa or could the cold moon could ever melt the rock or the still we are unknown by ocean temperature. But all these answers may be given by the Europa mission a few years later.

The press was released on 24 June by Astrobiology.com.