In 2023, approximately 140 million miles away, a colony of people will be waking up on the red planet. Far away from home, once you begin your life on Mars, coming back to Earth is not an option.
It began with a little over 200,000 applicants who were interested in this space mission. Eventually, the process will narrow it down to four people from each country. It is expected that by 2015 there will be six to ten teams of four selected. The people that the Mars One program select will then be trained full time to prepare themselves for the experience. Their mission is to start and continue the first human colony outside of Earth.
In 2023, people will start being shipped to Mars in groups of four, every two years, but they will not be going alone. Communication satellites, rovers and cargo missions will travel with the people who chose to accept this mission. Waiting for them on the red surface will not only be the Mars Rover, but a suitable living area for the astronaut volunteers.
Just three years ago in 2011, the Mars One team came together to discuss and test the possibility of sending humans to Mars. After gaining technical and financial components along with more resources, the foundation of the company was established, and the mission to colonize began.
The resources to send these people to Mars are standard and existing technologies that have been tested and will be able to function in the mission. Two Rovers will be sent to scout a suitable place for operations, moving supplies, building and landing the rockets. Mars Suits, special suits designed to protect the astronauts from radiation, have been created for the astronauts to protect them from extreme temperatures and atmosphere.
The astronauts sent to the planet will have a mountain of concerns to worry about. The space they will be given to live in will be suitable in comfort and able to be replaced in case of damages, but Mars One encourages the volunteers to remember that life on Mars is going to be a life of exploration, not of comfort. Psychologically, there is a lot to think about, as the trip to Mars is not a two-way flight. The best form of contact with friends and family left back home is a video call that would have a seven-minute delay. Each astronaut will be required to undergo training, years of it.
In order to survive on Mars, the volunteers will have to be prepared to be isolated from their homeworld, months of darkness at a time and danger. The people selected will be reviewed to make sure they are mentally stable and dedicated to the cause, and they’ll be kept busy once they are there. By doing research, building the colony and exploring the planet, the astronauts will continue to build a more suitable place for the next batch of colonists to live.
To counter the muscular decrease due to the change in gravity, the astronauts will continue like the ones before them, working out and maintaining a regime in an effort to stop their bodies from decaying. In a case of death or illness of a person in the colony, a memorial and service will be held much like Earth’s traditions, just farther away from home than normal.
The resources on Mars will be provided by Earth temporarily, letting the Mars invaders sustain their own lives with the hydroponic plant productions in labs, the water drawn from the surface of Mars and the oxygen that is made by splitting water molecules.
A true colony of Mars means letting the circle of life continue and for children to be born for the first time in outer space. However, for the first years of the colony, children are not an option until it develops further and grows bigger and stronger with more people and more resources.
With the first colonization on the horizon of the future, it’s unlikely someone you know may be heading off into outer space in several years, but the future of space travel may become a more plausible opportunity.