We eventually want to send humans to Mars, and while it will be both a historic and exciting journey, it could also be tragic and terrible, and we also need to address the potential pitfalls and risks of such an adventure. The intention behind this is to allow space exploration fans to get an overview of such an endeavor. The good the bad and the ugly.
Real-life human space exploration has done a good job drawing inspiration from science fiction, and as we prepare to send humans to Mars in the years to come, we should be looking at a sci-fi franchise. fiction that has captured the hearts of millions. This franchise is The Martian, both the book and the film being absolute triumphs, as they depicted the full power of the human spirit as the protagonist, Dr. Mark Watney, endured countless obstacles and setbacks as he overcame the adversity of the size of a planet just to get home. But as comforting as The Martian was, it still begs the question: would Mark have survived in real life? The answer is….
Maybe.
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Let’s first examine why Mark might not have survived, and we describe two reasons: mechanical failures and radiation sickness. A pivotal moment in his journey was when his habitat’s airlock literally exploded, destroying his crops and depressurizing the habitat. Although the reason behind this was not mentioned in the movie, the book describes the reason for the rash as being due to overuse. Mark himself said that his mission was designed for only 30 days, but for redundancy they had about 60 days of food. NASA excels in redundancy. However, it must be considered that all mechanical components have a lifespan, and at some point they literally collapse or completely stop working. Now, if his airlock gave way due to overuse, then could his other mechanical components in the habitat have failed at some point? Most notably, the oxygenator, water recuperator, and atmospheric regulator, all of which were responsible for literally keeping him alive. If one fails and he can’t fix it, he’s dead. Also, a small hole in that sheet of plastic he used to seal the airlock would also have killed him instantly.
The next reason is radiation sickness, as Mark was in a surface habitat for 18 months on a planet with no magnetic field or ozone layer to protect him from the cosmic rays that descend daily. It is never mentioned if his habitat was sufficient to provide adequate protection from this radiation, but assuming that this is not the case, his health may have started to deteriorate after some time, which could have been exacerbated. by his weight loss during his trip. We think its mechanical components could have failed before this happened, but we digress.
Now let’s examine why Mark could have survived, and we only need one reason, which we’ve already mentioned: redundancy. NASA is built on redundancy. They have backup plans for their backup plans, and so on. A great example of this is the Apollo 13 mission, which saw three astronauts stranded in space after their oxygen tank exploded on their way to the Moon, and in the end they circled the Moon once and went home. While the film depicts utter chaos in mission control and astronauts yelling at each other in space, it literally never happened, which can be found in archived audio recordings. Everyone stayed calm, cool and collected as they had things under control thanks to redundancy. They knew what to do and how to do it. Before sending humans to Mars, NASA will most likely have plans in place for worst-case scenarios, including the likelihood of someone being stranded on the Red Planet.
Before sending humans to Mars, we must consider all the probabilities. The good the bad and the ugly. We must remember that while going to Mars will be both historic and exciting, it could also be tragic and terrible. Would Mark have survived on Mars? Maybe. But as we continue to plant our flag a little further out into the cosmos, let’s take inspiration from this great candor to mitigate the potential risks and pitfalls of sending humans to Mars.
As always, keep doing science and keep looking up!
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