A SUSTAINABLE APPROACH TO A MANNED MARS MISSION

摘要

Since long before the Stone Age, humans have grown, evolved, explored and colonized the lands of the Earth. In recent history, human exploration and colonization have been well documented with the discovery of the New World by European empires. More recent exploration has expanded human civilization to the exploration of space with long-duration space missions orbiting Earth and shorter missions on the surface of the Moon. As consideration for the colonization of the Moon and Mars come more to the forefront, some lessons should be learned from previous colonization attempts before proceeding. The acceptance that loss of life is highly likely is one main roadblock for current space exploration initiatives. The requirement to live off the land, if not completely, at least in part, must also be considered to sustain a colony on another world. The realization that a hierarchy of needs for the colonizing crew is different from the needs of the country leading the expedition is also essential to increase the likelihood of success. This paper investigates many of these aspects of planetary colonization and makes specific application to a sustainable manned Mars mission architecture.