Join us on an epic journey to the Red Planet in this exclusive collaboration with Veritasium! In this Supercut of Astrum’s Mars videos, we dive deep into the harsh realities of the Martian landscape and the extreme conditions future human settlers will face. From colossal dust storms and growing crops in Martian soil to the challenges faced by rovers, we’ll explore the cutting-edge innovations being developed to tackle Mars' unique dangers. Will human settlement really be possible by 2050? Could YOU be among the first humans to set foot on Mars?Plus, don't miss our exclusive special guest feature! Derek from Veritasium shares his insights on groundbreaking Mars exploration technologies being developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).Discover our full back catalogue of hundreds of videos on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@astrumspaceFor early access videos, bonus content, and to support the channel, join us on Patreon: https://astrumspace.info/4ayJJuZ
Chapter 1: What is NASA's timeline for human settlement on Mars?
By the end of the next decade, the first human feet will likely touch down on the dusty red soil of Mars. This is NASA's timeline, and it is by no means unrealistic. And while that first visit might be similar to a stop by in line with the moon landing, some scientists are claiming permanent human colonies could be set up on Mars as early as 2050.
That means it could be you, live today and watching this video. Who is the one who sets out to tame that new frontier? You'd need to get into a space program pretty sharply if you're not in one already, but it is possible that you'll one day look out of a little bay window and watch as our pale blue dot vanishes into distant space.
But, as you turn your gaze to your new home, what conditions can you expect to find on Mars? What challenges face any would-be Martian coloniser? What deadly weather will you encounter? What will the red planet throw at you?
Chapter 2: What challenges do future Martian colonizers face?
For, unlike our home planet, Mars is a dead world, and anyone hoping to set foot there will need to overcome its daunting challenges with technology that is at the very cutting edge. I'm Alex McColgan, and you're watching Astrum.
Join me and a very special guest today in this supercut on the environment of Mars, as we explain both the hostile conditions and exactly what NASA is developing to help future Martians like you to tame those arid, rusted wastelands. And stick around till the end of the video for a very special announcement. You don't want to miss it. Obviously, to colonize Mars, you first have to get there.
The trip itself to Mars would take about 3 months, with the most optimal launch conditions. This doesn't seem too excessive, it's like a long voyage on a cruise ship. But you have to consider that you would spend at least 3 months outside the safety of Earth's magnetic field. Out here, you are exposed to the solar wind and cosmic radiation.
Prolonged exposure to this kind of radiation can cause astronauts to develop cancer, and even symptoms of Alzheimer's before they reach Mars. Fortunately, there are some thoughts about how to protect against this. The astronauts could be shielded using materials in the ship's construction that are rich in hydrogen.
Chapter 3: How can astronauts protect themselves from radiation on the way to Mars?
In fact, the cabin could be surrounded by a water tank in the walls, water being rich in hydrogen. Another option is to create a magnetic field around the spacecraft. But this requires generating a huge amount of energy from a reactor small enough to fit on the ship, something we don't have the technology to do safely just yet.
Once there, for an alien planet, Mars is not as foreign as you might think. Earth and Mars share a lot of similarities, one being the length of day. The solar day on Mars is only slightly longer than it is on Earth, 24 hours, 39 minutes and 35 seconds. Its year is slightly longer than ours, 1.88 Earth years, or 1 year, 320 days and 80.2 hours.
but that's to be expected for a planet that's further from the Sun and so has a larger orbit. Of all the planets in the solar system, the seasons of Mars are the most Earth-like due to the similar tilts of the two planets' rotational axes, 23.5 degrees on Earth and 25 degrees on Mars. So, what does that imply? It means Mars has summers and winters just like Earth does.
These temperatures in the different seasons can vary quite a lot, and different locations can widen the range even further. Temperatures can be as low as minus 143 degrees Celsius at the polar winter caps, to as high as 35 degrees Celsius in the equatorial summer. It has polar caps just like we do. During each pole's winter, the pole lies in continuous darkness just like on Earth,
However, unlike on Earth, the temperature gets so cold that the atmosphere there freezes into slabs of CO2 ice, which collects on the surface of the permanent polar caps there. These caps themselves are not primarily made of CO2, but instead are made up mostly of water ice. The ice at the poles waxes and wanes.
In this short video you can actually see the differences of the size of the polar cap, from the cap's winter to the cap's summer. One thing I love about Mars are these strange spiral patterns in the ice. Both of the poles show signs of these beautiful spirals, which scientists believe are a result of the Coriolis effect. The CO2 at the poles does not remain there forever.
As the CO2 ice on the poles sublimates, it has a knock-on effect on another aspect of the planet, its winds. Sublimation of dry ice can create enormous wind speeds, which causes one of the most unique and terrifying aspects of Martian weather, its dust storms. you If you peered across the rusted Martian surface through photos, you would be forgiven for thinking that Mars is a place of stillness.
Flat, dusty landscapes seem to stretch out in all directions, with nothing but scatterings of rock and the faint whistling of the wind to keep at bay the almost oppressive solitude. But stay a while on this red world, and you would soon see a towering wall of dust and sand brewing on the horizon.
You might think to yourself that this dust storm is similar to those we see on Earth, and have no idea that this storm is about to grow so large, its thick dust will swallow up not just a region, not just a continent, but the entire planet. This all-enveloping superstorm arises on Mars usually every three Martian years, or about five and a half Earth years.
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Chapter 4: What are the effects of Martian dust storms?
Those dust storms didn't just start happening because Mars became dry though. Although we don't understand everything about such storms' origins, We assume that a key component is Mars' temperature. With less atmosphere, in spite of Mars' high CO2 levels, Mars became far worse at retaining heat. When the surface starts to cool, there is no air to catch the escaping warmth.
It is at the point where, if you were to stand on the planet's equator during its warmest time of the day, your feet might feel 23°C, while at your head, it would be 0°C. As mentioned earlier, this means between day and night, Mars has some intense temperature swings. Temperature differences can cause winds to form, which can bring different weather systems across the planet.
However, Mars' arid weather is no longer driven by rain and water cycles, but cycles of dust. Dust plays a surprisingly crucial role on Mars, and without it, those planet-spanning storms would likely never form. The atmosphere might be too thin to capture and transport heat, but the Martian dust, now that's another story. It all begins with that Martian dust getting into the air.
There are a few mechanisms that make this happen. One is dust devils, of which Mars experiences thousands every year, usually during the Martian spring and summer. Warm rays from the sun heat the ground, causing the air directly next to it to rise and cool air from the atmosphere to be drawn down to fill the vacuum.
These contrasting winds create rising spirals of air that can end up hundreds of metres wide and 8.5 kilometres tall. although many are much smaller. Regardless of their size, as they meander their way across Mars' all-encompassing deserts, they suck up dust and hurl it up into the atmosphere, creating a haze of slightly darkened skies in their wake.
This process is thought to contribute to a miasma of background dust that constantly lingers in Mars' atmosphere. While this is the flashiest way by which dust gets into the atmosphere, it's not the most prevalent. Far more common is the simple influence of wind moving across Mars' dusty surface, and a process known as saltation. Mars' dust is surprisingly difficult to get up into the air.
Small particles have a lot of cohesion due to being slightly electrostatic, kind of like packing peanuts, so that they stick together, which means they need a certain amount of momentum to get them going. Oddly enough, larger particles are actually easier for the wind to get moving as they experience less cohesion.
So, it's these larger sand grains that are lifted by gusts of wind and are moved for short distances. But because they are ultimately too heavy for the wind to suspend, they crash down again and the force of these tiny impacts imparts enough momentum to overcome cohesion and get the lighter dust airborne.
However, once it gets up there, Mars' lower gravity means that it's easy for dust to remain in Mars' atmosphere for a really long time, weeks or months. And this is enough to start driving the formation of storms, because unlike the thin air around them, particles of dust are really good at collecting heat from the sun.
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