Can the dream of moving to Mars come true?

The discovery of water on Mars makes emigration to Mars a hot topic. Scientists predict that as long as genetically modified trees can create a greenhouse environment and provide oxygen, humans can move to Mars in the next 50 years.

Human building materials on other planets need to meet the standards of cheapness and usability, and only trees are familiar with these two standards. After genetic improvement, trees in the future can flourish in any place with water and minerals in outer space, thus creating a huge greenhouse environment for human beings to build houses. Transgenic trees are not enough. To really move to Mars, people must also use hard-working and intelligent hands to build Mars into another human home.

Where should humans live when they arrive at Mars? The location chosen by American scientists is the "vulture Chasma -2" area in a huge basin that spans the equator of Mars and is about 6,400 kilometers long. Immigrants from the earth will establish a permanent base there and continue to expand this base camp.

Although Mars has many similarities with the earth, it is closer to the moon, where natural conditions are not suitable for human survival. If Mars is to become another home for human beings, it must be transformed.

In order to increase the temperature on Mars, a large reflector can be set in the orbit around Mars to reflect sunlight to Mars. At the same time, a factory will be built on Mars to produce all kinds of gases and ozone that can produce "greenhouse effect" and form a strong Martian atmosphere. First, simple life such as yeast and bacteria can survive and reproduce, so that oxygen can be released and complex life can survive and reproduce. After the atmospheric "greenhouse effect" produced by the solar reflector warms Mars, the ice sheets at the two poles of Mars and the ice below the surface will melt, so there is water again. In this way, Mars will truly become another home for mankind.

The Mars base envisaged by Japanese scientists is expected to be realized in the second half of 2 1 century. The base is planned to be built on the plain next to the Kasai Canyon, with the remains of rivers nearby.

Cosmic rays are everywhere, and long-term high-dose exposure to this radiation will make people sick and even die. On earth, due to the existence of the earth's magnetic field and the protection of the atmosphere, human beings need not worry about it. But the situation on Mars is very different from that on Earth. Cosmic radiation is very strong If human beings intend to immigrate to Mars, they must find ways to deal with it. Theoretically, the smaller the mass, the stronger the radiation protection ability. Scientists have found that liquid hydrogen is the best radiation protection agent available at present, but it is unrealistic to bring liquid hydrogen directly to Mars because of its long distance. So the researchers settled for the second best and began to try to use solid compounds containing hydrogen. They mixed polyethylene with a kind of lime soil, then poured it into a mold and baked it into pieces of black brick. If successful, astronauts can carry polyethylene with them on the road, and when they arrive at Mars, they can mix it with the surface soil that is available everywhere and inexhaustible, burnt brick.

There is also a greenhouse around the Mars base, where plants are planted. The greenhouse is made of plastic film and filled with110 atmosphere. Crops to be planted include wheat, rice, potatoes, lettuce and tomatoes.

Water from Mars base can be extracted from frozen soil by "drilling wells". If you can drill to a depth of 300 meters underground, water may automatically gush out. That place is the ideal base on Mars. Oxygen is obtained by decomposing water or carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and oxygen extracted from the atmosphere can be added with nitrogen to form air with the same composition as the earth.

Scientists have successfully developed a new type of oxygen generator, which can convert a large amount of oxygen from the thin carbon dioxide of Mars. A new type of oxygen generator, the size of a microwave oven, can produce enough oxygen in just a few days.

Mars is far from the sun, so the sunshine on the surface is only half that of the earth. If there is a big sandstorm, the sunny day will drop to 20%, so it is not reliable to use solar energy. In the initial stage of Mars base construction, the best way is to use small atomic power stations to provide energy. By the second half of 2 1 century, energy can be provided by fuel cells and solar power generation satellites in Mars orbit. In addition, wind power can also be used as an auxiliary energy source.

After the completion of the Mars base, it can become a "springboard" for human beings to fly to the outer solar system. From there, the spacecraft can explore Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. These giant planets have no solid surface, which is very different from the planets in the solar system. Because of their large mass, strong gravity and low temperature, they contain hydrogen and oxygen gathered from the primitive solar nebula, which is of special value for in-depth study of the formation of the solar system and the universe. In addition, we can further detect the strange Pluto nearby that has not been detected so far, and Titan and Europa, which may have primary life forms.

After all, the imaginary Mars base still stays on paper, and how to adapt to life on Mars in the future needs to be simulated on Earth. In July 2000, an experimental team composed of six British and American scientists conducted a two-week life simulation experiment on Mars in devon island in the Arctic Circle. The scientists who participated in the experiment were strictly selected. For example, Kucker was a member of the British Antarctic expedition. He once led an expedition across Mongolia to extract genetic material from mammoth fossils. The experiment was carried out in a simulated space capsule with a length of 8 meters and a width of 6 meters, which was shaped like a big tuna can. The capsule simulates the possible living conditions of human beings in the Martian environment. Outside the cabin is a protective cover about 13 cm thick to isolate solar radiation. Six scientists set up their temporary home in an indistinguishable darkness. They sleep on the third floor like train sleepers. Rooms are divided according to different functions, including living room, dining room and kitchen. Food is easy to preserve, such as beef stew, hot dogs, spaghetti, frozen cheese and canned fruits and vegetables. They use separate toilets and bathrooms, and of course water is recycled. Preserving water is an important purpose of this experiment. If there are any problems, they can contact the ground control center in Houston, USA, and the call between the two parties has a simulated delay of 20 minutes.

After breakfast, the two scientists put on the simulated spacesuit, passed through the simulated closed cabin, took the four-wheel drive Mars for an eight-hour journey and entered the hinterland of devon island Mars. This area is a tundra the size of Ireland.

The environment for simulating life on Mars was modified and set according to the design many years ago. At that time, President Bush vowed that Americans would set foot on Mars one day. Based on this, NASA designed a project called "Mars Command", and this experiment simulating life on Mars is part of this project.

Although it will take some time for humans to finally land on Mars, some anxious future Martian residents have designed and made a "Mars flag". This "Mars flag" is similar to the French flag. It has three colors: red, green and blue, which indicates that mankind will turn Mars from a barren land into a vibrant and charming paradise. 1999 During a flight of the American Space Shuttle, astronauts took the "Mars Flag" into space to let it experience the feeling of flying in space first. At this time, this "Mars flag" also rose above the North Pole.

In addition, other preparations for human migration to Mars are also being carried out in a planned way. The National Institute of Space Biomedicine of NASA has carried out some space psychology research projects to prepare for human migration to Mars. Because after the Mars base is completed and put into use in the future, it is impossible for the people on duty there to rotate frequently. How they can remain peaceful under long-term weightlessness needs psychologists to study.

Learning point

greenhouse effect

The greenhouse effect, also known as the "greenhouse effect", is a common name for the atmospheric heat preservation effect. The atmosphere can make the short-wave radiation of the sun reach the ground, but the long-wave radiation emitted by the ground is absorbed by the atmosphere, which raises the temperature of the ground and the lower atmosphere. Because its function is similar to the greenhouse for cultivating crops, it is named the greenhouse effect. Since the industrial revolution, carbon dioxide and other gases discharged into the atmosphere by human beings have increased year by year, and carbon dioxide has the functions of heat absorption and heat insulation. The result of its increase in the atmosphere is the formation of an invisible glass cover, which prevents the heat radiated by the sun to the earth from spreading to outer space, and as a result, the surface of the earth becomes hot. Global warming has brought a series of serious problems, which have attracted the attention of all countries in the world.