Will Mars be humanity’s next “home”?

Dr. Zhang Fulin, a famous American astronaut, believes that Mars will be the next "home" of mankind. Compared with the moon, Mars’ unique spatial location, climate and geological conditions are more likely to become an “immigration place” for humans.

After the success of the "Apollo" moon landing program in 1969, humans identified Mars as the next planet to travel to. Scientists envision establishing some factories on Mars to produce greenhouse effect gases and ozone, which will gradually warm the Martian atmosphere. The warmed forint gas will gradually melt the ice in the polar caps of Mars into water, making it gradually suitable for human habitation. Scientists estimate that it will take one to several centuries for Mars to become a blue water planet like Earth. Scientists believe that humans will immediately adapt to the gravity environment on Mars and change their behaviors accordingly.

Zhang Fulin said that none of the Mars probes currently developed are manned because of the distance. Existing chemical energy-driven spacecraft take nearly two years to fly one way from the Earth to Mars, making it difficult to carry people. Humanity is developing a nuclear-powered spacecraft for manned travel to Mars.

Dr. Zhang Fulin left NASA in July 2006, where he had worked for 25 years, and established the AAT Laboratory in the United States to conduct research on plasma engines. Once the plasma engine is successfully developed, it can greatly shorten the current flight time from Earth to Mars, and at the same time, it can also significantly reduce the fuel used, thereby reducing the weight of the spacecraft and reducing the cost of space travel.