Musk is one step closer to Mars. Can I play cross-country on Mars?

All people who love space flight know that 2020 is the year of Mars exploration. In this year when moths put out the fire, the Mars exploration plans of all countries in the world have not been affected. Recently, Mars probes from the United Arab Emirates, China and the United States have been launched to Mars. How can such a lively Mars party be without Comrade Musk shooting a sports car into space? So, a few days ago, a "big barrel" was set up in Boca Chica, Texas, a space exploration technology company. Chica) the base flew. Full flight ... 150 meters.

Don't look at this "vat", but it is the starship for Musk to realize his retirement dream on Mars. The prototype of the spaceship! The first time after the success of the experiment, Lao Ma couldn't hide his excitement and sent a tweet saying, "Mars? Is it? Looking for? Reality "(Mars is within reach). Although there are not many words, it can be seen that he is full of confidence in colonizing Mars. Bian Xiao guessed that the gentleman would go back to the garage and look for the electric pickup truck Cybertruck, which is said to have a pressurized version of Mars.

Suppose that one day Cybertruck really landed on Mars in a pioneering way, then we can't let it pull goods for hundreds of millions of melon watchers. Besides, Mars is bare, at least until human beings immigrate to Mars, there is definitely nothing to pull. Comrade Musk, who is good at marketing, will never allow this to happen. According to Tesla's always pushy tonality, I guess Comrade Musk will arrange a Mars cross-country challenge.

Speaking of Mars cross-country, it is estimated that you will still have a black question mark-what? Mars, a place where birds don't shit, seems to have nothing. Can you still drive cross-country challenges? Don't be surprised. I can't promise anything else, but when it comes to cross-country, Mars really has this potential. Not only is the geographical environment there diverse and complicated, but also many extreme cross-country activities that cannot be carried out due to geophysical conditions can be carried out on Mars.

I believe that as a cross-country gentleman, you have been through many battles and are used to the canyons and rivers in your life-so new challenges have come. Do you want to try the Dakar Rally on Mars? As early as 1972, Mariner 9 discovered a huge canyon on Mars, which was later named Mariner Canyon. Mariner Canyon is more than 4,500 kilometers long, and the distance from Bihar to Guangzhou is 1.500 kilometers long, which is more than 9 times that of Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon. Mariner Canyon is 200 kilometers wide and 10 kilometers deep, which is five times deeper than the Grand Canyon in the United States. It is the longest and largest canyon in the solar system. Even on earth, we can observe it through a telescope.

Of course, if the sheer size is not enough to fascinate people, then its landform and terrain will certainly attract countless cross-country veterans to conquer it. Mariner's Canyon itself is composed of countless grooves, and it also spans several terrain areas. The whole canyon starts from the Noctis maze, which is full of sand dunes, gullies and deep pits, passes through the eastern chaotic area where ridges, cracks and small plains crisscross, and then enters the relatively flat Chris Plain. In other words, crossing the Mariner Canyon once is equivalent to driving from the Sahara Desert to the Colorado Plateau and then entering Canning Ranch Road. What could be more pleasant than this?

The change of terrain can bring a variety of cross-country play, which is just an appetizer of the game. Because the gravity on the surface of Mars is only 65,438+0/3 (about 38%) stronger than that on the earth, with sufficient preparation, you may drive your car out of the plane when passing through some steep areas-just like those realistic special effects in Hollywood movies. If you have enough knowledge reserves, in the process of crossing a small gully, you may find something that humans have never found before, and make contributions to promoting the cause of human civilization. This place will even be named after you. I bet you will never have such a carefree experience on earth.

If you are not interested in long-distance rally, but love mountain cross-country that tests your skills and courage, then I think Mount Olympus on Mars is definitely suitable for you. Mount Olympus is located in the western hemisphere of Mars, next to the volcanic plateau of Tarsis. The diameter of the entire volcano is 600 kilometers, which is 20 kilometers higher than the datum of Mars. The height difference from the foot of the mountain to the top of the mountain is 2 1.9 km, which is almost three times the height of Mount Everest. With this size, Mount Olympus is the highest mountain in the solar system.

On the earth, because the slope of Mount Everest is too high, the access to the summit is narrow and basically covered with ice and snow, it is absolutely impossible to drive to the summit. I can only practice my physical fitness and climbing skills hard, spend a few days and climb to the top in fear. According to eyewitness memories, the whole mountaineering experience was not very good, and it can even be described as "bad". Even if you are lucky and have successfully climbed to the top through numerous tests, it is impossible to stay there for a long time-remember the tragedy of the congestion of Mount Everest in May 20 19?

But if you want to climb Olympus, you don't have to suffer from climbing, because you can take an adventure in an off-road vehicle. Although it is much higher than Mount Everest, the slope is relatively gentle and the overall terrain is open. At least the problem of car travel will not be too big. Although there are potholes on the surface of the mountain, believe me, these are nothing for a powerful off-road vehicle.

Under such landform conditions, your road to the summit will not only be relatively smooth, but you can also drive after the summit-because Olympus is an extinct volcano with a pass of 80 kilometers in diameter and a depth of about 3 kilometers, which is more than enough to accommodate two London, not to mention several off-road vehicles. Imagine that you drive to the top of the highest mountain in the solar system, and then climb onto the roof and look out. What kind of picture will you get?

In addition to the canyons and peaks mentioned above, Mars is also full of craters formed after being attacked by meteorites, low plains full of lava and aeolian sand dunes, and polar caps composed of dry ice and water ice in the north and south poles, all of which are full of unknowns and mysteries, waiting for people to explore and conquer. Speaking of this, you must have doubts in your heart: the off-road vehicle is a big guy, how can we get to Mars? In addition, the environment on Mars is very different from that on Earth. Even if it goes up, what about the energy of the car? After all, it is unrealistic to burn gasoline, let alone charge it.

In fact, these problems are ultimately whether the rocket carrying capacity is strong enough. The "big bucket" mentioned earlier in this paper is a part of the future starship spacecraft that will explore the moon and land on Mars (red box part). It uses a Raptor engine with a thrust of 172 tons, which is the strongest in the world today. Compare the starship spacecraft with Saturn 5 on the left and Falcon 9 on the right, and you will know how old this guy is. As long as there is enough money, it is no problem to get an off-road vehicle to Mars.

As for the energy problem of cars, we can refer to the rovers that have landed on Mars before. The early rovers (including the first rover still in motion in China) were driven by solar panels. However, due to the limited power generation capacity of solar panels, which are greatly influenced by the environment and easily covered by dust, the most advanced rover has begun to adopt nuclear power devices.

In the eyes of ordinary people, nuclear energy is often associated with "big guys" such as nuclear power plants and nuclear submarines, but the nuclear energy on the Mars car is used in another "miniaturization" way. The fuel used in these batteries has a half-life of more than 80 years and is very durable. This gives us reason to believe that when the safety and stability of the nuclear battery are guaranteed, it can completely provide energy for manned spacecraft on Mars. Since there is no nuclear-powered Mars off-road vehicle at present, you can look at Curiosity in the picture below. It uses nuclear batteries:

Does it look familiar? Yes, in a sense, the rover is an off-road vehicle without people! Because their cross-country ability is equivalent to the ability to walk on the rugged surface of Mars. Many configurations on Mars vehicles are highly similar to off-road vehicles used in our lives. For example, in the recent Mars exploration mission in China, the rover used has active suspension technology and wheel-step mobile system, which also enables it to control the rugged ground environment.

In this way, driving cross-country on Mars is just around the corner. Now, like Bian Xiao, are you looking forward to the future? We can drive a new off-road vehicle around Mars, take a commemorative photo and send it back to the space station? However, at that time, you must not forget to answer the advertisement because you are too excited. Playing cross-country is expensive enough. If you can catch some, remember!

(The illustration is for reference only. See the specific posture by yourself. )

This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.