There is perhaps no bigger door to open than that to new worlds. It is something we have all thought about, can we colonise Mars?
Can we build a new society which is better?
Can we right the wrongs of Earth with such a new colonising programme?
The romantic in most of us relish the thought of building a base, a society, on Mars. It forms the basis of many of the long-term plans of both nations and industry. Having said that, incredible obstacles make opening this door a Pandora’s Box of challenges.
In this TEDx talk, Professor Brad Gibson will outline these challenges, ranging from toxic soil, deadly radiation, overwhelming psychological isolation, extreme temperatures and atmospheric conditions, and serious gravity effects upon the body.
It just might be the case that some doors should remain closed!
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organised by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx An Australian-Canadian transplant, Brad’s 1000+ outreach events over the past seven years have reached two million people around the world, including nearly 100 schools and colleges in the UK, ranking him amongst the most prolific full-time academics engaged in outreach anywhere in the world. Brad was responsible for first defining the Milky Way’s Galactic Habitable Zone (named a Top 10 News Story of the Year by National Geographic), determining the expansion rate of the Universe (for which their team was awarded the Gruber Prize in Cosmology), and building the world’s first Liquid Mirror Telescope Observatory. His commitment to widening participation and diversity, and improving the career prospects of physics students, led to his “Changing Face of Physics” campaign being highlighted as Good Practice in the Country by the UK’s Equality Challenge Unit and resulted in more than a doubling of women entering Physics at The University of Hull over the past five years. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
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A fabulous talk Brad! 👏👏👏
So so interesting Brad. You had us hooked the whole way through 🌑
Gripping and very informative. Two things he leaves out are that Elon Musk is not your "typical billionaire" and that his Humanoid Robot will be used to build the colony.
Fascinating talk
You are so right ‘the door to colonising mars should remain closed’, very informative
Much of this is incorrect and the final conclusion that we should not go to Mars is based upon personal agenda. He thinks we should fix humanity before taking human problems to Mars as if Mars is a sentient being. Pushing your agenda is not science.
It does not take 1 year to travel to Mars, it takes about 6 months.
Mars dirt is not "soil," it's regolith.
The first people to visit Mars will not feel how cold it is because they will be wearing Mars suits.
To insulate the crew from dangerous cosmic rays you only have to cover the habitat with 8 feet of regolith, not bury it deep underground.
The idea of using thick steel to protect a Mars habitat is absolutely ridiculous. It's too heavy for launch and it would only make things worse because the cosmic particles will hit the steel and fragment like shot from a shotgun.
The crew will not "set up" a water recycling system. All water will be contained within the habitat so recycling will be built in. Wastewater will be filtered and then used on the plants which will respire the water and it will be collected with dehumidifiers to be used again by the crew. There will be no need to go out and dig up ice/regolith.
The first crew to land on Mars will be 4 people, not 100. The first colonists won't be stuck on Mars for life. They will stay for maybe 1 year and then return.
As for the perchlorates, they are a problem, but NASA has test grown plants in simulated Martian regolith.
Here's how it will really go: Multiple unmanned ships will be launched to Mars full of food, habitat parts, and regolith moving equipment. One four person crew with a long range rover will then be launched. After a 6 month trip the crew will land and use the rover to bring equipment to the base from the unmanned ships. They will clear an area and dig down 8 feet with battery powered ATV dozers. They will assemble a habitat then bury it under 8 feet of regolith. They will then grow plants in hydroponics and tubs. The plants will provide food, oxygen, and CO2 removal. More unmanned ships will be launched, a second four person crew will arrive and build a second habitat next to the first one. Then a return vehicle will land and the first crew will return to the earth. This cycle could stop at this point or continue. The habitat would be almost completely self sustaining.