(Published in Enrich magazine, 2018)
TODAY'S FILIPINO TEENAGERS might want to consider launching
themselves on a career that’s well and truly out of this world -- the first
Filipino colonists on the planet Mars.
In other words, the first Filipino Martians. The trek to
Mars will be extremely dangerous, and will probably be a one-way trip. But
you’ll be part of humankind’s greatest adventure.
Once you get to Mars, you stay on Mars, however. That’s what’s
in store for the first astronauts to land on Mars given the state of
interplanetary travel. But further technological advances over the next 50
years will shift this objective to one where astronaut colonists will be
rotated in and out of Mars.
The United States, NASA, SpaceX, Lockheed Martin and a slew
of major space companies are committed to landing the fist humans on the Red
Planet, which is 225 million kilometers away, on average. NASA’s Goddard Space
Flight Center, which will be responsible for the Mars missions, calculates a
voyage to Mars will last about nine months at most.
As it stands today, SpaceX plans to land its first unmanned
rocket on Mars in 2028. SpaceX, and not NASA, will land the first humans on
Mars, hopefully in 2031. NASA plans to attain this feat by 2035.
The year 2031 is 13 long years away from 2018. This means
Filipino teenagers now 13 years-old will be 26 by the time the first humans
(mostly Americans) land on Mars in 2031.
These future Filipino Martians are now in high school and
when these teenagers get to college sometime in the early 2020s, they might
want to enroll in courses that better ensure their chances of being among the
first humans to colonize Mars.
SpaceX, Lockheed Martin, Bigelow Aerospace, Boeing, Orbital
ATK and Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Space Systems are among the leading
companies partnering with NASA to land humans on Mars. These private American
firms are building the hardware (spaceships, landers) needed for this grand
venture.
NASA, on the other hand, will train the astronauts who will
risk their lives on the voyage to Mars, and on staying alive on this lethal,
radiation-wracked, airless and deadly cold planet. The hit movie, “The
Martian,” released in 2015 isn’t an accurate depiction of the dangers of colonial
life on the Red Planet.
Astronaut
requirements
The official NASA requirements for its Astronaut Candidates (non-piloting
background) consist of:
* “Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution in
engineering, biological science, physical science, computer science or
mathematics.
* “Degree must be followed by at least 3 years of related,
progressively responsible, professional experience, or at least 1,000
pilot-in-command time in jet aircraft.
“An advanced degree is desirable and may be substituted for
experience as follows: master’s degree = 1 year of experience, doctoral degree
= 3 years of experience.
“Teaching experience, including experience at the K - 12
levels, is considered to be qualifying experience for the Astronaut Candidate
position; provided degree is in a Science, Engineering, or Mathematics field.
* “Ability to pass the NASA long-duration Astronaut
physical, which includes the following specific requirements:
- “Distant and near visual acuity
must be correctable to 20/20, each eye. The use of glasses is acceptable.
- “The refractive surgical
procedures of the eye, PRK and LASIK, are allowed.”
Astronaut candidates must also have skills in leadership,
teamwork and communications.
Unfortunately, you still have to be a U.S. citizen to be an
astronaut candidate -- for now, at least.
The colonization of Mars, however, will be an international venture
and adventure that will draw volunteers from many of the 193 countries in the
world. This will mean ending or at least modifying the requirement for U.S.
citizenship.
That’s good news for Pinoys that want to explore the final
frontier in the future.
NASA, however, currently has astronaut positions for
non-U.S. citizens.
Filipinos can become astronauts and the way to do this is to
become either an International Astronaut or Payload Specialist Astronaut.
“These astronaut positions do not require U.S. citizenship,”
says NASA.
“Payload specialists are persons other than NASA astronauts (pilots
or mission specialists) whose presence is required on board the Space Shuttle
to perform specialized functions related to the payload or other essential
mission activities.”
It’s certain NASA will relax its astronaut candidate
requirements as the missions to Mars forge ahead since the major objective of
these missions won’t simply be to land a few humans on the Red Planet. The main
goal of America’s Mars program, and that of other countries with similar
ambitions such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), will be to colonize Mars.
This magnificent objective will mean transporting thousands
of humans to distant Mars. SpaceX plans to accomplish this by building hundreds
of what it now calls the “BFR” or Big Falcon Rocket. Each BFR will carry over
100 humans to Mars. BFR, by the way, also stands for “Big F****** Rocket.”
SpaceX founder Elon Musk envisions hundreds of BFRs circling
the Earth awaiting its passengers. Once fully loaded with colonists and
supplies, the BFRs will blast-off towards Mars in large fleets numbering a
hundred spaceships.
This, then, is the future awaiting the Filipino teenagers of
today that aim to become Filipino Martians.
Why Mars?
This undying question’s been asked since NASA came into
existence in 1958. The fact Mars “is there” waiting to be explored by the
restless human race is often cited as a reason by those that champion manned missions
to the Red Planet.
Others like renowned cosmologist and theoretical physicist
Stephen Hawking warn that humankind faces extinction over the next 100 years
unless it finds a way to colonize Mars or another planet (Venus or one of the
Jovian moons?), and become a “multi-planetary species” in the process.
He also believes the Earth is becoming "increasingly
precarious" due to threats arising from "climate change, overdue
asteroid strikes, epidemics and population growth."
Musk has his reasons for spearheading the effort to colonize
Mars.
“Humans need to be a multi-planetary species,” said Musk in
2015.
SpaceX was founded by Musk in 2002 with the aim of
colonizing Mars, apart from slashing the cost of space transportation (which
it’s successfully attained with its re-usable Falcon 9 Full-Thrust medium-lift
launch vehicle).
In 2012, Musk revealed the awesome scope of his Martian
ambitions -- he wants to ultimately build a colony housing 80,000 humans on
Mars. Musk expects SpaceX to land astronauts on Mars by 2025, which is about a
decade earlier than NASA’s timetable.
A massive colony of the size envisioned by Musk is expected
to ensure the survival of humanity should a future extinction event such as a
thermonuclear war or an asteroid strike wipe-out homo sapiens. Musk, however,
is more concerned about a nuclear war than an asteroid impact.
Musk believes a nuclear war will inflict such indescribable
damage on the Earth as to render the planet almost uninhabitable. He argues
"an extinction event is inevitable."
"I don't think we can discount the possibility of a
Third World War … Perhaps there's a complacency and arrogance in assuming this
won't happen again."
There's also a moral imperative for colonizing Mars, claims
Musk.
"It would be, I think sort of immoral not to (colonize
Mars) if it meant preservation of life on Earth as we know it."
Musk, however, realizes his aim of colonizing Mars is only
be possible if almost everything goes his way. He said landing on Mars in fewer
than 10 years might not be possible.
Interestingly, he said reaching the 2025 deadline not only
requires that everything goes according to plan, but that SpaceX "get
lucky."
Musk believes it won’t be difficult to find volunteers that
will make the dangerous sojourn to Mars. He said the Martian pioneers will find
the going "hard, risky, dangerous, difficult." There's also the risk
of complete failure and deaths among the pioneers.
"The first mission wouldn't have a huge number of
people on it because if something goes wrong, we want to risk the least number
of lives as possible," he said.
He noted that "probably people will die." Those
deaths, however, will "pave the way" toward his vision that
"ultimately, it will be very safe to go to Mars, and it will be very
comfortable."
SpaceX’s timeline to
Mars
Reusable SpaceX rockets will make successive trips to space
quite cheap compared to what the U.S. government pays other launch providers
such as the United Launch Alliance. That's also why Musk pushed hard to reuse
the first stage of his Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.
SpaceX aspires to launch the first BFR Mars-bound cargo
flights as early as 2022. This will be followed by the first BFR flight with
passengers in 2024.
After the Mars landing, the key challenge facing SpaceX will
be establishing a logistics lifeline to ensure the survival of the company's
Martian colonists. This mission will involve establishing a regular supply run from
Earth to Mars.
"Essentially what we're saying is we're establishing a
cargo route to Mars," said Musk.
"It's a regular cargo route. You can count on it. It's
going happen every 26 months. Like a train leaving the station.
"And if scientists around the world know that they can
count on that, and it's going to be inexpensive, relatively speaking compared
to anything in the past, then they will plan accordingly and come up with a lot
of great experiments."
Musk expounded more about SpaceX’s goals for a Mars mission
in October 2017.
“Our goal is get you there and ensure the basic
infrastructure for propellant production and survival is in place,” said Musk.
“A rough analogy is that we are trying to build the
equivalent of the transcontinental railway. A vast amount of industry will need
to be built on Mars by many other companies and millions of people.”
BFR will make the trip to Mars every two years when the
Earth and Mars are at their closest. If all goes well, the first human landing
on Mars will take place in 2025, said Musk.
He said that fully colonizing Mars will demand 1,000
spaceships, an astounding number that might only be realized by the 22nd
century. These Mars-bound spaceships will orbit the Earth as they take in colonists
and supplies.
Every 26 months or so when Earth and Mars are favorably
aligned, hundreds of these spaceships will blast-off towards Mars at the same
time. That should make for a fantastic sight.
Musk believes each ship should carry at least 100 persons
and that the three to nine month-long journey to Mars “should be fun.”
