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Will we ever set foot on Mars? | BBC Earth

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It's fascinated us for centuries, inspiring astronomers, science fiction writers and more than a few star-gazing entrepreneurs who have plans to launch their own missions to Mars. But will we really ever set foot on the red planet where a year lasts 687 days?

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For a four-month period in 2013, Kate Greene was part of a six-person crew holed up in a geodesic dome on the slopes of the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii. She and the others had been selected by NASA to participate in the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS), a research project simulating a human outpost on Mars. Greene's new book, Once Upon a Time I Lived on Mars, is a wonderfully honest account of what future travelers to Mars can expect. Greene spoke with Air & Space senior associate editor Diane Tedeschi in October.
Air & Space: Why did you decide to write this book?
Greene: I knew I wanted to write a book about the [HI-SEAS] experience, but this book? This book came out of the need to address the ideas, conversations, and feelings that kept coming up around the mission in the years after. Big topics-isolation, boredom, the astronaut body-kept swirling around in my head until I had to get them out.
How well did HI-SEAS simulate a long-term space mission?
Making a perfectly realistic simulation of a long-term space mission is prohibitively expensive-from the construction of a habitat to the spacesuit simulators to the food [for the crew]. Plus, it's unknown exactly the kinds of facility and equipment that would be required. HI-SEAS had to pick and choose its verisimilitude with the goal of maximizing a sense of isolation, since the project was conceived as a testbed for psychological research on the individual and team effects of isolation. This meant a remote location was important, and so was putting limits on resources available to the crew, including water and electricity.

Crucially, there was a lack of real-time communication-up to 20 minutes one way for an email-and no real-time internet, though we could request downloads from mission support. We also couldn't go outside unless we wore a kind of spacesuit that was actually a retrofitted hazmat suit. They were cumbersome, like the real-thing, but not pressurized or particularly high-fidelity in any other way. And of course we had to follow various operational protocols and write reports, fill out surveys and conduct experiments, and do chores to keep the place clean and livable-the kinds of activities that happen on any NASA space mission.
Did the isolation affect you in ways you had expected?
Before the mission, we'd discussed the known challenges of isolation: getting irritated by fellow crewmates, generalized boredom, and losing trust in people who weren't inside the experiment with us-because how could they possibly understand what we were going through? What was so interesting to me is we had talked about how we didn't think these things would be a problem because we knew about them. Well, they didn't wreck the mission, but they all still happened!
What was the worst thing about living on Mars? What was the best thing?
The whole experience was actually not terrible, and I look back on it fondly. But if I have to identify a worst thing-and historically this answer has varied depending on my mood and circumstance-I'd say it was the lack of freedom of movement and limited in-person socializing, much like what many people are experiencing now in America during this pandemic. You couldn't go any further away from the hab than you could walk. And it was just you and your five crewmates in conversation for four months.

The best thing for me was actually multiple. I enjoyed getting to know my crewmates and having the opportunity to live in a completely different way than I had before. I mean, NASA literally gave us permission to, as adults, pretend to live on Mars-like a kid dream come true. I also cherished both the mental break from a real-time internet and from not having to buy anything for four months since all our supplies were provided from the outset.
After you left the dome, was it easy to pick up where you had left off in the real world?
I had a period of adjustment for sure. It was hard to be away from my wife for four months, and in some ways we both had to relearn how to live in the same space with each other again. Out in public, loud noises easily startled me. In social situations, I felt more awkward than before. On the bright side, though, I'd never enjoyed the beauty of the Earth as much as I did when I first came back. I rode my bike to the neighborhood beer garden, swam in the ocean, took hikes through the redwoods. All the things you could never do if you actually lived on Mars.
After the mission was complete, did you get any feedback from NASA?
The HI-SEAS project lasted for five years and collected a lot of data for a lot of different researchers and research projects. I don't know the specific outcomes of the experiments we took part in, but I do know that before HI-SEAS, most analog missions were a one-off (there was no way to directly compare outcomes from multiple long-term simulated missions), but HI-SEAS was the first to offer a testbed for that. Also, I've learned that data around the crew selection process from the missions that followed ours (the process wasn't as formalized for us) has been extremely useful to NASA in fine-tuning their selection of actual astronauts. And finally, and maybe most exciting for human space research, all the HI-SEAS data will be made available so anyone can analyze it.
Have you seen an accurate sci-fi depiction of human space exploration?
I did enjoy The Martian. Right after the mission, I read the book and was amazed at how right Andy Weir got many of the technical and psychological challenges. Claire Denis' High Life with Robert Pattinson is an interesting recent take on a deep-space mission. It was about a crew of death-row inmates traveling at some percentage of the speed of light toward a black hole. Like the film's fictional crew, we also had a sense of obligation to the data-collection process. We were serving the science-it was the reason we were there. High Life is a bleak and beautiful film, and I think Denis captured the feeling of being truly cut off from humanity really, really well.
What was your favorite thing to eat during your HI-SEAS experience?
We usually ate all our meals together, and we had a number of amazing, delicious dishes. I was particularly impressed with the egg powder-OvaEasy-that was supplied to us. On Sunday mornings, when we were on our own for food, I would come down to the kitchen, often by myself, and make a simple omelet with rehydrated cheddar cheese and dried parsley flakes. A cracker with powdered butter and jam and a mug of Earl Grey-a lovely, recurrent memory.

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For a four-month period in 2013, Kate Greene was part of a six-person crew holed up in a geodesic dome on the slopes of the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii. She and the others had been selected by NASA to participate in the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS), a research project simulating a human outpost on Mars.

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"Mars Mission Inspires Growing Fan Base Back in China"

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"Mars Mission Inspires Growing Fan Base Back in China"

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BEIJING -- Cui Tingting dyed her hair Mars red for the arrival of China's spacecraft at the planet known in Chinese as the Fire Star.

"This is a great era for space, and the future of mankind lies in the exploration of outer space," said Cui, director of the China Mars Society, the local chapter of a global advocacy network. She hosted an online party Wednesday night to wait for the announcement that the Tianwen-1 spacecraft, launched last July, had reached Mars orbit.

Video from participants across China showed a replica of Tianwen-1's robot rover in the home of one society member. One wore a homemade space suit; another controlled his robot dog.

"Earth is our mother planet ... but for me, Mars is the same," Cui said.

China is falling in love with space, inspired by the ruling Communist Party's increasingly ambitious plans over the past two decades to launch humans into orbit and explore the moon and Mars.

Tourists flock to tropical Hainan island to watch rockets blast off. Others visit mock Mars colonies in desert sites with white domes, airlocks and spacesuits. The number of space-themed TV shows, books and fan clubs is growing.

The most popular space-themed account on the Twitter-like Sina Weibo microblog service, "Our Space," has 1.25 million followers.

The expanding space program coincides with President Xi Jinping's campaign to promote an image of China returning to its former glory as a world leader.

"It's a symbol of power for China," said Chen Qiufan, a science fiction author in Guangdong whose books include "Waste Tide."

Xi's government is trying to nurture public enthusiasm with a five-year Scientific Literacy Action Plan. It includes a promise of support for developing Chinese science fiction.

In November, the city government of Beijing announced plans to build a science fiction industry cluster area to attract talent and create "influential original science fiction works."

"You have to leverage the power of films, movies and science fiction to broadcast propaganda and this idea: we need to go there," said Chen, comparing it to the Renaissance.

That love affair also is catching on in Japan, India and other countries that are sending probes across the solar system, joining a club of explorers long dominated by Washington and Moscow.

The race to explore Mars is so crowded that Tianwen-1 isn't even the only spacecraft to arrive at the planet this week.

On Tuesday, Amal, a spacecraft launched by the United Arab Emirates, swung into orbit.

In the Emirates' biggest city, Dubai, the government projected images of Mars' two moons into the sky. Dubai's Burj Khalifa skyscraper glowed red at night. Billboards depicting Amal, Arabic for hope, tower over Dubai's highways.

In India, one of the country's biggest film stars, Akshay Kumar, led a 2019 blockbuster, "Mission Mangal," inspired by the country's first mission to Mars.

A new collection of short stories written in a half dozen languages called "The Best of World SF" captures this global wonder, said the book's editor, Lavie Tidhar.

In American and British sci-fi, Mars often plays the pristine utopia to Earth's decrepit dystopia, but not so elsewhere, said Tidhar, who was raised on a kibbutz, a collectivist commune in Israel. In his novels "Martian Sands" and "Central Station," a reborn Soviet Union, China, and Israel flourish on the bleak landscape of Mars.

"It's boring, it's hot, it's cramped. A bit like growing up in a kibbutz -- except you can never leave," he said.

China's first science fiction book, "City of Cats" in 1933, was set on Mars.

The genre died out during the ultra-radical 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, when the U.S.-Soviet space race inspired film studios to release "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Solaris."

China re-embraced imaginary other worlds with the explosive success of "The Three-Body Problem" by Liu Cixin, first published as a magazine serial from 2006 to 2010. In 2015, Liu became the first Chinese author to receive the Hugo Award, science fiction's highest honor.

A Hollywood-style blockbuster, "The Wandering Earth," based on a novella by Liu, grossed more than $700 million worldwide in 2019.

China became the third nation to launch an astronaut into orbit on its own in 2003, four decades after the former Soviet Union and the United States.

Its first temporary orbiting laboratory was launched in 2011 and a second in 2016. Plans call for a permanent space station after 2022.

Space officials had expressed hope for a crewed lunar mission as early as this year but said that depended on budget and technology. They have pushed back that target to at least 2024.

Science fiction writers already are imaging Chinese colonies on Mars.

Hao Jingfang's novel "Vagabonds," published last year, is set between a poverty-free but austere Martian society and a poor, crowded, polluted Earth. Hao became the first female Chinese author to receive the Hugo Award in 2016.

Luo Lingzuo's 2019 "Land Without Borders" imagines Chinese scientists genetically altering potatoes to grow in amber Martian soil. Physicist Liu Yang's "Orphans of the Red Planet," about high school students on Mars battling hostile aliens, is being turned into a TV series.

"We need to go to space," said Chen, the science fiction author in Guangdong. "Then we have the power equivalent to what the United States has, and then we can become the giant."

Cui, of the Mars Society, already is planning another party in May when Tianwen-1's robot lander is due to touch down.

---

Associated Press researchers Caroline Chen in Beijing and Chen Si in Shanghai and writers Isabel DeBre in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Krutika Pathi in New Delhi contributed to this report.

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Mars mission inspires growing fan base back in China

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BEIJING -- Cui Tingting dyed her hair Mars red for the arrival of China's spacecraft at the planet known in Chinese as the Fire Star. "This is a great era for space, and the future of mankind lies in the exploration of outer space," said Cui, director of the China Mars Society, the local chapter of a global advocacy network.

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With MOXIE, Perseverance Will Try to Make Oxygen on Mars

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With MOXIE, Perseverance Will Try to Make Oxygen on Mars

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With MOXIE, Perseverance will try to make oxygen on Mars

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Inside the Perseverance rover sits a gleaming, toaster-sized appliance. It has nothing to do with the mission’s primary objective of searching for signs of ancient life on the Red Planet, and it’s still technically a prototype, but the device happens to be one of the vehicle’s most demanding compone…

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"Neil deGrasse Tyson Says Humans Will Never Colonize Mars"

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"Neil deGrasse Tyson Says Humans Will Never Colonize Mars"

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Neil deGrasse Tyson says humans will never colonize Mars

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A List of All Readings in an MLA Style Works Cited

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A List of All Readings in an MLA Style Works Cited

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Human Touch

Social isolation is a growing epidemic, one that's increasingly recognized as having dire physical, mental and emotional consequences. Credit... Damon Winter/The New York Times

My patient and I both knew he was dying.

Not the long kind of dying that stretches on for months or years. He would die today. Maybe tomorrow. And if not tomorrow, the next day. Was there someone I should call? Someone he wanted to see?

Not a one, he told me. No immediate family. No close friends. He had a niece down South, maybe, but they hadn't spoken in years.

For me, the sadness of his death was surpassed only by the sadness of his solitude. I wondered whether his isolation was a driving force of his premature death, not just an unhappy circumstance.

Every day I see variations at both the beginning and end of life: a young man abandoned by friends as he struggles with opioid addiction; an older woman getting by on tea and toast, living in filth, no longer able to clean her cluttered apartment. In these moments, it seems the only thing worse than suffering a serious illness is suffering it alone.

Social isolation is a growing epidemic - one that's increasingly recognized as having dire physical, mental and emotional consequences. Since the 1980s, the percentage of American adults who say they're lonely has doubled from 20 percent to 40 percent.

About one-third of Americans older than 65 now live alone, and half of those over 85 do. People in poorer health - especially those with mood disorders like anxiety and depression - are more likely to feel lonely. Those without a college education are the least likely to have someone they can talk to about important personal matters.

A wave of new research suggests social separation is bad for us. Individuals with less social connection have disrupted sleep patterns, altered immune systems, more inflammation and higher levels of stress hormones. One recent study found that isolation increases the risk of heart disease by 29 percent and stroke by 32 percent.

Another analysis that pooled data from 70 studies and 3.4 million people found that socially isolated individuals had a 30 percent higher risk of dying in the next seven years, and that this effect was largest in middle age.

Loneliness can accelerate cognitive decline in older adults, and isolated individuals are twice as likely to die prematurely as those with more robust social interactions. These effects start early: Socially isolated children have significantly poorer health 20 years later, even after controlling for other factors. All told, loneliness is as important a risk factor for early death as obesity and smoking.

The evidence on social isolation is clear. What to do about it is less so.

Loneliness is an especially tricky problem because accepting and declaring our loneliness carries profound stigma. Admitting we're lonely can feel as if we're admitting we've failed in life's most fundamental domains: belonging, love, attachment. It attacks our basic instincts to save face, and makes it hard to ask for help.

I see this most acutely during the holidays when I care for hospitalized patients, some connected to I.V. poles in barren rooms devoid of family or friends - their aloneness amplified by cheerful Christmas movies playing on wall-mounted televisions. And hospitalized or not, many people report feeling lonelier, more depressed and less satisfied with life during the holiday season.

New research suggests that loneliness is not necessarily the result of poor social skills or lack of social support, but can be caused in part by unusual sensitivity to social cues. Lonely people are more likely to perceive ambiguous social cues negatively, and enter a self-preservation mind-set - worsening the problem. In this way, loneliness can be contagious: When one person becomes lonely, he withdraws from his social circle and causes others to do the same.

Dr. John Cacioppo, a psychology professor at the University of Chicago, has tested various approaches to treat loneliness. His work has found that the most effective interventions focus on addressing "maladaptive social cognition" - that is, helping people re-examine how they interact with others and perceive social cues. He is collaborating with the United States military to explore how social cognition training can help soldiers feel less isolated while deployed and after returning home.

The loneliness of older adults has different roots - often resulting from family members moving away and close friends passing away. As one senior put it, "Your world dies before you do."

Ideally, experts say, neighborhoods and communities would keep an eye out for such older people and take steps to reduce social isolation. Ensuring they have easy access to transportation, through discounted bus passes or special transport services, can help maintain social connections.

Religious older people should be encouraged to continue regular attendance at services and may benefit from a sense of spirituality and community, as well as the watchful eye of fellow churchgoers. Those capable of caring for an animal might enjoy the companionship of a pet. And loved ones living far away from a parent or grandparent could ask a neighbor to check in periodically.

But more structured programs are arising, too. For example, Dr. Paul Tang of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation started a program called linkAges, a cross-generational service exchange inspired by the idea that everyone has something to offer.

The program works by allowing members to post online something they want help with: guitar lessons, a Scrabble partner, a ride to the doctor's office. Others can then volunteer their time and skills to fill these needs and "bank" hours for when they need something themselves.

"In America, you almost need an excuse for knocking on a neighbor's door," Dr. Tang told me. "We want to break down those barriers."

For example, a college student might see a post from an older man who needs help gardening. She helps him plant a row of flowers and "banks" two hours in the process. A few months later, when she wants to cook a Malaysian meal for her boyfriend, a retired chef comes by to give her cooking lessons.

"You don't need a playmate every day," Dr. Tang said. "But knowing you're valued and a contributing member of society is incredibly reaffirming."

The program now has hundreds of members in California and plans to expand to other areas of the country.

"We in the medical community have to ask ourselves: Are we controlling blood pressure or improving health and well-being?" Dr. Tang said. "I think you have to do the latter to do the former."

A great paradox of our hyper-connected digital age is that we seem to be drifting apart. Increasingly, however, research confirms our deepest intuition: Human connection lies at the heart of human well-being. It's up to all of us - doctors, patients, neighborhoods and communities - to maintain bonds where they're fading, and create ones where they haven't existed.

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How Social Isolation Is Killing Us (Published 2016)

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Human Touch My patient and I both knew he was dying. Not the long kind of dying that stretches on for months or years. He would die today. Maybe tomorrow. And if not tomorrow, the next day. Was there someone I should call? Someone he wanted to see?

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In NASA’s Perseverance rover on Mars, there’s a special device called MOXIE. This technology is important because astronauts will need oxygen for breathing and for rocket fuel to return to Earth. MOXIE is only a test version and doesn’t make enough oxygen for people yet. It uses a lot of energy and needs to work in very cold and harsh conditions on Mars, which makes the experiment tricky. Scientists are testing it to see if it works well on Mars, and they’re adjusting its settings to avoid problems like overheating or producing carbon that can damage the machine. In the future, NASA hopes to build a bigger version of MOXIE that can make enough oxygen for astronauts. This will make space missions to Mars easier and safer because we won’t need to bring as much oxygen from Earth.

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1.     What were the most difficulties that the participant of HI-SEAS experiment mentioned in the interview?

Answer: Isolation, heavy space suits, and boredom were the hardest things that she mentioned in the interview.

Why is it important: The purpose of HI-SEAS experiment was predicting difficulties that people can encounter when they visit other planets, so analyzing what  they said is important.

2.   What is the purpose of HI-SEAS experiments?

Answer: The purpose of HI-SEAS experiments is to figure out difficulties when people go to other planets by simulation.

Why is it important: Acknowledging the purpose of the object helps people to make contents in the text to their owns, so it is critical.

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The article "Living the Martian Life, in Hawaii" by Diane Tedeschi explains the result of HI-SEAS experiment, simulating living on Mars, and conducts an interview with participant to predict difficulties of living on Mars. According to Tedeschi, aftereffects such as isolation, boredom, and the astronaut body remained to participants, so she decided to write a book to extract them from her head (para. 2). Because of the high cost to put limit on equipment and conveniences, making realistic simulation of a long-term space mission is expensive (Tedeschi para. 3). Because the participant predicted the effect of isolation, she thought she will not struggle with isolation, but it did not work (Tedeschi para. 5). The participant was satisfied with her experience because of the sense of being recognized and achieving dream (Tedeschi para. 7). Although the participant did not know the result of each experience conducted on the HI-SEAS experiment, she could collect a lot of data, and it was useful to NASA (Tedeschi para. 9).

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Stephen Petranek: Your kids might live on Mars. Here's how they'll survive

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It sounds like science fiction, but journalist Stephen Petranek considers it fact: within 20 years, humans will live on Mars. In this provocative talk, Petranek makes the case that humans will become a spacefaring species and describes in fascinating detail how we'll make Mars our next home.

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In Your Child Might Live on Mars: The Art of Science and Technology, Stephen Petranek explores the potential for humans to colonize Mars within this century. Driven by technology, research, and investment, Mars offers a possible "second chance" for humanity amid Earth's challenges. Petranek explains how humans could survive there by building shelters, growing food, and extracting water, while companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin work to lower space travel costs. He envisions an eventual goal to "terraform" Mars, making it Earth-like, suggesting that future generations may one day live on another planet.

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1. What are the key factors that make Mars a viable option for human habitation?

2. What technological advances does Petranek see as essential for survival on Mars?

What are the implications of building a self-sustaining habitat on Mars? What challenges might be faced in doing so?

3. How would colonizing Mars affect the future of Earth? Is this a necessary path for humanity?

4. What role does Petranek see in private companies (such as SpaceX) in advancing the feasibility of colonizing Mars?

5. What potential drawbacks or challenges did Petranek mention in his speech that could hinder the colonization of Mars?

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What are the biggest challenges stopping humans from living on Mars?

This question is important because understanding the challenges of Mars helps us assess the reality of space exploration. It allows us to think critically about what is needed for human survival in extreme environments and pushes us to consider technological and scientific advancements. It also raises questions about whether resources should be invested in Mars colonization or addressing issues here on Earth.

How does Tyson’s view on living on Mars connect to today’s environmental issues on Earth?

This question connects space exploration with Earth’s environmental issues, highlighting the fact that Mars is inhospitable—something we risk making Earth if we continue to neglect our environment. Tyson’s view encourages us to focus on preserving Earth, showing that efforts to sustain life here might be more realistic and pressing than seeking a backup planet. This question reminds us of the urgent need to care for Earth’s ecosystems and resources before thinking about other planets.

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How might MOXIE's success impact future Mars colonization efforts?

Reason: This question directly connects to the core goal of the MOXIE experiment, which is to pave the way for sustainable human presence on Mars. It provokes discussion about long-term implications, including life support, rocket fuel production, and overall mission feasibility.

Could the lessons learned from MOXIE be applied to solving Earth's environmental issues?

Reason: This question bridges the gap between space exploration and Earth-based applications, encouraging classmates to think about how innovations in extreme environments can inspire solutions for pressing global challenges like climate change and renewable energy.

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I agree with you. According to Redfern, ”Will we ever set foot on Mars?”, “Station (ISS) is simple, as it takes only a fraction of a second to relay messages to and from Earth, radio signals take 20 minutes to reach Mars, so astronauts there will feel much more isolated, adding to the psychological stress of confinement with a small team.” That means the astronauts who live on Mars will feel more lonely or stressful although they are a small group than the astronauts who live at Earth Station because radio signals need 20 minutes spare from Mars to Earth. This is important because it shows one point of the problem that human need to deal with if they want to explore Mars.

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How does the development of MOXIE technology reflect international interest and collaboration in advancing space exploration, as seen in growing global enthusiasm for Mars missions?

What i think:

The success of technologies like MOXIE represents significant progress in solving challenges for human exploration of Mars, such as oxygen production. This connects to the increasing global excitement about Mars missions, as highlighted in McNeil's article on China's growing interest in space exploration (McNeil, 2021). MOXIE’s development showcases how technological breakthroughs can inspire and drive international engagement and collaboration in the quest to explore and potentially inhabit other planets. By considering both the technical and global cultural impacts, we can better understand how space exploration unites diverse audiences and nations in pursuit of common goals.

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Alex: Peer Response Post (Extension Upon Writing/Agreement)

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Alex: Peer Response Post (Extension Upon Writing/Agreement)

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Hey Mark, you’ve provided a clear summary of the article "Living the Martian Life, in Hawaii" by Diane Tedeschi, and I appreciate how you highlighted the participant's experiences and the challenges of simulating life on Mars.

I agree with your observation that isolation was a significant difficulty, even though the participant initially believed she could handle it. This highlights how unpredictable and mentally taxing such experiments can be, despite careful preparation.

Building on your points, I find the high cost of realistic simulations particularly thought-provoking. Tedeschi's discussion of the financial limitations raises an important question: "how can future Mars missions strike a balance between cost-efficiency and authenticity in their simulations?" (para. 3). Without adequate preparation, astronauts may face greater risks that underly, yet overspending could strain already limited budgets. This contradictory dilemma underscores the complexity of preparing for space exploration.

What do you think NASA could do to make future simulations more effective without significantly increasing costs as you did not mention or refer the details within your summary post or the author did not asserts in his own report article. Exemplifying such, could virtual reality or other emerging technologies play a larger role in simulating the Mars environment?

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I will extend the argument that Bronya and Redfern said that living on Mars is skeptical. According to Redfern, although sending astronauts to the Mars seems to be beneficial, financial, lack of resources, and vulnerability from radiation make it skeptical (para. 2). In other words, because of potential challenges, transmitting people into Mars seems illogical. Furthermore, Mars' environment inclines to people's psychological statement because of sense of isolation (para. 3). This statement advocates Bronya and my idea because it elucidates the rational challenges might be occur. Before the research institution sends people to Mars, they allude to the solutions of potential challenges and psychological impacts.

Redfern, Martin. “‘Will We Ever Set Foot on Mars?” Bbcearth.com, BBC Studios, www.bbcearth.com/blog/?article=will-we-ever-set-foot-on-mars.

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Hi, Mark. I agree with you. Mental health and physical health are two important problems for astronauts. For psychological problems. Because astronaut are in space, they can only communicate with the stars, other workers and occasionally with the Earth. If they work on Mars, communicate with Earth is really difficult. According to Martin,"And while contact with astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) is simple, as it takes only a fraction of a second to relay messages to and from Earth, radio signals take 20 minutes to reach Mars, so astronauts there will feel much more isolated, adding to the psychological stress of confinement with a small team"(3). This means that as the distance increase, the astronaut has to spend more time in contact with the Earth. It would take less than a second for astronaut who working on the Moon to get a response from Earth, but 20 minutes for an astronaut on Mars. However, astronauts on Mars are more likely to feel lonely. They have lonely life in space, far from their home and families. For their physics heath problem, because astronauts live in space where haven't gravity, it's easy for them got Muscle atrophy and osteoporosis. Although, people already have some ways to deal with it, it still be a problem for astronauts. If there is a chance, would you choose to travel to space or not?

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Hi Mark,

I aggree with you. I found your post about Diane Tedeschi’s article "Living the Martian Life, in Hawaii" really insightful. You did a fantastic job summarizing the challenges participants faced during the HI-SEAS experiment, especially the struggles with isolation and boredom. I also appreciated how you highlighted the participant’s reflections on feeling recognized and achieving her dreams—this added a motivational and personal perspective to the discussion.

Your point about the participant underestimating the effects of isolation stood out to me. Greene noted that even though the crew was aware of the potential challenges, "we didn’t think these things would be a problem because we knew about them" (Tedeschi para 5). Yet, they still faced irritability, boredom, and distrust, demonstrating how psychological challenges persist even with preparation. Additionally, Greene’s experience highlights how isolation also restricted freedom of movement and in-person socializing, as "you couldn’t go any further away from the hab than you could walk" (Tedeschi para 7). These constraints mirror challenges future astronauts may face, underscoring the importance of mental health preparation.

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How does Tyson's view on life on Mars relate to today's environmental problems on Earth?

This question links the colonization of Mars with the environmental problems on Mars, highlighting the fact that Mars is not habitable - humans prefer to live in warm places rather than cold places (Tyson, 7) and the cold environment on Mars is completely unsuitable for human habitation. If we want to colonize Mars, we must have a system that can fully simulate the ecology and climate of the Earth (Tyson, 13). This question reminds us that before considering colonizing other planets, we urgently need to care about how we can survive after leaving the ecosystem and resources of the Earth.

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Hi Mark, I totally agree with your point that mental health and physics health are the most important problems that astronauts are facing. When they in space, they can only talks with their colleagues, if they can work on mars, their communication will be more difficult than work in space. According to Mallapaty, "If the landing is successful, the rover, which carries 6 instruments, will explore the planet for at least 92 Martian days, each of which is equivalent to a full day and 37 minutes on Earth"(3). This sense of distance would make it easier for astronauts on Mars to feel lonely. Their lives are far away from home and loved ones, full of loneliness in space.

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How can public health initiatives create sustainable programs to foster social bonds in communities while also accounting for individual differences in social needs?

Khuller’s focus on loneliness' health impacts highlights its severity, especially for the elderly. Recognizing loneliness as a health risk supports policies that encourage social support and engagement, improving overall well-being and potentially reducing healthcare burdens.

How does Khuller’s article address the physiological and psychological consequences of loneliness, and what implications does this have for public health initiatives aimed at the elderly?

Examining Dr. Cacioppo’s and Dr. Tang’s approaches shows the need for both individual and community-based strategies to tackle loneliness. These methods together could address diverse populations, fostering social connections that improve mental health and social resilience across different eras of generations.

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Khuller's newspaper article argues the profound medical side effects of loneliness which highlights a terminal patient’s solitude as a powerful example. Social isolation, increasingly recognized as a widespread problem has quadrupled since the 1980s and is associated with higher risks of heart disease in addition to cognitive decline alongside premature death. The elderly community, especially those of whom within the age range of 80-85 often reportedly experience loneliness upon the decease of a family or displacement of a friend's residence. Conducted researches unveils that loneliness can stem from heightened sensitivity to social cues which leads individuals to withdraw, and vice versa, it establishes an extreme level isolation within social circles. Dr. John Cacioppo’s research addresses this by helping people re-evaluate social interactions, while Dr. Paul Tang’s linkAges program fosters cross-generational connections through community service exchanges (Khuller, par. 27). Significant efforts to combat loneliness include community vigilance, improving transportation, encouraging spiritual engagement, and fostering pet companionship. In today’s digitally connected yet socially fragmented world, these efforts emphasize that human well-being depends on nurturing social bonds across all ages.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrHxeE68gTY

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Lucianne Walkowicz: Let's not use Mars as a backup planet

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Stellar astronomer and TED Senior Fellow Lucianne Walkowicz works on NASA's Kepler mission, searching for places in the universe that could support life. So it's worth a listen when she asks us to think carefully about Mars.

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"China's First Mars Explorer Arrives at the Red Planet"

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"China's First Mars Explorer Arrives at the Red Planet"

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Summarize the article. (partners)

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Tianwen-1 will help researchers to study the planet's geology and soil characteristics, and search for water and ice.

China has achieved another milestone in space. Its first spacecraft designed to explore Mars arrived at the planet successfully on 10 February just before 8.00 p.m. Beijing time, a day after the United Arab Emirates' Hope spacecraft.

Tianwen-1 is now orbiting the red planet. In three months' time, it will drop a lander and rover to the Martian surface. Between them, the orbiter and rover will explore the geology and soil characteristics of Mars, including searching for water and ice.

"Successfully reaching Mars's orbit is one of the mission's key challenges," says Li Chunlai, deputy chief designer of the Mars exploration programme, based in Beijing. But the pressure is still on, he says, as the mission prepares to land autonomously on the planet's northern hemisphere. If the landing is successful, the rover, which carries 6 instruments, will explore the planet for at least 92 Martian days, each of which is equivalent to a full day and 37 minutes on Earth.

In orbit, Tianwen-1, which carries seven scientific instruments, will begin taking precise images of the landing region known as Utopia Planitia - a flat expanse of volcanic rock in a large basin. The area is close to the large volcano Elysium Mons, where domes, pitted cones and other landforms have been found that could be linked to the presence of water or ice, says Li. The mission will explore whether an ancient ocean ever existed in the northern region of Mars, and study the geological evolution of volcanoes there.

Ambitious plans

Tianwen-1 will also test the technologies China will need for an ambitious sample-return mission planned for later this decade, and longer-term goals to send people to Mars, says David Flannery, an astrobiologist at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia.

The landing site's flat topography and low solar and cosmic radiation levels, along with its potential for water or ice, "make it the sort of place you might think of hosting the first human mission", says Flannery.

A subsurface radar aboard the orbiter will help researchers to study structures below Mars's polar ice caps, says Roberto Orosei, a planetary scientist at the Institute of Radioastronomy of Bologna in Italy. Europe's Mars Express, an orbiter that has been circling Mars since 2003, previously found water lurking below the surface of the southern polar cap. Orosei hopes that Tianwen-1's radar, which can probe structures more than 100 metres below the surface at frequencies and resolutions that previous missions have not been able to study, will help to explain how the buried lakes have remained liquid.

Tianwen-1's orbiter will hopefully continue to collect data on Mars for years. This is important because Mars Express, which has been in operation for almost two decades, could be nearing the end of its lifetime, says Orosei.

NASA's Perseverance rover is expected to land on Mars on 18 February.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-00361-z

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China's first Mars explorer arrives at the red planet

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Tianwen-1 will help researchers to study the planet's geology and soil characteristics, and search for water and ice. China has achieved another milestone in space. Its first spacecraft designed to explore Mars arrived at the planet successfully on 10 February just before 8.00 p.m. Beijing time, a day after the United Arab Emirates' Hope spacecraft.