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The Martian | Official Trailer [HD] | 20th Century FOX

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Overview | Mars – NASA Solar System Exploration

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Overview | Mars – NASA Solar System Exploration

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Mars is a dusty, cold, desert world with a very thin atmosphere.

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Human urine may be Number 1 for fertilizing plants on Mars

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Human urine may be Number 1 for fertilizing plants on Mars

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Human urine may be Number 1 for fertilizing plants on Mars

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Shipping fertilizer to colonies on Mars could be quite a hassle – it would certainly be better if the colonists were able to grow crops using whatever’s on hand. The continuation of an existing study now indicates that urine might in fact serve as a perfectly good fertilizer.

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Overview of Moon to Mars: NASA's plans to enable human exploration of the Moon as preparation for human missions to Mars and deeper into the solar system.

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3-D printing A means of producing physical items - including toys, foods and even body parts - using a machine that takes instructions from a computer program. That program tells the machine how and where to lay down successive layers of some raw material (the "ink") to create a three-dimensional object.

asteroid A rocky object in orbit around the sun. Most asteroids orbit in a region that falls between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Astronomers refer to this region as the asteroid belt.

astronaut Someone trained to travel into space for research and exploration.

atom The basic unit of a chemical element. Atoms are made up of a dense nucleus that contains positively charged protons and uncharged neutrons. The nucleus is orbited by a cloud of negatively charged electrons.

carbohydrates Any of a large group of compounds occurring in foods and living tissues, including sugars, starch and cellulose. They contain hydrogen and oxygen in the same ratio as water (2:1) and typically can be broken down in an animal's body to release energy.

carbon The chemical element having the atomic number 6. It is the physical basis of all life on Earth. Carbon exists freely as graphite and diamond. It is an important part of coal, limestone and petroleum, and is capable of self-bonding, chemically, to form an enormous number of chemically, biologically and commercially important molecules.

carbon dioxide (or CO ₂) A colorless, odorless gas produced by all animals when the oxygen they inhale reacts with the carbon-rich foods that they've eaten. Carbon dioxide also is released when organic matter burns (including fossil fuels like oil or gas). Carbon dioxide acts as a greenhouse gas, trapping heat in Earth's atmosphere. Plants convert carbon dioxide into oxygen during photosynthesis, the process they use to make their own food.

chemical A substance formed from two or more atoms that unite (bond) in a fixed proportion and structure. For example, water is a chemical made when two hydrogen atoms bond to one oxygen atom. Its chemical formula is H ₂ O. Chemical also can be an adjective to describe properties of materials that are the result of various reactions between different compounds.

clay Fine-grained particles of soil that stick together and can be molded when wet. When fired under intense heat, clay can become hard and brittle. That's why it's used to fashion pottery and bricks.

colleague Someone who works with another; a co-worker or team member.

electronics Devices that are powered by electricity but whose properties are controlled by the semiconductors or other circuitry that channel or gate the movement of electric charges.

element (in chemistry) Each of more than one hundred substances for which the smallest unit of each is a single atom. Examples include hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, lithium and uranium.

engine A machine designed to convert energy into useful mechanical motion. Sometimes an engine is called a motor. (in computer science) A computer program that performs a particular, narrow range of functions.

engineer A person who uses science to solve problems. As a verb, to engineer means to design a device, material or process that will solve some problem or unmet need.

fertilizer Nitrogen, phosphorus and other plant nutrients added to soil, water or foliage to boost crop growth or to replenish nutrients that were lost earlier as they were used by plant roots or leaves.

fiction (adj. fictional) An idea or a story that is made-up, not a depiction of real events.

fission The spontaneous splitting of a large unit into smaller self-sustaining parts. (in physics) A process in which large atomic nuclei break apart to form two or more lighter nuclei. The excess mass of the parent nuclei (compared to the resulting smaller ones) is converted into energy.

fuel Any material that will release energy during a controlled chemical or nuclear reaction. Fossil fuels (coal, natural gas and petroleum) are a common type that liberate their energy through chemical reactions that take place when heated (usually to the point of burning).

generation A group of individuals (in any species) born at about the same time or that are regarded as a single group. Your parents belong to one generation of your family, for example, and your grandparents to another. Similarly, you and everyone within a few years of your age across the planet are referred to as belonging to a particular generation of humans. The term also is sometimes extended to year classes of other animals or to types of inanimate objects (such as electronics or automobiles).

gravity The force that attracts anything with mass, or bulk, toward any other thing with mass. The more mass that something has, the greater its gravity.

hydrogen The lightest element in the universe. As a gas, it is colorless, odorless and highly flammable. It's an integral part of many fuels, fats and chemicals that make up living tissues.

International Space Station An artificial satellite that orbits Earth. Run by the United States and Russia, this station provides a research laboratory from which scientists can conduct experiments in biology, physics and astronomy - and make observations of Earth.

ion (adj. ionized) An atom or molecule with an electric charge due to the loss or gain of one or more electrons. An ionized gas, or plasma, is where all of the electrons have been separated from their parent atoms.

Mars The fourth planet from the sun, just one planet out from Earth. Like Earth, it has seasons and moisture. But its diameter is only about half as big as Earth's.

NASA Short for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Created in 1958, this U.S. agency has become a leader in space research and in stimulating public interest in space exploration. It was through NASA that the United States sent people into orbit and ultimately to the moon. It also has sent research craft to study planets and other celestial objects in our solar system.

nozzle A round spout or slot at the end of a pipe, hose or tube. Nozzles are typically used to control the flow of a jet of some high-pressure liquid or gas.

nutrient A vitamin, mineral, fat, carbohydrate or protein that a plant, animal or other organism requires as part of its food in order to survive.

oxygen A gas that makes up about 21 percent of Earth's atmosphere. All animals and many microorganisms need oxygen to fuel their growth (and metabolism).

photosynthesis (verb: photosynthesize) The process by which green plants and some other organisms use sunlight to produce foods from carbon dioxide and water.

planet A celestial object that orbits a star, is big enough for gravity to have squashed it into a roundish ball and has cleared other objects out of the way in its orbital neighborhood.

plastic Any of a series of materials that are easily deformable; or synthetic materials that have been made from polymers (long strings of some building-block molecule) that tend to be lightweight, inexpensive and resistant to degradation.

pollinate To transport male reproductive cells - pollen - to female parts of a flower. This allows fertilization, the first step in plant reproduction.

polymer A substance made from long chains of repeating groups of atoms. Manufactured polymers include nylon, polyvinyl chloride (better known as PVC) and many types of plastics. Natural polymers include rubber, silk and cellulose (found in plants and used to make paper, for example).

pressure Force applied uniformly over a surface, measured as force per unit of area.

propulsion The act or process of driving something forward, using a force. For instance, jet engines are one source of propulsion used for keeping airplanes aloft.

protein A compound made from one or more long chains of amino acids. Proteins are an essential part of all living organisms. They form the basis of living cells, muscle and tissues; they also do the work inside of cells. Among the better-known, stand-alone proteins are the hemoglobin (in blood) and the antibodies (also in blood) that attempt to fight infections. Medicines frequently work by latching onto proteins.

psychological An adjective that refers to how the human mind works, especially in relation to guiding actions and behavior.

radiation (in physics) One of the three major ways that energy is transferred. (The other two are conduction and convection.) In radiation, electromagnetic waves carry energy from one place to another. Unlike conduction and convection, which need material to help transfer the energy, radiation can transfer energy across empty space.

radioactive An adjective that describes unstable elements, such as certain forms (isotopes) of uranium and plutonium. Such elements are said to be unstable because their nucleus sheds energy that is carried away by photons and/or and often one or more subatomic particles. This emission of energy is by a process known as radioactive decay.

recycle To find new uses for something - or parts of something - that might otherwise be discarded, or treated as waste.

Red Planet A nickname for Mars.

reservoir A large store of something. Lakes are reservoirs that hold water. People who study infections refer to the environment in which germs can survive safely (such as the bodies of birds or pigs) as living reservoirs.

rocket Something propelled into the air or through space, sometimes as a weapon of war. A rocket usually is lofted by the release of exhaust gases as some fuel burns. (v.) Something that flings into space at high speed as if fueled by combustion.

scenario A possible (or likely) sequence of events and how they might play out.

science fiction A field of literary or filmed stories that take place against a backdrop of fantasy, usually based on speculations about how science and engineering will direct developments in the distant future. The plots in many of these stories focus on space travel, exaggerated changes attributed to evolution or life in (or on) alien worlds.

seedling The initial plant that sprouts leaves and roots after emerging from a seed.

solar system The eight major planets and their moons in orbit around our sun, together with smaller bodies in the form of dwarf planets, asteroids, meteoroids and comets.

thermal Of or relating to heat.

tungsten A dense, heavy, white metallic element that has the highest melting point of all elements. It is strong and resistant to corrosion, even at the very high temperatures encountered while moving quickly through the Martian atmosphere.

uranium The heaviest naturally occurring element known. It's called element 92, which refers to the number of protons in its nucleus. Uranium atoms are radioactive, which means they decay into different atomic nuclei.

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These scientists are working to make a human mission to Mars a reality.

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Traveling to Mars? Top 6 health challenges

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Traveling to Mars? Top 6 health challenges

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NASA has announced its aim to have humans on planet Mars by the 2030s. But long-distance space travel brings with it a unique set of health problems.

How will the people who make the trip cope with the mental and physical rigors of the journey? Marc Jurblum, a training psychiatrist at the University of Melbourne and member of the Australasian Society of Aerospace Medicine's Space Life Sciences Committee, outlined six of the key health issues facing prospective space travelers.
1. Space sickness
On Earth, tiny gyroscopes in your brain give you spatial awareness. They tell you when you tilt your head, accelerate, or change position. But it's different in space. Jurblum said:

In Zero G, those don't work as well and, as a result, astronauts suffer a lot of nausea. A lot of them spend days feeling incredibly unwell. It's like being seasick.

There are many examples. In 1968, NASA launched Apollo 8. Astronaut Frank Borman suffered such a bad bout of space sickness on the way to the moon that Mission Control considered shortening the mission.

Fortunately, just like people going to sea eventually get their sea legs, astronauts develop 'space legs' within about two weeks. But once they return to Earth, the opposite is true - many of them have to work hard to get their 'Earth legs' back.
2. Mental stress
Space travel is still inherently dangerous. Essentially you are floating through an airless vacuum in a sealed-up container, only staying alive because of the machinery recycling your air and water. There is little room to move and you're in constant danger from radiation and micro-meteorites. Jurblum said:

We don't know what months and months of living in an unchanging capsule habitat with only blackness outside the little window will do to people's minds. Even if you turn the ship around, Earth will be a distant speck of light. There's little more than hydrogen atoms for hundreds of thousands of kilometers around you.

Research groups are looking at how to maintain mental health in extreme environments, including using interventions such as meditation and the positive impact pictures of nature can have on space travelers. Virtual Reality might also help by giving the astronauts a rest from the monotony.

Then there's the issue of emotions. On Earth, if people get upset with their boss or workmate they might take out their frustrations at home or the gym. In space, astronauts can't afford to get angry with each other. They must be able to react really quickly, communicate, and work as a team.

In contrast, there's a positive psychological phenomenon of space travel, known as the "overview effect." Jurblum said:

Most astronauts who have gone into space have come back with a change of perspective. They become more environmentalist, spiritual, or religious.

NASA astronaut Ron Garan described it as

...the realization that we are all traveling together on the planet and that if we all looked at the world from that perspective we would see that nothing is impossible.

3. Weaker muscles
There is no gravity on the International Space Station (ISS), and Mars only has about a third of Earth's gravity. This plays havoc with the human body, Jurblum said. Our muscles are so used to fighting gravity on Earth that its absence means they weaken and waste.

Astronauts must do two to three hours of exercise every day just to maintain muscle mass and cardiovascular fitness. The heart loses muscle which would be extremely dangerous if they didn't maintain it through exercise.

Tight, elastic body suits or "penguin suits," developed by the Soviet space program, attempt to mimic the effects of gravity on muscles by providing a deep compression force on the skin, muscle, and bone-meaning they have to work harder to perform normal movements. But they're far from perfect, Jurblum says.
4. Eye problems
A common hazard on the ISS is the fine specks that float around the cabin, often lodging in the eyes of astronauts and causing abrasions. But the lack of gravity and the movement of fluids are what can cause the most serious issues for astronauts, said Jublum.

Most end up wearing glasses in space and when they come back, some even have permanent changes to their vision.

The deterioration results from the fluid shift to the head building up in the skull where it bulges into the back of the eyeball and changes the shape of the lens. Jurblum said:

This bulging seems to cause the irreversible vision problems we're trying to understand and manage.

5. Coughs and colds
If you catch a cold on Earth, you stay home and it's no big deal. Space is another story. You're living a densely packed, confined space-breathing recirculated air, touching common surfaces over and over again, with a lot less opportunity to wash.

The human immune system doesn't work as well in space, so mission members are isolated for a few weeks before lift-off to guard against illness. Jurblum said:

We're not sure why, but it seems that bacteria are more dangerous in space. On top of that, if you sneeze in space, all the droplets come straight out and keep going. If someone has a flu, everyone is going to get it and there are limited medical facilities and a very long way to the nearest hospital.

CPR training for ESA astronauts during parabolic flights. 6. Medical emergencies
Luckily, there have not yet been any major medical emergencies in space, but astronauts have training to deal with them.

For instance, ISS astronauts have developed a way to perform CPR in zero gravity by bracing their legs on the ceiling while pushing down on the patient on the floor below.

While a rescue from the ISS can be performed within a day, the people who go to Mars will be an eight-month journey away, and they need to be prepared to manage on their own, Jurblum said:

How do you lift them on a stretcher, get them into an airlock, out of their suit, and onto a surgical table with a doctor, a botanist, and a couple of scientists to help do surgery? You may have an orthopedic surgeon on Earth sending you information on how to do it, but there is a 20-minute time delay.

Here on Earth, Mars Analogs simulate some of the conditions human beings could experience during a future mission to Mars, allowing researchers to work on solutions to situations like what to do if a team member breaks their leg while outside the base.

Bottom line: Six health challenges for the human journey to Mars.
Read more from the University of Melbourne

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Traveling to Mars? Top 6 health challenges | EarthSky.org

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NASA has announced its aim to have humans on planet Mars by the 2030s. But long-distance space travel brings with it a unique set of health problems. How will the people who make the trip cope with the mental and physical rigors of the journey?

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NASA explores the unknown in air and space, innovates for the benefit of humanity, and inspires the world through discovery.

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possible issues regarding the long trip to Mars

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possible issues regarding the long trip to Mars