Before it was the moon. Today is Mars.
During his first term, it was the reconquest of the Lunar Lande who was identified by Donald Trump as the space challenge to be won to access history. He promised that, he had been re -elected immediately, by 2024 he would become the president capable of bringing the first woman and the next man, the American of Course, to trample the selenic surface. Now Mars is the new destination of its extraterrestrial ambition. And that’s a whole thing.
“We will pursue our manifest fate towards the stars – said the new president on Monday, during his second inaugural speech – we will plant the stars and stripes flag on the planet Mars”.
Some details will not have escaped the most attentive: unlike when John Fitzgerald Kennedy, in the famous speech at the 1962 Rice University, he promised that America would bring an astronaut on the moon “by the end of the decade”, Trump did not indicate one precise date. Like Kennedy, however, Trump also spoke a few meters from those who could allow him the epochal goal: not an incredulament NASA, like that of JFK, but a gaudent Elon Musk. It was in fact with the ultimate goal of “making our species interplanetary” that in 2002 Musk founded Spacex, the company with which he revolutionized the industry and the spatial economy (and defense) from all over the world.
The fact, however, just like NASA in 62, is that at the moment nor Musk nor others have technology to guarantee the result.
For now Mars remains the robot planet. Failed objective of the Soviet missions since 1960, the planet was approached for the first time by the American probe Mariner 4 only in November four years later. Before seeing a Lander, leaning on the red desert surface would have passed another seven years, a wait, however, ended in 1971 by the “handwriting” not entirely successful of the Soviet Mars 3. In 1976 the United States managed, first, to make ” Successful, “Lander Viking 1. To date, among the sands of the Red Planet, only six robots, five Americans, have flowed, of which still active (curiosity and perseverances) and one Chinese, Zhurong.
No alive soul.
Because if it is already hard for an automatic means, as Europe knows well that crashed there with the Lander Schiaparelli in 2016 and that still waits to return, to human beings the Martian migration reserves challenges still to be discovered to the end, let alone solve ourselves : with the launching systems available, reach Mars imposes a journey no shorter than six months. At that point, for reasons of planetary alignment, that is, to start when Mars and the earth were closer, the stay on site should be about a month, or over 500 days, without middle ground. So they would take “only” between six and eight months to return home. In the meantime, astronauts should be shielded by a quantity of radiation capable of killing them well before the destination, their communications would use tens of minutes to reach the earth, and the resources should be produced on board, or in situ. Provided that nobody goes crazy (the prevention of the so -called cabin fever is, not surprisingly, studied by space agencies)
Not exactly the journey of dreams. Not even those of Musk, who despite having admitted to wanting to die on Mars, is aware of having to solve every challenge to create Trump’s promise. In fact, that the new president spoke of Mars reiterates how important the influence of the Space Billionaire is relevant: because while spatial agencies such as NASA or ESA European study how to face the journey to Mars, not even the lunar finish has been reached. And precisely on the moon you should test technologies and fundamental processes to go into deep space.
Unfortunately, a few weeks ago, the Artemis lunar program has been postponed for the umpteenth time: the next wing will not take place before 2027 forwarded. Also in this case, much will depend on Spacex, whose astronave starship, the first completely reusable launch system of history, was chosen to deposit astronauts on the surface of the moon. Too bad that its development goes slowly and that the test of January 16 has ended early with an explosion.
Not that the thing seems to worry Musk: he said that by the end of the year his new jewel will work. And given the delays of the other rocket involved, the NASA Space Launch System, that the astronauts will have to use to arrive in lunar orbit before climbing the starship, it is likely that Trump decides to entrust the whole program to Spacex.
An event that even the next NASA administrator could warm up: already appointed by Trump (if approved by the Senate) to lead the space body will be the billionaire Jared Isaacman, a well -known admirer and customer of Musk (from which he privately purchased four extra missions -Terrestrial).
At that point, and Trump’s declaration makes him suppose, it is not excluded that the United States decide to realize Musk’s supreme dream as soon as possible, who announced that he wants to send a starship around Mars in 2026 and a mission with a crew two years later. In 2019 a report by the International Astronautica Academy, a team of 30 of the maximum experts in the sector, provided for the first landing by 2042, suggesting that private entrepreneurs could anticipate it even a decade.
It is tremendously difficult for this to come true. But as a lover of space, and in the face of the scientific and technological benefits that winning such a difficult challenge would lead to everyone, I hope that Trump and Musk deny me.