Category Archives: Mars Colonization

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Twenty-one years ago, on April 7, 2001, America launched a spacecraft into the cosmos.

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Its mission was to go out and seek new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no spacecraft had gone before.

No wait, my bad, that was the USS Enterprise I was thinking of, which isnt scheduled to be launched until 2245.

The mission of the spacecraft that was launched in 2001 the Mars Odyssey was far less dramatic, but nonetheless significant: to investigate the Red Planets environment, to provide key information on its surface and to map the chemical and mineralogical makeup of Mars as a step to detecting evidence of past or present water and volcanic activity (NASA).

But deep, deep down, we all know the real reason why the Yanks launched the Mars Odyssey 21 years ago to scope out potential new real estate on the solar systems fourth planet.

Colonizing Mars has been a dream of sorts for humanity for centuries, almost a fetish if I may be so bold to say. It has inspired countless books and movies, including The Martian, Arthur C. Clarkes The Sands of Mars, Mission to Mars, Total Recall (that film where Arnold Schwarzenegger travels to Mars and unsurprisingly kills pretty much everyone there), even the sensational so-bad-that-its-actually-good 1965 classic, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, where ol Saint Nick is abducted by a buncha ungrateful, Yuletide-averse Mars dwellers.

Were so obsessed with Mars that weve even named one of our most delicious chocolate bars after the planet good luck trying finding a Neptune bar, a Uranus bar or a Mercury bar in your local corner store, we dont care much about those planets (we named a car after Saturn and after a relatively unsuccessful run, production was finally halted in 2009).

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Noted contemporary deep thinkers Elon Musk and Donald Trump have openly mused about sending humans to the Red Planet and I feel that it would be a truly tremendous day for humanity if we could somehow trick them both into boarding a spaceship (along with the equally cerebral, murderous, unhinged space cadet Vlad Putin), lock the door behind them then send them on an impromptu scouting mission to Mars, which is nearly 500 million kilometres away. Its not likely to happen, admittedly, but a simple man like me can dream his dreams, cant he?

In any event, Mars is an attractive place to colonize because: a) it is, relatively speaking, not so far away from us (a one-way trip to Mars takes about six to seven months, apparently, which is do-able provided that no one on board the spaceship forgets their wallet at home and has to turn the spaceship around); b) it contains things like carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, water ice and permafrost, stuff that is pretty essential to maintaining life; c) its got a great view of Earth, in real estate parlance; and d) it is big and red and named after the Roman god of war, which is pretty hunky-dory if I do say so myself.

While leaving all our problems behind here on Earth probably seems like a wise idea for the continuation of our species what with climate change, wars, overpopulation, pandemics and our ceaseless degradation of the environment high tailing it to Mars might not be the easy win we think it would be, for a myriad of reasons.

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For one thing, shipping off humans to Mars is going to cost us, in the words of the aforementioned Trump, a huuuuge amount of money.

Colonizing Mars would cost us not millions, not billions, not even trillions of dollars wed probably start talking about quadrillions, thats how expensive its going to get. The fuel costs alone to ship people to the Red Planet would be outrageous (gas was $1.75/litre this week for instance, which means filling up for a single Mars trip would cost us hundreds of millions of dollars. Counterpoint: wed probably earn a lot of Air Miles points).

Also, were starting with nothing on Mars, so wed have to create from scratch the infrastructure of our future domed cities with their moving sidewalks, robot charging stations and automated Starbucks outlets. Wouldnt it be better to invest that money into cleaning up the Earth and making it more inhabitable? Of course it would be, but human nature is stupid and were drawn to this Mars thing like moths to a flame.

Secondly, Mars isnt Earth, so wed probably have to worry about a whole host of other life-threatening occurrences whilst inhabiting the planet, things like starving to death (Mars might not have the most fertile of soil, but apparently dandelions can grow there; unfortunately, after a few years of an all-dandelion diet you probably wouldnt want to keep on living), dying from lethal doses of radiation, running out of oxygen, getting swept up in one of Mars frequently occurring dust storms or freezing to death.

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Not to mention the real possibility that robots will begin outsmarting humans and attempt to terminate us (just like in 2001: A Space Odyssey) after we inhabit Mars because theyll quickly realize that were as dumb and gullible as a bucket of bolts.

Finally, if we look at our past behaviour, why in the world would we want to export all the awfulness weve created here on Earth to a new planet? I can guarantee you that if humanity travels to Mars and somehow we discover some sacred form of life, well immediately bulldoze it and build a strip mall on top of it.

Humans will inevitably start polluting Mars, doing things like leaving our candy wrappers on the ground and not recycling, and in a few hundred years well have to find a new planet to colonize because we absolutely wrecked another celestial body (hello Kepler 442-b!).

So for all the above reasons, at least until we collectively get our stuff together as a species, I truly believe we should forget about moving to Mars and focus on some good old self-loving for Earth.

If humanitys space cadets want to wreck a place, send them to the Moon its just a hunk of rock and metal (filled with green cheese and old golf balls from past human visits) that has almost no atmosphere and little gravity, so let them have their fun up there. Leave Mars for the Martians, I say, and save them the headache of having to clean up after us humans.

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Moving to Mars might be a bad idea - Sarnia and Lambton County This Week

Mars is often seen as Earths sister planet, and scientists have long dreamed of one day establishing a colony there.

But even having a chat on the Red Planet would be tricky, and listening to music would be well-nigh impossible, as new data from NASAs Perseverance rover demonstrates.

In a study published this week in the scientific journal Nature, scientists said they had worked out that the speed of sound is slower and less consistent on Mars, while even quite loud sounds wouldnt carry half as far.

On Earth, sound typically travels at 767 miles per hour. But in the thin carbon dioxide atmosphere of Mars, high-pitched sounds would only move at about 559mph while baser tones would wader along at a sedate 537mph.

"On Earth, the sounds from an orchestra reach you at the same speed, whether they are low or high, explained Sylvestre Maurice, the studys lead author, but imagine on Mars, if you are a little far from the stage, there will be a big delay.

The sound wouldnt carry as far either, so youd need to sit much closer to the stage. While in the Earths atmosphere a sound might easily carry for a couple of hundred feet the same sound on Mars would suffer a significant drop in volume after just 13ft.

High-pitched sounds such as childrens voices and birdsong, would be particularly affected.

As NASA explains: "Because the Mars atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide (Earths atmosphere is mostly nitrogen and oxygen), higher-frequency noises will likely be more attenuated than bass pitches, meaning we probably wont hear them as well as lower-pitched sounds.

Recordings from Perseverances two microphones one mounted high on the rovers mast and the other built into its mobile camera demonstrate the eerie quietness of Earths chilly neighbour.

NASA has put together a series of recordings and posted them online to give a sense of just how much the Martian atmosphere would change the way we hear familiar sounds.

It is stunning all the science we can get with an instrument as simple as a microphone on Mars, says Baptiste Chide, a postdoctoral researcher in planetary science at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a contributor to the SuperCam microphone.

Recording audible sounds on Mars is a unique experience, he adds. With the microphones onboard Perseverance, we will add a fifth sense to Mars exploration. It will open a new area of science investigation for both the atmosphere and the surface.

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Scientists measure speed of sound on Mars with NASAs Perseverance Rover - Daily Star

Bobbie Draper, for my money the coolest character in The Expanse.

I am about to start gushing about The Expanse, telling you all the reasons you absolutely should watch it. But before I do that, here's a laundry list of things that are decidedly not good about The Expanse.

Whenever I go full hog trying to convince someone to watch The Expanse, I like to get this list out of the way. I want people to know from the outset: This TV show is not perfect. In fact, depending on what you value in your television, you could even call The Expanse "bad."

I do not think The Expanse is bad.

On the contrary, I think The Expanse is very good. Often it's good in spite of its flaws. Sometimes it's enhanced by those flaws.

Set hundreds of years in the future when humans are spread out across the solar system, The Expanse is based on a series of hard sci-fi novels written by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck under the pen name James S.A. Corey. It is dense with peerless universe building. It's a show about the very real perils of space travel and colonization, but also a surprisingly nuanced show that deals in interplanetary politics and class warfare.

In one corner we have Earth and all its citizens. In the other, Mars. The humans who have colonized Mars are a military-focused, tough group of people prone to resolving conflict with force. Those still on Earth are the preening, politically savvy elite.

The wild cards are the Belters, residents of outer planets and asteroid belts who have developed their own Creole-esque language and, alongside that, a culture completely separate from the humans on Earth and Mars. Sick of being trampled upon by the "Earthers," the Belters are threatening revolution, but lack the power or resources to truly strike back at their oppressors.

Everything that occurs in The Expanse stems from the tensions between these three discrete groups.

The tight knit crew of the Rocinante.

The magic of The Expanse is how effortlessly the show flits between genres. It's hard sci-fi at all times, but in its first couple of seasons, The Expanse plays out like a murder mystery. Later, it's a show about alien technology and the arms race associated with that. Then it becomes a show about exploring strange new planets. Ultimately, The Expanse is a show about all these things, but places its uniquely crafted universe at its core, giving it a through line lesser sci-fi shows don't have.

The show's aesthetic plays a similar trick. Not everyone enjoys its metallic, video-game-esque color scheme, but I like video games, so I'm a fan. The Expanse feels like how I think a Mass Effect show could feel, if that ever comes to fruition and is somehow decent. The Expanse is cool, clinical and smart -- and sometimes the wooden performances amplify that in ways that should be bad, but often feels good? In a universe that lacks warmth, dialed back, minimalist performances make sense.

Yeah, I'm confused too. But it works.

It's a very not good hat.

Ultimately, The Expanse is a show that will never disappoint you. Much like Dark -- for my money the best show on Netflix-- The Expanse is now fully complete and, unlike most sci-fi shows, defied the odds and finished well. Some of its six seasons are better than others, but The Expanse is incredibly consistent. You'll be shocked by how much ground it covers and how seamlessly it moves from one civilization-altering crisis to the next.

It's funny, but almost everyone I know who watches The Expanse, including myself, loves to complain about it. They'll complain about the clunky dialogue and the strange performances, but there's nothing else like it. It's a show that's stubbornly carried by its strengths, to levels of quality it has no right attaining. You owe it to yourself to watch, if only to create your own list of things in The Expanse that annoy you.

Just make sure that list includes Thomas Jane's hat. Unforgivable.

Explore movies, games, superheroes and more with CNET Culture. Delivered Tuesdays and Fridays.

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Why You Need to Watch This Sci-Fi Masterpiece on Prime Video - CNET

Did humanity come together to take the steps needed to protect the planet or are ye now building spaceships to join the Elon Musk-founded colony on Mars?

While humans are specialists in dragging their feet, the Covid-19 pandemic and war in Ukraine showed that, as a species, we can move heaven and earth to accomplish something when we really want to.

I hope none of ye have to experience sunset on Mars.

And I also hope Limerick still have a stranglehold on Liam MacCarthy.

Today the worlds carbon dioxide concentration is 418ppm and rising yearly despite all we know about the impacts of CO2 on global warmingand of climate on our survival.

We have destroyed vast ecosystems and devastated animal populations despite all we know about nature and the life support system it affords us.

We have the science and technologies to fix this but are mired in our own ignorance, greed and cowardice.

The kind of world you inhabit depends on how we change our mindsets and habits now.

I hope we do right by you.

Dear future friends of 2122.

I must be dead at least 50 years now, so Im running low on news.

Its March 2022, and our family is in the throes of battling Covid-19. We are isolating in our home. Its boring.

Vaccines saved millions of lives worldwide.

I hope your generation never experiences anything like this.

Pandemic aside, its a scary time in the world right now.

A Russian autocratic regime is, as I write, bombarding the sovereign democratic country of Ukraine.

The threat of climate change looms large over humanity, and I hope we passed on a better world to you.

Maybe you could answer some questions for me.

Did I ever write that screenplay? Did I have a second baby? Did I ever buy a cottage by the sea?

Did Mayo ever again win the All-Ireland?

In my time capsule I would put in my hopes for a female Taoiseach and outline the biggest challenges facing the country at the moment housing, a possible recession and recovery out of a global pandemic, to give future generations an idea as to what life is like today.

On a pessimistic note, I feel like the country will probably still be dealing with similar challenges, as housing is an issue now that was also a problem a century ago.

Ill also write about the joy of meeting people in real life and not through online introductions. Dating apps and making friends through Instagram seems to be all the rage nowadays but I love nothing more than just bumping into somebody in a pub and making a friend.

If you are able to read this 100 years from now, it hopefully means we have done something substantial to curb the effects of the impending climate catastrophe and the water and food shortages that will inevitably follow from it.

If, as I fear you might be, you are reading this in some kind of post-apocalyptic hellscape, I can only apologise. In that case, I hope the paper this is printed on can serve some actual use as part of an improvised meal or kindling for a fire. At the very least, maybe you can make a hat.

Hello, is anyone out there? Im hoping a human is reading this and not some alien species that has since colonised Earth after we did our best over the past century to destroy the planet through pollution, climate change, war, greed and hatred.

Sorry if I sound pessimistic but even as a child growing up in the Atomic Age,I played in my neighbours backyard bomb shelter and I really hope the threat of nuclear annihilation thathas been in the background for my entire life never came to pass.

I also hope that people realised that saving the planet was more important than showing off in their SUVs or doing other stupid things to keep up with the Joneses at the expense of humanity. If you are a human reading this, then well done. If not, we only have (had) ourselves to blame.

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'Did we avert climate disaster? And did Mayo ever win the All-Ireland?' - Independent.ie

If Space Settlements Explained How to Live in Space, Space Forces Explains the Why

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As the world spins deeper into the third year of a global pandemic with no sign of abating, a newspacerace is forming over our heads. Entry is open to all, and the tickets are literal. The Architect's Newspaper's Jonathan Hilburg explores how the world's richest men are charting new paths for the human species, andhow the public are reacting tothe future of private space tourism.

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Just pay Richard Bransons Virgin Galactic $250,000 and you, like the more than 600 customers the company has already lined up, can touch the edge of space. If you wanted to up the ante and paid $28 million to Jeff Bezoss Blue Origin, you could have dined with and sat next to the Amazon founder himself when the first manned flight of the companys New Shepard rocket launched on July 20, 2021. And if youre so wealthy you just want to show off, you can pay $55 million for a ticket to the International Space Station courtesy of Elon Musks SpaceX, whose Falcon 9 rocket successfully deployed the first private trip to orbit in September.

To these would-be space cowboys, NASA had its chance and failed; only great men can drag the planet up and onward. The only problem is the public isnt biting. As Vox pointed out, a majority of Americans polled by Pew Research are disillusioned with private space tourism and would rather see the extravagant amounts of money being thrown around by billionaires used to solve terrestrial problems. The sentiment isnt new: Public support for the Apollo missions was divided throughout the 1960s, when rampant income and racial inequality presented much more pressing targets for federal funding.

For their part, Bezos, Branson, and Musk see themselves as charting new paths for the human species, though they differ on the details. They are the self-appointed helmsmen pointing the rest of us into an impossibly bright future where profit charts only go up and to the right. Why resist?

Smug as they are, todays billionaires are only picking up where mystics, rocket scientists, and socialists left off. As Fred Scharmen documents in Space Forces: A Critical History of Life in Outer Space, many have sought salvation among the stars. The book catalogs these 19th, 20th, and 21st-century visionaries, drawing a line from Nikolai Fedorov, the 19th-century Russian originator of the Cosmism movement, to Bezos, a proponent of interplanetary expansion to save humanity. Not directly, of course. By touching on the development of contrasting views of how practical spaceflight was developed across seven distinct time periods, Scharmen lays the threads of how we got here out in perfect clarityhistory, like music, layers sample, remixes, and references. He returns to the well first visited in his 2019 book Space Settlements, but rather than discuss the logistical challenges of building habitats in space and inventing a ground plane with no frame of reference, the topic at hand is the dueling visions of the future we now seem locked into.

Fedorov believed that if death was the ultimate evil to avoid, the highest good would be to solve it, with the end goal of resurrecting everyone who had ever died; the only way to sustain this exponential growth was unending expansion by whatever means necessary. Failure to do so would (Should space-faring humans encounter another sentient species, it would be better to stamp them out at the first available opportunity.) Federov died in 1903, but his ideas resonated with utopian revolutionaries such as Alexander Bogdanov, whose 1908 novelRed Stardepicts a socialistMarswhere the inhabitants are freed from societal divisions by a lack of plate tectonics and labor is not compelled but willingly offered. But after exhausting the resources of their home planet, and an unsuccessful expedition to Venus, the Martians eye Earth as a potential substitute. All that stands in the way of their cosmic destiny is human society, which, being less evolved and mired in strife, can be eliminated without a second thoughtto do any less would doom them.

The solar system can easily support a trillion humans, Bezos has repeatedly touted as the end goal of Blue Origin. If we had a trillion humans, we would have a thousand Einsteins and a thousand Mozarts and unlimited, for all practical purposes, resources and solar power.

By his own admission, Bezos modeled his dreams on the work of Princeton physicist Gerard ONeill, whose 1975 NASA Summer Study program conceived of enormous toroidal or spherical spacecraft capable of sustaining life. These spinning megastructures, analyzed in great detail in Space Settlements, were to feature rolling pastures, lakes, and picturesque hill towns; a slice of Alpine Austria churning through the vacuum of space and all of the colonial-era imagery that comes with it. Blue Origin even developed its own version of the ONeill cylinder, one populated with pastiches of Earthbound landmarks. His counterpart, Musk, wants to colonize Mars as a hedge to what he sees as an inevitable catastrophe, whether it be an asteroid or plague, without considerations of staving off these ills in the first place.

ButSpace Forcesdoes offer avatars of hope. The xenophilic books of novelist Ursula Le Guin, whoseHainish Cyclesees multiple humanities spread across the galaxy who explore solely for the enjoyment of new experiences, are placed alongside dealers of doom. Wernher von Braun, the Nazi who headed up the American space program after the latter defeated the former, is a curious mixture of the two.

Von Braun looms large in Scharmens study for his relentless advocacy of manned spaceflight and Martian colonization and is the closest thing to a main character the book has. The aerospace engineer oversaw the creation of the V-2 ballistic missile as a terror weapon at Hitlers direct order; the rockets were assembled by prisoners in the underground Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp, where 20,000 would ultimately die as slaves to fuel Germanys war economy. Resettled in America with a team as part of Operation Paperclip, von Braun quickly took to his adoptive homeland, publishing educational leaflets and science fiction stories that teased a near-future where middle-class Americans would live and work among the stars. He even worked with Walt Disney (himself a Leni Riefenstahl fan and tacit supporter of Nazi policies) on a series of films popularizing human space flight.

It was von Brauns ability to code switch, to say the right things to the right people at the right time, that kept him in the public spotlight for so long. On the one hand, he was spaces most effective salesman, relentless in his love for the subject. On the other, he lobbied the U.S. government to build an orbital overwatch station capable of deploying a nuclear payload anywhere in the world, putting mutually assured destruction overhead. Peace through security was always a core tenet of von Brauns ambitions, and his extended placement in Space Forces underlines a very real dichotomy at the heart of every epoch. Do we want to expand skyward for the sake of exploration, or as an expansion of empire? Even if the rockets carrying mankind toward Mars have peaceful intentions, can we ignore that they were built for bloodshed and by literal slave labor?

In the books introduction, Scharmen argues that we should understand moving off-world as colonization even if no one is being displaced. After all, somewhere in the chain of resource extraction, manufacturing, assemblage, and testing, someone is being immiserated (or as early science fiction writers admitted, enslaved). For Elon Musk or Jeff Bezoss utopias in the sky to be realized, people must be exploited. If Musk has his way, the first waves of travelers may be pressed into service as Martian guinea pigs to ensure the safety of the rich. And therein lies the rub, that funneling people into the furnace of progress is the only way forward, because its how weve always done things. Someone will always need to mine the asteroids and maintain the autonomous robots.

Space Forces is often not prescriptive, but at the books end, Scharmen reflects on the creation of the titular Space Force by former president Trump in 2019. He correctly surmises that sending the U.S. Armed Services into orbit will only induce greater militarization back on Earth, potentially ending in the extinction of the species. If the promise of space exploration is one of wholly new ways of seeing, designing, and interacting with the universe, why does it look like it always has back on Earth? Why are we carrying forward the same modes of thinking that so easily excuse human sacrifice? Why must a utopia for some be a dystopia for everyone else? Space Forces pulls back the sheen of space to reveal the dangers lurking within.

This article was originally published in The Architect's Newspaper.

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If Space Settlements Explained How to Live in Space, Space Forces Explains the Why - ArchDaily

As seen in part one, Join or Die (1706-1774) (debuts April 4 at 8 p.m. on GBH 2, YouTube TV, PBS.org, and GBH.org), Franklin was born in Boston and absconded from there as a youth to escape the bondage of his brother, to whom he was indentured as a printer. He arrived penniless in Philadelphia; and like a forerunner of todays social media moguls found a fortune there in a burgeoning new industry print, including the printing of currency, foreshadowing his appearance on the $100 bill. It made him a famous, wealthy, and wise man.

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In his spare time, Franklin pursued scientific research into electricity (Burns clarifies some myths about the kite and lightning experiment) and invented the Franklin stove, the lightning rod, the uncanny musical instrument the glass armonica, and other invaluable devices. His scientific endeavors, one historian ventures, might well have earned him a Nobel Prize, had there been one at the time.

But it was in some ways a tainted fortune. The advertisements in his newspaper The Pennsylvania Gazette included notices for the sale of enslaved people and postings of rewards for runaway slaves (the narration points out the irony of Franklin profiting on such trade, given that he was once a runaway indentured person himself). And Franklin owned slaves. This contradiction between his image as a champion of freedom and the reality of a businessman who profited from those who were deprived of freedom shadows the documentary and comes to a head in part two, An American (1775-1790) (April 5 at 8 p.m. on GBH 2, YouTube TV, PBS.org, and GBH.org).

There are other conflicts explored as well. As a representative of the colonies in London in the lead-up to the Revolution, he was torn between his loyalty to Britain, where he enjoyed star status and relationships with such Enlightenment giants as Adam Smith and David Hume, and his growing awareness that the Colonies had outgrown the empire and needed to unite into a nation of their own. He ultimately came down on the side of independence, which brought this conflict close to home. It opened a rift with his son, William, the colonial governor of New Jersey and who during the war led a militant band of Tories. The two never reconciled.

Though Burns has not progressed stylistically beyond the trademark documentary conventions that first brought him success, he has grown more subtle and insightful in his analysis of what America means and what it means to be an American. His film about Franklin celebrates his subject but is no hagiography. Instead it probes into such timely issues as the nature of patriotism, freedom, family, and personal responsibility.

Go to http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/benjamin-franklin.

Watch this space

The recent documentary Last Exit: Space by Rudolph Herzog expresses skepticism about the privatization of space exploration. One expert opines that life on a corporate moon or Mars colony would be like living in an Amazon redemption center, poorly paid toil under conditions regulated by an exploitative, profiteering, and all-powerful company. There, according to the voice-over narration by the filmmakers father, Werner Herzog, one would hunker down in radiation-proof bunkers enjoying drinks of recycled urine.

In Return to Space, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin who won an Oscar for best documentary feature for Free Solo (2018) take a more positive attitude. A look at the development of multibillionaire Elon Musks SpaceX program and his project to be the first private company to put people into space and ultimately expand humanity beyond Earth, the film doesnt dwell on the speculated conditions of such habitations. Instead it looks at what it took to achieve the first crewed rocket launched from US soil since the end of the space shuttle, in 2011. Earth is the cradle of humanity, says Musk, explaining his motives. But you cannot stay in the cradle forever.

Vasarhelyi and Chin flash back to the first failed attempts by SpaceX, beginning in 2006, to get its Falcon rocket off the ground. The repeated images of exploding vehicles are spectacular and oddly satisfying. After the third failure the company almost folded, but Musk and SpaceX persevered. The next attempt succeeded. By 2020 they were ready to launch two NASA astronauts into orbit for an eventual link-up with the International Space Station.

The film focuses on this mission, spending time with the astronauts and their families (one is married to another astronaut with several NASA missions to her credit) and profiling the engineers and other experts who labor to make it possible. Musk himself comes off as stalwart, determined to help elevate humanity to this next evolutionary stage while perhaps padding his estimated $267 billion fortune. At one point the filmmakers question the motives of Musk and fellow space-minded capitalist titans like Amazons Jeff Bezos, presenting a montage that concludes Perhaps space travel today is all about money and egos. Maybe it always was; and like the Western frontier before it, the final frontier might become just one more pristine wilderness to be exploited and despoiled.

Return to Space can be streamed on Netflix beginning April 7. Go to http://www.netflix.com.

Peter Keough can be reached at petervkeough@gmail.com.

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Ken Burns on Benjamin Franklin; space is the place - The Boston Globe

Enlarge / Could humans eventually fly to exoplanets on massive "generational" spaceships? Last Exit: Space explores such a hypothesis with intriguing and sometimes darkly hilarious results.

Last Exit: Space is a new documentary on Discovery+ that explores the possibility of humans colonizing planets beyond Earth. Since it is produced and narrated by Werner Herzog (director of Grizzly Man, guest star on The Mandalorian) and written and directed by his son Rudolph, however, it goes in a different direction than your average space documentary. It's weird, beautiful, skeptical, and even a bit funny.

In light of the film's recent streaming launch, father and son Herzog spoke with Ars Technica from their respective homes about the film's otherworldly hopes, pessimistic conclusions, and that one part about space colonists having to drink their own urine.

Lena Herzog

"[As a narrator], I always spoke in a deadpan [voice], and of course there's a certain humor in it because listening to my accent is a joke already," Werner says from his current home in Los Angeles. His son Rudolph, phoning in from Germany, scoffs at this, to which Werner replies, "Well, to some!"

Werner notes that the script is his son's, who says that "all of my films are comedies, even if they don't look like comedies." Rudolph's inclination for dark humor is seen throughout Last Exit: Space, which is largely anchored by interviews with researchers, engineers, and ex-astronauts, though the director is also eager to feature skeptics, futurologists, and voices that he admits he "politely disagrees with."

Werner, as narrator, periodically clarifies certain points about humankind's interest in space colonization. In rare instances, he editorializes, such as when Werner describes the efforts of SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic as humans "venturing out into space in a testosterone-fueled competition." Other times, Werner opts for dryly funny narration of how bleak certain space colonization efforts may turn out.

"The reality of life on Mars would be sobering," he says. "Astronauts would hunker down in radiation-proof bunkers, enjoying drinks of recycled urine."

"I knew when I speak about [drinking] your own urine, if I say it deadpan, it becomes hilarious," Werner tells Ars Technica. "If I had made a big fuss about it with my voice, it wouldn't have worked." He then tells Ars that he's familiar with an ecosystem of comedians and YouTube creators that parody his voice, acknowledging that he gets the comedy of it. "I made a film in Antarctica once, and before I even started editing, there was already a satire outabout a film I hadn't really started yet!" he says.

Though I was unable to find the satirical video in question, the finished product leans into Werner's proclivity for darkly funny deadpan, both in narration and visual content. Here's an example from the gorgeous 2007 documentary Encounters at the End of the World:

Excerpt from Werner Herzog's Encounters at the End of the World.

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Why Werner Herzog thinks human space colonization will inevitably fail - Ars Technica

Scientists may have found a way for humans to breathe on Mars in the future.

Space travel is tricky for numerous reasons but the lack of oxygen in space is one of the biggest obstacles.

Bacteria may be the answer to all our space breathing problems.

According toMashable, cyanobacteria could be used by scientists to figure out a way in which humans could easily access oxygen in space.

Cyanobacteria take carbon dioxide and turn it into oxygen.

The bacteria is found in very hostile environments on Earth so its hoped cyanobacteria would be able to survive on Mars.

Some experts have suggested sending the bacteria to Mars and seeing if it could create oxygen for humans who end up there in the future.

Experiments have already proven that cyanobacteria can grow in a Martian-like environment.

Astrobiologist Cyprien Verseuxpreviously worked on one of these experiments.

They explained: Here we show that cyanobacteria can use gases available in the Martian atmosphere, at a low total pressure, as their source of carbon and nitrogen.

Under these conditions, cyanobacteria kept their ability to grow in water containing only Mars-like dust and could still be used for feeding other microbes.

This could help make long-term missions to Mars sustainable.

NASA has its sights set on sending humans to Mars and Elon Musk has big plans for a human colony on the Red Planet.

The SpaceX CEO has previously expressed desires to ferry to take one million humans to Mars by 2050.

By that time, scientists may have worked out a way for bacteria to provide oxygen on this long-haul mission.

Humans would still need to live in very protective shelters on Mars as the planet is a harsh environment with dramatic temperature changes and constant radiation exposure.

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced here with permission.

More here:
Scientists may have figured out how humans could breathe in space - New York Post

NASA's Artemis mission is not a one-off thing, and this mission is said to be the first of many. With all the latest technological advancements now available, the space agency is able to plan ahead and dream big, with the first human lunar mission in 2024 set to take about a week. The ultimate goal is to establish an environment that supports living away from Earth, working on the moon, and ultimately conducting a multi-year human mission to Mars. The plans are huge, but NASA is not the only space explorer to dream big Elon Musk hopes to colonize Mars in the future, which means that his company, SpaceX, is working on a Mars mission of its own.

Before NASA can have humans living on the moon, it has to send the first Artemis mission in that direction, and things are on track so far. The rollout is set to happen on March 17. This means NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft will be taken to their destination at Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Although this is being done in preparation for the future launch of Artemis, the launch itself is not taking place just yet.

The rest is here:
NASA's Artemis Rollout Trailer Is Something You Have To See - SlashGear

[RELATED:New York Times Best-Selling Author Ibi Zoboi Takes Okoye to America in 'Okoye to the People']

Okoye catches a girl nudging Tree. They all start to step back.

The girl steps forward. Shes a bit shorter than Tree, stocky with a head full of thick, curly hair. A septum ring and dark red lips lets Okoye know that shes a tough one. But she recognizes her as the girl the group was hiding the other day. The one they had formed a semicircle around: Mars. The one who Lucinda described as being strung out. Look, sis, she says with a deeper, raspier voice. I dont know what you and Lucinda got going on, but its too late to be paying her a visit anyway. And we dont know about that pyro whatever. Were just out here chilling.

I am Okoye. Nice to meet you, Okoye says.

Mars. Mars Cooper.

I already know.

Then run and tell whoever sent you. Now go and mind your own business, she says.

But as soon as an SUV with blacked-out windows approaches them, the kids move toward it. The truck stops and a back seat window rolls down just as the trunk pops open. Mars quickly runs over to grab a big green duffel bag from out of the trunk and closes it. The kids step away from the SUV as the window rolls up, and it starts to drive off.

Okoye remembers what Lucinda had told her about Stella Adams. She and her husband are responsible for bringing PyroBliss into Brownsville. But how? In a duffel bag?

Nonsense, Okoye whispers to herself. Then she calls out, Ey! and starts running toward the vehicle.

She picks up speed, but her sneakers are useless compared to her Dora Milaje combat boots designed specifically to give her a little more boost. Nonetheless, Okoye can run in anything and on any terrain, so she is getting closer to the SUV even as it turns a sharp corner. It picks up speed and runs a red light. Another car is approaching the intersection. It is about to hit Okoye, but she thinks quickly, even as her heart races, and she leaps over the car so high and with such force that when she lands, she feels her bones and organs rattle. She breaks her fall with both hands and one knee on the ground. Okoye pauses to quickly grab a Kimoyo bead from her bracelet and holds it in the palm of her hand to survey her body for any injuries or broken bones. The bead sends waves throughout her body, and she feels the tingling sensation on her skin. The result is negative. She is fine. She discreetly snaps the bead back onto the bracelet.

The SUV is gone, and Okoye immediately worries that she has done too much. She has shown too much of her true self here in Brownsville, so far from Wakanda.

Yo! Did you just straight up jump over that car? a voice calls out in the distance.

Slowly, Okoye gets up and wipes herself down. She turns to see Tree, Mars, and their crew running toward her with their mouths agape and eyes wide. She thinks of something to divert the attention away from what they might have just seen. Where is the bag? she asks.

Hold up, girl. You dont get to ask the questions. We do. Who are you really, and why are you here? Tree asks. And why in the world did you run after that car like that? Who do you think you are?

They are all panting and out of breath.

Okoye blinks and bites her bottom lip. She will be honest. I am from Wakanda. I am a member of the Dora Milaje, a special group of women trained and charged with keeping our king safe.

Tree steps forward. We get that youre from Wakanda and all, and that yall are supermodel bodyguards or whatever. But youre supposed to keep the king safe? Its like me being part of the presidents secret service or something. That doesnt make any sense.

Besides, Wakanda is poor with nothing but elephants, giraffes, grass, and mountains, a boy in the group says.

Hmph, Okoye says. I do not think they teach you the truth about Wakanda in your schools, or about anywhere in Africa for that matter. Now, who was in that big car?

If you dont know who was in that car, then why were you chasing it? Tree asks.

Okoye looks around at the small crowd of kids who are all staring at her suspiciously. The group is smaller now and in the distance, Okoye spots Mars turning a corner into a dark alley. I think it was Stella Adams.

The kids all shiftsome exhale, some cross their arms, some move their weight from one foot to the other. Okoyes question has touched a raw nerve with them. Its okay, yall, Tree says to her friends. She already knows. Then she turns to Okoye, licks her lips, and says, She does real estate and runs this big company. But shes not coming all the way out here. Cant you see gentrification hasnt reached this part of Brooklyn yet? And are you also some kind of undercover cop for the United Nations or something? Whats with the questions?

Gentrification? Okoye asks. Is that a drug like PyroBliss?

The kids laugh, but Tree holds up her hand to make them stop. You know what? I guess you can say that, she says. Gentrification is when a neighborhood doesnt get the help that it needs from the government, and things fall apart until people with more money and resources start to move in.

But isnt that a good thing?

No! all the kids say as they shake their heads, clearly even more impatient with Okoye. Tree continues, When they move in, were pushed out. They dont want us around here when things start getting nice.

I see, Okoye says. Its like colonization in Africa, and all over the world.

Exactly! Tree says.

But how can you stop this from happening? Okoye asks, as she remembers the wars and battles for independence all over Africa she learned about as a schoolgirl and while she was training to become a Dora Milaje.

But before Tree can respond, voices echo in the distancelaughing and shouting. And then a booming sound causes Okoye to duck and cover her ears, an instinct that should not have been her first move. But that only lasts for a moment before shes off running past the kids and toward the smoke and fire.

No! Stay out of it! Someone suddenly steps out on front of her, forcing her to stop. Its Mars, standing legs spread apart with her arms crossed.

Move. Or you will be moved, Okoye says.

Who do you think you are? Brownsvilles super hero? Mars says.

There is a fire. People are getting hurt.

No, people are not getting hurt. Some of them want to watch it all burn.

This is your home. Why? Okoye asks.

We dont own any of those buildings, except Lucindas community center. Maybe when it all burns down we can build everything back up and finally get to own all of it, Mars says, as she herself walks toward the flames. Now mind your own business, girl!

Okoye has never taken orders from someone other than Captain Aneka, the Dora Milaje headmistress, or her king. Why is she so obedient to this child? Okoye does not move one inch as she watches the flames in the distance followed by cheers. This isnt right, she whispers to herself. There is too much suffering here.

You better get out of here, Tree says as the small group walks past her and turns in to the dark alley. We dont need you to save us.

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Read an Excerpt of Ibi Zoboi's 'Okoye to the People' - Marvel.com