Category Archives: Mars Colonization

Adam Savage loves space suits. When I interviewed him in March, he spoke about how safety equipment appealed to him, whether it was firefighter gear, the protective armor that bomb disposal personnels wear, or space suits of the fictional variety.

For the last several years, Savage would attend San Diego Comic-Con dressed up in a costume that hides his identity, something he calls Adam Incognito. This year, one of the costumes he suited up in was one used in the production of Alien: Covenant.

After he returned from the floor, I spoke with him about why hes so attracted to these galactic wear.

This interview has been condensed for clarity.

Looking back to how you said youre attracted to safety equipment, how did you find wearing the Alien space suit while walking around the floor today? Were you impervious to the crowds?

Well, I'm not impervious to the crowds, because about 75 people came up to me and said you must be Adam. I've definitely spoiled my own thing because Ive done so much cosplay now that any time people see an elaborate, full suit, they ask if its me.

However, the guys at FBFX did a nice job [with this suit]. This fabric looks heavy duty. It looks like ballistic nylon, but it breathes quite well.

To you, what makes up a good space suit costume? What components do you look for?

The stuff that I really like in a space suit is the detail. In a NASA suit, I love the high-level details that tell the story that this was made by people. If you look at NASA hardware really close up you really can sense that these arent production-made items. They're one-offs, each one handmade by a machinist, designed by engineers. And, the best movie space suits are the ones that also communicate that same kind of hand-hewn attention to detail.

What's an example of a detail that you found stands out in a real or fictional suit?

Right now, I'm totally obsessed with the [Alien] Covenant stuff. They have a number of things like little brass tags and tiny markers, and even things like pressure readings that are based off of what the real pressure of that suit would probably be.

So what can cosplayers learn from real suits, and what can real suit makers learn from science fictional suits?

It's funny because real space suits almost never have lights in the helmet. [Theyre] a totally a movie trope because you have to see the actors. There are almost no lights on any NASA suit.

There is a simplicity to NASA hardware and it's required: you need that simplicity. A film like Alien: Covenant is layering in [details] because theyre thinking of a future where these aren't one-off items: they are [mass-produced.]

With its reveal of the latest Z-2 backpack entry suit, NASA is definitely trying to sexy it up to garner a bit more public excitement. They gave it some color, called it the Mars Colonization Suit. I think that's a reasonable thing for an organization like NASA to do, and the positive benefits from The Martian, I think, led if not directly then were at least partially responsible for the increase in NASA's budget a couple of years later. These things capture the public's imagination.

NASAs running out of space suits.

NASA is behind in their space suit production. Its over a million dollars to make a space suit. They now have a set of replacement parts where they can fit together a suit that fits an astronaut by adjusting the arms and the legs and the various geometries.

But yeah, NASA uses a ludicrously complex set of procedures to make this the multilayer, air-proof suits it uses.

What what trends are you seeing in costume manufacturing that has changed how people are making suits?

There's two major leaps. One is from cosplayers: the advancement of foam building technology using camping mats, hot glue, and contact cement to make really elaborate costumes. Its unparalleled: this is a really exciting time, and budgets are going lower because the materials are more easy to come by. It's just about the sweat equity of making sure the forms look great and curves are good.

The other major advancement that I'm really excited about is screen-printing dimension and texture onto lightweight fabrics, so that they look heavy-duty. Captain Americas Winter Soldier costume was an early, excellent harbinger of what's coming. They took four-way stretch dance fabric, which is really light and easy to wear for the actor, and they printed it with texture that made it look like the old ballistic nylon, which is much heavier and harder for the actor to wear, so its much more comfortable.

It turns out that a primary cost on making feature films is just getting the actors out and back into their costumes so they can eat lunch. No actor wants to sit in some giant space suit and try to eat a burrito. It sometimes takes an entire special effects team half an hour or maybe more to get an actor out of a cumbersome costume.

So, working with lighter-weight materials that breathe more definitely increases the the length of time the actors can spend in those suits, and then increases the amount the production can get done.

How about 3D printing and rapid prototyping? I know for some productions, they end up printing up a number of components or props.

3D printing has totally revolutionized both cosplay and costuming for movies. I know that neck rings that FBFX effects made for The Martian and for this suit were 3D printed. [Even] when you machine something and then cast it, trying to get the parts to couple back together is difficult, with the shrinkage inherent in casting and the shrinkage is dependent upon the volume of the material you're trying to cast. That means that some of these are straight 3D printed high strength resins, and that's kind of the only way you can do stuff like this.

[Pointing to the Alien Covenant Helmet on the table] How about this helmet in particular?

I think this helmet is largely 3D printed. Some of the forms for the carbon fiber pressure panels... the neck rings are totally 3D printed, and then there's all this brass etching and all this custom detail. FBFX and companies like it all around the world are using this to radically increase the shapes and the stuff they can produce, lowering the amount of time they need to make it.

Do you see this trickling into the cosplay consumer market?

It's totally trickling in the consumer market, because you can now buy an Ultimaker printer for a couple of grand, and get really impressive resolution for effectively a prosumer model 3D printer.

Last question: right now, whats your favorite space suit?

Currently right now, it's both of the suits from Alien: Covenant: the hard suit that Tennessee wears, which has all 3D printed bearings. It's an absolute masterpiece of engineering. Those were not off-the-shelf components. That suit would have cost tens of thousands of dollars if they were. That was a completely wearable hard suit. That's simply because those guys wanted to push the envelope of what was possible in movie costumes.

Photography by Andrew Liptak / The Verge

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Adam Savage explains why space suits are his happy place - The ... - The Verge

With NASA still trying to figure out how itll pay for plans to land humans on Mars, it seemed SpaceX could be our best option to get people up there in the next decade. Well, that may not be the case anymore at least not on that accelerated timeline.

While speaking at the ISS R&D Conference, Musk revealed SpaceX will likely scrap plans to use propulsive landing gear (the little engines that blast out from the lower sides of the capsule) to put Dragon capsules on Mars for supply drops and eventual manned missions.

He said the company now believes theres a better way to land there, and the companys next round of rockets and spacecraft would reflect that. Musk, umm, didnt actually give any details of what this figure might look like, though. Despite that, Musk later clarified they still want to use propulsive landing tech just on much bigger ships. You know, when Musk claims Mars as the sovereign nation of Tesla, and all that. Sadly, no timeline on anything yet.

There was a time when I thought that the Dragon approach to landing on Mars... would be the right way to land on Mars. But now I'm pretty confident that is not the right way. There's a far better approach. That's what the next generation of SpaceX rockets and spacecraft is going to do.

Though SpaceX has been working on propulsive landing tech for a while (and its a key part of the emergency escape system for Dragon 2, designed to thrust the capsule away from a potential explosion), Dragon capsules have mostly been using parachutes to land back on Earth anyway. So that wont change. The company had run into some safety concerns with adding landing legs to the Dragon 2, and its not clear if that also played a role in scrapping the tech for wider use on these craft, but it stands to reason it was a factor.

So what is SpaceX cooking up? Something big-ish, surely. Musk wouldnt have dropped this news or made this decision without having a new plan in the works, and he at least seems to think this next generation system is a much better option. Theres also buzz Musk could update his Mars colonization plan later this year, and this could certainly be a part of that. Heres hoping, because we really dont want to wait another 20+ years to reach Mars.

(Via The Verge)

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SpaceX may scrap plans to land Dragon spacecrafts on Mars by end of 2020s - SYFY WIRE (blog)

Chasing the Unknown

Buzz Aldrin is an acclaimed astronaut, engineer, and (of course) the second human being to ever walk on the Moon. Over the years, he has inspired entire generations to look beyond the bounds of Earth and pursue the unknown. As Aldrin previously noted, human beings are meant to be inquisitive. Were meant to be achievers. And to this end, Aldrin has dedicated his life to advancing humanity through discovery, creating explorers and scientists alike in the process.

Most recently, Aldrin helped to create a virtual reality (VR) experience that allows people to travel to Mars. As one of the few individuals who has ever had the privilege of stepping onto an astronomical body besides Earth, Aldrin is able to expertly assist in conveying the experience of space travel to the everyday individual and, in so doing, take people (virtually) farther than they have ever gone before.

In a recent interview with Futurism,Aldrin weighed in on just how important it is for us, as humans, to take this next step in journeying into the final frontier, One of the things that makes space exploration so exciting is that the possibilities are endless. Mars is the next actionable step for us we have never been closer to knowing and exploring another planet. Plus, I believe that Mars has realistic potential for colonization.

Aldrin continued by noting that, in order to make humanitys future on Mars a reality, we will need to start garnering interest and making plans for tomorrow today: Now is the time to start thinking seriously about what life on Mars might look like in the future. I believe we can have the first Human Martians at Mars by 2040.

Obviously, a virtual journey to Mars isnt exactly the same as a real Martian excursion; however, such technologies can, in some small way, help bring people to the stars who otherwise might not ever have the opportunity. In this respect, the VR experience is truly valuable. As Aldrinnotes, We have a long way to go before trips to space are widely affordable for everyone. Luckily AR/VR technology is here now.

Aldrin continued by asserting that, more than just showing people what the voyage to Mars will be like,this type of experience is an integral part of encouragingpeople to get excited about science and exploration. And in todays society, where denialism and sensationalism dominate many conversations, a genuine interest in science is more crucial than ever. Aldrin believes that exploring the vast recesses of space can help in this regard because, as he asserts, space travel is a great unifierit captures our collective imagination, encourages our curiosity, and inspires our creativity.

To this end, Aldrin thinks that it is through these small pushes in the right direction that humans will finally make it to other worlds. Because we are, at the end of the day, wanderers: It is in our nature to explore. We, as a species, are curious and want to see whats over the next hill, see how fast we can go. It was only 66 years from the point that the Wright brothers flew to us flying rockets to the Moon.

If this VR voyage sounds like something that would interest you,Aldrinand Terry Virts,the former commander of the ISS, are teaming up withOmaze, a donation-based experience platform, to offer one winner (and a friend) a chance to celebrate the Apollo 11 anniversary as VIPs at the ShareSpace gala. You will get to hang out with the pair and experience Aldrins virtual Mars experience. Best of all, this effort supports The ShareSpace Foundation, which is a nonprofit dedicated togetting kids involved with STEM.

In the words of the Carl Sagan,Human beings are a curious, inquisitive, exploratory species. I think that has been the secret of our success as a species. Aldrin embodies this exploratory quest and, through AR and VR, he wants to spark that curiosity and need to explore in all.

Of course, no one is positive when the first human footsteps will leave their mark on the Martian surface, but the quest to get us there is how we will continue to advance as a species.and it isnt just astronauts and rocket scientists who can (and should) participate in this great journey. Whether virtually or through other means of education and involvement,it is now possible for us all to engage our minds, hearts, and exploratory imaginations. Its a race we must run together.

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Buzz Aldrin: It's Time for Humans to Start Looking at Other Planets to Live On - Futurism

Simulated Mars Mission

Next to an old nuclear bomber hangar in western Poland, a mission to the surfaces of both the moon and Mars is about to begin.

The two-week mission is just a simulation, of course, since no entity on Earth is prepared toinhabit deep space. But the experiment called the Poland Mars Analogue Simulation 2017 will study a group of six volunteer analogue astronauts as they work through a realistic schedule of space exploration, then provide those findings to anyone whos drawing up crewed missions beyond Earth.

This mission will be one of the most comprehensive Mars analogue missions ever conducted in Europe, Mina Takla, spokesperson for thePMAS 2017 mission, told Business Insider in an email.

The experiment, which Business Insider first learned about through theDawn of Private Space Science Symposiumon June 4, is being spearheaded by theSpace Exploration Project Group, or SEPG. (The group is part of the Space Generation Advisory Council and works with the United Nations on its space exploration research and support efforts.)

Many other partners are involved in the mission, too, including The Mars Society, European Space Agency, and European Space Foundation.

The projects central feature is a U-shaped habitat thats connected to a nuclear fighter [plane] hangar near Pila, Poland, Takla said.

To make the mission possible, PMAS 2017 rounded up money from corporate sponsors, and also raised tens of thousands of dollars throughcrowdfundingsites. To create the habitat, the Space Garden Company a partner to the project secured material donations and also did some fundraising.

Organizers have dubbed their faux habitat project the Martian Modular Analog Research Station, orM.A.R.S.

As Marta Bellon of Business Insider Polandreported in May 2016, a previous design for the base, created by British architect Scott Porter, called for four arms and a domed headquarters built by Freedomes (the same company that built the fictional Mars habitats for the blockbuster movie The Martian).

However, organizers have since dropped the four-armed design for a U-shaped one. The habitats planned location in southern Poland also moved to western Poland in the past year.

The new, U-shaped M.A.R.S. facility will have six units, each with its own dedicated purpose, such as scientific research, crew quarters (including a gym), habitation, hygienic facilities, kitchen area, and storage and systems, Takla said. The entry and exit to the habitat will be via an airlock.

Takla did not provide Business Insider with any sketches or photos of the facility in time for publication, nor could he confirm if and when its construction was completed.

Assuming M.A.R.S. is finished in time, sixanalogue astronautswill land in the habitat on July 31, then work and live and work inside it through August 13.

The volunteers hail from Puerto Rico, Israel, Spain, France, India, the US, Nigeria, and other locations. Meanwhile, a larger support team will operate as mission control in the northern Polish city of Torun, including psychologists tomonitor the astronauts.

[PMAS 2017] will be one of the most international, multicultural, and interdisciplinary analogue missions ever conducted, with members from over 28 different countries and representing scientific disciplines ranging from engineering to astrophysics, psychology, geology, and biology, Takla said.

In addition to following a strict schedule of experiments, maintenance, and personal time, mission managers will simulate other realities for a far-off planetary mission, including spacesuits to leave M.A.R.S., and annoying communications delays.

[T]he first three days of the 14 days of the simulation will be in Lunar mode with a real-time communication between habitat and Mission Control, before we go for the remaining 11 days into the Martian mode, Tajana Lui, co-leader of SEPG, told Business Insider in an email.

When the Martian mode starts, Lui said, the time delay will be 15 minutes, and simulates the long distance between Earth and Mars and the related communication delay.

The PMAS 2017 mission isnt the only project trying to figure out how to run a tightly operated lunar or Martian base.

HI-SEAS in Hawaii, for example which former Business Insider reporter Kelly Dickerson visited has astronauts who live and work inside a habitatbuilt on the side of a barren volcano.

Russia, China, and the ESA have also run six willing astronauts through a psychological gauntlet with its $15 millionMars500 experiment.

That project, which ended a few years ago, had the astronauts stay inside for 520 days, or nearly a year and a half, to see what challenges they faced and how to prevent or solve them when real Mars colonization missions actually begin. (Boredom, concludedan exhaustive studyof the project, is one of the greatest hurdles to overcome.)

Such information could prove extremely valuable to the first nation (or private company,like SpaceX) to land people on Mars. Whoever is spending tens of billions of dollars to get the job done, theyll not only want a crew to survive to tell the tale, but also make the best use of their time some 140 million miles from Earth.

Correction (July 10, 2017): Business Insider was initially given and directed to outdated information about M.A.R.S. We have since corrected and updated this story to reflect the projects current details.

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Six Volunteer 'Astronauts' Are About to Lock Themselves Inside a Simulated Mars Colony - Futurism

An artists concept for Mars Base Camp space station proposed by Lockheed Martin. Representatives from several space companies say private partnerships could accelerate NASAs push to Mars.

Commercial space companies today (July 13) urged legislators to extend NASA's successful public-private partnerships for International Space Station transportation to future programs, including human missions to Mars.

NASA already is working with six firms to develop prototype habitats that would augment the agency's multibillion-dollar Orion capsule and Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket. NASA has said it intends to use the system to send astronauts to Mars in the 2030s.

Additional taxpayer investment in private companies could accelerate the initiative and cut costs, SpaceX Senior Vice President Tim Hughes told the Senate Subcommittee on Space, Science and Competitiveness. [SpaceX's Mars Colonization Plan in Pictures]

Technologies that SpaceX would be interested in developing in partnership with NASA include heavy-cargo missions to Mars, deep-space communications systems, and demonstrations of vertical takeoff and landing on the moon, Hughes said.

He pointed to the results from NASAs Commercial Orbital Transportation Services, or COTS, program, which leveraged $800 million of taypayer dollars with millions commercial investment to develop two medium-class launch vehicles and two cargo capsules at a far lower cost and much faster than any previous space vehicle development effort.

The key beneficiaries of COTS SpaceX and Orbital ATK now regularly fly cargo to the International Space Station for NASA under separate launch service contracts. A third company, Sierra Nevada Corp., is expected to add its winged Dream Chaser space plane to the fleet in late 2019.

NASA also is funding COTS-like partnerships with SpaceX and Boeing to develop two transportation systems for astronauts.

"The features associated with the COTS program can be more broadly applied now to the development of deep-space exploration systems for transportation, habitats, communications, reconnaissance and resource utilization," Hughes said.

SpaceX is planning its own private mission to Mars using its Dragon spacecraft.

Under COTS, NASA paid its partners only when they achieved specific technical milestones. The agency set goals for its partners, but did not dictate how those goals would be met. [6 Private Deep Space Habitat Ideas for Mars]

"This encourages fresh thinking and creative problem-solving," Hughes said, adding that competition is critical to the success of COTs-like programs.

Jeff Manber, founder and chief executive of Houston-based NanoRacks, told the Senate subcommittee that public-private partnerships could also help the country transition to an Earth-orbiting research base after the International Space Station is deorbited. Whether the station's mission ends in 2024 or beyond, the United States should avoid a gap in low-Earth orbit human spaceflight, Manber said.

The retirement of the shuttle in 2011 left the country dependent on Russia to fly astronauts to the station until at least 2019, when Space and Boeing hope to begin crew ferry flights

"It's critical that we don't end the International Space Station until we have established commercial operations in low-Earth orbit," said Kennedy Space Center director Robert Cabana. "Right now, the space station serves as a critical destination for our commercial partners."

Irene Klotz can be reached on Twitter at @free_space. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

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NASA Could Reach Mars Faster with Public-Private Partnerships, Companies Tell Congress - Space.com

In Brief NASA researchers have discovered that human presence inside a closed environment (such as a space station or off-world habitat) changes its mycobiome. This research will help develop health and safety protocols for Mars exploration and colonization. Cohabitating With Fungi

Research by NASA has proventhat the presence of humans inside the closed spacesneeded to explore other planets correlates with changes in the mycobiomes and fungal communities that grow inside the habitats. The research, published this week in the journalMicrobiome, is critical to space exploration and the colonization of new planets because it will help determine which health and maintenance measures are needed for human survival in closed habitats.Click to View Full Infographic

Senior Research Scientist Dr. Kasthuri Venkateswaran of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Caltech, who is the studys corresponding author, told Phys.org: Characterizing and understanding possible changes to, and survival of, fungal species in environments like the ILMAH is of high importance since fungi are not only potentially hazardous to the inhabitants but could also deteriorate the habitats themselves.

The team discovered that the presence of certain varieties of fungi including pathogens that cause asthma, allergies, and skin infections increased when humans were also present inside the Inflatable Lunar/Mars Analog Habitat (ILMAH). The stress of long-term stays in closed habitats might produce decreased immune responses in humans, rendering them more vulnerable to opportunistic fungi. Knowing how fungal communities react when humans are present is critical for the maintenance of off-world habitats, which demand appropriate health and safety countermeasures.

The goal of the ILMAH study was to understand how humans change psychologically, physiologically, and behaviorally in confined environments. For 30 days, three student crews were housed inside the ILMAH; completely isolated from the outside world except for exchanging filtered air. The researchers collected and characterized samples of fungal species to determine which were present and how the mycobiome changed during the 30-day period. Crew members cleaned the habitat and collected surface samples weekly.

The researchers established that the mycobiomes diversity and the sizes of various fungal populations fluctuated during the experiment. For example, populations of Cladosporium cladosporioides acommon outdoor fungus that can cause asthmatic reactions, particularly in people with weakened immune systems increased. The next steps will include studying the mycobiomes of human participants to prove that these fluctuations are the result of human presence.

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NASA: Understanding Fungi is Necessary to Keep Humans Safe While Exploring Space - Futurism

Spacex is estimating they wil be able to achieve $140,000 per ton for the trips to Mars. If a person plus their luggage is less than that, taking into account food consumption and life support, the cost of moving to Mars could ultimately drop below $100,000.

Cost will be brought down 5 million percent with * fully reusable rocket * orbital refueling * Propellent production on Mars * CH4 / O2 DEEP-CRYO Methalox fuel

The Spacex ITS (Interplanetary Transport Systme) rocket booster is really a scaled-up version of the Falcon 9 booster. There are a lot of similarities, such as the grid fins and clustering a lot of engines at the base. The big differences are that the primary structure is an advanced form of carbon fiber as opposed to aluminum lithium, we use autogenous pressurization, and we get rid of the helium and the nitrogen.

Spcex has been able to optimize the propellant needed for boost back and landing to get it down to about 7% of the lift-off propellant load. With some optimization, maybe we can get it down to about 6%.

Spacex is now getting quite comfortable with the accuracy of the landing of rockets. With the addition of maneuvering thrusters, they think they can actually put the booster right back on the launch stand. Then, those fins at the base are essentially centering features to take out any minor position mismatch at the launch site.

The Raptor engine is going to be the highest chamber pressure engine of any kind ever built, and probably the highest thrust-to-weight. It is a full-flow staged combustion engine, which maximizes the theoretical momentum that you can get out of a given source fuel and oxidizer. We subcool the oxygen and methane to densify it. Compared with when used close to their boiling points in most rockets, in our case, we load the propellants close to their freezing point. That can result in a density improvement of around 10%12%, which makes an enormous difference in the actual result of the rocket. It gets rid of any cavitation risk for the turbo pumps, and it makes it easier to feed a high-pressure turbo pump if you have very cold propellant.

One of the keys here, though, is the vacuum version of the Raptor having a 382-second ISP. This is critical to the whole Mars mission and we are confident we can get to that number or at least within a few seconds of that number, ultimately maybe even exceeding it slightly.

Over time, there were would be many spaceships. You would ultimately have upwards of 1,000 or more spaceships waiting in orbit. Hence, the Mars Colonial fleet would depart en masse.

It makes sense to load the spaceships into orbit because you have got 2 years to do so, and then you can make frequent use of the booster and the tanker to get really heavy reuse out of those. With the spaceship, you get less reuse because you have to consider how long it is going to lastmaybe 30 years, which might be perhaps 1215 flights of the spaceship at most. Therefore, you really want to maximize the cargo of the spaceship and reuse the booster and the tanker as much as possible. Hence, the ship goes to Mars, gets replenished, and then returns to Earth.

This ship will be relatively small compared with the Mars interplanetary ships of the future. However, it needs to fit 100 people or thereabouts in the pressurized section, carry the luggage and all of the unpressurized cargo to build propellant plants, and to build everything from iron foundries to pizza joints to you name itwe need to carry a lot of cargo.

The threshold for a self-sustaining city on Mars or a civilization would be a million people. If you can only go every 2 years and if you have 100 people per ship, that is 10,000 trips. Therefore, at least 100 people per trip is the right order of magnitude, and we may end up expanding the crew section and ultimately taking more like 200 or more people per flight in order to reduce the cost per person.

However, 10,000 flights is a lot of flights, so ultimately you would really want in the order of 1,000 ships. It would take a while to build up to 1,000 ships. How long it would take to reach that million-person threshold, from the point at which the first ship goes to Mars would probably be somewhere between 20 and 50 total Mars rendezvousso it would take 40100 years to achieve a fully self-sustaining civilization on Mars.

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The 2016 Spacex Mars Colonization plan has been published ...

Theres a fungus among us wherever we go, even Mars, so scientists are studying fungi in space habitats to better understand how those microorganisms will affect astronauts on a mission to Mars or in a space colony.

They used an inflatable habitat with similar conditions to the International Space Station although on Earth, it simulates the sort of closed system astronauts would live in on the moon or on Mars, complete with air filtration. As students occupied the habitat for 30 days, the researchers collected fungus samples to find species that were environmentally common as well as pathogens that could infect humans. According to their study in the journal Microbiome, the fungal community became more diverse during the course of the human habitation, therefore, it is crucial to properly maintain a closed habitat to preserve it from deteriorating and keep it safe for its inhabitants.

Read: Vice President Mike Pence Says We Will Return to the Moon

The research took place alongside other studies of how humans react to a confined environment on a physical health level as well as on a psychological and behavioral level. Samples were taken from locations around the habitat throughout the length of the experiment. Some of the most abundant fungi collected were ones that are known to trigger allergies and asthma. And because previous research has shown that astronaut immune systems behave differently in space, the crew could face serious health risks. If stress leads to a decreased immune response in the space travelers, they could be more susceptible to a pathogen.

Understanding the microbiome of a closed system and its association with human inhabitation will help to assess the correlation between human health and microbiome of the habitat, the study says.

Cleaning procedures might be implemented as a safety measure during a colonization of Mars or another space journey, and indeed the researchers note that weekly cleanings in their model habitat included antibacterial wipes and could have affected the fungus samples they were able to collect.

Scientists took fungus samples from a model space habitat as a student crew lived and worked inside it for 30 days to determine how fungi populations change through the course of their stay. Photo: Microbiome

But fungi tend to be hardy, so they present a challenge: Fungi are extremophiles that can survive harsh conditions such as low nutrient, desiccation, high/low temperatures, acidic/alkaline, radiation, and other environments, according to the research. Fungal species not only have been isolated from all known environments on Earth, including barren lands like deserts, caves, or nuclear accident sites, but also are known to be difficult to eradicate from other types of environments including indoor and closed spaces.

Even ones within the fungal community, known as a mycobiome, that are not known to cause deadly infection can be a problem. A report by journal publisher BioMed Central explained that one of the fungi collected is a common outdoor organism and while it does not often cause an infection in humans, it could trigger an asthma attack, particularly in someone whose immune system has been weakened during space travel.

Read: Can Bacteria Survive on the Mars Surface?

A protected habitat would be necessary for all foreseeable space missions because of the conditions on other planets and moons. Even if the Mars atmosphere was breathable, the air is too thin to support human respiration, even when its not choked with dust. And any water on Mars has long disappeared from the surface, putting another obstacle in the way of habitation.

The next step is to understand why the fungi populations in a closed habitat evolve the way they do.

In-depth knowledge of the viable mycobiome will allow the development of required maintenance and cleaning procedures in a closed habitat and also prevent it from deteriorating and becoming a health hazards to its inhabitants, corresponding author Kasthuri Venkateswaran, from NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in the BioMed Central statement. However, to be able to show that increased fungal diversity is a result of human presence, the mycobiome of the occupants will also need to be studied.

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Study Says Life On Mars Will Have Fungus: Can Space Travelers Risk Infection? - International Business Times

Atomicom announced their hardcore survival PC gameJCB Pioneer: Marswill hit Steam Early Access in Winter 2017 (Summer 2017 in the Northern Hemisphere). Developed with guidance from astrophysicist Dr. Maggie Lieu, a research fellow at the European Space Agency;JCB Pioneer: Marsis setting its sights on being a realistic take on what early colonization of the Mars may actually look like. Atomicon also partnered with engineers from construction equipment firm JCB to create a variety of construction and mining vehicles that could believably find their way to Mars.

Players are among the first colonists send to Mars in hopes of finding a new home for humanity as Earth begins to collapse. They will start off in the wreckage of their landing pod. To have any hope of survival, they will need to quickly establish their first colony and secure their supply of oxygen. The colony will need a constant stream of materials for research, construction, and repairs as players contend with Mars hostile environment.

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JCB Pioneer: Mars Bringing Realistic Colonization to Steam Early ... - Capsule Computers

Rising seventh- through 10th-graders from Lilburn, Radloff and Osborne middle schools, and Meadowcreek and North Hall high schools have spent part of their summer at a STEM camp at Piedmont College.

The goal is to work collaboratively to determine how to create a sustainable colony on Mars.

The Piedmont College Woodrow Wilson Georgia Teaching Fellowship STEM Camp seeks to foster and enhance education in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math.

We seek to inspire the next generation of STEM leaders through learning experiences that promote inquiry and critical thinking, said Bill Nye, the camps director and a science department chair at Meadowcreek High. Moreover, we seek to provide high quality, rigorous and authentic opportunities which promote outstanding academic achievement for all students.

The camp aims to increase campers understanding of survival and sustainability on Mars within activities related to environmental science, biotechnology and engineering robotics.

We believe that through collaborative and well-coordinated efforts, students in secondary schools can find solutions to not only the problems of today, but of the future, Nye said. Students must be challenged to explore possibilities for existence beyond Earth. As Mars is the next most inhabitable planet in the solar system, the exploration of a sustainable life on Mars is warranted.

Nye added that students increased their understanding of biotechnology through DNA extraction and completing a genetic transformation lab by transferring a jellyfish gene into bacteria to witness bioluminescence. The campers applied engineering and coding skills to use a drone to explore a mock Mars landscape, and to program robots to explore regions of interest and extract needed resources. Their further exploration of alternative energy sources will apply their content to energy limitations on Earth as well as Mars.

The field of environmental science has also been explored as students work with simulated Martian soil to determine how to grow crops on Mars and create a sustainable colony. Further explorations into urban agriculture tie directly into the need for locally developed produce and community gardens at Meadowcreek cluster schools and across the community, Nye said.

The instructors for the Piedmont STEM Camp are Woodrow Wilson Fellows in a pre-service teacher graduate program at Piedmont College. These STEM-specialized educators have experience in STEM fields. Theyve been embedded for the past year in math and science courses as intern-partners with a certified teacher and will be experiencing their first year as a classroom teacher in just a few weeks.

This model allows new teachers to develop their craft prior to flying solo and consequently are immediate contributors to their respective departments and colleagues bringing new instructional techniques to the classroom with an emphasis on the application of learning to ensure students are college and career ready upon graduation, Nye said.

The final project for the Piedmont STEM campers was to create a plan for a sustainable Mars colony. Students will have the opportunity to submit their Mars colonization proposal to several NASA competitions including the NASA Ames Space Settlement Contest.

Keith Farner writes about education. Good News from Schools appears in the Sunday edition of the Daily Post.

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GOOD NEWS FROM SCHOOLS: Students attend STEM camp at Piedmont College - Gwinnettdailypost.com