#Mars #RedPlanet #SpaceDocumentary #SpaceExploration #Science #Universe #MarsColonization #TheMars #Astronomy #Documentary
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:01But unlike any other planet in the solar system, besides Earth, Mars has all of the fundamentals
00:06needed to make this possible.
00:09Its 24 hour and 37 minute day is critical for growing plants.
00:15It has all of the elements necessary for creating building materials like plastics, metals and
00:20glass.
00:21And it has oceans of water frozen into the soil.
00:25If we can develop this craft of living on Mars, then Mars becomes inhabitable.
00:32Not immediately physically, but intellectually.
00:36I mean look, what determines whether an environment is habitable or not?
00:40Is Colorado habitable?
00:42We're not naturally adapted to live in Colorado.
00:46We're tropical animals.
00:48No one could survive a single winter night here without technology, such as clothing.
00:54Efficient use of fire.
00:57We invented our way into becoming people that could colonize such hostile environments.
01:09Eventually, with a lot of ingenuity and invention, the scientists will learn to live off the land.
01:14They will grow crops in the iron-rich but potassium-poor soil.
01:20And they will produce oxygen and energy from the water and atmosphere.
01:33Sooner or later, children will be born, the first true Martians.
01:38They will grow up to see Mars as their home.
01:43With time, more and more people will arrive.
01:46These won't only be scientists, but settlers, people who plan to stay.
01:53They may come for all kinds of reasons.
01:55But to them, Mars will be a chance to start over.
01:58To build a new life for themselves.
02:05The well of human social thought is not exhausted by the present age.
02:09And I don't think we'll ever be exhausted.
02:11There will always be people with new ideas on how humans should live together.
02:17With Mars so far away, the hold of Earth governments on their colonies will be tenuous.
02:24The Martians will need to govern themselves.
02:29Mars is not going to be a utopia.
02:31Mars is going to be a lab.
02:33It's an open frontier.
02:35It's a place where things are going to be tried out.
02:37I think we'll see a lot of noble experiments on Mars.
02:41Perhaps some of these Martian colonies, with their novel ideas,
02:44based on the best thought the 21st century has to offer.
02:48Maybe they'll find ways in which humans can create society
02:51that are more humane and offer more opportunity for human potential.
03:03The ultimate dream of the Martians will be to terraform their planet.
03:07To make Mars as hospitable as Earth.
03:10This may not be as big a fantasy as it seems.
03:13Here we are on Earth, a world that's very sophisticated and developed and complete.
03:19And anything we do is just a subtraction.
03:22It's because we live in such a biologically rich planet.
03:24When we go to Mars, we have an opportunity that we don't have on Earth.
03:28Here's a planet that's died.
03:30Here's a world that's not full of biology and probably doesn't have any at all.
03:34Well there, we can actually do something to help.
03:41Once there are large human settlements on Mars that have significant industrial capability,
03:46we could actually start addressing ourselves to the question of transforming the Martian environment itself.
03:51Terraforming Mars, as it's called.
03:53Because Mars was once a warm and wet planet.
03:55And it could be made so again through human engineering efforts.
03:59With daytime temperatures in the Martian tropical zone averaging around zero degrees centigrade,
04:05and with an atmosphere only one percent as thick as Earth's,
04:08exposure to these elements by a human without a space suit would be instantly fatal.
04:14The first step to terraforming Mars and bringing it back to life
04:17will be for the Martian colonists to warm up their planet.
04:21Well, we know how to warm up planets.
04:23We're doing it on Earth by putting gases in the atmosphere.
04:26On Earth it's not a good idea to warm up the planet.
04:29The temperature was just fine, thank you, we don't need it any warmer here.
04:31But in principle, if you could trap the sunlight reaching Mars today,
04:37every single photon that's hitting Mars, Mars would warm up in about ten years.
04:43Well obviously you can't trap every single photon that's hitting Mars,
04:47but you can trap about ten percent of them with the greenhouse effect.
04:51So that would imply that Mars could warm up in about a hundred years.
04:56Well a hundred years is a long time, but it's not astronomically long.
05:00One idea is to build small, automated factories that produce super greenhouse gases
05:05with no ozone depleting side effects.
05:08Although these gases would be unwelcome on Earth,
05:10for the Martians they would be an efficient way to trap heat.
05:15Then within a few decades we would raise Mars by more than ten degrees centigrade.
05:20And if you did that, that would cause massive amounts of carbon dioxide
05:24that is currently absorbed into the Martian soil to start to outgas.
05:29Carbon dioxide is also a natural greenhouse gas.
05:32As it builds up in the atmosphere, more and more heat will be trapped,
05:36which will in turn cause more CO2 to outgas.
05:40The process will become automatic, and as the atmosphere thickens,
05:45Mars will eventually reach a state of equilibrium and stay warm naturally.
05:55The rise in air pressure would mean that the human colonists could discard their pressure suits,
06:01and walk around the surface of Mars carrying only a supply of oxygen.
06:13And as the temperatures rise on Mars, water frozen into the soil will begin to melt out.
06:19And for the second time in its history, Mars would have liquid water on its surface.
06:27Dry Martian rivers will start to flow.
06:32Seas will rise.
06:35And there will be rain clouds in the skies.
06:47The return of Mars to its warm and wet stage will make it a fertile environment for life.
06:53Any indigenous Martian organisms lying dormant will begin to grow,
06:58and Mars will be full of Martians.
07:14If no native life emerges, or that life is all dead,
07:18then humans could begin addressing the idea of bringing life from Earth.
07:25At first it would be simple organisms, perhaps genetically engineered,
07:29that would thrive in the Martian environment.
07:33Then more complex plants could be introduced.
07:37The plants would be right at home in the carbon dioxide atmosphere,
07:40and with no competition, and a whole planet to cover,
07:43they could transform Mars into a green world.
07:53Warming Mars so that it sustains life is rapid.
07:57But then the slow process of making the atmosphere breathable for humans and animals starts.
08:02And that's done by plants.
08:05Although the process will happen naturally,
08:08if the colonists can't find a quicker way,
08:10it will take tens of thousands of years.
08:15This is a philosophical debate.
08:17Many people think the universe has a big sign on it that says,
08:20Do not touch.
08:21Leave it alone.
08:22It was made this way.
08:23It is not in our purview as human beings to change anything.
08:27I can respect that view, although I disagree with it.
08:29I think the universe has a big sign on it that says,
08:32Go forth and spread life.
08:34Because when I look around the universe,
08:36I think life is the most amazing thing we see.
08:38It is just incredible.
08:39And we human beings are uniquely positioned to help spread life
08:43from this little tiny planet, which it seems to have been started on,
08:47beyond.
08:48And that's our gift.
08:51Earth's gift to the universe, I think, is the gift of life.
08:55It is Leal's right.
08:58Let's celebrate and cite our home
09:08And then come north.
09:36This scheme for terraforming Mars is based on 20th century notions of engineering.
09:41I don't think it is how Mars will actually be terraformed.
09:46What you have here is a 20th century mind trying to address a 22nd century problem.
09:53And so, I think Mars will be terraformed by the 23rd century.
09:57Not by the 33rd, by the 23rd.
09:59Things that would seem utterly fantastical to us is how it will actually be done.
10:04But it'll be done.
10:09We're at a crossroads today.
10:11We either muster the courage to go or we risk the possibility of stagnation and decay.
10:17The exploration of the solar system and expanding of life through the rest of our solar system and someday beyond
10:24is the kind of thing that will keep our civilization going.
10:30We're explorers by nature.
10:32Eventually, we will go to the stars.
10:35And the question is, when will we start?
10:38I think a man Mars mission could happen within 15 years.
10:43Some days, I'm very optimistic.
10:45I think we can do it in 10, maybe 15 years.
10:48Other days, I see all the political things that go into the space program.
10:52I look back on the 30 years we've been bogged down and I get more negative about it and I
10:57say it's going to be another three decades or four decades.
11:00I would be surprised if we got to Mars prior to 2025 or 2030.
11:07In May of 2018.
11:12Understanding the various political obstacles that exist and what we need to fight through to get the program started, I
11:19believe that we will be on Mars by 2020.
11:25You have to believe in hope. You have to believe in the future.
11:31There are more and more people coming around to the point of view that a positive future for humanity requires
11:38human expansion to space.
11:41We will eventually break through the forces of inertia that have been holding this thing back.
12:02The Mars Desert Research Station in Utah in the southwestern United States.
12:15These are the members of Mission 118 at the MDRS.
12:29They call their assignment KiwiMars 2012.
12:34Their aim is to discover what it's like to live and work in an alien environment as a prelude to
12:41humans one day going to Mars, the red planet.
12:48The technology for explorers to reach Mars actually exists today.
12:52But the troubled global economy and the lack of political will are just two major challenges to be overcome before
12:59such a journey can take place.
13:02The lengthy duration of such a voyage is another hurdle.
13:05So without the conditions aligning favorably for the journey, it's unlikely we'll see footprints in the Martian dust any time
13:13soon.
13:14Nevertheless, the red planet is in our sights and within our grasp.
13:19But until a manned Mars mission is practical, what can we do to prepare for humankind's greatest exploratory endeavor?
13:28The answer for the crew of KiwiMars 2012 is to learn something about exploring and living on Mars right here
13:36without leaving Earth.
13:38And perhaps, in some small way, contribute to the next giant leap for mankind.
13:44fi-
13:46Fi-
13:46Fiill
13:47Fi-
13:53Fi-
14:11Fi-
14:15The Mars Desert Research Station, MDRS, was built at the beginning of the 21st century by the Mars Society, an
14:23international non-profit organization devoted to promoting the exploration and eventual settlement of Mars.
14:30The MDRS comprises a habitat, a greenhouse, and a wastewater recycling plant, and nearby there's a small observatory.
14:41The habitat deliberately resembles a spacecraft that's landed on the surface of Mars.
14:46It's two stories high and approximately 10 meters in diameter.
14:51The ground floor is given over to a science lab, engineering bay, spacesuit storage, and bathroom facilities.
14:59The upper deck is where the crew cooks, eats, plans work programs, relaxes, and sleeps in tiny cabins.
15:12Crews spend rotations of two weeks each at the MDRS.
15:16They come from universities, science institutions, even space agencies from all over the world to experience this illusion of Mars.
15:40For me, this place is magical because it gives you the chance to feel the pressure and the challenges of
15:50being a field astronaut.
15:52And there are very few places on Earth that can make you do this because very few places on Earth
15:59have the equipment.
16:00She enjoyed the experience so much she's returned with a Kiwi crew, or more precisely, an Australasian crew.
16:08By the time Harry had secured a slot in the MDRS schedule, she had little time to conduct a full
16:14recruitment process.
16:14We couldn't really do too much about that in the little amount of time we had, but these two Australians
16:23are very, very great guys, so they will only add to the crew.
16:28And at the end of the day, the crews that will go on Mars will not be from just one
16:35country, but they will be multicultural.
16:37So I think one of the issues that we're trying to address here is how do we get along.
16:43Being from so many backgrounds, I think this is the most important thing.
16:47So, with four crew members from New Zealand and two from Australia, drawn from Harry's network of colleagues and friends,
16:55KiwiMars 2012 is a trans-Tasman mission.
16:59Haratina is the KiwiMars mission commander and represents the KiwiSpace Foundation, which aims to foster a New Zealand space industry
17:07and education framework.
17:09Mike Bodnar is executive officer and mission journalist, contributing daily blogs to the KiwiSpace Foundation website.
17:17With a particular interest in geology, Ellie Harley's role is mission specialist planetary sciences,
17:23while teacher Bruce Ngatai Rua takes on the job of health and safety officer, as well as communicating daily to
17:31an audience of school students in New Zealand.
17:34From Australia, artist Annalee Beattie supports KiwiMars 2012 as mission specialist life sciences,
17:42and is keen on exploring whether art might have a place in interplanetary exploration,
17:47while fellow Australian Don Stewart, with experience in meteorology, is the mission's weatherman and engineer.
17:56But just how valid is a stay at the Mars Desert Research Station?
18:01What does the crew hope to contribute to the knowledge necessary to successfully reach and explore the red planet?
18:08This environment absolutely is an analogue for the real thing. There's no doubt about that.
18:16Look, even if you stripped all that away, what a great place to come.
18:20So for two weeks I'm just looking forward to being in a totally alien environment, something I've never experienced before.
18:28And I think the concept of living in a habitat, which is back over there behind me, for two weeks
18:34with strangers essentially, is an intriguing one.
18:38Whether we'll all be speaking to each other at the end of it remains to be seen.
18:41Well, I hope as an artist I'll try and find, I'll be able to work with scientists and collaborate to
18:47try and find other ways to interpret scientific data.
18:52This is a field trip for me and I'd like to understand more of confined spaces and I'd like to
18:58understand more about an extreme environment.
18:59It's an adventure in different regards for me. It's a geological adventure, that's for sure. When you see the photos
19:08of the area you'll understand why.
19:12It's an adventure about Mars. I do believe we have to go to Mars. I believe we need to go
19:18to Mars because we have a responsibility to ensure the survival of the human species.
19:23And also to, the sorts of factors that people need to take into account if they live, maybe if they
19:29set up a space station on the Moon or on Mars or even in, I guess, a remote, really remote,
19:35harsh environment on Earth.
19:36So in some ways, the sorts of things we're doing here, it would be a little bit like going and
19:41living on Macquarie Island in Antarctica for 12 months or a couple of weeks.
19:45It's really about how my experience here, living on Mars, will actually translate towards students in New Zealand and that
19:54they can get a better appreciation of what that means.
19:57This is why we're here, actually. It doesn't matter what will happen in a long term. It absolutely has no
20:03importance what will happen.
20:04Important is what we will be learning from this experience. That's why we have MDRS. That's why we have rotations,
20:12which means the period of time when a crew stops.
20:15It stays at the hub. It is a learning curve for everyone, for us, for Mars society and for humankind.
20:24Even before the mission officially starts, Health and Safety Officer Bruce Ngataia Rua is faced with a medical emergency.
20:32I was just rushing. I pushed that door too hard and I sort of fell through.
20:38Annelie has fallen down the steps outside the habitat on the first day and twisted her ankle.
20:43If you just stay there and leave ice on it for at least 15 minutes.
20:50All right? I'll tap down as well.
20:53Communications from the habitat prove difficult.
20:55So Harry and Mike drive the 11 kilometres to Hanksville, the closest settlement.
21:00Because although she says she's not broken anything, we cannot really be sure and I would like to have an
21:07x-ray or something like that done to her to make absolutely sure that she's safe.
21:12I think what's such a shame is we finished the training on the ATVs, the quad bikes before and Annelie
21:20had never ridden one before.
21:22After the training she went out on it and spent about 20 minutes riding around.
21:27She came back with a big smile across her face and said that was awesome. She was so happy.
21:34And the next thing she's flying out the door and down the steps.
21:39Oh dear. Talk about going from one extreme to the other.
21:43A crew member of mine, she fell on the stairs and I think she twisted her ankle. I hope he's
21:49not broken but because I have no way of knowing I need to make absolutely sure.
21:53Is it possible we could get an x-ray done?
21:58300 west. Awesome. Thank you so much, sir. Okay. See you soon. Bye.
22:07Not wanting to risk Annelie having a broken ankle, Harry elects to take her for the almost 90 kilometre drive
22:13to the nearest x-ray clinic.
22:16Yes. It's not broken. Thank you for your help. Thank you for your help.
22:20Do you want this closer?
22:24What the incident reveals is that any crews on Mars are going to have to cope with injury and illness
22:31themselves and be medically trained for any eventuality from cuts and bruises to compound fractures.
22:39The nearest hospital to Mars is going to be not 90 kilometres away but even at its closest over 50
22:46million kilometres distant on Earth.
22:51A $300 x-ray later and Annelie returns to confirm that it is just a sprain.
22:57Oh, $300 later. Look at that. Awesome. What a great job. And he left his child's birthday party to come
23:05in.
23:05Oh, wow. And the x-rays are fine. So? It's so great.
23:10But she faces a frustrating wait to see whether she'll recover enough to take an active part in the rest
23:17of the mission.
23:17It's on the first 24 hours to keep it elevated. Apart from that, it's going to be all right. He
23:21said maybe six weeks.
23:23Six weeks. Hmm. But it's not broken.
23:28Physical challenges apart, a psychological trial Martian explorers will have to face is living together in close confinement.
23:36In this respect, the MDRS is a good indicator of what to expect.
23:42The illusion is complete. Crew cabins are small and private space is extremely limited.
23:49Beyond the sleeping quarters, it's difficult to find privacy.
23:53Peace and quiet on Mars will likely have to be timetabled and occasionally negotiated.
23:59Living together in close proximity is nothing new.
24:03People have been doing it for centuries.
24:05And any family that's lived on board a small boat or in a camper van will know exactly what the
24:10challenges are.
24:11At night, in the MDRS, for example, those who retire early are sometimes frustrated by the noise from those who
24:19stay up talking or watching DVDs.
24:22And personal habits, whether an ongoing sniff, a tendency to hum tunes or the use of a certain repetitive phrase,
24:30are magnified by confinement.
24:32On Mars, the last thing you'd want would be tensions boiling over due to annoying personal habits, because it won't
24:39be easy to escape them.
24:40Even a quick stroll outside would involve getting dressed up in a space suit.
24:45And anyway, for safety's sake, it's unlikely you'd be allowed to go alone.
24:51Within two days of the mission, tensions are running high.
24:54Harry wants to fully enact a landing and arrival at the habitat, including a mock landing on Mars, reaching the
25:02habitat, and an arrival ceremony.
25:05The others, also suffering from jet lag and exhaustion, aren't convinced such an act is necessary, and just want to
25:14begin the simulation.
25:15Are we landing on Mars tomorrow?
25:17Sure.
25:19Really?
25:20How are you going to go?
25:21Compromised.
25:22Okay.
25:24Do you guys make it?
25:25Well, the only thing I wanted to include in the landing is the cultural part.
25:30The arrival plan included a ceremonial burying of some rocks, which Harry has brought all the way from New Zealand.
25:38By the way, it's not Harry and I aren't arguing about this.
25:43It's not.
25:44It's not.
25:44No, it's not that Harry wants to and I don't want to.
25:47It's just what it's for.
25:48After much debate, it's agreed to abandon the arrival and delay the stone burial ceremony.
25:54We cannot do it.
25:55Fine.
25:57I think, you know, within the first 48 hours, we had all been suffering from tiredness, jet lag.
26:06We all deal with that in different ways.
26:09Maybe Ali just came out and was more overt about it.
26:12I certainly felt some tension, I have to say, in that time.
26:16I'm not a person who actually speaks out like that.
26:21But I did agree with some of her comments.
26:24So when she spoke about it and she said, oh, does no one else feel the same way?
26:28I actually did say, yeah, I do feel the same way in some regard.
26:31But I think it was more important to actually talk about that and for it not to be an impediment
26:38for the rest of the mission.
26:39And so we could work it out.
26:41So airing it was the best thing.
26:44And I'm glad she did.
26:46So I was actually, I felt quite relieved after she said it, to be honest.
26:52However, Bruce has to exercise his health and safety authority to make sure Harry's enthusiasm for the mission doesn't override
26:59her own basic necessities.
27:03Hold her to eat something, otherwise she'll flake.
27:07Yeah.
27:08Huh?
27:09She's not coming out unless she's had breakfast, right?
27:11Yeah.
27:13She said she'll eat.
27:14If she doesn't, let me know.
27:16Right.
27:19Harry's created a challenge for herself, though.
27:22After flying from New Zealand to Los Angeles, she then elected to drive all the way to Colorado to rendezvous
27:28with the rest of the crew.
27:29It took 15 hours, after which there was no time for rest before continuing on to the desert research station.
27:37At this point, Harry has been on the go for over 30 hours.
27:42But then Bruce has his own condition to manage.
27:45He's diabetic.
27:47But it's not until everyone's at the MDRS that he tells Harry.
27:51Out of concern, she restricts him from driving the quad bikes or going on field trips without full support.
27:58That gives a new dimension to the expedition.
28:02I don't think it will change too much because commanders on Mars or on any field expedition, they have to
28:09deal with emergencies.
28:10Even if they won't be able to come with us on the field, which is probably the case more for
28:15Bruce, surprisingly, than for Anna Lea, we will have plenty of work for them to do at the Hav, especially
28:23that we need people to be in comms contact.
28:27And in a way, strangely, I'm a little bit relieved that we can have someone at the Hav that is
28:33not going to be upset that they're not going to go on a field trip because, as you know, we
28:40cannot have everyone out on the field.
28:42There have to be two people at all times in the Hav.
28:50The MDRS crew's work involves necessary daily routines coupled with more specialist work such as geology field trips.
28:59Operationally on Mars, crews will have to undertake certain regular activities to ensure their habitat continues to function efficiently.
29:07Even here in the Utah desert, nothing can be taken for granted and flight engineer Don Stewart monitors fuel and
29:15water supplies daily.
29:18For the purposes of the simulation, the water and fuel tanks are regarded as being inside a controlled environment, so
29:25no spacesuit is necessary.
29:29Water on Mars is likely to be a major challenge.
29:32Even at the MDRS, water is rationed.
29:35Showers are limited to once every three days, and all water is used sparingly.
29:41Conservation for the Kiwi Mars crew also means being careful with toilet usage.
29:50Another aspect of isolation the crew becomes aware of is the importance of pumps.
29:56Pumping equipment on Mars will be essential and widely used for air flow, water transfer, hydraulic operation of equipment, airlocks,
30:05refrigeration, waste disposal,
30:07and many other functions essential to survival and comfort.
30:12The Kiwi Mars crew is reminded of this when one of the water pumps fails.
30:16Meaning Don has to resort to good old fashioned science, using siphoning to transfer water from the tank on the
30:23trailer to the habitat's main tank.
30:25Don't be prepared to wait for a little while, what do you think?
30:27Just put water on the top and then eat.
30:30They're very yummy.
30:33Food is another challenge for those living in an alien environment.
30:37As with the water, the food at the MDRS is in limited supply and is largely dehydrated and freeze-dried,
30:44to simulate the sort of provisions that early Martian explorers might have to take with them.
30:52The catering routine alternates between one day of cooking and the next more of a just-add-water approach.
30:58We made a muck-up yesterday with the cooking days. We actually went to cook and we didn't cook, so
31:04we're just going to put a whole tracking in now.
31:06And have a long cooking day today, one tomorrow, and then cooking day, cooking day.
31:13Crews who stay at the Desert Research Station also participate in a nutrition study, undertaken by Cornell University for NASA,
31:22and Kiwi Mars is no exception.
31:27Mission 118 crew members weigh themselves each morning and record the data.
31:33Each evening, they complete a survey about what they consumed, how it tasted, how it made them feel, whether they
31:40ate more, the same, or less than normal, and so on.
31:43This is done online and received by Cornell University's researchers.
31:50The nutrition study is one genuine practical contribution MDRS crews can make to a successful mission to Mars,
31:58incrementally building up a picture over time about how useful or effective various types of food might be.
32:06However, one challenge real Martian explorers won't face, hopefully, is the invasion of their food supplies by aliens, in this
32:14case, desert mice.
32:17The Kiwi Mars crew discovers on the third day that mice have successfully penetrated the pantry
32:23and eaten their way into some of the food stocks, which are discarded for health reasons.
32:28It's a blow, and from here on the crew keeps all rodent risky food in plastic bins that can be
32:35sealed shut.
32:38Next to the habitat is a greenhouse.
32:41Originally, this was built with the aim of recycling grey water and experimenting with growing different foods.
32:53However, it's fallen into disrepair, the grey water recycling equipment lying idle, and the greenhouse shelves empty of plants.
33:06On Mars, it's possible astronauts will be able to extract water in the form of ice from below the surface.
33:13But on the long journey to reach the red planet, efficient water recycling will be essential, just as it is
33:19today on the International Space Station.
33:22Presently, the space station recycles just over 75% of its water, so it's not yet fully self-sufficient.
33:30But research into how water can be totally recycled promises to have tremendous benefits here on Earth, as well as
33:37for future space explorers.
33:41Although the atmosphere in the Utah desert is perfectly breathable, MDRS crews have the option of wearing simulated spacesuits for
33:50going on EVAs, extravehicular activities,
33:54including Anna Lee, whose ankle is now fully functional again.
33:59Spacesuits on Mars will have to cope with incredibly cold outside temperatures, an unbreathable carbon-dioxide rich atmosphere, and extremely
34:08low air pressure.
34:09Okay, now wait for a minute and you're welcome.
34:12Such suits are currently being designed and trialed.
34:15For example, at the same time as the KiwiMars mission, a group from the Austrian Space Forum tests a prototype
34:22Mars suit in Austria's Dachstein ice caves.
34:27At the MDRS, crew members simply wear overalls and boots for venturing outside, but kit up with backpacks containing air
34:36circulation equipment,
34:37and helmets that, while not airtight, do at least give the wearer some idea of what future Martian explorers will
34:44have to contend with.
34:50Like the spacesuits, the habitats to airlocks are not pressurized or even airtight,
34:55but Haratina asks her crew to at least pretend they're waiting for decompression before venturing outside.
35:07Once outside, there will likely be three options for Martian explorers.
35:12Go on foot, travel on a motorized buggy of some sort, or pile into a pressurized rover,
35:18which would allow them to take off their spacesuits and travel longer distances in reasonable comfort.
35:24At the Utah station, crews have access to their own mock pressurized rover, a four-wheel drive SUV,
35:32though it's not practical or safe to wear the spacesuits inside the vehicle.
35:42Which means any such rover on Mars is going to either be restricted to two occupants,
35:48or be much larger than the HAB's four-wheel drive.
35:59The Mars Desert Research Station's all-terrain vehicles, the quad bikes,
36:04prove an easier solution for exploring the local environment.
36:09Their range on Mars would be limited by the air supply of the spacesuits, however,
36:14though they could be fitted with auxiliary tanks if required.
36:16And, of course, they'd need to be powered by something other than a petrol engine.
36:28On Mars, human explorers will have the ability to do, in a few hours or days,
36:34what currently takes rovers weeks or months to achieve.
36:37Just being able to physically pick up or crack open a rock
36:41will provide a wealth of knowledge that, with rover technology today,
36:45is so limited and so slow together.
36:48Here in Utah, Mission 118 explores the desert landscape,
36:52searching for geological specimens and evidence of water activity,
36:57but today without spacesuits, as it's 36 degrees Celsius.
37:01The experiment is about understanding the geology of a catchment area,
37:08so you can collect your gravels to find out what's in them.
37:13In this particular gravel, we may have some Jurassic deposits,
37:20Cretaceous deposits.
37:21We've got a lot of really, really cool stuff here.
37:26A key clue to previous life on Mars, and the one that would be the holy grail of geological finds,
37:32will be fossils.
37:36In the Utah desert, fossils are plentiful if you know what to look for.
37:40On the ridge above the MDRS is a field of fossilized oyster shells
37:45between 60 million and 160 million years old.
37:49A clear sign that there was once water and marine life in what is today an arid desert.
38:02The strata, or different coloured layers so obvious in the desert landscape,
38:07tell a fascinating geological story.
38:10Each sedimentary layer represents a different period of geological progress,
38:15and gives clues as to what was happening tens of millions of years ago.
38:20On Mars, with rovers such as Spirit, Opportunity and now Curiosity,
38:25NASA's strategy has been to understand what happened to Mars' water
38:30by looking for particular rocks or features, such as those that form when water is present,
38:36just as the KiwiMars crew is doing in Utah.
38:41Even on the observatory path beside the Hab, there's evidence of past water activity.
38:47These little balls are called concretions.
38:50And although they look man-made, they are actually perfectly natural.
38:55And they're made in a similar way to a pearl is made in an oyster,
38:59starting with a single grain, which then builds up over time,
39:03in this case to become perfectly globe-shaped.
39:08Fascinating. But guess where else they're found?
39:11That's right. On Mars.
39:13They were dubbed blueberries by NASA scientists
39:16after they were discovered by Opportunity's close-up camera.
39:21You can see that there's these beds there kind of going like this.
39:25Yeah. And then right above it, some of them going like that.
39:28And then you see this layer here of rocks that kind of extends into there.
39:34Totally different flow regimes. This tells you something about the speed of the flowing water that deposited the formation.
39:42Halfway through the mission, the KiwiMars crew hosts a visit by scientist John Rusk from NASA Ames in California.
39:49So, you can see how narrow this is. This was a fast-flowing regime of water here.
39:57Probably similar to what we were just standing on.
40:01John was a member of just the second crew to stay at the Mars Desert Research Station,
40:05and has extensive knowledge, not just of the Utah landscape,
40:09but what to look for in terms of water, fossils, and other evidence of life.
40:14The environment around the HAB is very interesting, and it is relevant to Mars exploration.
40:21While it isn't a Mars-like atmosphere or Mars-like temperature conditions,
40:25it does have features that geologically look similar to what we have observed on Mars as well,
40:31such as inverted river channels, steep gullies that are incising into cut banks of large buttes,
40:38and other features that look like boulders laying around on these planes that may have been eroded by liquid or
40:45flowing water.
40:46So, the surface here has been dominated by water erosion, and in some places on Mars that is also true.
40:52It is hypothesized that life, if it exists on Mars, might exist in rocks or underneath rocks,
40:58and out here in Hanksville, around the HAB, there's very rich field sites that have hypolis and endolis colonizing underneath
41:06rocks and within rocks
41:07that gives scientists a chance and opportunity to test their ideas, their theories, and their hypotheses about the potential for
41:16life to live in rocks, perhaps on Mars.
41:18Back at the habitat, the crew's rock and fossil collection grows as the days go by.
41:25They've found fossilized shark's teeth, gypsum, and plenty of petrified wood,
41:30including, out in the field, a whole petrified tree trunk many millions of years old.
41:36I have managed to find some just stunning specimens, petrified wood,
41:41wood that looks like wood like it was cut up this morning,
41:44but wood that's also been silicified, and it's orange, it's red, it's yellow, it's green, it's beautiful.
41:52When you look around this landscape, you're seeing layers, very clearly delineated layers.
41:58It's called the Morrison Formation.
42:00It's sedimentary and was laid down over the eons by freshwater, by seawater, by desert, and by plant.
42:09Everything's the same.
42:10So whether you're looking at a large scale or a tiny scale, everything is exactly the same.
42:16We were looking in a microscope just a second ago.
42:19I asked you to look on the plate before you looked in the eyeglass.
42:23You said there's nothing on the plate, and when you looked in the eyeglass, there's a little pebble, with pebbles
42:28stuck in it.
42:29And that's the perfect illustration of what's going on out there in that landscape.
42:35Everything is made of the same. It's all on relative scales.
42:53Beyond the scientific work programs Martian explorers will have, there will be a need for recreation, for reflection, and for
43:01establishing their own personalities within the habitat and maybe on the Martian surface itself.
43:08Mascots, for example. Representing the two countries of the Kiwi Mars expedition are Tupua Kiwi and Kim the Kangaroo, reminders
43:17of homes half a world away.
43:24Mascots aside, one of the givens in terms of cultural identity is the symbolic planting of a flag.
43:31It was one of the first things the Apollo astronauts did on the moon, and will likely be one of
43:36the first ceremonies to be performed on Mars.
43:42In Utah, there's a permanent flag on top of the MDRS habitat, the red, green, and blue of the Martian
43:49flag.
43:50Red for Mars, and green and blue to represent what Mars could become in the future if terraforming were to
43:57result in the establishment of seas, lakes, and vegetation.
44:01It's a flag of hope and ambition.
44:04But the Kiwi Mars crew members have brought a mixture of their own cultural identities and personal passions to Utah.
44:12Bruce Ngataia Rua draws on his Maori heritage by painting and displaying the Maori flag.
44:18Haritina, likewise, celebrates her Romanian origins, while Don and Annelie realise they've forgotten to bring something important to them from
44:27Australia.
44:28This is Don Stewart's painting over the Australian flag, and he's painted the First Nation flag, the Aboriginal flag over
44:37the top,
44:38just to highlight the fact that Aboriginal people were the original inhabitants of Australia.
44:45So we thought they needed a presence here, we thought that was missing, so he's painted over mine, he's painted
44:51over his own.
44:53Realising the artistic potential of the desert soils, flight engineer Don decides to turn some of the raw material into
45:00clay.
45:01The thing I'm going to do is to put in a tiny, tiny amount of water, and let it sit
45:05overnight, and hopefully it'll come back to something like pottery clay.
45:08And I can either make maybe a little vase, or whatever, or maybe just some little souvenir discs for all
45:15the crew to take back to Earth's.
45:19In the end, he chooses to make a bowl, though without any means to glaze or fire it, it's eventually
45:25returned to the desert.
45:30Annelie also turns her attention to art, preparing for a planned exhibition based on the mission.
45:36What I've been trying to do is I've been trying to do some drawings of people in spacesuits.
45:42So I woke up early this morning, I thought I'd paint Alex Leonov.
45:48There he is up there, it's from his book, Time and Perception in Space.
45:54So I just thought I'd try and warm up.
45:57I'm not really a watercolour painter, I haven't really trained as a watercolour painter, but I'm giving it a go.
46:04This will probably be the first of a number of impressions, just to see if I can get the hang
46:11of the suits.
46:16Perhaps more important than what the crew has brought with them is what they send back.
46:21Each day, teacher Bruce communicates with the KiwiMars Mission Control at Wellington's Carter Observatory,
46:27where hordes of school students have been visiting and learning all about the mission and about the red planet itself.
46:35Via online messaging, they send questions to Bruce and the crew about what the mission is doing,
46:41what they're looking for, what they're eating and generally what it's like to live on Mars.
46:47So I'm telling them we eat all sorts of different foods.
46:51All of it is rehydrated, in other words we're just adding water, but it tastes just like the same kind
46:58of food that we've got in New Zealand.
47:02And a lot of them are getting a great kick out of that because, you know, they think it actually
47:06tastes quite different and horrible.
47:08The main questions I've been asking is about how we've been getting on here.
47:12Some of it's been about what the food we eat, some of it's been around, oh, how do you go
47:17to the toilet?
47:19What does it feel like to be in a spacesuit? Those kind of questions.
47:23We've actually had a couple of schools come in specifically for KiwiMars because they are looking at space and they're
47:30looking at extreme life in their own studies at school.
47:35And it's fitted in really well. We've had some really good comments from the teachers about that as well because
47:40it's actually, if they had learned a lot, I mean, they've come with an imagination and it's fired them up
47:48to actually learn more.
47:49So that's really great.
47:53On Mars, however, communication with Earth will involve a frustrating delay, anything up to 20 minutes, even though radio signals
48:01travel at the speed of light due to the immense distances between the two planets.
48:12And so the KiwiMars mission goes on with the daily routines, the field trips and the ever present spectacular desert
48:20landscape to explore.
48:24We're here to see how you're doing.
48:26Here we go.
48:26We're here.
48:30Here we go.
48:31We're here.
48:36We're here.
48:38We're here.
54:03Okay.
54:04I think we've done really, really well just to live and sleep and work together all this
54:10time without anyone losing it.
54:14And so, on the final day, it's pack-up time.
54:17But apart from the rewarding experiences the crew takes back,
54:21and kilograms of geological samples in Ali's case,
54:25cynics might say they haven't really contributed to humanity's next giant leap,
54:30and that this has all been just an illusion.
54:33For a start, we did all our research, we did all the EVAs,
54:37we collected the samples, we took the pictures,
54:39we described in our words how the Martian surface might look like
54:45for the schools back in New Zealand.
54:48We interacted every day with them through Qatar Observatory,
54:52so I think it was a very, very successful mission.
54:55But it depends on what objectives you've got by coming here,
55:00and every single organisation sending people here has different agenda.
55:05So, I reckon it's exactly as you would go to any camp, any other camp.
55:12Just the uniqueness of this place is that it's insisting on keeping people in seam,
55:19and as I said, the seam is as real as you can have it.
55:22I'm happy. I don't care if this is made of titanium alloy or of wood.
55:31What I care about is what you get out of it.
55:38So, it's mission accomplished for KiwiMars 2012.
55:43Perhaps the Mars Desert Research Station offers crews a chance to realise their own potential,
55:49more than contributing to the potential for us to reach Mars.
55:53But in the end, the more we understand ourselves, the better prepared we are for the future.
Comments