INTRODUCTION DREAMING OF MARS As the nearest Earthlike planet Mars has long captured our imaginations Humans have always looked for ways to explore the Red Planet In 2001 a businessman in the United States Elon Musk began thinking about what kind of business he should become involved in next He had already been successful with the Internet company PayPal but he wanted to try something new Musk who had always been fascinated by space began to wonder why people hadn’t already traveled to Mars He stayed up late one night researching when the United States was planning to send astronauts on a mission to Mars He found that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA had no real plans for a manned mission to Mars So Musk decided to make the plans himself He came up with ideas for first sending mice and a greenhouse to Mars He researched rockets And 4
A SpaceX rocket launches in 2015 when he found out how expensive it would be to buy a rocket he decided to make his own The next year he started SpaceX a company whose goal is to set up human colonies on other planets SpaceX has already created and launched its own rockets and spacecraft The company also works with NASA to bring supplies to the International Space Station ISS In 2016 Musk announced that SpaceX plans to send a spacecraft called the Red Dragon to Mars in 2018 and the company plans to send people there in 2024 Musk believes that Musk poses with a SpaceX craft designed to carry astronauts in space sending people to Mars is important for the future of humanity and Earth 5
A future Mars colony may look similar to the one depicted in this illustration He thinks a mission to Mars would be inspiring By working to reach Mars people will develop new technologies and make scientific discoveries Building a colony on Mars would be a great adventure Musk said Musk also believes that problems on Earth are a big part of the reason why people need to go to Mars I think there is a strong humanitarian argument for making life multi-planetary in order to safeguard the existence of humanity in the event that something catastrophic were to happen he said Musk believes that people need to be able to live on other planets to survive if a major disaster occurs on Earth Meanwhile NASA has also announced a plan to send astronauts on a mission to Mars In 2015 NASA said it would send humans to Mars by the 2030s Their plan is known as Journey to Mars and it involves several steps of research and testing on the ISS and in deep space the area of space beyond Earth and the moon before people go to Mars Unlike SpaceX NASA does not plan to send people to Mars to live long term Instead NASA would make multiple visits to the Red Planet with several different crews of astronauts 6
Many people are skeptical about whether the missions will actually work They think sending people to Mars seems too expensive and dangerous On Earth people need water and oxygen to survive On Mars the air and soil are different from Earth’s From a distance Mars looks as if it is filled with red dirt not blue water Could these conditions ever support life This is a question people have been asking about Mars for years And it’s a question that scientists and astronomers have been working to answer ever since space exploration began They want to know what the Red Planet is really like This artist’s concept above shows astronauts using three space shuttles to begin a colony on Mars This illustration right depicts the beginning of a Mars colony with living quarters and a greenhouse 7
