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想去火星么？荷兰一个叫＂Mars one"的机构说它将很快接受去火星的申请。但这将是单程旅行，这个公司希望在这个星球上建一个居民区。 未知的水域，山川和遥远的地区总是吸引着探险者。历史书告诉我们，探险的欲望不会因为极度的危险而让像哥伦布或麦哲伦那样的勇者却步。因此你大概不会对Mars one已经收到数以千计的申请而感到惊奇。但这次旅行是有去无回的，不象那种希望飞去火星再于2018年飞回来的任务。 未来的探险者们要注意了，申请人必须是有活力，适应性强，机智并能在团队中工作的人。 整个计划将在电视上播放，包括写实电视风格的筛选过程，着陆及之后的生活。 Mars one的共创人Bas Lansdorp在一次访问伦敦BBC办公室时解释了这为何是一次单程之旅。在7／8个月的旅程中，太空飞行员将失重，在火星的很弱的重力场中渡过一段时间后，他们几乎不可能重新适应地球强的多的重力场，Bas Lansdorp 说。 成功的申请人将接受身体和心理的双重训练。团队将在项目的各个方面使用现有科技，太阳能产电，从土壤中提取水并循环使用，飞行员将种植自己的食物-他们会有紧急配给和每两年新探险者加入带来的配给。 太阳风 但是在这个红色星球上生存繁衍，你觉得现实吗？ 火星是处在太阳的高能物质火线上的，这就是所谓的太阳风。火星大气层很薄，这被认为是太阳风吹走了他的大部分大气。地球上，我们被强大的磁场保护而不被太阳风影响，没有它我们很难生存。尽管火星在四十亿年前也有类似的保护，可今天天它已经没有这种保护了。 来自Arizona大学月亮和星球实验室的Veronica Bray说，火星表面的情况对生命来说极端恶劣。她说，没有液态水，大气压实际是真空，辐射很高而温差还极大。＂辐射本身就是个问题，尤其是在旅行中。这能导致癌症风险增加，免疫力下降和可能营养不良(不育？）。＂ 为了是辐射最小化，项目团队将在圆屋顶上盖几米土，而这要这些殖民者自己挖。博士还说＂我不怀疑人类登上火星，但在上面生存很久就很让人怀疑＂ 项目大使Gerad't Hooft教授，1999年因理论物理而获诺贝尔奖，承认有未知的健康风险。他说辐射相比较地球上任何已测试过的物质而言，是有着相当不同本质的。 技术挑战 ＂他们被告知有风险，但是我们仍有责任把风险控制在可接受的范围之内＂ Nasa宇航员Stan Love知道第一手的有关他的同事在近地轨道空间站经历过的技术难题。他说＂那些能把人类垃圾回收并把昨天的咖啡变成今天的咖啡的仪器需要经常维护，在火星上它们可能连用几年就坏了＂ Love刚从南极洲回来，他说那里比起火星简直就是去野餐。＂那儿全是水，你可以到外面呼吸空气。比起火星它就是天堂，但仍没人定居在那儿。＂ 尽管对经费，技术和辐射的影响有些疑问，Love称赞了象Mars one这样的小企业。他深信私人企业会在帮助提高知名度，最好是在发现和设计技术方面帮助未来的团队达到登上火星的目标。＂我们已经梦想了50年，月球被当成去火星的阶石。但当你去研究面临的困难时，就会意识到这是极度困难的＂ 许多评论已经集中在资金和项目是否能常年吸引大众的注意等方面，送第一批人大约需要花费38亿英镑。 牛津大学chris Lintott博士说，尽管这个项目在技术上可行，但他不认为他们可以找到足够资金。＂要实现这个项目需要同时有政治愿望和财务肌肉，目前还没人能实现这一点＂ 但是Lansdorp不认为有资金问题，他拿奥林匹克全球转播权的收入做了个比较。＂这将是人类历史上最大的事件。人们就算看了15年也还会接着看的＂探寻我们的世界，并超越它，就是我们人类要做的事，这就是我们的基因。殖民者移居火星的梦想终将会成真＂ 是否这次任务能完成它的目标？对申请过程的＂big-brother＂风格的电视转播所产生的公共效应意味着，全世界都一定会看到。 许多评论已经集中在资金和项目是否能常年吸引大众的注意等方面     Want to go to Mars? Dutch organisation Mars One says it will open applications imminently. It would be a one-way trip, and the company hopes to build a community of settlers on the planet. Uncharted waters, mountains or far away lands have always drawn explorers. History books show that desire for adventure, even in the face of extreme danger, did not deter the likes of Columbus or Magellan. So it is perhaps not surprising that Mars One has already received thousands of prospective applicants. But there is no return - unlike the mission which hopes to fly to Mars and back in 2018. Future explorers take note. Applicants must be resilient, adaptable, resourceful and must work well within a team. The whole project will be televised, from the reality TV style selection process, to landing and beyond. On a visit to the BBC's London office, Mars One's co-founder Bas Lansdorp explains why this would be a one way flight. During the seven-eight month journey, astronauts will lose bone and muscle mass. After spending time on Mars' much weaker gravitational field, it would be almost impossible to re-adjust back to Earth's much stronger gravity, says Landsorp. Successful applicants will be trained physically and psychologically. The team will use existing technology for all aspects of the project. Energy will be generated from solar panels, water will recycled and extracted from soil and the astronauts will grow their own food - they will also have an emergency ration and regular top-ups as new explorers join every two years. Solar wind But is it realistic to believe that individuals could live and prosper in on the Red Planet? Mars is in the firing line of the Sun's high energy particles, called solar wind. The atmosphere of Mars is very thin as the solar wind is thought to have stripped much of it away. On Earth, we are protected from the solar wind by a strong magnetic field, without this it would be much more difficult to survive. Although Mars once had similar protection around four billion years ago, today there is no such shield protecting it. The Martian surface is therefore extremely hostile to life says, Dr Veronica Bray from the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, who is sceptical about the project. There's no liquid water, the atmospheric pressure is "practically a vacuum", radiation levels are higher and temperatures vary wildly, she says. "Radiation exposure is a concern, especially during the trip. This can lead to increased cancer risk, a lowered immune system and possibly infertility." To minimise radiation, the project team will cover the domes with several metres of soil, which the colonists will have to dig up. "I have no doubt that we could physically place a human being on Mars. Whether they'd be able to survive for an extended period of time is much more doubtful," adds Dr Bray. Ambassador for the project, Professor Gerard 't Hooft, a recipient of the Nobel Prize for theoretical physics in 1999 admits there are unknown health risks. He says the radiation is "of quite a different nature" than anything which has been tested on Earth. Technical challenge "They [the applicants] will be told that there are risks, but it will be our responsibility to keep the risks within acceptable odds." Nasa astronaut Stan Love knows first-hand the difficulties with technology that his colleagues have experienced on the International Space Station in low-Earth orbit. The apparatus which recycles human waste and turns "yesterdays coffee into into tomorrow's coffee needs frequent maintenance and would likely not survive years of continuous duty on Mars", he says. Love has recently returned from Antarctica which he says is a "picnic compared to Mars". "It's full of water, you can go outside and breathe the air. It's paradise compared to Mars and yet nobody has moved there permanently." Although dubious about the funding, the technology and the impact of radiation, Love applauds small enterprises like Mars One. He strongly believes private organisations will help raise awareness and hopefully discover or design some technology which will help future teams reach their goal of landing on Mars. "We've been dreaming about this for 50 years. The Moon was just supposed to be a stepping stone to Mars. But when you study the problem, you realise it's immensely hard to do this." Many critics have focused on funding, and whether the project would hold the public's attention for many years. It will cost an estimated £3.8bn ($6bn), to send the first group. Dr Chris Lintott from Oxford University says that while the project is technologically plausible, he does not think they will find the funding. "It's about having the political will and the financial muscle to make this happen. That's what nobody has been able to solve so far." But Lansdorp sees no issue with funding. He uses the revenue from the worldwide broadcasting rights of the Olympics as a comparison. "This will be the biggest thing that humanity has ever done. In 15 years people will still be watching. "Exploring our world, and now beyond is what humans do, it's in our genome. The settlers' dream of going to Mars will come true." Whether or not the mission will achieve its goal, the publicity generated from the "big-brother" style televised application process means the world will surely be watching. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22146456 |
