Hani Al-Dalea *

After the impressive success of the space probe "Humanity", which landed on Mars at the end of November 2018 as the eighth probe to successfully land on the surface of the Red Planet, scientists still hope to be able to send a human mission to its surface within the next ten years. An ambitious plan that the various global space agencies are looking forward to. But the issue is not as easy as it seems.


It is true that the last probe was very smooth compared with the probes that preceded it, such as Apocionity, Spirit, Pathfinder and Kyriocyte, but a human transmission would have a much different setup than unmanned vehicles.

If we imagine that the vehicle that will carry the astronauts on their journey to Mars is ready on the launch platform, what are the difficulties that will be faced by the pioneers on the road and until they reach that planet, which approaches us at a distance of 56 million kilometers and distances us from 400 million kilometers?

Space problems
The problems faced by astronauts are in principle divided into two parts, based on scientific statistics accumulated over 40 years of space travel, out-of-atmosphere, weight loss, or micro-graffiti. These problems are physical and psychological.

The most important of them is the strange feeling that you are no longer standing on solid ground and that you are flying in every direction. Newton's laws of motion will apply to you clearly. A simple impulse will gain you in a straight direction and will gain the body that drove you. Same acceleration but in reverse.

This feeling, which is not weighty, is caused by the fact that you are in a state of continuous free fall around the earth, as if someone has thrown you up and then you return to Earth by the force of gravity only, and because at this moment you can not stand on balance and read your weight, In the same direction, it will never read you weight so it is called a sense of weight loss. But whoever threw you up did not want you to go back, but wanted you to take a course around the earth. This orbit itself is a continuous free fall without return to Earth.

The orbital orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) is a continuous free fall to the ground, giving astronauts a feeling of zero gravity (Reuters)

While we know that the Earth's gravitational acceleration is a fixed and known magnitude of 9.8 meters per square second, that value will completely disappear, leaving only a fraction of a million or less that affect the astronaut's body while rotating around the earth , So it is called a micro graphite, a fraction of a millionth of the value of gravity acceleration on Earth.

Every month spent by astronauts away from real gravity they lose about 2 percent of the calcium and potassium that bone gets in the event of gravity. By accumulating losses, they are easily exposed to fractures by the simplest of events.

The fluid, especially the blood - which the heart used to force it towards the head and quietly towards the legs because of the gravity of the earth - it does not return, but the blood pump to the head becomes stronger than before, leading to a strong headache and continuous, I have new astronauts.

Staying at the space station does not mean staying idle, astronauts have many daily tasks to do (Reuters)

Astronauts have no need for muscles to carry out tasks. One finger can move them from one place to another and move all their possessions, which will later cause the atrophy of their muscles. Therefore, every astronaut is obliged to exercise once or twice a day to induce his muscles to continue their metabolic processes that maintain their performance and their natural survival, and to compensate for the body loses calcium, phosphorus and other elements.

In the basement of the cell
But the most dangerous of all, the electromagnetic radiation that flows to astronauts from every corner is not protected by evil except the walls of spacecraft, which will live between 6 and 8 months is the duration of their journey to Mars.

High-energy cosmic rays, ultraviolet rays and x-rays from the sun along the length of their exposure to the sun are all capable of supplying them with a dose greater than one week of what they get on earth for a year.

What if the alarm sounded for a solar storm? This means that all of them have to go to the basement, the most protected area from the radiation inside the vehicle, which is used only in emergencies, and will remain in this basement - no more than 4 square meters - for the survival of the danger as if they were in an optional cell no alternative For them.

During exposure to these radiation doses, some astronauts become infected with cataracts, possibly infertility, and may have genetic mutations, neurological damage, and possibly skin cancer, and may eventually lead to death.

They are alone in exile
Adventurers may think traveling in space and staying there for a long time is an unrivaled pleasure, especially since the experience of going there was only a few hundred people, namely 536 people. It is an experiment in which thousands of people are competing. NASA is applying for space travel, and many may qualify, but the draw is ultimately at the top when qualifications are equal.

When traveling to space, astronauts miss their families and families and any real contact with the world they are accustomed to (Reuters)

On board the International Space Station, there are six astronauts living there for between three and six months. Some may have broken this figure, slightly more than a year or so, but the record-holder astronaut there was Russian Valery Korshanov, 438 days in the Russian space station Soyuz between 1994 and 1995, but his consolation in the end he is close to the earth. What if he traveled to Mars?

Astronauts spend most of their time at work. They are responsible for the completion of their work and their many scientific experiences. But they have sleep and rest. They sleep less than they do in sleeping bags installed in the walls so that no one will fly during his sleep, hitting the walls of the station and getting hurt.

Their food is usually packaged or packaged, and they eat fresh food only when they are supplied with food.

(Reuters) - Astronauts are packed and packed and eat fresh only when supplies come .

Because the daily routines are the same every day, because people are the same people they meet every morning, and because the narrow work space is the same, they can not go outside, do not breathe, see the sun, run, drink a cup of coffee with friends or ride a car or bicycle, A few days within that community can push the astronaut psychologically, feel lonely despite the existence of the Internet and movies and some entertainment tools, books and others.

The difference is that the team on the spacecraft comes from different populist cultures. This is because of its different traditions. It causes personal differences that often end in reconciliation. They have no choice but to do so because of their small numbers and because they represent one team for one mission.

Privacy is completely non-existent. Therefore, the presence of both sexes often increases the feeling of embarrassment.

The habit of bathing every day is to give up this good habit for a long time as well, because it is not easily available because of the lack of water and the difficulty of the process itself. Water can fly here and there if the person does not take the necessary precautions and does the strict instructions. Space in their sense of lack of cleanliness of their bodies except some perfumed tissues that are usually allowed to use them.

All these circumstances and others can put this person in a bad psychological state, and may lead to depression, there are people around him and friends, and - in addition to the real alienation - in the space he has no choice to board a plane and return to his homeland.

Finally, the road to Mars is still in its early stages, and space missions still need massive development. People are unlikely to fly to Mars directly from Earth. They may have set off from a station in space or built a station on the moon. Towards the Red Planet.

Who are those passers-by who will remember history, and set foot in the land of Mars? I think we will wait years to know the answer.

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* Member of the Arab Union for Astronomy and Astronomy