What The First Year In A Mars Colony Will Be Like 

So.. 1st year on Mars will be challenging to say the least. Would you sign up to be there for it or would you rather watch from here on Earth?

We do land on mars with humans in my lifetime. I will be 74 next month. I watched the first moon landings. We can do this. Emergencies and the unforeseen will challenge those on Mars for at least the first generation. How well they are prepared to instantly respond will dictate their fate. Not unlike submarine training...all must be 100% proficient in every aspect of the venture. When 'all hands' are needed, there will be no time for a learning curve. I am particularly interested in their exploration of the planet. Many questions about the rovers and their photos have yet to be answered. It is my hope that complete transparency will prevail. That may be the only pipe dream about this entire adventure.

No satellite is going to get rid of the communications delay, considering a large part of the delay is caused by the limited speed of light.

when you talked about Elon musk saying robots would be more valuable than cars I just imagine a robot holding me in it's arms and running with me to work

Between this channel and The Tesla Space, I’m not sure how you’re able to consistently push out high-quality and intriguing content. Great work!

SpaceX will have to test both unmanned landing on Mars and returning to Earth before sending crew to Mars. That will take about 3 or 4 intervals of 26 months, so sometime in 2030s at best.

I don't think we're going to have humans on Mars by 2030. SpaceX is working hard on the transportation part, which makes all the other issues exponentially easier, and there is some research done on the payload part (MOXIE, 3D printed habitats, some spacesuit work, etc.), but we will need a lot more to make a station that can survive for an entire year. For one thing, the first unmanned missions will need to offload equipment to supply power, and a lot of it. Power storage is relatively easy, but offloading and setting up a ton of solar panels, or wind turbines (both much weaker than their equivalents on Earth), or nuclear power plants (RNGs are heavy and weak, more traditional are not Mars ready) will require robots and I'm not sure the Tesla bots will be ready by then. Then you need to have a pipeline to create enough oxygen and water for the humans, and fuel production. I'm not sure if the landed rockets can be used for storage, but you will definitely need equipment on the ground. Gathering carbon from the air is easy enough, but the mission will require a massive ice-gathering and purifying operation. This all depends on scouting for a region rich in ice, if mining, transporting and processing the underground ice (as the video mentions, surface ice sublimates) takes too much energy, there won't be enough for turning the ice into fuel. And we haven't even started designing the needed rovers to gather the said ice. The human lander will probably need a landing pad cleared, and transponders so it can land accurately. An easier task, compared to the others, but again, we haven't even started development. So we will probably need a decade to design and test an ice-gathering, fuel processing and refueling infrastructure on Mars before the first humans set foot. We will learn a ton of ways how NOT to do stuff. I have mad respect for SpaceX's ability to design things quickly, but sending hardware to test on location can only happen once every two years, and this severely limits their rapid prototyping workflow. For the next few years SpaceX will focus on Starship and Starlink, and they won't start significant work on Mars in that time. I don't see anyone else with the capacity and will to take them. None of these problems is a showstopper, but they all need resources and time. So, maybe 2040ish?

I don't have much hope that a martian colony will come to fruition in my lifetime. I'm not even old, I just expect a lot of as yet unforeseen challenges to continue to push the date ever into the future.

Energy supply for the Mars base is the problem that is insufficiently addressed. They have to bring nuclear power with them to stay warm and supply base operations.

With the distance and passage of time being entirely different, the first generation of people who will live on Mars will truly be living in a different timeline! Awesome video!

The theorethical time for a signal to reach earth from mars or vice versa is 3 - 22,3 minutes (I did the math so you don't have to). So it depends a lot if the planets are close to eachother or not. If the planets are farthest away from one another we can't communicate faster than with 22,3 minutes of delay no matter how advanced the starlinks are...

I am an old man and i have wanted to go to mars most of my life, looks like now we have a possibility. Being in construction i know how things go together. My opinion is they are making habitats too complicated. My option would be a plastic bag inflated, covered with sprayed on rigid foam, then covered with soil. Layed out like a military base in rows and columns. 2 doors in every habitat. Redundancy encase of failure. Agri-buildings have shelves with crops growing aqua-ponically under LED lights. A small Nuclear power plant a must, Extruders using spray foam and soil to make artificial boards for shelves and furniture. First crews build for the next crews, Remember the puritans?.

Correction to your assertion that water can't exist in a liquid state. If you get to the bottom of Valles Marineris, or Hellas Basin, then the air is thick enough to support liquid water on the surface between 32 and 50°F / 0-10°C. Indeed, we have ESA and NASA/ISSS/JPL pictures showing liquid water on the surface. There's a sort of famous picture of a crater full of water which is partially frozen, and it is easy to visually differentiate the liquid and frozen. I specifically refer to MRO photo ESP_04831_1930_RGB; but there are many more.

Great video as always!

This will be achieved because of spaceX, if I wasn’t 61, and in my early 30s I would try like hell to go to mars.

I can't get enough of your videos 🤩

L4 and L5 can help to retain the connectivity between Earth and Mars when the sun is in middle.

You'd really want to send at least some cargo and automated construction equipment on the first flight to Mars. Test the landing, refueling and Martian launch for a full round trip before sending a manned flight. That would be adding just over two years between that first flight and a manned flight (assuming I got my orbital math right for lowest-energy transfer).

Great channel. The knowledge you provide along with your enjoyable narration is perfect. Subbed. Thank you.

If things don't change and we are patient, we ALL will be able to view a Mars-like landscape right here .......

The first Mars bases should be made out of all the Starships that have landed as test landers or cargo ships in the previous years -there could be dozens of them. The internal space will be a lot more than the ISS for example, especially if they use blow up modules like the ISS Bigalow unit to expand the capacity. One of the most useful 'toys' that they will take will be something powerful enough to push or haul an empty Starship into position.

You can't speed up communication with mars... you can't make the speed of light faster... I mean you could increase the amount of data you can send over a period of time. But it would still take the same of time to get between the planets.

Mars is flush with water ice... at least 2 liters of it in every cubic meter of regolith (varified by multiple rovers)... And of course the glaciers striping the equatorial regions are mostly just water ice. Vallis Marinaris' floor was also recently discoverd to have large quantities of water ice mixed in with its regolith.

Your site is way above all others please do way more we crave infy

As far as water goes, you have to remember that these habitats are going to be totally self contained, so ALL waste is going to have to be recycled, purified and reused. They just need to figure out how to do that to maximize the efficiency so that little or nothing is wasted.

I really like what you're doing on both of your channels. Easily in the top ten of the channels I know 👍

It is a hell of a time to be alive. Hell even star link. I just wish I could see another hundred years into the future. Hell if you would have told me 30 years ago about the internet I wouldn't have believed you.

Good comments. Great graphics. Clear speech. Thanks for professional language (vs episode 1) as many of us like to have our kids listen along with us. Keep up this high quality I promise you subscriptions will increase. 😎

I saw something about an oxygen canister that releases oxygen by a very hot chemical reaction. It is used on submarines. I'm pretty sure that has already been considered, but I still would like to know.

I love watching your videos - I love that there is someone out there (you) who is taking the time and putting forward the effort for indulging all of our fantasies and dreams. I truly believe that we will get there and that it's probably going to be the single greatest achievement - to also spurr the global perspective towards a unified future (I know, thinking even better and probably too optimistic; but, when you look around and see what's going on - I.e. The Ukraine situation amongst others, you look for hope that we can have something in this world that is a net good).

Love this video keep up the great content!

Seen some mass effect scenes . Love the material

6:23 NO!!! light speed is the problem! so... there is no solution. Mars-Earth orbit: Closest recorded approach: 3 minutes. ("of lag time") Farthest approach: 22 minutes. ("of lag time")

The experiments done on the space station are in microgravity, not 1/3 G, so not really reliable as an indicator for growing plants on Mars. As for the oxygen part, a standard water electrolysis should do the trick. As for water on Mars, the planet contains a lot of it. Just need to land in a place where it is close to the surface. Now as for communication between Earth and Mars, just leave messages. We don't have the ability to send messages faster than light. As for that very brief window where the Sun is between Mars and the Earth, just route the messages through the Venusian colony. Yes, you read that right. If SpaceX is traveling to Mars then we should send ships to the Moon, Mercury, and Venus.

can't wait for this

Lasers might increase the bandwidth to Mars, but not the lag (5-20 minutes depending on our relative position). Radio waves also travel at the speed of light (in a vacuum).

What I find sad is that we're about 40 years behind in space exploration. We should have been on Mars before the turn of the century.

Something I never hear addressed is how do they plan to get around the fact the regolith on Mars is toxic to both plant and animal.

there are 100% secure ways to purify water already for years, they are used on ships and boats. Nothing theoretical about it, they are used every day, they work on a high pressure venturi valve type setup, and you can even buy a hand operated one for small boats. Also regarding MOXIE, the efficiency scales with the size, this has been stated by members of the team who built it, so oxygen is a non-issue at this point.

I like it . whatever you doing in The planet mars . Keep Smart . Good luck.

The main problem I see with those timelines is that none of the technologies required for this exist (except tiny Moxie). Some technologies require extensive testing and many iterations of those before they are mature enough to be reliable and efficient enough for human use. Furthermore, our knowledge of Mars and it's geology (including ice water) is very limited so we have no idea what kind of obstacles those technologies might encounter. However, I do firmly believe, that Starship will open a whole new era of space (including Mars) exploration which will lead us to develop more suitable technologies to survive on Mars. I would say 2040 is more realistic. Also, I think Boston Dynamics would be much better option for space robots than Tesla Bot. They are light years ahead of SpaceX in terms of this technology with the knowhow and decades of experience and plenty of already very advanced array of robots.

About the water: It won't disapper. The colonies will probably be a closed system, so water will cycle similar to what it does on earth.

Enjoy your narration ❤😂🎉

No matter what uplink or downlink you use. Starlink or some other the time delay wont change at all. Laser or radio its all just diffrent wavelenght of light and the speed is the same so minimum two way communication delay is still about 6 minutes and over 40 when the earth and mars orbits are furthest apart. Also water is not that much of a problem as almost all water is reused. ISS reuses water constantly and has done so for over 20 years.

I think we can land people on Mars in the next 7 years but I doubt we are going to do it. We aren't going to colonize the solar system until we can demonstrate an economic need. Greed is what drives sustainable exploration, not curiosity.

We can't maintain life in a biodome on this planet. But somehow we're gonna do it on Mars.

Beautiful

Seems to me that a very simple solution is right in the face of NASA concerning mars habitat.. Bigelow inflatable habitat...i think they have so much potential it's crazy...luv the show

@7:40 If we position relay satellites at the *Martian* L3 and L4 points, we get rid of the, uh, inconvenience of the *Sun* obstructing a direct link between *Earth* and *Mars.*

there is no way to "increase speed of communication" between earth and mars... the speed of light is finite. 22 minutes is the max speed between earth and Mars. period. it takes light 8 min to get from the sun to the earth. so that's the communication time. there is no amount of relays that will speed this up.

if you look at what one person will need to survive the flight to mars + Spend 1 to 1-1/2 years on mars and return. It's like 3+ pallets 4' x 4' x 6' h. Add that space for each person and it adds up. I would guess they will not be able to send more then 12 people on a mission to mars. Just based on food and water needs.

Awesome!

If you want to put 100 tons of cargo on a starship the living space will be very confined and a very limited crew. Risking the wrath of the spacex club I also don't think I will see a human on Mars in my lifetime. I will quote Elon "the pace of innovation is to slow, and I am worried I won't see humans on Mars in my lifetime"...I agree.

What do you mean by "increasing the speed of communication"? The speed is already at its maximum - the speed of radio waves is the speed of light. I don't know how placing Starlink satellites around Mars would make any difference.

Radio signals travel at the speed of light so there is no difference in message travel time of ~ 22 min round trip between radio vs laser. What will be needed though is a Starlink network around Mars to facilitate communication on Mars. To avoid not being able to communicate when Mars is on the opposite side of the sun can be worked around by placing a relay satellite above the plane of the elliptic so it will have a line of sight to Mars. In that case the round trip message time will be about 80 minutes but that is better than no communication at all. I find the observation that robots would be the ideal first "Martians" because they could construct a habitat and all necessary equipment to provide air, water and other essential systems. I was wondering why the urgent focus on developing the Tesla-bot at this point in time but that makes a lot of sense based on the Tesla design method of defining the goal in detail and then working out the steps needed from the bottom up to achieve it.

Great video as usual However you use the phrase interstellar and I’m sure you meant interplanetary such a phrase might confuse the uninformed Also I would imagine a few star link spacecraft distributed around earths orbit that is earths orbit around the sun would provide a link to Mars Regardless of Mars earth alignment Cheers

Reading about people grabbing multi-figures monthly as income in investments even in this crazy days in the market,any pointers on how to make substantial progress in earnings?would be appreciated,

1:18 IMO we should wait 20 years, at least. We are nowhere near ready to colonize Mars. The dream of Martian colonization should be one of prosperity, not death. And this is possible, we just need more prep time. We're not ready, Elon Musk is just hyping things up.

Great content.

I think we will (physically) be in orbit around mars for a long time, maybe multiple years, before we actually go down to stay down. i believe we will establish a station in mars orbit first... this may even have / require spin gravity. With this, we will be able to have engineers and scientists interact in real time with robots and semi autonomous vehicles on or above the ground, dramatically improving our chances for the final "land a stay" moment. so IMHO the question to ask is "what will the first year at mars be like", rather than "first year on mars".

I am a planetary scientist and this is an awesome video. I love this stuff. One note: When I hear "crewed missions", it sounds like you're saying "crude missions". I know it's not politically correct, but for garden seed, can't we just say "manned missions" and get over our social justice warrior snowflake BS? Thank you. I gave you a thumbs-up.

There are several aspects of this 'analysis' that I have issues with. First, communication. There will never be any reduction in the time a signal takes to travel from Mars to Earth. Both radio and laser beams are forms of electro magnetic radiation which travel through a vacuum at the speed of light and therefore take a finite time to reach Earth from Mars - no 'improvement' in technology can change this. Second - low gravity. Living for any significant length of time at micro or low gravity plays havoc with human physiology. Astronauts reaching Mars will be incapable of any work and maybe not even able to move to any degree. As Mars gravity is significantly lower than Earths, any recovery may well be impossible. Third - radiation. Musk discounts this and states' I don't see it a big problem'. He is very wrong. Fourth - Mars has very little Nitrogen in its soil or atmosphere which is a big problem when attempting to grow plants. In the film, I think it was called The Martians, the growing of all those potatoes would have been impossible. In fact all the nitrogen required to grow any plants would have to come from Earth.

Just surviving on another planet for a whole year is an accomplishment and not something to be downplayed.

One thing you didn't mention -growing plants take in CO2 and give off oxygen. Given a medium growing area - plants could suppy some of the O2 needed to live there.

With such an inhospitable Martian environment, networks of underground dwellings are probably safer at every level than above-ground structures. Not if, but when this project materializes, it will be a colossal achievement for humankind and it will yet be a giant leap from our 1969 first Moon landing.

I'm very excited about a manned mission to Mars.I watched all the moon missions. And I agree with you, that if anybody can do it it will be Elon & Space X. I'm really intrigued by the idea of android robots to go ahead & at least start construction of a habitat if not completely build it. I'm hoping for it all to happen in the 2030's. I just turned 65 & amazed that I've lived this long. Come on Elon ! You can do it ! ❤️🙏🫡 🇺🇸

Cool video. I liked the little Starship facts you mentioned, like 1100m² of pressurized space and water for 20 people for 2200 days (REALLY?^^)

It depends on if you upgrade people with Neuro Link and Nano tech, or not. If you do, we can all finally start on our journey of super evolving.

Before Mars the obvious step is the moon. On the moon we can perfect the equipment that we will need on Mars plus stepping off from the moon is a lot easer than from earth

Man on Mars is decades away, not just a few years. I'll let Elon know.

i cant wait for this shit im so hype for it... i have dreamed about this since i was a kid watching star wars. this is so sick.

SpaceX can use the same waste water recycling system that they use on the ISS which can reduce the amount of water they need to bring by a large factor.

Well...The timetable itself is quite optimistic. It is my belief that at least r more years will be required to refine the required technology that will sustain some sort of a colony there! And that to say the least. Once there, life will be an isolated one. That unless quantum computing and communication is firmly achieved.

They should construct a mars type base on the moon first an spend a couple of years there to test all the systems.

One of the big problems on Mars seems to be that resources such as water may not be common near even the physically best mid latitude settlement locations. How for instance might water be transported from polar zones to settlements or from the likely materials rich volcanic zones. Starship or other rocket hops, rail, tunnels, what? The surface to surface SpaceX transportation system planned for Earth might be much more needful on Mars.

They have to land very close to the ice for production of methane (rocket fuel) and Oxygen, so start from there. Biggest question is the power source for the trip and while at Mars. RTG?

I think a proper space station and a space elevator is more important... A space station that can self sustain itself and allow production and mining of space rocks. Allowing more research into new tech and material on a space station i would assume would be much more profitable.

Light can bend around the sun. Communication can still be maintained. Maybe Lagrange satelites could work also.

i will have only 4h of sleep and then for 8h i will be doing longafterdeadline work and it will be only half of it, then if my supervisor wont kill me or laugh me out i will do the second half. wish me luck. sory I'm writing it here. im not abused, my bad planning and laziness brought me here. your videos usually help me in getting to sleep

Yes keep driming of a starship it faster if you put 7 broomstick togather

👍 work ❤😂🎉😊

@5:28 "if starship has a max weight capacity of 100 tons and the teslabot weighs 125 then in theory ...." The word "pounds" or "kilograms" is missing.

We won't start by colonizing Mars, we'll build a space station in orbit around Mars where we supervise robotic missions and research techniques for automated construction and other industrial processes necessary for large scale settlement. Spend at least 5 to 10 years making sure that the systems and robots that or life will depend on actually work.

I think future communication between all space ships will involve quantum entanglement.

You dont need that much water in a closed system like a Starship as most of it will get purified and recycled like on the ISS. It's useful to carry a bunch however as a big tank of it will be useful shielding against radiation from solar flares and help mitigate some of the risk of all of the crew getting cooked and developing cancer. There is an extremely elevated risk of radiation induced cancer during the transit, and also on the surface as there is no magnetosphere; so you'll want long term colonies to be underground in tunnels.

I think that harvesting water from Ice Asteroids would be a way to go, the simplest way is to just crash a butt load of Ice into Mars to increase the atmospheric moisture levels which can then ce condensed into clean liquid water, powdered electrolites and minerals can be added to make the water better for us in the long term. Also getting an Asteroid harvesting system up and running would help in other ways, raw materials for one thing, Mining on Mars may have some benefits but breaking up asteroids and dropping crates of the powdered stuff into the surface for easy porocessing will save a lot of time and energy. Just my though process running with an idea.

(to surrect planets is how to live in a universe) give everyone 9m diameter luxury apartments - at zero g every room has 6 floors and 6 ceilings

We should go to the Moon first and Mars maybe at the end of the century if we are still alive and can afford it.

OK, serious input - I have lived on my 40' narrowboat, on the English canals for five years now. I have 20 cubic metres to live in, and it is enough! However, I do get off my little ship every day to go to the shop ;-)

Some important considerations to focus on are: Surface material vibes impacting biocellular health & comfort. //-> Could be solved by thin Quartz sand layers in the structure and floor tiles regulating negative emissions. Astronauts should be sensitive to vibes and feel if a spot is right, before building something there. Training could be sort of sensitivity sessions how to feel good spots and bad! Sort of empty room at that was prepped with harmony devices. Mental entertainment and strength and self control on spiritual basis. //-> Could be solved by digital EM mind stimulants, simulating vibes from beaches or super flower vibes to comfort and tame the mind, keeping the crew sentizised and not dull or numb... In my opionion the crew should have capabilities with them able to build new compounds to compensate the psychologic pressure of going wawa. Because it gives hope to find expansion. People are not made to creep in restricted areas! They are made to thrive and expand! Meaning small mining and construction machines able to use Mars surface materials for 3D printing. Plasma lasers device where they can excavate tunnels, seal surfaces, bake pottery like walls. A machine that gathers water and mixes it with refined soil made to cement. Also bale to turn sand into glass parts for windows... So if one offers a hope giving solution that channels the psychologic factors by giving hope to errect new homes is something! Before they open the airlock! I also would strongly suggest that they errect one empty edo dome where the crew can feel the soil of Mars with their naked hands and body. Eventually also role them self or have a Sunbath. Because it is essential for the health of mind and intellect to connect with the enviroment that results in better understanding and creative ideas and peace of mind! Could imagine that such a place could become their holyday bech party place where they party and experience religious mental sensations... Meaning one simply empty dome sphere area with Mars sand and small rocks..... Colonists should be trained in meditation techniques to learn how to recognize mental influences by possibly other creatures that evolved with psionic capabilities mentally and spiritually! spiritualism, open minded ness to new spiritual phenomenons... Most people think it's only about high tech and routines... Interesting training exercise could be that a Space X craft lands somewhere in Africa, near a wild Nature tribe to embrace and thrive with the wild reactive reactions! To simulate and train encounters protocols and experience. How to react if they come running with sticks ? One solution could be hand held EM emitters, that pulse a calming down happiness beam. Or other interactive non provocative acoustic distraction, music and so on, touching and matching* adapting the cultural level! How to react if these entities get possessive and seek to gain access and compromized some astronauts against each other? SPIRITUAL LEVELS Astronauts may encounter ghosts or highly psychic Marsians that evolved that way emitting auric and spiritual vibes! Therefore these need a strong self residience ... That could be preppep with radionics and psychotronics. Self observation of the mind and control. You might not be alone there and extreme new encounters only a flexible open minded strong character can withstand! Also how to recognize and react if some Astronauts are mentally compromised acting possesed by spirits! What would you do and how to treat that? ( Etheric attachment beeings ) / Decontamination techniques. A solution could be beside desinfectingb gas inside an airlock also sound loudspeakers or devices that can apply sharp resonance tunes ( Kladni resonance physics, Schuhman harmonics ) Radionic emitters, quantum molecular laser beams that change the atomic spin of gases ... around the body suit to de phase etheric entities... Shamans use smoke because the ash binds particles spirits seem to hang on with. The HUB medical section would also need devices that can treat people from demonic possesions and reformat compromized subconcious parts of the Brain, by neural interrogation... Needs tech and skills to extract and flexibility to create protective solutions ... Maybe a biochemical nanotech lab able to synthizise vaccines that protect from but still allows to experience it.

❤😂🎉 Starships 😊

the time it takes for communication between earth and mars is simply the time it takes for light to travel between earth and mars, and since lasers are light, i don't see how we could increase communication speeds... the idea of superluminal communication has only very recently thought to be hypothetically possible so i highly doubt we will actually be able to communicate faster than light for at least 100 years and probably never.

Please list the million things that need to go right on day one. Thanks

How about interstellar dixie cups with a very lobg string for communication?

We really have to work and cooperate to achieve it

Starlink can not decrease communication times between earth and mars. Lasers travel at 186000 miles per second, just as radio signals do. Also why is footage of a space shuttle included. Those were retired a decade ago.

I would say Yes, we could do this. It will have to be a private consortium as government does not have the funds or mandate to do this. If the robots that Musk is building are sufficiently capable to operate as a vanguard and construct suitable habitats, it could be done. Remember that these structures will have to withstand huge dust storms, high radiation and the high risk of asteroids (little atmosphere to burn them up). If one hundred tons can be contained in each shipment, perhaps 20 brave souls can be sustained for the amount of time between resupply. All in all, this is going to cost hundreds of billions of dollars which is why private consortiums are necessary to fund it.

I feel I have many skills that would come in handy on Mars I'm sure I could learn hundreds of new skills that would help on Mar. I'm old enough that I would not mind dying there. I have lived a sensational life on Earth & could ask for no more.

as soon as posible whey send ppl to mars its the best as soon as whey start producing oxygen in planet and making its own atmosthere and making it liveable when its nice

6:34 "...before people even arrive on earth..."