Fai clic su di un'immagine per andare a Google Ricerca Libri.
Sto caricando le informazioni... Exploring Mars: Chronicles from a Decade of Discoverydi Scott Hubbard
Nessuno Sto caricando le informazioni...
Iscriviti per consentire a LibraryThing di scoprire se ti piacerà questo libro. Attualmente non vi sono conversazioni su questo libro. nessuna recensione | aggiungi una recensione
Premi e riconoscimenti
The Red Planet has been a subject of fascination for humanity for thousands of years, becoming part of our folklore and popular culture. The most Earthlike of the planets in our solar system, Mars may have harbored some form of life in the past and may still possess an ecosystem in some underground refuge. The mysteries of this fourth planet from our Sun make it of central importance to NASA and its science goals for the twenty-first century. In the wake of the very public failures of the Mars Polar Lander and the Mars Climate Orbiter in 1999, NASA embarked on a complete reassessment of the Mars Program. Scott Hubbard was asked to lead this restructuring in 2000, becoming known as the "Mars Czar." His team's efforts resulted in a very successful decade-long series of missions--each building on the accomplishments of those before it--that adhered to the science adage "follow the water" when debating how to proceed. Hubbard's work created the Mars Odyssey mission, the twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the Phoenix mission, and most recently the planned launch of the Mars Science Laboratory. Now for the first time Scott Hubbard tells the complete story of how he fashioned this program, describing both the technical and political forces involved and bringing to life the national and international cast of characters engaged in this monumental endeavor. Blending the exciting stories of the missions with the thrills of scientific discovery, Exploring Mars will intrigue anyone interested in the science, the engineering, or the policy of investigating other worlds. Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche |
Discussioni correntiNessuno
Google Books — Sto caricando le informazioni... GeneriSistema Decimale Melvil (DDC)523.43072Natural sciences and mathematics Astronomy Astronomical objects and astrophysics Planets, asteroids and trans-Neptunian objects MarsClassificazione LCVotoMedia:
Sei tu?Diventa un autore di LibraryThing. |
So when we venture off earth, we must take at least some microbes with us; we don't know which, and may not even know they exist. I'm not concerned here with us contaminating our destination (we will have to take plants and animals with us to support us anyway); it must of course be discussed and taken into account. But what happens if microbes which are essential to us die out? Certainly the diversity of microbes in a small group of people will at the least be less than on Earth, which is probably a bad thing.
Microbial supplement shipments from Earth and the maintenance of some sort of culture lab will need to be a thing for any future space colonisation effort. If you were born on Earth it will probably never matter, but the point of a colony is that one day people will be born there, and never been exposed to Earth germs.
The fight to keep a functional immune system for those separated from Earth for generations will become an increasing challenge. A common cold could become a fatal pandemic.
But by the time such things are possible, medical technologies will also have advanced to levels we haven't yet imagined, and dealing with a weak immune system could be as trivial as popping a pill by then. In the short term radiation levels are a much more upfront risk to health. Mars is the equivalent radiation dose of a CT scan every two weeks of time spent there. Not so terrible for a short term visit but a significant increase on ordinary exposure levels.
As for life on Mars, I'm 90% certain it's stone cold dead and always has been. If it's not we'll know as a result of ExoMars and Mars 2020.
Multicellular life evolved on a planet occupied for 2.5 billion years by microbial life. Land could not have been colonised without a symbiotic relationship between the progenitors of plants and funghi. We are 30% microbe and cannot survive outside of this complex ecosystem. ( )