Since ancient times, mankind’s exploration of the universe has never stopped. With the rapid development of science and technology, man’s pace in exploring the universe has gradually accelerated. The scope of exploration has gradually shifted from the original near space to the universe, and the distance of exploration has also started from the nearest moon. Turn to the more distant Mars.
In the last century, mankind has successfully realized the dream of landing on the moon, and astronauts can return from the moon without incident. My friends can’t help asking, now that more than half a century has passed since the successful landing on the moon, with the current level of technology, if humans successfully land on Mars, can they return safely?
For this question, the explanation given by scientists is: with the current human technology level, after landing on Mars, there is no way to return to Earth from Mars. In other words, if humans now launch a manned spacecraft and successfully land on Mars, it can only be a one-way ticket with no return. The astronauts who land on Mars may stay on Mars forever. There is no way to return to the earth. This sounds sad, but the facts cannot be changed.
Many people may find it difficult to understand this. Since the moon can be round-tripped, why can’t it be round-trip to Mars? Next, let’s analyze the reasons together.
After landing on the moon, why can astronauts return to the earth safely from the moon?
First of all, because the gravity of the moon is only 1/6 that of the earth, and the volume of the moon is very small, its gravity is also very small. Because of this, the spacecraft landing on the moon can get rid of the moon’s gravity with ordinary thrust. To re-enter space;
Second, the moon is very close to the earth. After the spacecraft leaves the moon and enters space, it can go to the International Space Station for intermediate supplies and rest, and then return to the earth from the space station.
We will continue to analyze why we cannot return after landing on Mars.
First. Although the mass of Mars is not as large as that of the earth, its gravitational force is not small, equivalent to 1/3 of that of the earth. Then, if the spacecraft is to re-enter space from Mars, the thrust of the spacecraft needs to be large enough. At this time, this thrust must be assisted by the rocket before it can enter space, and generating sufficient thrust requires a large amount of fuel;
Second. The distance between Mars and the Earth is relatively long, and it takes a long time for a spacecraft to travel back and forth. It takes almost a year for the spacecraft to travel back and forth. If mankind completes the mission to land on Mars, the spacecraft will consume a lot of fuel on its way back to Earth.
Seeing this, smart friends may say that the key to the above two points is the fuel problem. The fuel needed by the spacecraft can be transported from the earth. Is this feasible?
This method is indeed feasible in theory, but its cost is very high in practice, and its cost is unbearable for current humans.
In fact, after the spacecraft landed on Mars and returned to Earth, scientists also proposed a solution, that is, mining on Mars with local materials. The idea of the scientists is to first take the materials and raw materials needed for the rocket to be manufactured on Mars. If you want to complete this process, you must first place all the mining-related equipment on Mars in advance, but The weight of these mining equipment and professional equipment is very heavy. Although this method is theoretically feasible, it is still difficult to implement it with current technology.
Of course, some scientists even proposed a more convenient way for humans to travel to and from Mars, which is to develop more powerful fuel engines, such as nuclear power engines. If mankind can now master the controllable nuclear power technology and develop a nuclear power engine, then the fuel problem can be perfectly solved, and the speed can be increased at the same time, then going back and forth to Mars will not be a problem.
Therefore, if humans want to return to Mars, they must realize the problem of spacecraft fuel. I believe that in the future, with the continuous efforts of scientists, science and technology will also develop rapidly, and mankind will surely realize the dream of returning to Earth from Mars safely.
What do you think about the way humans travel to and from Mars? Please post your opinion in the comment section below the article.
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