According to Nepali time, taking oath as the 47th President of the United States on Monday night, Donald Trump has promised to send astronauts to Mars. At the ceremony, he announced an ambitious plan to raise the American flag (Stars and Stripes) on Mars, the so-called 'Red Planet'. Earlier, in the first presidential term of 2017, Trump kept the vision of burying the flag on Mars in the main agenda.
Hearing Trump's announcement to send astronauts to Mars, the CEOs of information technology companies who stood at the forefront of Dias as special guests at the inauguration program on Monday were excited. Among them, Elon Musk, Trump's close billionaire husband, looked the most grumpy. Musk, the founder of the space company, SpaceX, has set the goal of establishing a settlement on Mars.
Musk has been suggesting that the US space mission should focus on Mars instead of the Moon. When Trump said that he would continue the exploration on Mars according to his wish, Musk was seen clapping. Musk's goal is not only to bring people to Mars, which is about 225 million kilometers away from Earth, but also to establish a colony.
"By sending American astronauts to Mars to raise the Stars and Stripes (flag), we will advance the search for our destined future in the stars," Trump said. Musk gave a 'thumbs up' to this and clapped. He also shared his happiness by writing 'America is going to Mars' on his ax handle.
Only a few days ago, Musk said that setting up a colony on Mars would be 'life insurance'. In X's post, he wrote, "We are going directly to Mars, the moon is only an obstacle." Musk, who said that going to the moon in the space mission is a distraction, has sent two private landers to the moon using SpaceX's Fallon 9 rocket just this week. It includes Firefly Aerospace's 'Blue Ghost' and Japanese Ispace Company's 'Resilience Lander'.
Musk has been asking the American space agency NASA to leave the moon mission and go to Mars. NASA says that sending people to Mars is much more difficult than sending people to the moon. Studies have shown that space radiation, distance from Earth, the effects of microgravity and being in a complex and closed environment inside the spacecraft for months are uncomfortable for the astronauts while going on a Mars mission. According to NASA, it takes 6 to 9 months to reach Mars from Earth. It is estimated that it will take about 2 years to reach Mars and return to Earth even when using the 'Homan Transfer Orbit', which is considered to be the most convenient and energy-efficient route.
Mars is said to be 96 percent carbon dioxide and 0.13 percent oxygen. 21 percent of the earth is oxygen. The average temperature there is minus 63 degrees Celsius. It has been found that it will be from 20 degrees to minus 125 degrees Celsius during the day. Since there is no magnetic field and atmosphere like on Earth, it is believed that staying there for a long time will cause health complications due to solar heat and other astronomical radiation.
Since ice and air have been found in some places on Mars, it is expected that food, water and breathable air can be produced there. However, since there are terrible dust storms on Mars for weeks and months, it is considered that it will pose a great challenge to the instruments that have arrived from Earth and to human exploration in the future.
