Humanity can land on Mars as early as 2040 - NASA

May 31, 2023  13:00

The first landing of a human on Mars may take place in 2040, the head of NASA, Bill Nelson, expressed such an opinion.

"It seems like a very long time, but it's only 17 years," he said in an interview with El Mundo newspaper.

True, it should be taken into account that if it takes only three or four days to fly to the Moon, then the flight to Mars will take much longer. Moreover, the astronauts who landed on Mars, according to the head of NASA, should spend several years there before the position of the planets will allow to start a return journey, which will last from six to eight months.

Not everyone agrees with Nelson's opinion on the timing of the flight to Mars. The founder of SpaceX, Elon Musk, for example, believes that a person can land on the Red Planet within ten years. Earlier, he said that the first cargo mission will go to Mars in 2022, and already in 2050, a city with a population of 1 million will be built there. However, it seems that he will have to make some changes in these forecasts.

The famous astrophysicist, author and main organizer of the STARMUS festival Garik Israelyan is sure that the first extraterrestrial colonies of people will be built on Mars itself, and this will help solve a number of problems that humanity is facing today. First, according to the astrophysicist, small laboratories will be created on the Red Planet, where 5-10 scientists will live and work for years. And in the future, these laboratories will grow and eventually turn into human colonies.

Today, many experts are already studying Mars using photos taken by space telescopes and data from rovers. Scientists have already found plenty of evidence that the Red Planet once had water, perhaps even overflowing rivers.

It is noteworthy that it is planned to train astronauts for flights to Mars in Armenia։ according to scientists, the landscape of Armenia has a geological and topographic similarity with Mars. Astronauts will train on a high rocky plateau, which in many ways is similar to the conditions that await them on Mars.


 
 
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