• Question: When is the first flight to Mars going to be and is it true that when the astronauts return they will die?

    Asked by TheyCallMeBen to Heather, Helen, Hugh, Jane, Julian on 14 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Julian Onions

      Julian Onions answered on 14 Nov 2014:

      There are various talked about flights to Mars, but so far nothing that is concretely set with a launch date.
      Getting to Mars is hard, its a 9 month trip one way, and has lots of hazards such a radiation and well, just boredom!
      Its very difficult to build a rocket to get you to Mars, and even more difficult to carry enough fuel on it to take off from Mars and return. Therefore some missions have been proposed which are one way. The astronauts land on Mars and stay there. This solves a lot of problems, but does make it a one way trip. A bit like colonising new lands back in history.
      However once they were there, if they had the proper machines they might be able to make fuel from resources on Mars and refuel their ship. It could take some years, but might work out.

    • Photo: Hugh Osborn

      Hugh Osborn answered on 16 Nov 2014:

      There’s lots of planned trips to Mars; MarsOne want to go in 2023, NASA in 2030. However, until there’s a rocket on the launchpad ready to bring people to the red Planet, we cant say how long it will take.

      It will be difficult to live on Mars, but not impossible. With the length of the journey there, though, I think its more likely that the first astronauts to get there wont be coming back at all – they will probably die on Mars. But if they did, there’s no reason they couldnt survive on Earth like before they left!

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