The Best Australian Science Writing 2015 Read Free

They will have their own constitution, their own laws, their own holidays. That’s why they have to be such mature people. You have to have the right start from the beginning.’
    The details of Mars One’s mission remain vague. Kraft tells me that technical questions should be directed to Arno Wielders, who rebuffs requests for an interview through the press office. Instead, I am directed to the website, which states optimistically: No new technology developments are required to establish a human settlement on Mars. Mars One has visited major aerospace companies around the world to discuss the requirements, budget, and timelines with their engineers and business developers. The current mission plan was composed on the basis of feedback received in these meetings.
    Pretty much every aspect of the mission I find covered on the FAQ, from the landing unit to the astronauts’ suits, is theoretical. Which is somewhat putting the cart before the horse – only the cart is a pencil drawing of a toy wheelbarrow. Here’s what it says, for instance, about how they will actually get people there: Mars One anticipates using SpaceX Falcon Heavy, an upgraded version of the Falcon 9 … The Falcon Heavy is slated to undergo test flights in 2014, granting ample time for fine-tuning prior to the Mars One missions.
    In summer, a SpaceX Falcon 9 prototype broke apart over Texas after ‘an anomaly forced the destruction on the craft’. A month later, NASA lost a Russian-built rocket on launch, its fireball in the night sky over Wallops Flight Facility visible for miles. Then, Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo exploded during a test flight over the Mojave, killing one pilot and injuring another. It’s a fraught moment, even for private space missions far less theoretical than Mars One.
    * * * * *
    No human has left low-Earth orbit since the last Apollo mission in 1972.
    The longest any person has spent in space was the 14 months cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov lived on the now-decommissioned Mir Space Station; another cosmonaut, Valentin Lebedev, spent 211 days in orbit in 1982, during which the elevated radiation levels resulted in the loss of his eyesight.
    Exposure to galactic cosmic rays increases the likelihood of cancer and Alzheimer’s, as well as immune system suppression. No craft yet exists that is capable of insulating astronauts from such deep-space radiation (including lethal amounts from solar flares that can erupt without warning) while being light enough to carry sufficient fuel.
    Zero gravity has a deleterious effect on the human body; over the course of a trip to Mars, it could result in a loss of 20 per cent of muscle mass, and the loss of 1.5 per cent bone density per month. To mitigate these effects, astronauts on long-haul missions usually engage in rigorous tethered exercise regimens.
    Gravity on Mars is only 38 per cent of that on Earth. What this would mean for the long-term health of Mars colonists is not known. What is known are the potential effects of a vitamin deficiency from lack of sunlight. Vitamin D deficiency can cause loss of muscle and bone density, suppress immune strength and, at its most severe, cause blindness. The latter also goes for the intracranial pressure zero gravity places on the human eyeball.
    Sleep patterns are disturbed by space travel, and more than half of astronauts on long haul missions take sedatives to help them rest. Fatigue and lethargy result in impaired cognitive function and an increase in critical errors, which is why astronauts only have 6.5 ‘fit’ work hours per day.
    A lack of energy can be exacerbated by the limited diet astronauts must subsist on. Once their food supplies ran out, Mars colonists could eat only food they grew themselves – a plant-based diet, augmented by legumes and maybe insects.
    Depression, anxiety, listlessness, hallucinations and chronic stress have been reported in live missions and training simulations, as