HUMAN MISSION TO MARS-An Essay
“”I think it would be great to be born on Earth and die on Mars. Just hopefully not at the point of impact.” ? Elon MuskThe very first bold attempt to experience the unknown was done by a Russian astronaut Yuri Gagarin on 12 April 1961.Though he did not landed in his space craft , he became the first human to travel into space .He completed the very first orbit of Earth on April 12, 1961
So what exactly fueled this desire to risk everything we have and set our foot on something that is unpredictable by the second. Human curiosity is an asset and our hunger to know everything above and beyond is what led us to the “Red Planet” , the promise to find an alternative to Earth is a motivation enough. Also Mars is considered to be a dead planet and digging through its atmosphere can give us answers as to how close are we towards our doom.
The first attempt to reach Mars was made by USSR on October 10, 1960, on an intended Mars flyby
NASA sent two pairs of orbiters and landers towards Mars in 1975. Viking 1 and Viking 2 both successfully arrived in 1976, sending a lander each to the surface while the orbiter remained working above. These were all unmanned missions intended for pictures and collecting data. India came fourth in the run after European Space Agency (EGA).
ISRO, India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) is a space probe orbiting Mars since Sept.24,2014.It is India’s first planetary mission and also the first country ever to make it successful in the first attempt.
Future Missions include NASA’s INSIGHT, with expected launch in May, 2018. ESA is planning to send ExoMars Rover in 2020 intended to search microscopic life on Mars. ISRO has planned to launch an Orbiter and a lander by 2020.
Human Exploration is the ultimate goal to Mars Mission. Though it is highly likely that life once existed on Mars and the only telltale sign is the presence of water, we are still characterizing the climate and geology on Mars. The first manned mission is expected to be made by NASA in 2033! As they made it official in a five phase plan on March 28, 2017. However astronauts will only orbit the Mars but would not attempt a landing.
As Stephen Hawking once said “I don’t think we can survive another thousand years without escaping beyond our fragile planet”. Hopefully, in future humans would be able to replace rovers on Mars.
REFERANCES
1. Dietrich Manzey “Human missions to Mars: new psychological challenges and research issues” ELSEVIER, Acta Astronautica 55 (2004) 781 – 790.
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