How Do We Get To Mars?

Mention the word ‘nuclear’ and most of us immediately think of a mushroom-shaped cloud. But this form of energy could be our best bet to saving ourselves.

- Manju Bangalore

Regardless of race, nationality, gender or faith, one thing has often bound us together as the human race: our fascination with the heavens. Books, television shows and films romanticize traveling through our solar system and the galaxy to explore and discover. Some of us may spend our free time stargazing, while others work to become the next class of astronauts.

Curiosity and discovery run through our veins and space is the next frontier.

Since the Moon landing, the US and others have dreamed of becoming an interplanetary species by landing on Mars. But what would this take? And can we do it?

Travel to Mars currently is projected between six and 12 months each way, meaning up to two years of traveling alone to reach the Red Planet. This is not just a problem for cargo and communication—it is a problem for the astronauts’ health.

Exposure to radiation for as long as a year causes damage to the human body. American astronaut Scott Kelly spent a year in space on the International Space Station. While researchers found that most of the damage Kelly incurred from space was reversed upon his return to Earth, they are not sure astronauts will be so lucky on trips to Mars.

The potential to not only curb radiation exposure for the crew, but also achieve what will be humanity’s greatest accomplishment of the millennium, depends on what propulsion system is chosen to travel to Mars.

The most common form of space propulsion is chemical. In fact, it is the only form of propulsion that is capable of lifting off the Earth’s surface. Used both for human and scientific missions, chemical propulsion is the oldest method of space travel.