The film The Martian it seemed pure science fiction only a few years ago, with Matt Damon who survived on Martian soil for months and months growing potatoes and producing water. Yet today there are those who, like Elon Musk, dreams of bringing as many people as possible to the Red Planet. Other scientists do not reject the idea of a mass migration towards #Marsonce the Earth has been definitively exploited.
Within ten years, according to Elon Musk (who founded the space agency SpaceX), there will already be the first stable inhabitants on Mars. Some say this is too optimistic a prediction, but who knows? Indeed, it is likely that Mars will one day become Earth 2.0, or Earth2.
The astrophysicist Jasmina Lazendic-Galloway and the chemist Tina Overton, professors at Monash University in Australia, may have thought it was better to prepare in advance. The two have developed a #course online, free, titled How to survive on Mars.
Too futuristic? Here is the project. For 4 weeks the students will be inspired by Matt Damon of The Martian and, through videos, quizzes and discussions they will learn the basic concepts. For example, how to get water: the regolith, the layer of debris that covers Mars, is in fact rich in ice: it will be enough to melt some of it. The plants will be grown hydroponically, i.e. in water enriched with mineral solutions. Of course, energy remains a problem and the climate is not the best (sandstorms galore), but there are those who really believe in the dream of inhabiting Mars.
