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By Jonny Lupsha, News Writer
The International Space Station turned 20 on November 2. The New York Times reported. Since 2000, it has been a symbol of global cooperation in humanity’s efforts to reach for the stars. Unfortunately, space exploration is expensive and time consuming.
How The New York Times He noted, the International Space Station has had an exciting 20-year history. “Humanity has never built anything like the outpost that orbits the Earth some 240 miles above the planet,” the article said. “These are some of the moments that have defined the two decades that our home in space has been.”
The article then features a timeline that includes “moving day” on November 2, 2000; Peggy Whitson became its first female commander in 2007; and received its first installment from SpaceX in 2012. If this all sounds like a lot, it is. Space travel is a complex feat of science and mathematics that comes at a high price and a long wait.
A budget of astronomical proportions
Space travel is a noble endeavor, but it takes a lot out of a nation’s wallet.
“Space is expensive, especially human space flights,” said Dr. David M. Meyer, professor of physics and astronomy at Northwestern University, where he is also director of the Dearborn Observatory and co-director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Exploration in Astrophysics. .
“To send humans into space, they need air to breathe, they need water to drink, and they need protection from radiation in space, high-energy radiation in the form of high-energy protons and charged particles from the Sun.”
Furthermore, the political landscape of space exploration is different from that of the 1950s and 1960s. Dr. Meyer noted that during the Cold War, there was considerable political motivation to fund NASA in hopes of beating Russia in the “Space race”. At the time, he said, NASA accounted for more than 4% of the federal budget, while today, it only makes up about an eighth of that.
So what happens next when we set our national sights on sending a space exploration program to Mars?
Martian time slip
One problem that involves the expense of ongoing space exploration is the time it takes to get to Mars.
“It would be a six-month trip each way and that raises all kinds of problems,” said Dr. Meyer. “Specifically, how could we protect astronauts from radiation for so long? And when you add all the weight you need in supplies and radiation protection all together, the realistic cost of a round-trip mission that sends people to Mars and brings them back would far exceed $ 50 billion. . “
A one-way trip would be less expensive, but as Dr. Meyer mentioned, NASA doesn’t like to do that. Another way to reduce the expense of going to Mars is to continue exploring it with unmanned spacecraft.
“The factor involved is the amount of time it takes for light, in the form of radio, television and optical signals, to get from Mars to Earth,” said Dr. Meyer. “At its closest point, the distance between Earth and Mars is 80 million kilometers, since both planets orbit the Sun, they are at different distances at different times, but when they are closer, they are separated by 80 million kilometers. kilometres.
“The speed of light is about 300,000 kilometers per second, and that means that when Earth and Mars are closer, it takes four and a half minutes for light to get from Mars to Earth.”
In other words, once a Mars rover captures an image to send to Earth, the image begins a nine-minute round trip, minimum, for scientists to see what the rover sees, before it can tell you where to go. next. When all is said and done, it is an effort of time and money. However, scientific interest in Mars supersedes political interest in the Moon, and more rovers are on their way to the “Red Planet.”
This article was reviewed and edited by Angela Shoemaker, proofreader and editor of The Great Courses Daily.
Dr. David M. Meyer contributed to this article. Dr. Meyer is a professor of physics and astronomy at Northwestern University, where he is also director of the Dearborn Observatory and co-director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Exploration in Astrophysics. He earned his BA in astrophysics from the University of Wisconsin and his MA and Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of California, Los Angeles.
