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“Water!” Chirps the NASA , paraphrasing the scream of an explorer of the past, sighting land after a long voyage. Start with an evocative word, complete with exclamation point, the tweet in which the US space agency gives the world the news of the possible sighting, although indirectly and in the form of dew Martian, the precious element essential for life, at least as know on Earth .
The discovery that the water continues to leave traces on the surface of the Red Planet even rusty in its current history, and not only in its geological past, has probably US space agency’s intentions not only an undisputed scientific value, but also in some way political: to alert the recalcitrant US Congress, after the retirement of the Shuttle , to loosen the purse strings more funding to space missions. Certainly, one can say that with the announcement of what has been called “ mystery unveiled ” – also greeted by a Google doodle – NASA proves to be “on track”, to use a journalistic jargon. The news comes, in fact, in those days when released in theaters the last film of Ridley Scott , “ The Martian “, “Survivor”, in the Italian version. The star Matt Damon , in the role of a sort of Robinson Crusoe space left for dead on Mars, who must learn to survive on the Red Planet.
A scenario, that of a landing Human on our neighbor in the solar system, which is not pure fiction. Indeed, as stated several times, most recently on the occasion of the third edition of the festival scientific “ Starmus “, by the renowned British cosmologist Stephen Hawking could become a necessity, since ” the human race to survive will have to leave Earth “. And one of the possible steps of this migration could be just the cosmic Mars. Europe, this time putting together under the banner of ‘ European Space Agency (Esa), the better the individual national capacities – in contrast to what is, however, happening with migrants – has decided to collect long the challenge of Mars. In a few months, in January 2016, will start the mission “ Exomars “, a collaboration between ESA and the space agencies of the US and Russia.
“It will be the first Europe landing on Mars, and we will do it twice – says Fabio Favata , responsible for coordinating the scientific missions of ESA, at the first national film “The Martian”, organized by Space Italian (ASI) – the first time in 2016 will be a “lander”, thanks to which we will demonstrate our ability to land on Mars, a difficult task because the planet has a very tenuous. In 2018, however – says the scholar -, we will test our ability to move on the surface of the Red Planet through a “ Rover “, a vehicle driven by the Earth, such as remote-controlled machines of children. One of the most important components of the second stage of the mission, in 2018 – adds Favata – the drill is of Italian manufacture, similar to the robot Philae the Rosetta mission, a year ago landed on the comet 67 / P Churyumov-Gerasimenko . This drill – explains the researcher ESA – will allow us to explore what lies beneath the surface of Mars, a feat never before attempted. So far, in fact, it has only succeeded in scratching the surface, with the American mission Phoenix 2008, who discovered water ice underneath the red dust of Mars. This time, however – adds Favata -, we get deeper, up to two meters deep, where they could hide surprises, as evidenced by the latest discovery at NASA. “
The ExoMars mission will search for traces past and present life on Mars, and it will carry out a geochemical characterization of the planet, to know better the environment, and its possible risks for future human missions. A goal, that of the first man on Mars, according to US President Barack Obama , could take place by 2035. But perhaps his forecast is more optimistic than that same he did, in the 60s, the his predecessor JFK, announcing the landing on the moon by the end of that decade, then prediction made in 1969 with the mission Apollo 11 .
The obstacles to be overcome to reach Mars They are, in fact, enormous, and not only from the economic point of view it is a project estimated at no less than $ 30 billion . Starting from the journey, a long journey, not less than six months for one way, during which the health of astronauts exposed to a constant bombardment of cosmic rays , will be severely tested. And it will require, therefore, a series of milestones and learning approach, through the Moon or asteroids, such as learning to exploit its mineral resources. After learning to navigate and fly, man will, in fact, learn to move easily even in deep space.
“We are working on the development of technologies that will allow us one day to go to Mars – says the ‘Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti , ASI intervening in the debate, which introduces a screening of the film “The Martian”, in Italian cinemas from October 1, 2015 -. Robotic missions serve precisely to open the way for future human exploration. As shown in Ridley Scott – says the woman who holds the record of consecutive days spent in space, 199 and a few hours – in the training of an astronaut is important resilience, and tolerance to adversity. Although – jokes Cristoforetti – unlike the protagonist of the film, the biologist Matt Damon, more than the loneliness I had to face the opposite problem. My return to Earth, in fact – concludes the ESA astronaut – was a bit ‘ disorienting : used to interact only with the crew of the International Space Station (ISS), each upper unit to six people it seemed, in fact, a crowd. “
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