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New Delhi. Will the Earth last forever? Will humans establish their colonies outside the earth also? Is life possible on other planets too? These are some questions whose answers science has been searching for for a long time, but now many efforts are beginning to bear fruit. Many countries including India are engaged in solving the mysteries of that planet through Mars Mission, while Elon Musk’s company Space-X is preparing to establish a city on Mars. After all, how far has this preparation reached and to what extent will this effort open the doors of possibilities in space?

Have you ever thought that if a major disaster occurs on Earth tomorrow – like a big asteroid hits or an incurable virus spreads – then what will happen to us humans?

Exactly 10 years ago today, in a packed hall in Mexico, Elon Musk had asked the same question to the world – ‘History is going to be divided into two paths. One way is that we remain on earth forever and someday we will perish. The second path is to become a ‘multi-planetary species’. From that very day Musk swore that he would die only after making the Red Planet i.e. Mars the second home of humans. But the big question is, is Musk really ready to take us to Mars? And if this is possible, then who will take the first step there – a human being of flesh and blood or a robot made of iron?

Musk’s dream is to have a self-sufficient city of 1 million people on Mars by 2050. His plan is like a science-fiction movie. They will not directly expose humans to the deadly cold and poisonous air of Mars. Their plan is to first land Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robots there.

These robots will go there like an advance party and prepare housing, solar panels and most importantly – oxygen producing machines before humans reach them. They will find ice buried under the ground so that drinking water and rocket fuel can be prepared. So that when humans reach there, they will get basic facilities ready.

The center of this great preparation is SpaceX’s Starbase located in Texas, America. Elon Musk calls it the door to Mars. Here the target is to make hundreds of Starship rockets every year. The world’s top engineers are involved in this mission and NASA is also collaborating on technologies like space-refueling. The real Brahmastra of this mission is Starship V3. This 500 feet high steel monster is the most powerful rocket ever built. The Raptor-3 engines installed in it can carry more than 100 tons of cargo to Mars at one time.

Musk has set the target – December 2026. This will be the time when Earth and Mars will be closest to each other. Musk plans to send at least 5 unmanned starships to Mars during this period. If they land safely, then sending humans will start in the next 4 years. But if these crash, the mission will be postponed by another 2 years.

The challenges there are like mountains. Because, if you are considering Mars like Earth, then stop. Mars is a very dangerous world. The average temperature there is -62°C. The air there is 95% carbon dioxide and less than 1% oxygen. The atmosphere there is so thin that it cannot block the sun’s deadly radiation, due to which the risk of cancer is very high. Also, the huge dust storms that arise there block sunlight for several weeks.

earth vs mars
While a day on Earth is of 24 hours, a day on Mars is of 24 hours and 37 minutes. Mars is very weak in terms of gravity. There is only 38% gravity compared to Earth, that is, if your weight is 100 kg on Earth, then on Mars you will feel only 38 kg and will be able to make long jumps. Mars is about half the size of Earth, but one year there is equal to 687 days on Earth, which means almost two years. The biggest difference is the sunset. While on Earth the setting sun looks red, due to the thin atmosphere of Mars the sunset appears blue there.

There are many mysteries of Mars, India also has a big role in solving them. India’s name is taken with great respect in this race to Mars. We are the first country in the world to reach the orbit of Mars in its very first attempt in 2014. Now ISRO is preparing for Mangalyaan-2. This time India will not just orbit, but is also preparing to land its lander and rover on the surface of Mars. ISRO’s precise research can serve as a roadmap for missions like Musk’s.

However, there has been a lot of discussion about the success of Musk’s Mars mission, i.e. his plan to establish human colonies there. Musk himself admitted that the first trips to Mars would be very dangerous. He even said that the chances of success in the initial attempts to settle on Mars are currently only 50-50. But those who try never lose. We are living in an era where history is being written. It is possible that in the next 20-30 years one of our relatives may be living on Mars, or we may even be ourselves!