Mars: Our Second Home?
Tuesday Feb 23 at 8.30pm
Mars has long held our fascination; we have sent probes and rovers, now the time has come to send humans. In the first of a two-part Mars special, astrophysicist Prof Tamara Davis and astronomer Greg Quicke meet the Australian scientists who are reaching for the stars as they attempt to overcome the many challenges involved in human missions to Mars.
Leaving planet Earth is the first major hurdle. Tamara gets a taste of what it’s like to be an astronaut launching into space as she takes flight in ajet fighter, experiencing high G forces and the feeling of weightlessness. Over in Broome, Western Australia, astronomer Greg Quicke takes a ride to his bush block to demonstrate just how easy it is to find Mars in the night sky.
Ever seen an astronaut confidently walk out of a capsule after months in space? In reality it’s more of a crawl. In the nation’s capital, Tamara meets a team of scientists working out ways to measure and mitigate the effects of micro-gravity on the body. Tamara even puts her body through the paces to determine whether she has what it takes to be an astronaut.
In Far North Queensland, one of the longest continuous lava flows from a single volcano that erupted 190,000 years ago may provide answers for human shelter on Mars. Escaping the heat of the day, Tamara joins the Ewamian Rangers on country to explore the lava tubes with astro geologist, Dr David Flannery.
Artificial intelligence has long held promise to perform tasks humans can’t or won’t do. Given the hostile conditions on Mars, robots should be perfect for maintenance, reconnaissance and repair leaving more time for human exploration and discovery. Tamara joins the CSIRO team in Brisbane as they put ‘Kitten’ and ‘Rat’ to the ultimate test of searching and locating a human survivor.
Getting to Mars with fuel from Earth is one thing, making it back is a whole other ballgame. The good news is, Mars has icy, salty water which can be converted to fuel. Astronomer Greg Quicke takes us through the art of electrolysis step-by-step - splitting oxygen and hydrogen from water, all in an effort to get humans home.
Finally, Tamara rolls up her sleeves to join a Mars analog simulation exercise. With no way of knowing how a team will cope with a 3-year inter-planetary mission, analog simulations have been conducted the world over to test human resilience.
Part 2 : Tuesday March 2 8:30pm
In this second episode of Catalyst’s Mars special, astrophysicist Professor Tamara Davis and beloved astronomer Greg Quicke explore a question we’ve longed to answer – is there life on Mars?