Might you run a marathon on Mars? And in addition — would you need to?
NASA’s Perseverance rover simply accomplished an off-Earth marathon: It has now traveled greater than 26.2 miles (42.2 kilometers) throughout the Martian panorama after touchdown in February 2021, according to the mission team. The one different rover to finish a marathon on the Crimson Planet is Alternative, which took over 11 years to traverse the space. However as NASA seems to be towards doubtlessly touchdown people on the Crimson Planet some day, it makes me marvel: What wouldn’t it be like to finish a marathon on Mars … on foot?
Right here on Earth, I’ve run a couple of marathons — in Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Florida, I’ve managed to wheeze, sweat, and drag my ft over the end line. You may by no means catch me on the leaderboard, however I’ve felt all of the distinctive stings and challenges of the race. From the surprising charley horses to the psychological hurdles you overcome, no marathon is straightforward. However on Mars? We’re not evaluating people to rovers, and Perseverance has spent these previous five-plue years not simply touring however exploring and conducting scientific investigations. But when we think about a future the place we efficiently ship people to Mars, let’s discover what it’d actually be wish to journey 26.2 miles on foot throughout the Crimson Planet.
Mars is brutal
Mars’ atmosphere is very thin, so heat from the sun escapes very quickly on the Red Planet. And because Mars is millions of miles farther from the sun than Earth, temperatures on the surface can plummet to as low as minus 225 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 153 degrees Celsius).
That’s not to say it’s always that cold. If you stood exactly on Mars’ equator at noon, you could feel soothing, springtime temperatures of up to 70 degrees F (20 degrees C), according to NASA. However typically talking, the floor of Mars is sort of chilly.
A heavy weight
Mars’ air is not breathable, both; it is about 95% carbon dioxide. So that you’d need to stroll round in a spacesuit, which means you’d by no means really feel these spring-like temperatures immediately anyhow. However you would possibly heat up a bit, carrying the load of that swimsuit.
Whereas the decrease gravity on Mars would help out a bit, current spacesuits and their accompanying life support backpacks weigh well over 200 pounds (90 kilograms), and on Mars they could still weigh close to or over 100 pounds (45 kg), it has been reported. We do not but know the way future astronaut fits can be constructed or how a lot they could weigh, but when we assume they are going to be at the least pretty just like earlier iterations, they are going to add a substantial quantity of weight as you attempt to maneuver throughout the Martian floor.
Finishing a marathon in athletic clothes and sneakers is a monumental problem in and of itself. I can solely think about that making an attempt such a feat (nevertheless slowly) in a spacesuit can be extremely tough and take a unprecedented quantity of power, power, stamina and time.
The great(ish) information
There’s one factor about touring 26.2 miles on Mars that may make it simpler than on Earth: the gravity. On Mars, a human would experience 62.5% less gravity than they would on Earth, which would certainly make the marathon a little easier on your joints — spacesuit excluded. However, I can only imagine that between the spacesuit and the lower gravity, covering such a long distance on Mars might be a bit awkward.
And while your joints might be glad for the reduced gravity, that doesn’t mean that a Mars trek would be a picnic. Astronauts who complete spacewalks from the International Space Station do so with almost no gravity, but they still report that these excursions are monumentally strenuous and challenging.
“It’s a lot of hard work on your muscles, mostly upper torso and arms and hands,” NASA spokesman Kelly Humphries previously told Space.com. “You’re essentially in an inflated balloon, which creates resistance against your movements. Crew members are notoriously ravenous when they come in from spacewalks.”
Boots on Mars
Exploring how astronauts might travel across the Martian surface isn’t just a thought experiment. As crewed missions journey to the moon for the first time in over 50 years with NASA’s Artemis program, we are once again reminded of the incredible time and hard work that it takes the teams across the agency and its partners to accomplish these missions.
Nevertheless, the space agency is pushing toward not just landing humans back on the lunar surface with Artemis 4, but with grander long-term plans of moon bases and longer residencies on the lunar surface. These efforts are part of an even longer-term plan by the agency, with support from commercial space companies, to one day send humans to Mars.
However soon a crewed flight to Mars may happen, one thing is for sure: it won’t be easy.
If some future Mars traveler dares to attempt a marathon, whether walking or even running on the Red Planet, they have their work cut out for them.
