{"id":18961,"date":"2017-05-15T23:28:49","date_gmt":"2017-05-15T15:28:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/eat-your-broccoli-5-tips-for-mars-explorers-from-national-geographics-seattle-show\/"},"modified":"2017-05-15T23:28:49","modified_gmt":"2017-05-15T15:28:49","slug":"eat-your-broccoli-5-tips-for-mars-explorers-from-national-geographics-seattle-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/eat-your-broccoli-5-tips-for-mars-explorers-from-national-geographics-seattle-show\/","title":{"rendered":"Eat your broccoli: 5 tips for Mars explorers from National Geographic\u2019s Seattle show"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"National
The \u201cMankind to Mars\u201d panel presentation incorporates video clips from National Geographic Channel\u2019s \u201cMars\u201d miniseries. (NGC \/ Imagine \/ RadicalMedia)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you want to maximize your chances of weathering Mars\u2019 harsh radiation environment, get in the habit of eating broccoli.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a bit of far-out diet advice from Ray Arvidson, a veteran of robotic Red Planet missions going back to the Viking landers in the 1970s.<\/p>\n

Arvidson, a planetary scientist at Washington University in St. Louis, was among a trio of space experts holding forth at \u201cNational Geographic Live: Mankind to Mars,\u201d a multimedia panel presentation hosted by the Seattle Symphony at Benaroya Hall.<\/p>\n

The traveling show is inspired by the National Geographic Channel\u2019s hybrid docudrama TV series, \u201cMars,\u201d which finished its first six-episode season last December and has gotten the green light for a second season.<\/p>\n

Arvidson and his fellow panelists \u2013 \u201cNight Sky Guy\u201d commentator Andrew Fazekas and Vanderbilt astrophysicist Jedidah Isler \u2013 make liberal use of video clips and graphics from the TV show to make their points about the prospects for finding traces of life on Mars, and perhaps building settlements there.<\/p>\n

\"National
Science writer Andrew Fazekas, astrophysicist Jedidah Isler and planetary scientist Ray Arvidsen take the stage for \u201cNational Geographic Live: Mankind to Mars\u201d at Seattle\u2019s Benaroya Hall. (GeekWire Photo \/ Alan Boyle)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During Sunday\u2019s opening performance, the trio outlined the plans that NASA and SpaceX have crafted for Red Planet odysseys, and looked a few giant leaps further down the road. Here are five takeaways from the talk:<\/p>\n

Eat your broccoli<\/h4>\n

Arvidson pointed out that settlers on Mars would face plenty of hardships. For example, the lack of a global magnetic field and a thick atmosphere means travelers would face heightened exposure to radiation. In the \u201cMars\u201d TV show, crews build their main camps in lava tubes underground as a protective measure. But Arvidson noted that broccoli contains a compound called 3,3\u2019-diindolylmethane, or DIM, which scientists have found reduces the risk of radiation damage to DNA.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone in the audience getting ready to go to Mars in the next 10 years, start eating your broccoli,\u201d Arvidson joked.<\/p>\n

Capture the moment<\/h4>\n

Isler said the first humans to land on Mars are likely to create an \u201cArmstrong moment,\u201d analogous to the worldwide sensation stirred up by Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong\u2019s first steps on the lunar surface in 1969. The moon\u2019s moment was captured on black-and-white TV, but the moment on Mars is certain to make use of more advanced media.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m thinking Snapchat, maybe?\u201d Fazekas quipped.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not too early to start thinking about how virtual reality or other immersive media might come into play in future space adventures. When those first steps are taken on Mars, billions of people may well have a first-person perspective on the feat (and the feet).<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s make it an \u2018Armstrong and all of us\u2019 moment,\u201d Isler said.<\/p>\n

HoloLens in the house<\/h4>\n

Speaking of immersive media, Arvidson pointed out that Microsoft\u2019s HoloLens augmented-reality headset is already playing a big role in Mars exploration. NASA\u2019s mission planners can put themselves on a virtual Red Planet, based on image data collected by the Curiosity rover, to plot the rover\u2019s future course.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe use the Microsoft HoloLens today to plan the Curiosity traverses. \u2026 We go on Mars every day to walk the planet,\u201d Arvidson said.<\/p>\n

NASA engineers are also using the augmented-reality platform to tweak the design for the next Mars rover, due for launch in 2020.<\/p>\n

When will it happen?<\/h4>\n

SpaceX\u2019s billionaire founder, Elon Musk, is targeting the mid-2020s for his company\u2019s first crewed missions to Mars, with an eye toward putting a million or more settlers on the Red Planet over the course of several decades. NASA plans to send astronauts to Mars starting in the 2030s.<\/p>\n

Arvidson thinks both those timetables are too optimistic. Humans may go into orbit around Mars in the 2030s, but the first landing seems more likely to occur in the 2040s, \u201cunless we get our act together on an international basis,\u201d Arvidson said.<\/p>\n

Fazekas said the timetable may be accelerated if commercial ventures, including SpaceX and Blue Origin, keep pushing out to the space frontier. Isler, however, envisions a more conservative time frame. \u201cI\u2019d add 20 years,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Who will own Mars?<\/h4>\n

As commercial space ventures become more adventurous, the question of property rights in space will become more of a concern.<\/p>\n

The emerging consensus, at least in the U.S., is that nations and companies won\u2019t be able to declare sovereignty or ownership of Martian territory \u2013 but that companies will be able to take advantage of the resources they extract from Martian soil, just as fishing fleets are entitled to the fish they catch in international waters.<\/p>\n

Arvidson said explorers should be extremely careful to avoid disturbing potential habitats for present-day life on Mars. For example, the managers for NASA\u2019s Opportunity rover mission gave the go-ahead for exploration of a gully known as Perseverance Valley only after determining that the terrain was too ancient to harbor subsurface liquid water or life.<\/p>\n

Isler pointed out that the very idea of owning or \u201ccolonizing\u201d Mars raises ethical issues. \u201cIt\u2019s not ours to own \u2013 it\u2019s ours to marvel at,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n