February 12, 2019

Mars or bust: bust it is for Dutch mission

Filed under: General,Weird by Orangemaster @ 11:21 am

Back in 2012, Bas Lansdorp of Mars One was planning a reality show on Mars, but that has now officially been scrubbed, as Mars One declared bankruptcy last month. Behind the scenes, there is talk of solving the situation, but for now, nobody is going anywhere.

Some said it was a scam, others including many scientists said humankind is nowhere near ready to go to Mars, let alone in 10 years. It’s one thing for NASA and friends to organise such a mission, but we are now in an era where private companies are working on space exploration and that will change the financing and the goals of space travel. We live in exciting times.

We’ve had some Martian stories about Dutch suits being made for Mars, growing food for Mars and even two Dutchmen wanting to go to Mars. For now, all of it will have to remain in the realm of science fiction.

(Link: dutchnews.nl)

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January 31, 2019

Dutch company to let a woman give birth in space

Filed under: Science,Weird by Orangemaster @ 4:09 pm

Feel free to look up having sex in space regardless of who is involved, which I filed under ‘complicated/pass’ in my mind palace. However, if you want to move on to giving birth in space, there’s a Dutch company that wants to tell you about its plans.

Dutch company SpaceLife Origin, a collaboration between business people (dudes, right?) and organisational expert Egbert Edelbroek (a man) from Eindhoven. In 2024, the company’s goal would be to have a Dutch woman give birth in space.

“If we don’t learn how we can procreate in space, then as humans we’re bound to Earth, while life on Earth is increasingly under threat”, explains Edelbroek. It’s under threat because we’re billions of morons using the planet as our own personal rubbish bin, but sure. If we want to go to Mars, we’re theoretically going to have to find out what it’s like to procreate in space. I’m secretly hoping women just won’t want to, but that’s me talking science-fiction.

SpaceLife Origin wants to start with fertilisation in space using an embryo incubator called Mission Lotus. Experts warn against problems such as a baby being exposed to ionising radiation that causes cancer and the g-force that occurs with space flight. Oh, and weightlessness, and I’m sure a whole bunch of other things.

I hope the woman (women?) who sign up and anyone else really know what they are getting into, but that also goes for anybody who thinks getting to Mars is easy at this point.

(Link: waarmaarraar.nl)

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November 18, 2016

Dutch company Mars One makes suits for Mars

Filed under: General,Science by Orangemaster @ 9:55 am

The Dutch are already involved in trying to get to Mars, whether it’s growing food for the trip, simply wanting to take that one-way trip or being the first at having a reality show on Mars.

Now Dutch company Mars One has unveiled its first try at a space suit to protect humans on the red planet. “Made from material similar to that used for NASA’s astronauts when exploring the Moon [like the one in the picture], the suit’s design also takes into account new challenges, such as the omnipresent red dust”. I still have strange red dust from a hike on Crete on one pair of shoes, so I can only imagine what their issues are. The suits are also to protect against killer radiation and needs to fit different people. Some 3D printers will ensure new parts can be made. WIl there be a 3D printer to repair the 3D printer, I don’t know.

Have a look at what Mars One has been planning to do:

(Link: phys.org)

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May 17, 2016

Growing food for Mars and the Moon

Filed under: Food & Drink by Orangemaster @ 11:20 am

The Dutch are already involved in getting to Mars, but researchers at Wageningen University feel people need to be able to grow their own food if they ever plan on living there.

Wageningen University wants to grow vegetables in soils similar to those found on the Moon and Mars, but getting those soils is a tall order. However, NASA actually makes ground similar to that on the Moon from sand found in an Arizona desert, while Mars’ crimson ‘soil’ is scooped from a volcano in Hawaii. The first experiments started in 2013 after the university received an order of 100 kilos of NASA’s imitation ‘space soil’, which cost 2,000 euro.

Wieger Wamelink of Wageningen University decided to grow tomatoes, peas, cress and other plants in pots containing the simulated soil. The imitation ground wasn’t big on being watered at first, but soon turned out to be good potting soil. “In the Martian soil, plants were growing fast and well. They even started to flower, something that we never anticipated,” Wamelink said. The 50-day experiment was written up in the science journal PLOS One in August 2014.

The vegetables however are not necessarily safe to eat. Wamelink suggested growing other plant species such as violets to absorb the poisons. Water should be no problem as it is found as ice on both the Moon and Mars, said Wamelink. Other questions which need answers include the presence of friendly bacteria to help plant growth and what happens to plants that grow in low gravity. It’s still all very theoretical and cannot be tested in actual Martian and lunar conditions.

Part of me wonder if earthlings so fond of all kinds of foods, wouldn’t go bonkers from a steady diet of boring, never mind a lack of meat for some, alcohol and chocolate. The first person to open up a snack bar is going to rule the planet.

(Link: timesofindia.indiatimes.com)

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January 14, 2014

Two Dutchmen in the running for Mars mission

Filed under: Shows,Weird by Orangemaster @ 4:47 pm

Back in 2012 we told you about how a Dutchman was planning to film a reality show on Mars.

And now that they’ve started selecting people for the Mars One mission — 1058 people to be exact — the two Dutch candidates, Wim Dijkshoorn and Merlijn Vuurop, are telling us what’s going through their minds.

Merlijn explains that he’s drawn to the pioneering aspect of going to Mars and says it’s a huge step for humanity that he wants to be a part of. He’s also been at sea for three years with just his parents and is used to being alone. As for Wim, he feels it will be very a lonely existence for a long time, although more and more people will join the colony. He compares it to a monk’s life. And if he gets a girlfriend in the coming years, he’s ready to just break it off. He also thinks it’s better not to keep in contact with Earth and cut all ties with his family.

Never mind how scary this still seems to me every time I think about it, the Mars One people are currently saying that they don’t want the colonists to reproduce. I shudder to think how that could be enforced on people so far away. Besides the fact that the babies could have serious defects and that reproduction may not even work for all kinds of reasons, it could even go the other way around: that women will be baby-making machines to ensure the survival of the colony, but that’s just me freaking out.

(Links: www.nieuws.nl, www.space.com)

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June 20, 2012

Dutchman plans reality show on Mars

Filed under: Shows,Weird by Orangemaster @ 2:20 pm

After Dutch reality show Big Brother went galactic, the Dutch have been producing and copying other countries’ reality shows like there’s no tomorrow. However, this next idea is way out there — literally.

The man behind the Mars One idea is Bas Lansdorp who claims that in 2023 we’ll finally put people on Mars. Not only that, but he’s thinking, why not have a reality show on the red planet as well, while we’re there. What scares me as I write this is that he has devised a way to get there, costing about 5 billion euro, but no way whatsoever of getting back. It’s a one-way journey. Getting back is currently too complicated to work out, which sounds like every movie I’ve seen featuring Mars, and they end badly.

Only four people can go at once, a trip that lasts seven months. “We’ve had hundreds of people who are willing to go and settle Mars, even families with children.”

And why would this actually work? There has been plans galore to settle Mars. You have to read his reasons for yourself, it scares me too. Why would anyone want to leave this planet and go somewhere where you couldn’t see your friends or travel as you would on Earth? It sounds like a prison to me.

When I watch any space movie, I actually get freaked out by people dying of asphyxiation or being thrown out a space lock. Of course the idea of going to Mars is cool, but is it worth dying for, I wonder.

And then there’s this old Dutch beer commercial that echoes a Mars landing as well.

(Links: www.bbc.co.uk, www.ed.nl)

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