Eduard Altarriba, Guillem Anglada-Escudé, Sheddad Kaid-Salah Ferrón, & Miquel Sureda Anfres
Button books £12.99
ISBN 9781787081581
www.buttonbooks.co.uk
It’s been a source of regular fiction with traffic either way (War of the Worlds or the film ‘The Martian’) to name but a couple. That last film showed that there is a harsh planet but it is ready to be tamed. Here we look at technology available today and (putting aside the cost) wonder if it is possible to colonise the ‘Red Planet’.
First off you have to look at the differences. I was surprised to find out that it is in fact smaller than Earth, with a day slightly longer but is also a rocky planet with poles at either end. It is of course the poles that hold the key because ice equates to water and that is the major factor in any survival there. There is also ice in the permafrost which is a yard under the suface in places.
To Get there needs a tremendous effort and this is where the concept of ‘oppositions’ come into play as due to Mars elliptical orbit of the Sun it is closer to Earth every 2 years or so than at other times (34 million miles as opposed to 250 million miles). A journey would take far longer than the few days the Apollo missions took to get to The Moon which is only 238,000 miles miles away from us. A sophisticated craft is needed to sustain life that long and transport all the materials to establish a foothold. Using available information the authors have come up with concepts for a rocket delivery system and spacecraft. Three options (a heavy lift vehicle) and multiple launches are illustrated and a cutway of a spacecraft is shown. None of these are on the drawing board yet, but are possible.
Then once there how do you sustain yourself. There are plenty of designs for housing and details of how much is needed for each person to mine, process and create resources (1100 tons of clay and sand, 330 tons of rock, 125 tons carbon dioxide, etc). The end goal is to be self sustainable in building machinery rather than having them transported from Earth and all this takes up manufacturing space and power.
I particularly liked a small area designated for Bank of Mars in one cutaway.
Lastly how to terraform – i.e use technolgy and nature to slowly change the atmosphere, magnetic fields and to make a simulcrum of earth where you could live in a temperature and atmosphere that would not require a suit.
This is far more linear than other books released by Button but follows familar patters of using quality graphics and simple text to explain the bigger picture. There are also four contributors to this book which is more than usual. The illustrations by Eduard Altarriba are top quality. He runs Alababalà, a studio producing games, exhibitions, animation, apps and practical and fun workbooks for children.
The science bits come from other contributors such as Guillem Anglada-Escudé who is a doctor and researcher in astrophysics and an expert in observational astronomy and the search for life beyond Earth.
There is also Sheddad Kaid-Salah Ferrón is a physicist and chemist who is passionate about knowledge. He loves explaining science, especially to young people. On a similar vein is Miquel Sureda Anfres, who is a physicist and doctor in aerospace engineering at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. He specializes in research into space exploration and sustainable planetary settlements.
Above all this is a book of possibilities, especially as some technologies are still emerging. Aimed at the 8+ age range it appeals to all of the dreamers in us.