Astronauts who will fly to Mars in the future may not count on controlling the mission from Earth and therefore must be aware of themselves as Martians – unexpectedly for everyone, said ex-astronaut Chris Hadwild, known for performing a Steve Bowie song on the International Space Station.
The fact is that according to modern forecasts, to overcome the distance to Mars of 400 million kilometers, people will need to spend decades in flight. In addition, given such vast distances, communication for mission control will be delayed by 22 minutes. Thus, astronauts must rely on themselves for at least 2.5 years.
“If I were the commander of this team, as soon as the Earth began to disappear in the rearview mirror, I would assemble a team and say: We are no longer Earthlings, from now on we are Martians. This is our new essence. We need to reconsider our views on our home planet, 'said Chris Hadfield.
The Canadian astronaut took part in the latest tests last week in the southwestern US desert of the Orion interplanetary spacecraft, designed to, in his words, “return people to the moon within the next few years.”
In the coming months, Canada will launch three satellites, Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques will travel to the ISS, and NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission to study the asteroid will use Canadian sensors.
