What we can learn from Britain’s deepest mine for life on Mars
Climate change, AI that is becoming more powerful every day, war and capitalism – who wouldn’t want to leave the blue planet behind and start all over again somewhere on Mars or the Moon?
In order for the dream to come true, researchers around the world are in the process of working out concrete plans under which conditions migration within the solar system could succeed. So do scientists at the University of Birmingham, who set up their laboratory in Great Britain’s deepest mine, 1.1 kilometers underground The NextWeb reported.
Anyone who imagines life on Mars as romantic settling in a red desert with a view of the stars will most likely have to rethink. Because cosmic rays and constant meteorite impacts are likely to be a real problem, at least in the early stages of Martian migration – and the best way to solve it is to live below the surface.
It is precisely these conditions that the scientists now want to investigate in the depths of the mine as part of the Bio-Sphere project. The 3000 cubic meter network is connected to the Boulby Underground Laboratory, where research is carried out in the fields of particle physics, geography and astrobiology.
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The aim of the mission is to find out under what conditions you can work underground and, above all, stay healthy. In particular, the researchers are investigating what medical care could look like under the surface of Mars or the moon. Which life-support devices can be used, which biomaterials can be used and how damaged tissue can be repaired under the conditions.
The mine habitat on a planet cut off from Earth poses a number of problems for medical logistics. So you have to reckon with limited resources, remoteness and restrictions when transporting heavy equipment.
Professor Sean Paling of the Boulby Underground Laboratory describes the objective as follows: “Bio-Sphere aims to address some key logistical issues when it comes to creating sustainable living conditions in remote, underground environments. The project will be significant in preparing for our long, difficult, but also exciting journey [zu anderen Planeten] contribute.”
As exciting as these questions are, the idea of living in an underground tunnel system is certainly not good advertising for the Mars migration for most people. One can only wish that the conditions on earth remain livable for so long that one does not have to be one of the first Mars settlers.
