A hundred astronauts from 17 different countries met last week at the 30th World Congress at the Cit? de l’Espace in Toulouse in order to elaborate on the preservation of our planet Earth, space exploration and recent discoveries and successes. They are members of the Association of Space Explorers (ASE) which brings together 400 astronauts and cosmonauts from 37 countries. The association’s missions are to educate, exchange and explore.
Stimulating humanity’s sense of ownership and the urgency of protecting our planet, the importance of spatial co-operation and investing in the young generation were the congress’ principal topics. The astronauts strive to inspire future scientific explorers by sharing their experiences of work and life in space. Indeed, their presence on social media has brought in a new audience that follows the latest technological advancements including space projects. The astronaut community is committed to promote space exploration and demonstrate the necessity for very long-term co-operation for the development of space projects.
Are we ready to go to Mars?
On December 18 2015, Jean Baptiste Desbois, the General Director of the Cit? de l’espace gave French astronaut Thomas Pesquet a rock from Mars so he could take it to the International Space Station (ISS) on his Proxima space mission. This piece of meteorite which was discovered in the Sahara desert has traveled to the ISS and back to Earth, making it a symbol of space exploration. The rock will be cut into three pieces: one will stay at the Cit? de l’espace, a second will be offered to Thomas Pesquet and the third will travel aboard the Curiosity rover in March 2020.
Nevertheless, the question remains: are we ready to go to Mars? With several international missions under way, it seems possible.
The astronauts at the congress affirm that they are psychologically ready to go to Mars if they have a technology that gives them a decent chance to succeed. “We are not kamikazes” says French astronaut Jean-Pierre Haigner?. “But right now we are not ready at all on a technological level. We first have to test these technologies on the Moon,” he adds.
Solar Impulse
Swiss adventurers and pilots Bertrand Piccard and Andr? Borschberg have accomplished something that still seems impossible today: the first round-the-world solar flight, powered only by the sun, with no fuel or polluting emissions. The adventure started with Piccard’s vision that clean technologies and energy efficiency can reduce our emissions and improve our quality of life. The result was a 5-day 5-night record-breaking flight from Japan to Hawaii.
Solar Impulse measures 72m and weighs as much as a family car. Because the structure had to be lighter than a plane, Piccard and Borschberg decided to construct it in a shipyard together with people who had never built a plane before. “We are prisoners of our beliefs. If we want to imagine the future, then we have to look in every direction and accept the risk of failure” Piccard says of his experience.
The pilot and designer of the Solar Impulse aircraft has now launched a call for projects to support the technologies of tomorrow. The list of the 1,000 most effective and profitable solutions for the protection of the environment, will be revealed in 2018 at COP 24 in Katowice, Poland.
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Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons Copyright: NASA License: CC-BY-SA
Source: int.ert.gr
