- 18/04/2018
- Categories: Commentaries, Press Release
Yogyakarta, 17th April 2018 — It is undeniable that so much has happened on our Earth realm. Many experts have predicted the worst-possible potentialities, including the devastation of Earth that urges humans to look for a new place to live in. For several years ago, Mars has been the prime location for humans to build colonies in the realm of outer space. Center for Digital Society UGM has brought the salient issue in this series of DigiTalk that was in collaboration with ANTERO’s scientific discussion booth on Tuesday (17/4).
Exploration of outer space realm is not a new thing, but the greater urgency to involve in this matter is matched with the development of the world. The rapid growth of human populations, the threats of climate change, and the Earth’s limited-natural resources has urged the needs of humans to find a new living space that can be inhabited by humans. Space exploration is also important for technological advancement because this specific issue will continue to create ideas and development of the new technologies.
“From time to time, the project of outer space exploration has managed to inspire the creation of new innovations, which then it can also raise the nation’s morale. Besides, we will also be able to better understand the Earth and how we can live more sustainably, ” said Muhammad Faiz Rahman, a representative of NOUS.ID and also a speaker at the first session of this discussion.
Space exploration that was originally done to enhance the influence of nations’ politics has now transformed into the symbol of cooperation among nations who are concerned with the life of humans, in the midst of the Earth’s increasingly-limited natural resources. It has also been increasingly supported by the technology that is more efficient and efficient, allowing us to send humans to Mars, and even to the rimland of extraterrestrial space. Today’s technologies allow us to get to know deeper about Mars, as it has been demonstrated by the finding of some essential elements such as air, oxygen, and energy on Mars, though those elements’ values will not be regarded the same as it is on Earth.
Can we live on Mars? We need to measure it with three basic components: air, oxygen, and gravitation. The existence of water fossil on Mars has proven that there is water on the planet, although the actual amount of the water is still uncertain. The gravity on Mars is lower than what we can feel on Earth, and it is risky for the performance of human’s muscles. Besides, the atmosphere on Mars is much thinner than what we could find on Earth and it does not have a magnetosphere that can be used as a human’s protection from the danger of cosmic dust. Despite of the finding of Mars’ components that already being mentioned, it appears that there are still many differences between Earth and Mars.
“Despite of the many differences between these two planets, it does not discourage our spirit to continue exploring Mars and the outer space realm,” said Nugroho Iman Setiawan, a lecturer in Geological Engineering UGM and a speaker at the following session.
In attempt of doing Mars exploration, it is also important to look for possible obstacles that might appear. For example, the chance of an asteroid that is on the path of a rocket and the possibilities of colliding each other, is also increasing the needs to do a comprehensive observation towards the objects that may be traversed during the journey. In addition, the time-setting consideration in the launching process must also be calculated accurately, because of the dependency of this process to the Earth’s rotation movement, in order to expel the rocket from the Earth’s gravitational pull. Cooperation between nations should be crucial, so that the heavy burden of this project will no longer be a serious obstacle for the execution of this humanitarian mission.
“Keep in mind that the outer space realm has no limitations, and we can go anywhere. Our current limitations are existing because of the absent of technologies that can take us there. However, we must remain optimistic and continue our dream, that will spur us to move forward, ” said Eko Hadi Gunawan, the third speaker as the closing of the last session from the discussion.
