Where and when Human will land on Mars.

space agencies and private companies from around the world have put forward their ideas for getting mankind to mars whether it be nasa's space launch system or spacex's starship but getting a crude mission to mars is only part of the story once there the spacecraft will have to conduct the formidable task of landing at a suitable predetermined location but where on our dusty red neighbor's surface will this be stay tuned to see the exact places where our species could likely end up taking its first small steps on mars selecting a suitable landing spot on the martian surface isn't as straightforward as it might first seem as the first astronauts approach mars they'll face the daunting task of landing we only have to look at previous uncrewed missions to see what could potentially go wrong the european space agency's scaparrelli mission was supposed to demonstrate how soft landings could be carried out on the surface of mars however this didn't go as planned the spacecraft's parachute detached too early sending scaparelli into a free fall for 33 seconds culminating in an impact with mars rocky surface at 350 miles per hour the only remnants of the mission could be seen in these real images of the impact crater despite our best efforts humanity as a whole only has about a

 

50 percent success rate when it comes to landing on mars the good news is that the success rate is increasing as we learn from our past failures and develop more sophisticated landing sequence procedures the martian atmosphere is 100 times thinner than earth's so it can't provide the drag required to slow an incoming spacecraft down this suggests that traditional landing sequences used back here on earth won't work on mars meaning that space agencies from around the globe are having to get creative the mars 2020 mission deployed the perseverance rover using the revolutionary sky crane a system which combines parachutes and retrorockets this slowed the craft down using the equivalent force of a jet engine allowing the rover to reach mars surface relatively unscathed this has laid the groundwork for a similar but more complex system to be used for a future crude mission to mars so with all this in mind what criteria can we draw for a possible manned landing site first of all there will need to be a large amount of flat open space the planet has a notoriously difficult terrain to navigate featuring colossal mountain ranges and plunging canyons which would almost guarantee making a crude descent fatal and that's without considering the millions of rocky boulders which litter mars landscape selecting a landing site which is relatively flat should ensure the safety of the crew this is the most paramount concern of any mission into space and 

with the mars mission taking place literally millions of miles away from home it's unlikely to be anything other than the top priority as a potential rescue mission would be nearly impossible secondly the landing site needs to be next to or near an area of scientific intrigue this will allow the astronauts to collect samples and conduct groundbreaking experiments which will further our understanding of our mysterious planetary neighbor and potentially the universe as a whole lastly the landing site should be at a sustainable area in terms of water and energy generation especially for a long-term mission this should ensure the safety of the astronauts during the surface phase of the mission as well as allowing the mission's longevity to be increased taking these criteria into consideration scientists have begun putting together a short list of potential landing site candidates a process that has been tried and tested when selecting landing sites for previous missions such as the numerous mars rovers here are our top three speculated candidates on february 2021 the perseverance rover successfully landed in the jezreel crater on the surface of mars after years of planning nasa finally had scientific equipment ready to use in this deeply fascinating area of the red planet the main aim of the mars 2020 mission is to seek signs of habitable conditions on the planet from the ancient past while also searching for evidence of past microbial life or water the jezreel crater was specifically selected as perseverance's destination with these objectives in mind it is believed that the area was once home to a gigantic martian lake of liquid water which flowed through a delta rich in clays perseverance will explore this delta and examine the clay but this rover also has a trick up its sleeve perseverance is equipped with a device that allows it to pick up and seal samples of rocks from mars to be returned to earth for analysis at a later date by another mission this is a real statement of intent by nasa to return to jezreel as part of a future unmanned mission which may well pave the way for the first crude mission to the martian surface selecting the jezreel crater as the location where mankind will take its first steps on another world seems to be a logical choice it meets all of the aforementioned criteria for a potential landing site providing the mission is only over a short period the area is relatively flat as seen in these stunning panoramic images taken by perseverance meaning that there's a higher probability of a successful landing there is also a treasure trove of data collected by perseverance concerning landing a spaceship in the area although a carbon copy of the 

mars 2020 mission landing is unlikely due to the sheer size of the landing craft required for a crude descent furthermore there is a scientific purpose to landing a mission here as mentioned previously the area is flourishing with points of scientific intrigue which is the very reason why perseverance and probable future drones will visit jezreel the mars 2020 mission may well reveal more specific points of interest which may benefit from more detailed human exploration all in all the jezero crater provides a near ideal location for an historic first crewed landing on mars it's flat enough for a safe landing to be conducted and it has scientific value in the further exploration of one of mars most exciting areas jezreel's main drawback however is that it has no access to water a resource of immeasurable value to any future space explorers this means that a long-term manned mission to the area simply isn't viable but that doesn't mean a short-termed mission can't be planned if we look back into the history books the apollo missions started off with only two and a half short hours on the lunar surface when buzz aldrin and neil armstrong touched down in 1969 however by apollo 17 the crew clocked 22 hours on the moon's surface almost nine times that of apollo 11. if this serves as any sort of marker to go by a similar process may happen on mars meaning that a crude mission to the jezreel crater is definitely on the table not the exact north pole of mars but rather the outer edge of mars three kilometer thick northern ice cap university of colorado planetary scientist brian heineck suggested that quote scientifically one could do what we do on earth by drilling cores into the ice and teasing out tens of millions of years of martian climate history an exhilarating prospect to any astrobiologist furthermore the northern region of mars is again relatively flat and has the added bonus of being six kilometers lower down in altitude compared to the southern regions this would be beneficial to a landing spacecraft as it allows for more time to slow down in the descent stage ensuring the first martian astronauts have a safe landing the proximity to the ice caps also means that water is close by in the form of small pockets of ice allowing for a mid to long term mission this means that a landing close to mars north pole meets all of our criteria however it still isn't ideal the drawback here is the latitude of the potential landing location like earth mars experiences seasonal changes meaning that its north pole receives very little sunlight during the martian winter this would affect a potential manned mission in two ways first of all the crew could not receive direct earth to mars communications all the time meaning that they would have to heavily depend on relay satellites to receive and transmit messages and secondly the surface temperature would vary dramatically plummeting to around minus 150 degrees celsius at the height of winter a challenging temperature for nasa's astronauts and scientists to overcome this means that a landing here is only really feasible during the martian summer although this is again an option that is very much in the cards our previous two candidates have lacked the ability to sustain a crew at the landing site for a long period of time due to either having no access to water or because their latitudinal position this is where the erebus montes region steps up like the previous two candidates the area surrounding erebus montes is relatively flat and would ensure a safe landing for mars first explorers but arabis mantis has an ace up its sleeve this slightly hilly area is strongly speculated to be home to buried glaciers all the while being close enough to the equator to sustain constant temperature levels and direct earth to mars communications this is significant as the area has all the right ingredients to establish a semi-independent colony on mars water could be collected from the glaciers and solar energy could be generated from the ample sunlight around the equator meaning that human life could be somewhat autonomously sustained this is an exciting possibility as the first manned descent to the martian surface may well end up laying the groundwork for a future continuously inhabited base on another planet we aren't the first to come to this conclusion in 2017 spacex discreetly published several online images labeled as candidate landing sites for spacex starship by using data captured by the university of arizona's high-rise camera aboard nasa's mars reconnaissance orbiter spacex scientists have started to pinpoint the exact location where its starship is set to land the first humans on mars what the images show is that with nasa's help spacex is quietly deciding on the ideal location for their starship mars mission landing site meaning that erebus montes could well be the first crewed landing site on another world in reality any of these candidates could be selected as the place where the human race will likely take those first historic steps or a completely different location altogether may well be chosen the simple truth is that we don't know as of yet as nothing has been said in stone however the key issue to remember here is that the world's top astronomical minds are researching this very topic and that it is now almost inevitable that man will walk on mars we'll just have to sit back and wait to see where if however you don't want to wait to visit mars check out.