​The first human crew on Mars could consist only of women ● The FAA sued for permission to launch Starship ● About 400,000 years ago, there was still water on Mars

The first human crew on Mars could consist only of women

Women would be a much better option for the first manned flight to Mars, several researchers from the European Space Agency say in a study published in the journal Scientific Reports.

According to the specialists concerned, the proposal to send only women has nothing to do with discrimination or an attempt to correct who knows what discrimination of the past. Simply put, it’s about economy and efficiency.

The study shows that women, being smaller, need 26% less calories, 29% less oxygen and 18% less water than men. And that means less resources are needed, but also more space on the shuttle that took them to the Red Planet. A space that can be filled with equipment needed for scientific research.

Specifically, for a 1,080-day mission, an all-female crew would need 1,695 kilograms less food than an all-male crew. Then, according to the authors of the study, women are less confrontational, more cooperative and less concerned with hierarchy and social structures.

This is what the authors say that it is much better to lock a group of women in a small space for 2-3 years than a group of men. The intended manned mission should not happen until 2029, but it is unlikely that we will see it that soon. Rather, after 2040. By then, it will also be decided whether we will send only women, only the elderly (as discussed at one point), married couples, or only men to Mars.

The FAA sued for permission to launch Starship

Several environmental groups in the US have sued the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the government agency that issued the flight license for the Starship rocket developed by Elon Musk’s company SpaceX.

The charges come just 11 days after a test flight resulted not only in the destruction of the launch pad, but also in a wildfire that spread to 1.4 hectares. Moreover, pieces of concrete, twisted metal and other debris generated by the launch of the rocket reached approximately 10.5 kilometers from the launch site, creating a danger not only to people but also to the animals of the Boca Chica National Park and the Rio Nature Reserve. Grande. Valley.

The organizations suing the FAA say the April 20 incident is just the latest in a series of nine explosions at Boca Chica. And all of them took place near nature reserves, the protesters claim.

So, according to a 31-page document presented to the judge, the FAA violated federal laws by issuing a flight license without having studies available on the impact that Starship’s launch might have on the environment.

The same document contains a request to revoke the FAA license and conduct the specified studies. SpaceX has denied conducting such research, saying it would take years. Instead, Elon Musk promised to modernize the destroyed launch pad and install steel fittings and a cooling system to prevent accidents like the one on April 20 from happening again. The FAA has declined to comment on the matter at this time.

About 400,000 years ago, there was still water on Mars

Before shutting down for good after dust covered the solar cells that power it, the Zhurong rover made one last extraordinary discovery, researchers from the Beijing Academy of Sciences report in an article in the journal Science Advances.

Specifically, the rover photographed sand dunes covered in fissures that formed as a result of melting snow about 400,000 years ago, possibly 1.4 million years ago. This discovery is surprising in the context that, yes, we already knew about the existence of Martian rivers, oceans and lakes, recalling that they were all part of the Martian landscape at least 3 billion years ago.

Even more interesting is that the location where the Zhurong rover observed is far from the north pole of Mars, where there is still water in the form of ice. In fact, we have evidence that water existed until relatively recently and at low latitudes.

The next step, the Chinese researchers say, will be to explore other similar places on Mars and look for traces of bacteria, perhaps even plants, living in a salty water environment. Well, that would be a revelation indeed!

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