Step towards colonizing Mars...

We human have colonized many countries across the earth but the inquisitive mind of ours never contented. We always think the new field to invade. This curiosity leads us towards the colonization of Mars. Just imagine how different is it to build cities over Mars. It might sound weird but work is going on in this context.

Elon Musk and SpaceX have proposed the idea to colonize Mars. This mission includes a vehicle that can be used again, spacecraft that can carry humans safely, on-orbit propellant tankers, and rocket fuel will be produced via in situ utilisation. SpaceX has missioned to land the first human on Mars by 2024.

SpaceX Starship, a fully reusable space vehicle is under construction since 2018. To achieve a large payload, spacecraft will first enter to earth's orbit, where it is expected to refuelled before it departs to Mars. After landing on Mars fuel produced by in situ utilisation is used to refuelled to return to earth. The expected load can be injected lie between 100-150 tonnes to Mars.

SpaceX mainly focusing on the transportation part of this the project which includes the design of propellant plant based on the Sabatier process that will be deployed on Mars to synthesize methane and LOX as rocket propellants from the local supply of atmospheric CO2 and ground accessible water ice.
Major elements of the project:
Fully reusable super heavy-lift launch vehicle that consists of a large long-duration beyond- earth- orbit spacecraft capable of carrying passengers.
Refilling of propellants in orbit, specifically to enable the long-journey spacecraft to expend almost all of its propellant load.
Propellant production on the surface of Mars to enable the return trip back to earth and support reuse of the spacecraft enabling the lower cost to transport cargo and passenger to a distant destination.

Musk plans to create a crewed base on Mars for an extended surface presence which he hopes will grow within the self-sufficient colony. For the growth of human resource people from different sectors are required which will take many decades to grow.

The question arises whether the hospitality on Mars is friendly or to not humans. This mission proposes astronauts sent to Mars for the first time should intend to stay. As initial pioneer gets evidence for the habitability on Mars settlement construction will be done by unused emergency return vehicle. The biggest challenge in this project is concerned about the health hazards of prolonged space travels, radiation, weightlessness and habitation in low gravity, which is about 38% of the earth's gravity.

Scientists and SpaceX are still working on all of these challenges and trying to mitigate it. It's quite fascinating to imagine a colony over Mars.