Free Astronomy Magazine November-December 2014

22 ASTRONAUTICS The overall picture is further complicated when we consider that a rocket with desti- nation Mars cannot be launched when we feel like, as it must be done within specific launch windows that occur only every 26 months. The most direct consequences of this will be likely delays in the completion of the settlement (always assuming that the program carries on) and long waits for spare parts, with all the setbacks that this may cause. It should be noted that the MIT assessment is the most objective avail- able today, given that it is based on experiences gained in managing the International Space Sta- tion, which include quan- tities and type of fail- ed components replaced since 2000, when it began to host crews. A partial solution to the spare parts problem could be to send to Mars some 3-D printers so as to make them directly in situ, but also this type of technology is not suffi- ciently advanced to per- mit reproducing sizes and features of many of the parts that will form the settlements, except redesigning the structures or make sub- stantial and rapid progresses in the design of 3-D printers. Taking once again as reference the expe- riences gained in the management of the ISS, analysts at MIT have also highlighted the most serious of all the criticalities, the one concerning the food self-sufficiency of the settlers, that in the plans of Mars One will be largely secured by the cultivation of plants directly in each living module, over I n the mockup above and the reconstructions below it is possi- ble to appreciate the elegance with which the different ambi- ents have been divided inside each segment of what will be the Mars One colony.