If there were cities in Mars ..
– The topic of the space program is hanging in the air for a long time, I needed a solid goal. And in our time this goal is to settle in Mars. Mars is science. Mars is the future. It’s a challenge. Science, because Mars is a rosett stone that will open us whether life is a common phenomenon in the Universe. Saying that Mars is a challenge, I mean that you can hardly inspire a new generation of the idea that repeats what their grandparents did, say, fly to the moon. What was the moon for people in the 60s, now for us Mars. If we want to develop, we need to jump above their heads.
For Mars the future, because if we get on Mars to our century, after 100, 200 years old there will be a new civilization of people with their culture, its own dialect, inventory, inventions. It’s something great, and if you have the power to do something great, you should do it.
MP: And there is an alternative path of development, except for the colonization of the solar system?
– I do not think so. The whole world is not a native environment man. Native environment for us – Kenya, there we appeared. We are animals of tropics, so we have thin hands and there are no fur. We left Africa and colonized the land due to the development of technologies: fire, construction, clothing and clothing. NS. Natural man in his natural state could not survive and one winter night here, in Moscow. And we became a global human view. And becoming this global view (which can be called type 1), we created much more opportunities than we would have to stay in Kenya.
Based on this development, we came to the frontier breakthrough when we can become type 2 civilization, which has access to the resources of the solar system. Our enormous potential in the diversity of species, and it is very important in biology. The genus is considered viable and strong if there are different subspecies in it. Because then if conditions change, the genus will be able to survive. The same technologies that make possible flight flights: electronic communications, rocket motor installations, aviation equipment – simultaneously "compress" the world. Cultures are mixed: Chinese restaurants on every corner in the USA, Starbucks cafe in Moscow, literature in different languages … On the one hand, it is good, it gives new energy. But if we all live on the same planet, over time it will lead to a loss of manifold. And on replacing the second type of civilization (civilization of the solar system) Type 3 will come – Space Civilization.
The message should be like this: study science, and you can become a researcher of the new world. Throwing such a challenge, we will get millions of young scientists, doctors, inventors, technology entrepreneurs
MP: Is there any deficiencies in technology that prevents flights to Mars?
– I would not say that the business is in technology. There are not enough specific hardware elements, you need to still create special aircraft systems. We need not fundamentally new technologies, but the revival of launch vehicles of large loading capacity. In the US, such rockets were in the 60s and 70s, and in Russia there was one in the 80s – "Energy".
MP: You have a step-by-step plan for preparing for Mars flight mission?
– First of all, we must take this challenge and determine the time frame of the mission. You can not say: "I’m going to Mars, and one day it happens". It is necessary to have a clear temporary landmark: for example, the first flight will happen in ten years. This plan will determine the set of necessary aircraft systems. Next, we will begin to develop these systems and, as soon as they are ready, fly.
My project is called Mars Direct. For this scenario, a carrier rocket is needed, due to the power comparable to Saturn-5. The mission is divided into two launches, the first spacecraft starts, which includes a returned apparatus, and sits on Mars. As a result of the reaction from hydrogen delivered from the Earth, carbon dioxide from the atmosphere of Mars and the electricity of the nuclear reactor is made methane and water, this will serve as fuel for the returned apparatus. The next time you start, two more carrier missiles are sent: the returned apparatus and the piloted spacecraft with the crew, possibly of four astronauts. They land on the site 1, where they are waiting for the fully refilled (combustible from the Martian atmosphere) the return apparatus. After planting a residential module of a migratory ship turns into a planetary base for accommodation on Mars during studies for one and a half years. Having worked on Mars, the crew passes into the take-off rocket (by that time enough fuel was developed) and starts directly to the ground, leaving on Mars base. So each time the settlement network expands. Perhaps at the initial stage of the base will be dispersed at a distance of several hundred kilometers from each other – so you can explore different zones before making a decision to carry out the following landings and create a basic base. There is nothing beyond the scope of technology today.

Once Mars was a living planet, it had rivers and lakes, oceans, and they were there for a billion years. If the theory that life is natural chemical development, and life on Mars should have appeared. And if we find fossils there, we can prove that the development of life from chemical elements is a general phenomenon in the entire Universe
MP: Who should take part in the implementation of the Plan – state organizations?
– If you contact the past: Columbus, Lewis and Clark – they sponsored the government. The state helped them go on the road, and then a private initiative entered the game. So here – the state can assist the beginning of the implementation of the Plan, and then private sources will be connected. Private initiatives can help make a project more economically cost-effective. So, for example, Spacex company produces space rockets that are significantly cheaper than others. US without a doubt could carry out the program on their own. International cooperation needs not because we do not have enough budget. Strictly speaking, it is necessary to strengthen international relations. In particular between Russia and the USA. Now the relationship between these countries has deteriorated greatly, it can be said, even in a dangerous state. There is no thorough reason for the conflict between them, and, although we never fought, there were situations when a catastrophe could happen. I believe that the Russian-American program for sending a person to space can contribute to our cohesion. It must be an ambitious flight program for Mars in ten years. A program that inspires and interests people, especially youth, and makes space a great adventure. The message should be like this: study science, and you can become a researcher of the new world. Throwing such a challenge, we will get millions of young scientists, doctors, inventors, technology entrepreneurs.
We will understand whether life is built on Mars on the same model that on Earth, or samples of Martian life at the biochemical level differ. This is important for understanding not only the diversity of life forms in the universe, but also the nature of these forms
MP: This is about the benefits of life on Earth. But speaking about Mars, which we can find out information, what resources get?
– First of all there are fundamental issues of natural science. Once Mars was a living planet, it had rivers and lakes, oceans, and they were there for a billion years. If the theory that life is natural chemical development, and life on Mars should have appeared. And if we find fossils there, we can prove that the development of life from chemical elements is a general phenomenon in the entire Universe. The whole history of life on Earth is the history of development from simpler forms in more complex, when a greater potential appears for different types of activities, evolution occurs, intelligence develops. And if life is everywhere, it means that the intellect is everywhere. So we are not the only reasonable creatures in the Universe. If we carry drillings on Mars, at a depth in the soil we can detect microorganisms that live in there for 3 billion years, and then we will conduct a biochemical analysis. Then we understand whether life was built on Mars on the same model that on Earth, or samples of Martian life at the biochemical level differ. This is important for understanding not only the diversity of life forms in the universe, but also the nature of these forms. Life on Earth is born on one model: we all use the same set of amino acids, the same RNA DNA-method of replication of information and transmission from generation to generation. And it does not matter: mushrooms, crocodiles, bacteria or people – in this sense we are the same. Is life on earth a model for life education everywhere? We can learn this by recovering Mars. That is, we learn what life is. It’s how to understand what language is. If we owned only one language and knew about the existence of only one language, we would not have the idea of the language as a phenomenon. In my language, the word order shows part of speech, in your language part of the speech show the endings, in Chinese, the tones play this role. There are many different models as the language can be arranged. Thus, learning what life is, we will make fundamental discoveries in biology. And now it is even difficult to appreciate what significant progress in science will entail it.