This article appeared in the March/April 2021 issue of Astronomy's
sister publication, Discover
as "Medicine for Mars." Support our science journalism by becoming a subscriber.
Science fiction writers have been dreaming of a crewed mission to Mars for over a century. But it wasn’t until Wernher von Braun published the English translation of his book, The Mars Project, in 1953 that the idea was plucked out of the realm of fiction and into reality.
The Mars Project makes an impressive case for the technical feasibility of getting to Mars, outlining with extraordinary specificity how 10 space vehicles, each manned with 70 people and using conventional propellant, could achieve a round-trip voyage to the Red Planet.
Although science has developed considerably since the book was published, challenges still remain, from designing a breathable habitat to growing nutritious food. But there’s another issue that a NASA research project called the Center for the Utilization of Biological Engineering in Space (CUBES) has been working on since 2017, one that is as essential to the long-term success of an off-planet human settlement as air or food: treating illness.
It’s a tricky problem that doesn’t have an easy answer. What about packing the shuttle full of medicine? This might seem like a realistic solution at first glance, but astronauts can’t know in advance all of the ways they could get sick. There are some known risks to sending human life to Mars, such as the effects of the planet’s lower gravity on bone density and muscle mass or potential exposure to cosmic radiation as astronauts leave the protective cover of Earth’s atmosphere. But packing medicines for every contingency would be expensive and take up precious cargo space.
Nor could astronauts depend on timely shipments from Earth, due to the long distance between our planet and Mars. The spacecraft that have landed on Mars have taken the better part of a year to get there. Perseverance, the most recent robotic rover sent to Mars on July 30, 2020, is expected to land by the time you read this: more than 200 days after launch. That’s far too long to deliver urgent, lifesaving medications or supplies.
Synthetic solutions
Rather than sending astronauts into space with a costly and finite stock of medicines, scientists have approached the problem a little differently. What if astronauts could manufacture on Mars what they need?