Mars exploration motivates the search for extraterrestrial life, the development of space technologies, and the design of human missions and habitations. Here, we seek new insights and pose unresolved questions relating to the natural history of Mars, habitability, robotic and human exploration, planetary protection, and the impacts on human society. Key observations and findings include: – high escape rates of early Mars' atmosphere, including loss of water, impact present-day habitability; – putative fossils on Mars will likely be ambiguous biomarkers for life; – microbial contamination resulting from human habitation is unavoidable; and – based on Mars' current planetary protection category, robotic payload(s) should characterize the local martian environment for any life-forms prior to human habitation. Some of the outstanding questions are: – which interpretation of the hemispheric dichotomy of the planet is correct; – to what degree did deep-penetrating faults transport subsurface liquids to Mars' surface; – in what abundance are carbonates formed by atmospheric processes; – what properties of martian meteorites could be used to constrain their source locations; – the origin(s) of organic macromolecules; – was/is Mars inhabited; – how can missions designed to uncover microbial activity in the subsurface eliminate potential false positives caused by microbial contaminants from Earth; – how can we ensure that humans and microbes form a stable and benign biosphere; and – should humans relate to putative extraterrestrial life from a biocentric viewpoint (preservation of all biology), or anthropocentric viewpoint of expanding habitation of space? Studies of Mars' evolution can shed light on the habitability of extrasolar planets. In addition, Mars exploration can drive future policy developments and confirm (or put into question) the feasibility and/or extent of human habitability of space.
<p>We give an update on ILEWG EuroMoonMars Results, with emphasis on activities and field campaigns that took place in 2019-2020 including lunar astronautics events during 2020 pandemics. We present life and research at Moonbase from EuroMoonMars campaigns EMMIHS HISEAs, EMMPOL Poland that simulated science and operations at future Moonbases. EuroMoonMars is an ILEWG programme&#160; following up ICEUM declarations as a collaboration between ILEWG, space agencies, academia, universities and research institutions and industries .</p><p><strong>EMMIHS campaigns (EuroMoonMars-IMA International Moonbase Alliance- HiSEAS): </strong>EuroMoonMars 2018-20 supported field campaigns at&#160; IMA HI-SEAS base on Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii. The International Moonbase Alliance (IMA), an organization dedicated to building sustainable settlements on the Moon, has been organising regular simulated missions to the Moon or Mars at HI-SEAS. In 2019, the EuroMoonMars campaigns were launched at HI-SEAS, bringing together researchers from the European Space Agency, VU Amsterdam, ILEWG and IMA. Six scientists, engineers, explorers, journalists spent two weeks at the HI-SEAS station performing research relevant to both the Moon and Mars there. Research and technological experiments conducted at HI-SEAS will be used to help build a Moonbase .</p><p><strong>EuroMoonMars during 2020 Pandemics </strong>We had to replan and adapt EuroMoonMars workshops and fields events. A number of hybrid and virtual events could be organized following safety distancing instructions. We conducted 35 weekly plenary EMM teleconferences (Fridays 17h CET) and many EMM splinter groups meetings.</p><p><strong>2020/06 EMM Iceland CHILL-ICE Scouting. </strong>A small team explored locations and collaborations for installing a deployable research habitat in lavatube for May 2021.&#160;</p><p><strong>2020/10 EMMPOL EuroMoonMars Poland. </strong>We were able to organise in controlled safety conditions 2 one-week Moonbase isolation simulations, in order to conduct a number of research investigations, human factors studies, with 5 crew supported by a remote support team.</p><p><strong>*Acknowledgements: </strong>We thank ILEWG EuroMoonMars field campaigns crew 2016-2020 (including the EMMIHS crew and remote support team from EMMIHS 1-4 and &#160;EMMPOL1 &2 .</p>
The World Wide Web connects less and disconnects more. In Germany as in the United States, disconnecting factions digitize their ideologies and overnight multiply their adherents. Such forces of disruption are incessant. Appeal to constructivist theory reveals that beneath this destabilizing dynamic is awareness of contingency, the feeling of disempowerment in the face of an unpredictable and uncontrollable future. Religion has the potential for stabilizing, but religious leaders will need to reignite a faith in the future to make this happen.
In a preliminary empirical study of social-science and humanities students enrolled in teacher-training programs at two German universities, the authors have found a disparaging view of technology and science among said students. Their material knowledge of technology and science is the result of content they learned in high-school themselves. After having graduated, they chose social-sciences or humanities as their subjects. There is little or no overlap between science and engineering subjects and social-science and humanities subjects in teacher training programs. Apart from the students choices, this is also the consequence of an institutionally established and strict segregation of the academic fields that does not, unlike in other university systems, require the students to enroll in at least basic interdisciplinary courses. The result for science and technology awareness among the students is problematic, to say the least. While their knowledge of science and technology -being the product of high-school education - is often not up to date and also lacking in current developments, their moral and ethical judgement about the implications of scientific research and use of technology is strong. The preliminary study also showed that the students are interested in new technological and scientific developments, they just lack the ability to include this into their worldview, which is very strongly influenced by their choice of subjects in the humanities and social-sciences. Teaching these students has convinced the authors that their lack of technology and science knowledge combined with their inherent tendency to judge science and technology from the point of view of their respective field, impairs their ability to take an adequate part in science and technology discourse. Their awareness, and thus, their competence to rationally engage with science and technology is lacking. That is in part due to the depiction of science and technology in humanities and social-science courses, and on the other hand due to a lack of current science and technology education as part of a humanities and social-sciences program. The result becomes even more alarming if we assume that the future teachers will continue to relay their heavily biased opinions on science and technology in general, as well as their deficient knowledge of specific technologies to their future students, thus generating a vicious cycle of inadequate technology and science awareness. As the authors’ study has shown, these students are really interested in science and technology, they just lack key competencies to make an analytical connec- tion between their field of choice (humanities and social sciences) and technology and science, without resorting to moral and ethical judgement.
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