Spacex launches its Falcon Heavy rocket today as a step closer to the plan of colonizing Mars

Falcon Heavy is being launched by Spacex in T -10 mins, as the unmanned rocket sits on the launch pad with a payload for space. I am watching it live on Youtube. This is a fired up moment, the weather is good, winds are low so it’s GO for launch.

Three rockets are being counted down for liftoff in the launch today. Arabsat is receiving this payload, it’s a high capacity TV satellite for Middle East and Africa. The Spacex rocket is steaming as we watch and wait. T – 5 mins now until liftoff. Even blockchain has its own satellites linking up the decentralized ledger globally. Satellites are what have connected us to the global village. And rockets put them in orbit.

Falcon Heavy is on internal power now. The steam is increasing all around the triple-barreled rocket with the single central one pointed up above the rest. And it’s a launch, powering into the sky accompanied by cheers and applause. 5.1 million pounds of thrust send Falcon Heavy beyond our stratosphere in minutes. Successful separation of the two side rockets taking place now amid more cheering.

Three cameras on the sides of the rockets show us the visuals from the outside. Side boosters have detached and are on their way back to Cape Canaveral already, telemetry is looking good. This is another regular occurrence nowadays in our modern era, as the International Space Station and other satellites are serviced and maintained by Falcon Heavy and other rockets from Spacex. The launch from Kennedy Space Center is still a powerful event, and 12 500 people are watching it live on Youtube with me. Not that many anymore nowadays with the launch perhaps a regular occurrence to most.

Nevertheless new breakthroughs happen every time. Today all three booster rockets have landed for the first time ever from the Falcon heavy launch. The return to earth of the two side booster rockets is an advancement in rocket science. They land backwards to the way they took off. It looks quite futuristic. The central booster rocket still lands in the sea.
It’s 28 mins into the flight now and Falcon is in outer space, with camera showing the blackness of space all around. Nominal orbit has been achieved already. By 33 mins the deployment of the satellite occurs. It’s higher than normal around 20 000 miles above the atmosphere.

The two-stage rocket boosting produces 5 million pounds of thrust. More lift capacity and a stronger heat shield are present today. 70% of the way through the first burn the side rockets release and land back, The central core rocket then proceeds like a regular Falcon 9 after that. From geosynchronous orbit the rocket will go into geostationary orbit.
We take so much for granted in life nowadays, particularly the ever-increasing technology that’s unfolding around us like today’s rocket launch. It was all over in 33 minutes. There is exponentially more going on due to the increased population each successive decade I presume, and the progress of previous generations leading up to ours. We still climb ever upward on the shoulders of giants as we explore new frontiers of outer and inner space.

Elon Musk has made it into space and now has his sights on Mars. The South African born with Canadian citizenship from one parent (and American now), has even outlined a plan to get humans on Mars as soon as 2024. Then from there it’s just a matter of planet hopping all the way throughout the entire solar system. Curiously the UAE aims for a city on Mars of 600 000 in 100 years from now. Some people know how to think long term.

Musk has a faster time frame. After tests they hope to reach Mars by 2022 with two unmanned ships. That’s the best year for a flight as our earth planet enters the ideal orbit in relation to Mars then, and every two years, if we miss this opportunity. The first ships could deposit power, mining and life support infrastructure to receive future manned flights. About 100 tons per ship will be delivered and it will test for water as well as other potential hazards.

Besides this there may be a more pressing plan to head to the Moon first, while awaiting the precise planetary alignment with Mars. The Moon could act as a spring board or halfway station perhaps for fueling on the way to mars and also their might be an easier launch from the Moon considering the low gravity. A lot will be required of the first humans on Mars to facilitate creating methane and liquid oxygen to fuel ships that come back to earth. Their plant on Mars will apparently need a ton of ice a day to fuel itself. A daunting task unless you are a space cowboy, a pioneer of the new frontiers.

The first Mars colony will also use solar-powered hydroponics to grow food, without the need for soil. It could occur in 7 – 10 years from now. We may still be alive to witness it, like I did the Spacex rocket launch today. I was also alive when the American Moon landing allegedly took place with Neil Armstrong. I was just a baby of course and don’t remember it, although I do remember watching the NASA Space Shuttle Challenger or one of them (the other was Columbia) launch and explode in the air a minute or so after liftoff, killing all seven astronauts on 28 January 1985 or thereabouts. It was shocking and space flight is naturally fraught with risks. Who can even imagine what it may be like for the first humans to return to Mars, since this may not be our first time to go there in the history of the human race and the cosmos, though that is a speculation open for debate. Call it an intuition based on the ancient Vedic texts of India and their talk of life on other planets.

As for the colonization of Mars, Spacex could use 10 orbital synchronizations to complete a city by 2050. 2027 would be another opportune time to harness the planetary alignment for a further launch. Musk himself sees a 70% chance that he will visit Mars himself in his lifetime. The learning curve and collateral damage on human life getting the Mars colony set up may be high, but one day it will be safe for your children to live, or their children. And once Mars is safe the next step will be further planets in the solar system, once propellant depots are set up along the way. Then if something were to happen to the earth, the species could venture off into space and find a new home somewhere else. I wonder if we haven’t ever done something like that already?

https://www.inverse.com/article/51291-spacex-here-s-the-timeline-for-getting-to-mars-and-starting-a-colony