How going to Mars improves life on Earth | Eric Hinterman

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4.1 • 11.9K Ratings

🗓️ 9 December 2021

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

Memory foam, air purifiers, scratch-resistant lenses: these are just a few of the everyday items originally developed for space missions. Aerospace engineer Eric Hinterman invites us to dream big and imagine what technological advancements could come next, explaining why establishing a human presence on Mars is a big step for life on Earth -- and a giant leap toward becoming a space-faring species.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to TED Talks Daily. I'm Elise Hew. Should we spread humanity into the rest of the solar system?
0:11.7	Aerospace engineer and researcher Eric Hinterman thinks, yes. He wants to send humans to Mars, and he's working on an instrument to produce oxygen there. In his talk from
0:22.0	TEDxMIT in 2020, he makes the case for why venturing to Mars, and possibly the rest of the solar
0:28.1	system, could improve and possibly extend life on Earth, too. I am all in on sending humans to Mars.
0:38.3	There is nothing I want to achieve more in my career than seeing humans step foot on that planet,
0:43.3	because I know it could be the start of humanity spreading into the cosmos.
0:48.3	I'd be happy to be that first person on Mars, but my wife thinks that a three-year vacation to a deserted planet with no oxygen, no real
0:56.2	atmosphere, nothing to eat or drink, freezing temperatures, bone-depleting gravity, and space
1:01.4	radiation is a bad idea. For some reason. So I'll settle for sending someone else. Okay, so I'm going
1:08.4	to tell you why we should go to Mars and why we should spread humanity
1:11.9	into the rest of the solar system. I'll also show you that by setting out on the next great age of
1:17.3	space exploration, we'll actually make Earth a much better place to live as well. But before we do that,
1:23.2	I want to tell you about something that happened very recently that I am very excited about.
1:28.3	We made oxygen on Mars.
1:30.3	I work on the Mars 2020 rover.
1:32.3	Perseverance is what it's called, or Percy for short.
1:35.3	My role on the mission is to help one of the instruments on board, called Moxie, make oxygen from the atmosphere on Mars.
1:43.3	I am fortunate to be part of the excellent team that has made Moxie a reality.
1:47.8	Moxie stands for the Mars Oxygen ISRU experiment.
1:51.7	ISRU stands for in situ resource utilization.
1:55.3	Don't ask me why we chose to put an acronym within an acronym.
1:58.9	Sometimes we make bad decisions in life. What this all means is that
	...

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