LEGO wants to inspire the next generation

of space explorers through building and play!

[♪ INTRO]

With the way things are looking in space exploration these days,

it's not impossible to believe that in the future,

we'll send humans to live on Mars.

If we do, I'm sure it will be amazing —

people will feel inspired, and we'll learn

so much about the solar system.

But those aren't the only things we would get out of this.

To live, sleep, eat, and breathe on Mars,

these astronauts will need some of the

very best tech we can dream up —

but as a bonus, that tech could actually help us

tackle challenges on Earth, too.

Here are three ways that living on Mars

could also improve our lives here at home.

One thing future explorers will need is

molecular oxygen, or O2.

After all, the Martian atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide,

which is very different from what we can breathe.

Astronauts will need some way to create

a habitable atmosphere.

And the cool thing is, the tech they might use to do that

could help us fight climate change here on Earth.

To breathe on Mars, most engineers agree

that the best solution isn't to haul gigantic

canisters of oxygen from Earth.

So instead, they're looking at ways to turn some of

the CO2 in the Martian atmosphere into O2.

And that's… harder than it sounds. CO2

is a pretty stable molecule, and generally,

you have to put in energy of some kind to

persuade it to give up its oxygen atoms.

But we have found some ways to do it.

One way is to use electricity to split CO2

into carbon monoxide and oxygen.

And that method is scheduled to be tested

as part of NASA's Mars 2020 mission,

in an experiment known as MOXIE.

But another method was published in 2019

in the journal Nature Communications,

and it uses even more extreme chemistry.

In this study, the authors smashed

CO2 molecules into gold foil.

CO2 molecules are normally shaped like a straight line,

with the oxygens at either end.

But this method bent them out of shape.

That brought the two oxygens closer together

and made it easier for them to react to form

O2 and an atom of carbon.

The yield was pretty poor, with only around

1% of the CO2 molecules producing proper O2.

But hey, this strategy is in its early days.

This kind of science would be game-changing

for future Martians, but here on Earth,

CO2 is more of a problem than a resource.

We're adding more of it to our atmosphere every day,

and it's warming the planet —

something we can't afford to ignore.

So removing excess CO2 from our atmosphere

is a long-term priority for scientists.

And reactions like the ones they might

use on Mars could help with that.

After all, things like MOXIE or that

gold foil reaction don't just make O2.

They also destroy carbon dioxide.

And the authors of the 2019 study have

suggested their method could be applied on Earth

to get some of that extra CO2 out of our atmosphere!

The next thing astronauts will need to live on Mars

is some good, clean soil — both for potentially growing food,

and just for general day-to-day safety.

The biggest problem here is that scientists

believe Martian soil is full of a chemical

called perchlorate, which is toxic to humans.

It interferes with the thyroid gland,

which normally regulates our metabolisms.

So in the short term, it would be necessary

to protect astronauts from direct exposure to Martian dust,

since they could track it into their habitat

whenever they ventured out to explore.

And over longer time scales, any crops grown

in that dirt could pick up perchlorate,

meaning they'd be at risk of getting people sick.

But perchlorate isn't just a problem on Mars.

Here at home, it can also contaminate our drinking water.

So figuring out how to clean soil on the Red Planet

wouldn't just be good for astronauts —

it would be important for everyone.

Right now, there are some ways to chemically

degrade perchlorate in groundwater,

but it can be hard to get perchlorate

to react with cleaning agents.

So the solutions proposed for Mars could be really useful.

So far, some research groups have proposed we could

clean Martian soil by growing certain bacteria in it.

These microbes produce enzymes that could

break down perchlorate into less-toxic chlorite.

And as a byproduct, the process would also give off molecular oxygen — which is a nice

bonus.

In fact, in a 2013 article, scientists proposed

we could even incorporate these enzymes

into a portable emergency oxygen system

that astronauts could use on the fly.

They'd just have to scoop up some dirt,

mix it with water and some of the enzymes,

and let their suit feed them fresh O2.

So not only would we get cleaner soil

and a simpler way to treat groundwater

on Earth, but we'd also get an

emergency oxygen mechanism.

Finally, if we're going to stay on Mars

for any significant length of time,

we'll need to build habitats.

Because at some point, we'll probably

run out of room in our spacecraft.

On Mars, traditional building materials

like concrete and steel bars probably

won't be an option, since they're not exactly

abundant there and are way too heavy

and expensive to launch on rockets.

So engineers are turning to other solutions.

And on Earth, those ideas could help us

build more sustainable buildings and

decrease the impact we have on

our beautiful, green planet.

Recently, NASA challenged engineers to

come up with a way to 3-D print whole buildings on Mars.

And in May 2019, they awarded half a million dollars

to the winner of that challenge,

a company called AI SpaceFactory.

Their design uses a telescoping 3-D printer arm

mounted on a rover.

It can build entire structures autonomously,

and it uses materials that can be found

or made on the Red Planet.

Specifically, the design calls for basalt

derived from Martian rocks mixed with PLA,

a kind of plastic that can be made from plants —

plants that would be grown on Mars.

In NASA's competition, a one-third scale model

of the habitat withstood a battery of tests for

things like durability and water leakage.

But the company behind this technology

also intends to deploy it closer to home.

See, basalt and PLA are readily available on Earth.

Basalt is just a kind of rock, and PLA is a form

of plastic that's actually compostable.

So, according to AI SpaceFactory,

this technology can produce totally recyclable homes.

And they're already crowdfunding efforts to build some.

It might not seem like we need something

like this on Earth, but the reality is,

the concrete and steel industries produce

a lot of waste, and those materials

aren't exactly reusable.

It would be a lot nicer for our planet

if we could make our houses and

buildings out of something that

could ultimately be recycled.

At the end of the day, it will take clever strategies

like these and many more to help astronauts

live and work on Mars.

But from fighting climate change to building

more sustainable homes, they have a lot to offer

the rest of us here at home as well.

And it's never too early for the next generation

of engineers to start learning to innovate and

build tech just like this.

And LEGO City Space wants to help with that!

These sets were inspired by real tech challenges

like the ones we talked about today.

50 years ago, we went to the Moon,

and the explosion of innovation that accompanied

that giant leap was unparalleled.

What will we make when we go to Mars?

There's no way to know yet --

all the more reason to inspire our young

future engineers to get playing and creating.

We used kits like the Space Research & Development

People pack, Rover Testing Drive, and the Lunar Space

station set to help make this video.

Click the link in the description to start building

your next interplanetary adventure with

LEGO City Space. Let's go!

[♪ OUTRO]