The exploration and colonization of Mars is a long term goal for NASA and humanity. There are many challenges with going and living on Mars, one of which is food. In terms of manned missions the less food needed to be brought the better to save space and weight. In terms of living on Mars, a permanent food source will need to be established. Growing crops on Mars is difficult due to its cold climate. This is where the research of Robin Wordsworth into aerogel comes into play. aerogel is an incredibly light solid the resembles Styrofoam, and likewise, it is an excellent insulator. Wordsworth used a lamp to simulate the light of the sun on Mars and was able to use 2-3 centimeters of aerogel to heat a Surface below it to 65 degrees Celsius, this is enough to melt ice on Mars. It means that aerogel could be used to great effect in buildings on Mars.
Wordsworth got the idea for the experiment by analyzing the natural processes on Mars. There are "dark spots" on Mars made up of carbon dioxide ice caps. The Carbon Dioxide is translucent and allows sunlight to heat the Martian surface which melts the ice and allows the carbon dioxide to sneak in the of the ice. The surface then ruptures which brings martian soil located below the ice to the surface. This idea led Wordsworth to use solid and crushed up chunks of aerogel to heat the surface. They also tried using different lamps to simulate the different seasons on Mars.
This would be a monumental achievement for the habitation of Mars. This proof of concept shows that with enough aerogel and time we could create permanent regions of liquid water on Mars. Due to the distance between Earth and Mars and its environment, we would need to find a way to produce food on the planet. Terraforming is an option but is leagues more impractical then creating habitable zones with aerogel. This puts distant goals like the colonization of Mars many years closer.
This project shows how testing before committing to an idea is very important. This aerogel experiment shows the potential viability of this product in the NASA program. Had they just went along with aerogel without testing or had not tested aerogel they would have gone along with inferior plans. As the article states “the experiment was an encouraging proof of concept” and "Our prediction is that aerogel shielding should provide more efficient heating as it scales in size," Wordsworth said. I think my JPL group is successful insofar as we have done testing to create a proof a concept for a new design. However, we are unsuccessful because we are somewhat behind on our design.