How Long Would It Take To Climb Olympus Mons

Sci-Fi Ascent: Firm Calls For Road Up Tallest Mountain On Mars

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Is this a new borderland, or a sci-fi fantasy? A group of future-minded scientists want your help in making Martian exploration, and recreation, a reality.

Olympus Mons is the solar system's tallest planetary mountain — Photograph credit: Kevin Gill

Climbing Mt. Everest is one of the most grueling feats on Earth. Weeks of slogging up close to 29,000 feet, battling altitude sickness, tackling icefalls, and sucking at dwindling oxygen make it a test of human endurance.

Now, imagine climbing about 3 times higher — more than 13.five miles into the sky — with near no oxygen in average temps 10 times colder than the top of Everest.

Oh, and of course you have to travel 33.nine million miles across the vacuum of infinite first. Alpine start anyone?

These are the impossible barriers climbers must overcome to scale Olympus Mons, Mars's tallest peak and the highest planetary summit in our solar system.

Can you picture it? If so, 4th Planet Logistics is looking for someone like you. A conglomeration of scientists, engineers, and experts of robotics, law, finance, and more than, 4th Planet Logistics is a business aimed at expediting Mars exploration. And information technology believes outdoor recreation plays a large part.

Climb Olympus Mons

"I'd like to extend a personal invitation to become involved in our effort to establish a climbing route to the summit of Olympus Mons," writes Michael Chalmer Dunn, director at 4th Planet Logistics, on the company'due south weblog. His mail service is a callout to outdoor enthusiasts, experts, and brands to assistance "generate attention and support for futurity manned Mars missions" past making a virtual reality climbing experience like no other.

According to Dunn, the casting call of sorts is not aimed at a full logistical plan. That would crave gear to keep climbers warm at near -100°F, a full complement of oxygen (the Mars temper has almost 200 times less O2 than Earth's), and plenty rations and equipment to sustain a 72,000-foot climb (likely six months to a year).

Instead, quaternary Planet wants to "image map" Olympus Mons and create a plausible VR route. The goal is to create an immersive experience for the public to try, and stoke excitement and back up for real Mars exploration.

4th Planet Logistics

Anyone interested in throwing their proper noun in the (tinfoil) hat to plot a course upwards the tallest-known planetary mountain should contact 4th Planet Logistics. Information technology may sound far out… because it is.

The odds of an actual rising of Olympus Mons is, well, astronomical. Flesh has barely scratched the surface, literally, of deep-sea exploration, let alone deep infinite. The Mariana Trench, the deepest point on Earth, is simply half the altitude down (36,000 feet) as Olympus Mons is up (72,000 feet).

I asked Dunn for specifics on a planned ascent — price, time, equipment… rationale. Simply he told me finding that data was the whole signal of the callout. Plus, fourth Planet has only been posting updates every bit a business since December. Correct now, there isn't a lot of tangible substance behind its lofty mission.

Only Dunn and his team are serious. He told us 4th Planet recently reached a formal agreement to utilise an hush-hush lava tube in Iceland to test gear that could be used on Mars.

"[Nosotros're] researching and developing inflatable, terra forming and pressure barriers," he told us. The end goal is to accept inflatable tents that would be home to the start generation of Mars explorers.

So far, most of quaternary Planet's work is hypothetical. But the company's board consists of accomplished scientists and former NASA workers. With a footling help, it might help launch the futurity of human being endeavor. And who knows, maybe that help is you.

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