Is Mars Colonization a Good Idea?
Among celestial bodies in our solar system, Mars is remarkable in that it possesses all the raw resources required to sustain not only life, but a new branch of individual evolution.
The time to colonize Mars would certainly be required when the Earth becomes uninhabitable as the global warming rises up. When that happens, Mars has the potential to become the most habitable planet in our solar system. Nevertheless, even with positive extrapolation of robotic manufacturing techniques, Mars will not have the labor required to make it fully self-sufficient; until and unless its population is in millions. Thus it will be necessary for colonization of Mars to import goods from Earth.
Benefits
There are many prospects
Beginning of New Era
May be the initial trip to Mars can be sponsored by any nation or some space agency. However, in the end Mars will be for everyone. There would be no boundaries on Mars like the one which has been set up currently in our Earth. Thus, Mars could be the establishment of a new period in human diplomacy.
5. Economic Stability
The research on Mars has shown the availability of rare metals such as gold, platinum, silver, and others on Mars. Thus, shipment from Mars to Earth would be much easier than from Earth to Mars. The proximity of the asteroid belt to Mars is much more promising. For example, Dactyl, the moon orbiting the asteroid Ida contains more iron that the human on earth has used from entire existence. These asteroids can be mined near Mars and shipped for low cost to planet. Thus Mars promises economic potential if colonized.
From the above mentioned points, aset up of settlement on Mars is not far-off. However, still the question remains in everyone’s mind that if colony on Mars would be self-sufficient? Still there are many challenges which need to be addressed.
Challenges
The average surface temperature of Mars may be the condition required for hospitability however, the temperature in midday can be fairly close to 20 °C but at nighttime temperature can be as low as -70
References
1. Human Mars Exploration: The Time Is Now, Robert Zubrin, Journal of Cosmology, Vol 12. 3549-3557.
2. The Problem of Human Missions to Mars, Michael Robinson, Ph.D., Journal of Cosmology, Vol 12. 3558-3565.
3. Acceptable Risk: The Human Mission to Mars, Jack Stuster, PhD, CPE, Journal of Cosmology, Vol 12. 3566-3577.
4. Humans on Mars: Why Mars? Why Humans? Planning for the Scientific Exploration of Mars by Humans. Part 1. Joel S. Levine, Ph.D., James B. Garvin, Ph.D., David W. Beaty, Ph.D., Journal of Cosmology, Vol 12. 3627-3635.
5. Martian Geology Investigations. Planning for the Scientific Exploration of Mars by Humans. Part 2.Joel S. Levine, Ph.D., James B. Garvin, Ph.D., James W. Head, Ph.D., Journal of Cosmology, Vol 12. 3636-3646.
6. A Practical Approach for the Detection of Life in Lithic Environments on Mars, Thomas D. Nickles, Ph.D., and Ronald L. Crawford, Ph.D., Journal of Cosmology, Vol 12.
Many important themes can be drawn from reading Roving Mars that share important lessons about the scientific process. This personal account by the author, Steven Squyres, shares his story of passion toward being able to play a hand in the exploration of mars. The account shares many valuable lessons that we can learn for the scientific process and trend that appear in most scientific discovery. The greatest theme that can be gathered from Squyres story is that Science is never easy and it may come with many failures but the most important thing to do is persevere through these challenges. Another important thing to gather from the book is that not all discovery involves proving everything right or testing everything then and there to see if
Mars is our next best hope in life on another planet. Because of science mankind can grow and harvest plants in the modified mars soil, make a thick warm atmosphere, and drink no frozen mars water. Mankind can grow and flourish more as a species with this idea of colonizing mars. With more scientific advancements we can colonize mars and we will colonize mars.
Its made up of 95.32% carbon dioxide, 2.7% nitrogen, 1.6% argon, 0.13% oxygen, and 0.08% carbon monoxide. As you can see, there’s a huge difference. The levels that Mars has creates an environment not suitable for life. So if someone were to be stranded on Mars, there would be no way to survive for very long on their
Mars is an interesting topic for me, it represents an upcoming change in human engineering- a change in our thinking. Sitting in my blue chair, I ask myself questions. What do we do with our little red planet? Do we colonize it? Make it like our Earth? Or do we ignore it,...
The ESA established in France has contributed to several researches surrounding Mars. My countries stand on the topic is that the most easy and fastest option we have in this time of crisis is that we colonize mars. My country would have the following policies about this endeavour, only people who are healthy enough to travel and reside in mars would be given an opportunity to do so, people who can contribute towards making mars a more hospitable planet such as astronauts, scientists, researchers, doctors, engineers, and architects would be given priority as they would be able to help in developing colonies in mars. Those who wish to not join the expedition or those who are left behind due to their health would be given enough resources to sustain themselves for a period of a few years. We would follow the three step colonisation plan patented by
There is never a one hundred percent assurance of any specie’s permanent survival on a planet. Therefore, instead of relying on Earth to house us forever, humans should look elsewhere. Scientists and astronomers believe that there may be as many as ten billion planets in the universe where conditions could support life as we know it (Space Communities). Living in these non-Earth environments would require manned space missions and future technology such as orbital habitats, slingatrons, space elevators, and th...
It doesn't have any atmosphere, it's not as resource-rich as Mars, it's got a 28-day day — whereas the Mars day is 24-and-a-half hours. And in general Mars is far better suited to ultimately scale up to be a self-sustaining civilization. Mars has decent sunlight. It's a little cold, but we can warm it up. And it has a very helpful atmosphere which, in the case of Mars, being primarily CO2 with some nitrogen and few other trace elements, means that we can grow plants on Mars just by compressing the atmosphere.
For thousands of years, humans have looked up at the night sky and pondered their place in the cosmos. One little red dot in particular has long held our interest: Mars. Today, experts believe it's no longer a question of if we'll ever set foot on the Red Planet, but when. Recent technological advances mean this could happen within decades. While the dream of colonizing Mars is a fascinating one, is it a good idea?
Modern studies, such as flybys and rover missions, have confirmed that Mars, though not an ideal place for life, has many opportunities for it to thrive. With our modern technology here on Earth, developing a human colony on Mars as science fiction as it once was. Given all the new information collected and confirmed in the last hundred years or so, we can now explore the possibilities of what a Mars colony will be like.
The recent events regarding the NASA Mars probes have renewed the debate of reinstalling manned space missions with the objectives of exploring and landing on foreign worlds such as the moon and the red planet Mars, rather than the use of solely robotic craft and machines. It is my belief that we should return to the days of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, those of manned lunar landings and manned space exploration. Robots simply cannot and should not be allowed to be the sole means of visiting these worlds, nor should humans only be able to witness new findings second hand through the use of computers and machines. It is human nature to be normally curious of one’s surroundings, and it is important that we send one of our own to new worlds. The effects that past missions have had on the world’s people, as well as our political and cultural climates are another valid reason for flesh instead of metal to lay claim to space. Also, the limitless applications and new education that manned flights can bring to us from on site human interactions could lead to another technological and industrial revolution like the original lunar programs had done for us during the Gemini and Apollo programs.
Author David H Freedman for Scientific American wrote in his arti-cle “Jump-Starting the Or-bital Economy” explains that although having a in-terplanetary based econo-my would be cool, it would not be very practical with the cost of building, oper-ating, and shipping materi-als back and forth . Until there is a way to make traveling to and from Mars to be cost-effective, colo-nizing Mars can wait. The bottom line is that the technium isn’t de-veloped enough for hu-mans to safely travel, live, and flourish. We have oth-er issues to attend to, such as rescuing our ocean from climate change and making clean, fresh water available for everyone.
Humans can expect to face some major challenges on an expedition to Mars. It has been proven that humanity can travel in space for over two years. Cumulatively, Sergei Constantinovich Krikalev, a Russian cosmonaut, has spent over eight-hundred and three days in Earth orbit (Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, 2005). The expedition to Mars would require the crew to endure a six month journey to the planet, a year of living on the planet, and a six months journey back to Earth. Russian cosmonaut, Valery V. Polyakoz, clocking in at four-hundred and thirty-eight days for just one stay in Earth orbit, shows humanity is capable of a twelve month round trip to Mars (Schwirtz, 2009).
There are many reasons that space exploration should continue. If Earth ever becomes too overpopulated or over polluted, then perhaps people can move to Mars. The world population in 1970 was approximately 4 billion people, and is currently nearly 6 billion people. The world population in 2015 is estimated to be 7 billion people. There is a possibility that there are useful resources on Mars. Scientists have found ice and some other clues, such as craters, volcanoes, and valleys, that have led them to believe that there was once life on Mars, and they believe that sometime in the future, should planet Earth need to be evacuated, humans will be able to live there (Jakosky 142). Many of the rocks on Mars appear to have been formed by gasses, breathable by humans and other creatures. A process called terraforming will allow astronauts to make use of the resources that are on the planet and create an atmosphere that will support life. One method for terraforming is that scientists would convert the gaseous rocks back into gasses, and use gas-eating organisms to eat the gas, which results in the formation of other gasses. If these organisms continue the cycle, then Mars would have a stable atmosphere for humans to live in (Getz 39).
Since the beginning of time, mankind has sought after learning about and exploring the universe. This yearning drove us to achieve such great things as the journey to the moon and the discovery of water on mars. Nowadays, several people argue as to whether or not space exploration is worth the effort. I believe that it is humanity’s instinctual nature to pursue a better understanding of ourselves, and our universe. Further understanding of our universe will lead to the discovery of new technologies and ways to secure humanity’s survivability. As such, this essay will argue that space exploration is a necessity to our kind and that NASA should be progressively more financed.
... its terrain. Mars is one of the most studied planets in the solar system, and the study of possible life on the planet is extensive. The research and interest is not yet over and there is still much to learn about Earth’s celestial neighbor.