Mars Colony Essay

History and Background: Since the earliest stages of civilization, Mars has been an object of interest for astronomers. The red plant has adopted many different names over time: Nergal, from the Babylonians, Har Decher, from the Egyptians, Ares, from the Greeks and Mars, from the Romans. Since those days we have made huge in strides in understanding just what Mars is. It was believed until only a few hundred years ago that Mars harbored life quite similar to our own. We of course know now that is probably not true, but who’s to say it always has to be that way. 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 atmosphere is about one hundred times thinner than Earth’s and is unable to retain heat. The atmosphere is made up of about ninety-five percent carbon dioxide, two percent Nitrogen and less than one percent oxygen, with some other stuff in between. This of course causes problems for colonizers since they will be unable to survive unaided in these rough conditions. However, minor amounts of water, nitrogen oxide and hydrogen-deuterium-oxygen is exactly what has led man to speculate a colony on Mars will thrive both economically and socially. Nonetheless, we must still keep in mind that the Mars atmosphere is thick enough to produce weather, such as winds. These winds have created dust storms that blanket the planet for months on end. Even snow has occurred on Mars, with flakes made of carbon dioxide instead of water. All of this can cause some major problems in the early stages of colonization, though there are ways we will be able to rise above