Carina Salcedo
1339611
ESS 102 A
Living in a Mars Colony vs Living Space Station My science fiction paper will be set in the not too distant future. Pollution and global warming have made Earth nearly uninhabitable and humanity needs a new home. While many look to Mars as the best hope, others feel it poses too many challenges and that humanity needs more than one chance at a new start. These people are building a large space station in orbit around Earth intended for . A small crew is sent out to set up a colony on another planet. The major topics of research will be space habitability and the effects of long term space flight. There are many challenges to setting up a colony on Mars. Humans are not built to live on a planet where the average temperature is -67 °F and the air is unbreathable (Williams, 2015). It may be possible to build a shelter to protect potential colonists from these dangers, but the technology that would be used to make a self
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But there is hope that artificial gravity could reduce or even eliminate many of these issues. To keep astronaut’s feet on the floor, a space wheel-shaped station could be spun like a top. This spinning would create centripetal force, pulling anything inside the space station toward the outer edge of the wheel (Hollingham, 2014). With an artificial source of gravity, the human body would function more normally. Muscle loss would be a problem of the past because astronauts would need to use their muscles to move around the same way they do on Earth (Hollingham, 2014). Health issues related to circulation of the blood would also be reduced. Because the human body evolved to function in Earth’s gravity, our circulatory systems expect our blood pressure to be slightly different at various points in the body (Hollingham, 2014). In microgravity, this is not the
Muscular and bone degeneration is something that also occurs in people who spend long periods of time in a low or null gravity environment, such as astronauts, and for muc...
The ethical implications of space exploration and colonization are a widely debated topic, many people have begun to question what ethical right we have to colonize another planet given the way humans have polluted and destroyed our own planet. This assertion is somewhat logically flawed in that rapidly increasing population and urbanization are largely responsible for the damage being done to the natural environment, and colonation of other planets would drastically reduce these problems by giving humans more environments to inhabit and draw resources from.
With the advances in technology and humanity’s ever growing need, the concept of space colonization is being discussed more and more as a possible solution to many of the problems that the planet Earth is facing. W. H. Siegfried, in his article “Space Colonization—Benefits for the World,” adopts the viewpoint that space colonization would be beneficial to the human race. Lynda Williams, on the other hand, chooses to view the idea of colonial space as unreasonable at this time in her article, “Irrational Dreams of Space Colonization.” Both of these authors make reasonable arguments, however, Williams provides a much more effective, well organized, and logical point of view.
One of the qualities of the human race is that humans love to explore and find new things, like how Christopher Columbus found America. With most of our planet documented now, where do we have to go? The answer is simply one of the only places we haven’t yet (or may never) explore all of: space. Wars may be waged over land on earth, as there isn’t any new land to find there. So, we can go into space where unexplored land can be conquered and colonized. And while it may not seem like it, in the near future, it may be possible to colonize humans in space.
Space travel is both fascinating and terrifying. The mystery of outer space captivates nearly all children and many adults. Neil Armstrong’s first words from the moon are iconic and will forever be engrained in the history of mankind. With the end of the Space Shuttle program many people have wondered if America’s space travels are coming to a close. Is space travel going to become a thing of the past? Kim Stanley Robison believes that the future of space travel, specifically an interplanetary mission to Mars, is not only fascinating, but necessary. In his short essay, “Why We Should Go to Mars”, Mr. Robinson starts with acknowledging that reasons for a mission to Mars “range from good to bad to terrible” (Robinson). He defines the range of common arguments which he believes are outlandish and seems to be wholly against the idea. His tone quickly changes as he presents what, in his opinion, are not only good but the best reasons as to why a Mars mission is not only a good idea, but a needed one.
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.
As a country we need to start investing more money and research into space technology. Programs currently exist for this effort, but the potential for research and progress is limited by a lack of funding; compared to other government funded programs, aerospace funding is pitiful. Continued research in space technology is a necessary step in our growth and development not just as a country but also as entire human race. If we are to achieve this goal, it is necessary to increase funding for space research and technology and consider the possibility of colonizing outer space. If we limit our existence to the planet Earth, and continue to drain the resources on this planet, we will destroy the only home we have.
Humans have dreamed of leaving the earth and traveling space for many years, and up to this day they have taken many steps in the right direction. Yet, with every new frontier they approach, new problems loom over the horizon. All problems involved with space exploration may not directly involve space itself. Many of those problems surface right here on Earth. Some of the easier issues have been resolved, such as escaping the forces of gravity to reach outer space. More of these problems are far more arduous and the solutions need more time to be worked out properly. In “The Coming Schism” by James E. and Alcestis R. Oberg, humans have already begun colonizing space, yet there are still new problems arising. Major problems such as financing, communication and culture conflicts are important in the journey to space, because they all have the potential to disrupt progress.
These organs are used to support the body in the constant pressure of Earth’s gravity, but due to the microgravity conditions in space make these structural organs almost useless. The weightless environment also causes poor posture on the part of astronauts, and standing straight takes considerable effort (Mann, 2012). NASA has found out, in an evidence report published in 2015, that this is an atrophic response on the part of the muscles, to adapt to the reduced gravity. Skeletal muscle attrition was also common in the expeditions they studied, and several MRI results even confirmed that the atrophy continues during longer exposures to
The Moon is a familiar face, a celestial beacon in the night sky. Earth’s only natural satellite, it has always been a subject of human interest. On September 13th 1959, humanity finally reached its nearest cosmic neighbor with the Lunar 2 probe, impacting on the Moon’s surface. By the end of 1972 NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, had successfully sent six manned missions to the moon. Now NASA wants to send more people to the Moon, not for a short mission, but to stay and live there.
Although space travel and technology has developed and advanced unbelievably over the past decades, making the move to have humans inhabiting space could be a real possibility. However, in reality this goal to have humans travel to Mars for research or inhabitancy with in a Bio-dome, in the near future, is an unrealistic goal. This is due to many aspects of space travel that have not been discovered or thought of yet. For a manned mission to the red planet, things that need to be considered more include; the harsh space environment, distance, how to get power, how to communicate, if terraforming will really work and the design of a Bio-dome that humans are able to survive in. These points will be discussed through the essay explaining why it is unrealistic for humans to travel and inhibit
Human space colonization is quickly becoming one of the main goals and necessities for our species. Although many arguments can be made both in support and against colonization I will try to limit them to just a few basic assumptions.
Clincher: As rightly said by someone, space is the final frontier for mankind, the space station is the first step.
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). Earth's orbit has provided some benefits to space exploration, like the magnetic field from cosmic radiation, and the proximity to Earth if an emergency were to arise (Jones, 2009). The further humans travel away from Earth the greater the risks become. The major risks to human health on a flight to Mars, living on Mars, and returning to Earth are: radiation exposure, biological problems induced by weightlessness, spacecraft malfunctions, and psychological problems brought on by isolation.
Though we seem many years away from interplanetary travel, a project called Mars One wishes to establish a colony of humans on Mars by 2026. They plan to send a crew of four on a one-way craft every 26 months. An important factor in the success of these missions are the people selected to live on Mars and their influence on this new society. They should have traits that will benefit and sustain the colony on Mars. Therefore, the four individuals selected should display traits of resourcefulness and adaptability.