Why live on Earth when you can live on Mars? Well, strictly
speaking, you can’t. Mars is a completely hostile environment to human
life, combining extreme cold with an unbreathable atmosphere and intense
radiation. And yet, if we want to expand into the Solar System, we’ll
need to learn to live on this planet. Here’s how we’ll do it.
The
Dragon Crew capsule is more than a modernized Apollo capsule. It will
land softly and at least on Earth will be reusable while Musk and SpaceX
dream of landing Falcon Crew on Mars. Credits: SpaceX
Reasons To Go:
Let’s face it, humanity wants (and needs) to go Mars, and for several
reasons. For one, there’s the spirit of exploration, setting foot on a
new world and exploring the next great frontier – like the Apollo
astronauts did in the late 60s and early 70s.
We also need to go there if we want to create a backup location for
humanity, in the event that life on Earth becomes untenable due to
things like Climate Change. We could also go there to search for
additional resources like water, precious metals, or additional
croplands in case we can no longer feed ourselves.
In that respect, Mars is the next, natural destination. There’s also a
little local support, as Mars does provide us some raw materials. The
regolith, the material which covers the surface, could be used to make
concrete, and there are cave systems which could be converted into
underground habitats to protect citizens from the radiation.
Elon Musk has stated that the goal of SpaceX is to
help humans get to Mars,
and they’re designing rockets, landers and equipment to support that.
Musk would like to build a Mars colony with 80,000 people. Which is a
good choice, as its probably the second most habitable place in our
Solar System. Real estate should be pretty cheap, but the commute is a
bit much.
And then there’s the great vistas to think about. Mars is beautiful,
after a fashion. It looks like a nice desert planet with winds, clouds,
and ancient river beds. But maybe, just maybe, the best reason to go
there is because it’s hard! There’s something to be said about setting a
goal and achieving it, especially when it requires so much hard work
and sacrifice.
Reasons NOT To Go:
Yeah, Mars is pretty great… if you’re not made of meat and don’t need to
breathe oxygen. Otherwise, it’s incredibly hostile. It’s not much more
habitable than the cold vacuum of space. First, there’s no air on Mars.
So if you were dropped on the surface, the view would be spectacular.
Then you’d quickly pass out, and expire a couple minutes later from a
lack of oxygen.
There’s also virtually no air pressure, and temperatures are
incredibly cold. And of course, there’s the constant radiation streaming
from space. You also might want to note that the soil is toxic, so
using it for planting would first require that it be put through a
decontamination process.
Afternoon on Mars (MSL Mastcam mosaic)(NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS. Edit by Jason Major)
Assuming we can deal with those issues, there’s also the major
problem of having limited access to spare parts and medical supplies.
You can’t just go down to the store when you’re on Mars if your kidney
gives out or if your sonic screwdriver breaks.
There will need to be a constant stream of supplies coming from Earth
until the Martian economy is built up enough to support itself. And
shipping from Earth will be very expensive, which will mean long period
between supply drops.
One more big unknown is what the low gravity will do to the human
body over months and years. At 40% of Earth normal, the long-term
effects are not something we currently have any information on. Will it
shorten our lifespan or lengthen it? We just don’t know.
There’s a long list of these types of problems. If we intend to live
on Mars, and stay there permanently, we’ll be leaning pretty hard on our
technology to keep us alive, never mind making us comfortable!
Solutions:
In order to survive the lack of air pressure and the cold,
humans will need pressurized and heated habitats. Martians, the
terrestrial kind, will also need a spacesuit whenever they go outside.
Every hour they spend outside will add to their radiation exposure, not
to mention all the complications that exposure to radiation brings.
Artist’s concept of a habitat for a Mars colony. Credit: NASA
For the long term, we’ll need to figure out how to extract water from
underground supplies, and use that to generate breathable air and
rocket fuel. And once we’ve reduced the risk of suffocation or dying of
dehydration, we’ll need to consider food sources, as we’ll be outside
the delivery area of everyone except Planet Express. Care packages could
be shipped up from Earth, but that’s going to come with a hefty price
tag.
We’ll need to produce our own food too, since we can’t possible hope
to ship it all in on a regular basis. Interestingly, although toxic,
Martian soil can be used to grow plants once you supplement it and
remove some of the harsher chemicals. NASA’s extensive experience in
hydroponics will help.
To thrive on Mars, the brave adventurers may want to change
themselves, or possibly their offspring. This could lead to genetic
engineering to help future generations adapt to the low gravity, higher
radiation and lower air pressure. And why stop at humans? Human
colonists could also adapt their plants and animals to live there as
well.
Finally, to take things to the next level, humanity could make a few
planetary renovations. Basically, we could change Mars itself through
the process of terraforming. To do this, we’ll need to release megatons
of greenhouse gasses to warm the planet, unleashing the frozen water
reserves. Perhaps we’ll crash a few hundred comets into the planet to
deliver water and other chemicals too.
An artist’s conception of future Mars astronauts. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
This might take thousands, or even millions of years. And the price
tag will be, for lack of a better word, astronomical! Still, the
technology required to do all this is within our current means, and the
process could restore Mars to a place where we could live on it even
without a spacesuit.
And even though we may not have all the particulars worked out just
yet, there is something to be said about a challenge. As history has
shown, there is little better than a seemingly insurmountable challenge
to bring out the best in all of us, and to make what seems like an
impossible dream a reality.
To quote the late, great John F. Kennedy, who addressed the people of
the United States back when they was embarking on a similarly difficult
mission:
We choose to go to the Moon! … We
choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not
because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will
serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills,
because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are
unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win
What do you think? Would you be part of the Mars terraforming expedition? Tell us in the comments below.
Source:
Universe Today, written by Matt Williams
