Nothing lasts forever, so it is only assumed that someday life on Earth will perish as well. It could go in a number of ways, by astroid, fire, natural disaster, but more likely human destruction. As we use up all of our precious resources we are forced to think, “Well what do we do when everything runs out?” The first thing people probably think of is moving to Mars, but is moving an entire race to a different planet even possible?
If we were to someday live on Mars, a few things would have to happen. First, we would have to get to Mars, a challenge in itself. One of the biggest problems getting a human to Mars would be radiation. There are two types of radiation that would cause humans problems, solar particle events(SPE) and galactic cosmic rays(GCR). These radiations could potentially lead to disastrous health affects for the astronauts, such as cancer. However, it is uncertain for how long someone must be exposed to this radiation to develop problems, and if there is a way to protect against such rays. One theory is to provide aluminum covers for the ship, but the cost of development would be astronomical. The journey itself would take years, and the take off date would have to be carefully planned so that Mars would be in it’s shortest distance of 60 million km.
Once we would get to Mars, we would have to become completely self sustaining. A greenhouse dome would be created, and water would be found by melting some of Mars’ ice and using plant and human waste. Bacteria and photosynthesis would be the means of creating a livable space, with the bacteria creating metabolic wastes and photosynthesis turning carbon dioxide into much needed oxygen. Humans would also be kept at a more pressurized compartment inside the greenhouse, to combat the lower pressures on the red planet.
Going to Mars may be possible someday, but probably not in the near future. Unfortunately funding for our space program is very low, and space technology has not been moving as fast consequently. Unfortunately we don’t know if or when the planet will collapse, but being ready to move is something we as a race should consider.
This is awesome! Mars is such foreign concept and personally Ive always thought of aliens living there. I find it pretty unbelievable that there are studies and research done to try and support the apporvment of being able to sustain ourselves on mars. This is what I was thinking of while reading your article. It is sad that the funding to research more into this subject is not their but I believe someday there will be at least a small community living on mars.