Colonizing Mars

I’m always fascinated by space and anything about space. So many questions run through my head, one being will we ever become muliplanetary meaning living on multiple planets. I hope it comes true through my lifetime because well…that would be so cool. With this question in mind, I decided to see which planet we would try to colonize first. Answer…Mars. Apparently Obama announced that its planned by the mid 2030’s, NASA’s plan is set to send humans to Mars. Its all fun in talk but is it actually going to happen…humans colonizing and living on Mars? This is something I decided to find out.

Manned_mission_to_Mars_(artist's_concept)The first step to be able to colonize Mars is getting there first. Getting to Mars isn’t like getting to the moon, it’s a lot farther away. This will require bigger spacecrafts in order to get there because you still have the trip back to Earth to think about. Reading the article Sending Humans to Mars, author Tia Ghose writes that you can either create one large spacecraft or develop a smaller one that would have modules that could be launched into orbit allowing the spacecraft to be assembled in space. With larger spacecraft means larger rockets. Tia Ghose actually reports that NASA will be conducting a second test of the world’s largest rocket, part of the SLS, in 2021.

The second step will be landing in Mars. If all goes well in the process of step one, then landing comes next. A problem is coming up with a way to stop such a larger spacecraft. SpaceX saysspacex-rocket that high speed crafts should be able to decelerate with a term called retro-propulsion, basically saying firing engines while attempting to land. Since it takes about six to nine months to get out to Mars, there is likely a plan set up for long term habitation. Finally, start building. Being on the Martian surface, people can’t live in their space suits the whole time. A type of livable habitat will need to be put in place.

Obviously this isn’t that easy. Many problems will arise, the first being money. Billions and billions and billions of dollars would have to be poured in to first get this to work. Now with actual problems come with the design of the rockets. It will take many years to test rockets and their landing techniques to ensure a safe trip to the Red Planet. Going to and being on Mars, the people will have to deal with different types of radiation. The first radiation is solar proton events, aka solar flares, and the next is galactic cosmic radiation. (A great article about this radiation can be found here)

I know its not that easy to get to Mars. After reading all different types of articles, it does seem like it is possible with the technology we have to get and stay there for a little bit. This is something that I really hope happens in my lifetime because it will easily be the best achievement anyone has ever made. It will lead to many discoveries that will explain Mars and even Earth a little bit better.

Check out this cool video about the SpaceX exploration to Mars.

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One thought on “Colonizing Mars

  1. Lucille Laubenstein

    What a fascinating topic! I feel like we have lost excitement and wonder when it comes to space travel, but this notion reignites that! While this is such a lovely idea, there are a whole lot of other issues that come with this topic other than the novelty and scientific achievement of saying that we did it. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016328711000498 This website discusses some of the ethical, physiological, and political dilemmas of this topic.

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