Should We Colonize Mars?

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“You want to wake up in the morning and think the future is going to be great – and that’s what being a spacefaring civilization is all about. It’s about believing in the future and thinking that the future will be better than the past. And I can’t think of anything more exciting than going out there and being among the stars.” -Elon Musk

WHY DO WE NEED COLONIZATION?

The two most common arguments in favor of colonization are survival of human civilization, which thereby increases the likelihood that mankind will survive in global terrestrial catastrophes by the creation of a backup copy of humanity in outer space. The second reason is the availability of additional resources in space that could enable expansion of human society.

WHAT ARE THE PROS OF SPACE COLONIZATION?

  • Ensuring the survival of our species Space colonization is the creation of a backup copy of humanity. We have mastered such technologies and energies that it is becoming easier for us to destroy ourselves. Do not forget about external factors: humanity should think about how not to die as a result of some kind of catastrophe. We need a living colony somewhere far away.
  • Developing new technology that can be used to fix earth Сolonization is a project which involves the use of a large number of new technologies that could potentially help us clean up our own planet.
  • Diplomatic potential Nothing is more inspiring than a group of people banding together to achieve a common goal. The mission to colonize Mars could possibly bring together people of all countries, ethnicities, cultures, and backgrounds.

WHAT ARE THE DISADVANTAGES OF COLONIZATION?

  • Cost overruns The cost overruns are not uncommon in big projects in different areas, and there is no doubt that colonizing space will be very expensive
  • Contamination Humans have made a mess of Earth. There is no doubt that by colonizing the Red Planet, we will end up polluting and destroying its environment
  • Plenty of insecurity Since it has never been done before, we as humans have no experience with colonizing Mars and there might be many problems we still don’t know about yet. Colonization is still rather a vague plan.

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT MARS?

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun – a dusty, cold, desert world with a very thin atmosphere. Mars is also a dynamic planet with seasons, polar ice caps, canyons, extinct volcanoes, and evidence that it was even more active in the past.

It is one of the most explored bodies in our solar system and the only planet where humans have sent some rovers in order to explore the alien landscape.

WHY MARS IS THE BEST COLONIZATION TARGET?

Mars has always been considered the best target for colonization in the solar system for which there is an infinite number of reasons. Let us take a closer look at some of them:

  • Mars is more like Earth than any other planet in the solar system It has polar ice caps that grow and recede with the seasons and has evidence of water channels similar to those on Earth today.
  • Its scientific secrets With its similarity to Earth, there is a strong possibility that bacterial life or even something more exists on the planet. If we ever find life, we can begin to answer some of the biggest questions we’ve ever asked: “Are we alone in the universe? What else is out there?”.
  • Its location Mars is relatively close to the Earth. Moreover, it remains close enough to the sun to benefit from its heat and light but remains far enough away to be protected from any significant change in the sun’s heat output.
  • Its greatest potential for self-sufficiency among other planets
  • Its economic value Mars is worth a lot of money considering how great all that land is for residential, commercial, and industrial use.

WHAT IS THE CONCLUSION?

On the one hand, humanity needs development. Space colonization looks like the most promising area for this kind of growth. On the other hand, there are no guarantees that we are ready for this at the moment. Perhaps it is worth directing our efforts to improve life on Earth and secure ourselves by the construction of a planetary shield.

references:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_colonization

https://www.ccusd93.org/cms/lib/AZ02204140/Centricity/Domain/1109/Seven https://environmental-conscience.com/colonizing-mars-pros-con

https://starbasebrewery.com/pages/why-should-we-colonize-mars-starbase-texas

https://www.inverse.com/innovation/spacex-mars-city-codex

2 thoughts on “Should We Colonize Mars?

  1. 48762 says:

    I think that humans should focus on creating a better environment on earth rather than escape plan in case something gone wrong here. Settling down on mars is far beyond our capabilities in many years, our civilization have tendencies to exceed our abilities.

  2. Jan Makulski says:

    In my opinion, people could colonize Mars, but not now. It’s too early, and our technology could possibly ruin this idea. As of now, I think our plan should be on developing and improving technologies, creating new ideas here – on our planet earth. Repair what we destroyed and rather stay here for now. In the future, it is possible that human could move and start new colony on Mars, as it would most likely save a human specie – as it is mentioned. Moving to another planet could also decrease chance of human extintion, as well as it could create new ways of improvement, technologies that could later be implemented on earth. Great article!

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