If you could travel there and live reasonably safely and with company, would you live on Mars for a year?

Question

If you had spartan but livable accomodations, decent food, medical care, and companionship?

Answer 1

In short, yes. The concerns however are living in a confined living quarters. The trip there is suggested to take 6 months, but could be considerably shorter if we used something like VASMIR (plasma rocket) which has been built, but not tested in space yet.

Communication with Earth would be slow, taking 6 minutes for a signal to reach Mars at the shortest duration, and another 6 minutes for the response. So video's or letters is about the only effective way to communicate, until quantum relays for communication become available (see Quantum Entanglement).

Mars itself would certainly be exciting if several different vehicles were available to get you around, like an electric ultra-light (motorized handglider). Olympus Mons (the largest volcano in the solar system (about the size of the State of Arizona), would be something to see, not to mention Valis Marinaris, which makes the Grand Canyon look like a creek.

Geology would certainly be the biggest exploration, and any places that contain unique mineral deposits might contain really large crystals, since the gravity having less pull might allow for larger crystal growth. (This is why medicine likes to grow crystals on the space station in hopes of making better drugs).

And seeing two moons in the night sky (Phobos and Deimos) would most certainly be freakin' cool.

And growing your own food is fun and I think as long as everyone did their job, it would be a wonderful experience and the isolation would be fairly easy to contend with.

But I'd sure be happy to come home and see all the green on Earth.

Answer 2

It wouldnt be very safe unless the gravity was the same. The human body cannot survive for very long periods of time without 1 earth gravity, or +/- 1/10 of it. We could build a habitat on the moon, or mars, but a rigid routine of physical fitness would have to be mandatory. You get real cushy there and get used to floating around, but your bones will get so weak that you couldnt lift something in half an earth gravity. You could break your arm by hitting something too hard. Unless you had artificial gravity. A generator (sci-fi) or a rotating habitat. I dont know about one on the surface though, maybe just stick to the regular daily physical workouts.

Any habitats SHOULD be built UNDER the surface of the moon, and increasingly lower with each level. The farther down you are, the more protected you are from radiation. The moon, or mars does not have an electromagnetic field to protect from the suns ultra-hard radiation. If the sun spat out a solar flare of any size it could be lethal. Behind stone or rock is a better sheild. At least until we develop mag fields for buildings and things.

Answer 3

Sure! Between dust storms there should be some good viewing nights. It would be quite the adventure and I'd be proud to be expanding our knowledge of the solar system. Although... I'd rather take a trip to an outer planet I think.

Answer 4

Not unless there was some danger headed toward the Earth. I would wait to see how the first group of people were doing before I considered it.

Answer 5

Totally. It would be an awesome experience to live on another planet, especially if you were guaranteed safety like in your question.

But heck, even if it was just reasonably safe I would go. Life is all about experience.

- Cai

Answer 6

if a normal guy like you and me went to mars, it would be for life. The trip costs an arm and a leg. There's no way you could afford the return ticket... (assuming someone paid the ticket to go there for you)

Answer 7

Depends.

Will I get the equipment to drill around and look for signs of life?

Answer 8

No way! It looks pretty ugly there.