do you think it's possible to colonize and inhabit mars?

Question

I'm doing a project for school and I need some defferent opinions. if you could just tell me what you think about this particular subject, it would help me alot. thanks.

Answer 1

It would be possible with terraforming, the process of altering the ecology on a planetary scale.

Short term, bases could be built, but it would be extremely difficult to resupply them with anything that couldn't be obtained locally.

Answer 2

Of course it's possible. The question is whether or not it is worthwhile.

Now that the Mars Global Surveyor has located evidence of water it is quite feasible to set up a colony near that resource and use it to produce oxygen and fuel to construct a habitable base. Over time if the water and minerals could be used grow food and to build up an eventually self-sustaining agricultural capability in the base which would also become a part of the overall life support balance within the colony.

However, as I mentioned above, to what end? On the other hand, I guess the same might have been said of colonizing the New World a few centuries back. If some hearty pioneering types want to give it a go, I think we should help make it happen for them.

Answer 3

Anything is possible, and if some business can find a cost-effective way to do it, it probably will be done. Though some things are obviously needed before habitation of Mars is possible:

First, since the natural atmosphere is not friendly to humans, then habitation domes would have to be constructed and air created by some sort of sustainable chemical process, hopefully using reagents available on Mars.

Second, you would need to find a type of agriculture that could work in Martian soil and with significantly less sunlight than is available on Earth. This agriculture would also play a part in maintaining the atmosphere of the habitations as human respiration must be balanced by plant photosynthesis.

Third, an abundant energy source would have to be found on Mars for everything humans would need such as climate control (it is awfully cold on Mars,) transportation, agriculture equipment, stuff like that.

Fourth, we need to find if there is actually water on Mars in abundance enough that it could sustain a population, and if not, we would have to chemically create it too.

Finally, there would have to be people brave enough to venture out there and start the community.

Answer 4

Why colonize Mars... How about this-as an insurance policy for the human race in case we blow ourselves up? Or get annihilated by a meteor strike? Our grandchildren could, if they had the will, start to terraform Mars. With an initial investment (admittedly, trillions of dollars worth) of energy that would release the carbon dioxide and water sequestered in the regolith... Mars can be made much more habitable than it is now. Granted, it would take thousands of years to get a breathable atmosphere, but we could conceivably raise the average temperature above the freezing point of water and the pressure of the air to 1/2 to 3/4's of Earths. We still have to wear oxygen masks.... but THEN we would have an entire WORLD to colonize, and the human race's chances of extinction would drop dramatically.

Answer 5

First a correction (re answers by "nix" and "anthony beach")--Mars does have water--and an extensive variety of minerals. That's already been established by both orbital and surface research by the unmannned probs on and around Mars.

I would say definately yes--the question is not "if" but when--and by whom. We already know it's possible to live for long periods in space--astronauts on board space stations have proven that--and Mars, hostile as it is, is in many ways a far easier proposition. Getting to Mars is the biggest obstacle--we will need far better space travel technology than we now have.

Eventually--though it may be 50 years or more--we'll have that kind of technology. Living on Mars on a permanent basis is another matter, of course. But we do know Mars has the basic resources to sustain life---msst importantly, the presence of water (in the form of ice) is now certain--and not just at the Martian poles. Probably the most difficult problem to deal with will be solar radiation, since mars has no magnetic field to protect people on the surface. The atmosphere does protect from micrometeorites--but is too thin to provide much radiation protection. Most liekely, Martian settlements will be mostly underground--at least residential facilities.

You can get more information on Mars--and possible steps toward human outposts there--at these websites:
nasa.gov
space.com
Also--do a search for "Mars direct"--you'll get a number of sites that discuss proposed methods for getting to Mars at relatively low cost.

Answer 6

I believe mars has something like a third of the Earth's gravity. I love the idea of expanding humanity through space, but without significant change to the human person, I don't think they will survive at that gravity for very long. Bone density goes way down and muscles atrophy. Provided the planet could be somehow terraformed and enough water freed up to survive on, I still don't see how people could live there without bizarre genetic doctoring to make them survivable in the low gravity.

Answer 7

Yes ,but you may need accomodating gear if there is difficulties,like domed places where the atmosphere can be controlled for vegetation growth and special suits for travel between domes.Or maybe underground,where pockets may exist with the right stuff for humans.Or maybe there is an information kiosk/stand there for directions to a habitable place for humans.Or maybe they should try dialing Marses 911 number when they get there for more help,or look for the Mars yellow pages,or a directory of some kind.Or maybe there is some kind of "yellow brick road" that leads to a city of some sort.Maybe there is a "wizard of mars" too.Maybe a robot something like the ones in our "Lost in Space" flicks calls himself the wizard there.Maybe the robot is incubating humans or something else there to greet us when we get there.Maybe we should try to contact "The Milky Way" main radar/tracking stations first to find out more.

Answer 8

It could conceivably be done, but it would be VERY expensive because the inhabitants would have to live in hardened structures that maintain a constant temperature and pressure that would support human life. Just getting the first spaceships there to build the colony would cost multiple trillions of dollars. We'd be better off trying to colonize The Moon first.

Answer 9

In the science fiction world, sure. I would rather build a massive space station though. From there other things like this could be possible in an orbit around Mars. A space station could be designed with sections that could land on the planet as a base camp. So, start saving your allowance if you want to help fund it.

Answer 10

The mass of Mars is 37% of Earth's. Mars lacks sufficient gravity to carry a dense sufficient ecosystem to let such tremendous creatures to evolve. Microorganisms would stay lower than the floor, yet they exist on the size allowable for existence in the type of thin ecosystem. floor stress on Mars is an similar as stress at one hundred,000 ft on earth. Earth would were colonized through microorganisms from Mars that arrived the following on meteors that broke off from Mars, using an impression of a huge asteroid. existence on earth began round one billion years in the past. yet when it began as extraterrestrial beings microbes, their arrival the following grow to be using probability.