IS LIFE POSSIBLE ON MARS?
With Earth starting to die off because of the actions we had to take to survive, humans need another place to grow and plant roots. For this, We have looked to our closest neighbor in the solar system, Mars. The planet has been looked upon as a possible back door to the solution of many problems we have created on earth. Problems such as the global warming issue or the fact that we need more space to live. As of right now, Humans cannot live on Mars unless we have the most essential thing present and in abundance, water. Once we can fill in that one hole of many, everything else will eventually fall into place. Yes, one could argue that we will probably screw up Mars as we did Earth, but as of right now, we have no other choice.
WE NEED WATER
We can all agree that water is essential to all forms of life. As humans cannot survive very long without ingesting water. The main problem today is that Mars is a barren and dry planet. Most of its water is locked in the polar icecaps. We have found, however, evidence that says that water was present in the past. Pictures have shown us that gullies have formed from the flowing water. It could be possible for life to evolve without water though it is better to have it there. Why take chances on what could be? Turns out the soil alone contains up to 60% water, just the soil alone. There is also photographic evidence from the orbiters that there is water/ice just beneath the surface of Mars. The Atmosphere is usually also 100% humid meaning we, in theory, can use dehumidifiers to extract the water needed from the atmosphere.
WE NEED OXYGEN
It doesn’t take rocket science to be able to figure out that we need air, specifically oxygen, to survive. So the question is how do we compensate for that on Mars? 96% of the atmosphere is CO2. Well…how are we going to do this? Apparently NASA has already built a machine that can take in the CO2 and produce oxygen. Remember CO2 is approximately 78% oxygen. The next rover that will be sent to Mars will have one of these onboard to do a field test.
WE NEED FOOD
Food is almost as essential to humans as is water. We cannot survive without it for very long. So how do we get food there? Can we grow food there? Well, we can use Hydroponics, but that will only grow so much of our food. If we are lucky about 20% at most. Most of our food will come from Earth until the time when there is water flowing on the surface of Mars and we have the means to use it.
SO…CAN WE LIVE ON MARS?
If need be then yes we could live on Mars, but not by any means efficiently or comfortably for at least the first decade or so. Though give it a couple years and we will have the necessary resources and technology to be able to live on Mars as if it was Earth.
WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT TO?
The reason that we should do this is that Firstly, I REALLY want to be one of the first to live on mars as I am a big Sci-Fi fan and this is one of the closest things to a real life Sci-Fi novel/ movie. Secondly, Once we do land on Mars, we have a fresh start. Thirdly, our biggest advances in technology and civilization, historically speaking, have come from exploring. Who knows the possibilities of what we could accomplish once we have access to alien materials, rocks, and potentially new elements. The reason that this is so important and why I wrote about this is because it is an event that will change the course of human history forever and will allow us to go beyond the horizon and explore what was is now considered alienated and all of this is in proccess of actually happening.
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