Colonization of Mars as Far as this Idea is Real

The idea of living in space has been talked about for a while, and to be more specific I am referring to the Planet Mars. Any possibility of humans living on the planet Mars is not something that will be taking place in the near future but the idea of it actually is something we could make possible. In this paper, I will touch on the positives and negatives of pursuing a Mars colonization referencing the four essays. It’s important to understand a lot of research goes into Colonizing Mars and making life there sustainable for human life. Initially, I was against the idea of trying to colonizing another place because I feel we as humans have no business going there. Reading these four papers I still believe we as people have no business there but I do believe the possibility should be explored. Eventually, we humans will use up all the resources on Earth and although I don’t believe something like this will happen in my lifetime, I strongly believe we should begin to explore other options now before its too late. The cost of traveling to the moon is very high, and I know the cost of going to Mars is even higher. Going to Mars takes a long time because it is so far and a lot of fuel will be needed. For us to colonize Mars we need to go there with a purpose that will benefit the human race.

The idea of forming a space colony in Mars is actually incredible to think about. Frank B. Golley brought up two great questions, “First, can we design a space-colony ecosystem? And, second, should we design space-colony ecosystems?” (Golley 3). The second of question that Golley asked is very important because we as people need a reason why we should open the money to set up an ecosystem in space. Setting up an ecosystem in space can be very difficult because we have never experienced living on a terrestrial environment therefore we wouldn’t understand it like the environment on earth. In order for life on Mars to be sustainable, we have to build an ecosystem that would support the environment of space and us humans. An ecosystem in space needs to be able to provide food and water for anyone who lives there. I believe setting up an ecosystem on Mars is possible but something like this needs to take time. Scientists need to go to mars and actually experiment to see which things will work. In order for a place like this to be colonized humans need to basic necessities which is food, water, and shelter. Terraforming places a big part in Mars in humans sustaining life on mars. “Terraforming means a rearrangement of a planet's environment by modifications of its energy balance or its material composition so the planet can be habitable to life” (Gollley 5). People on earth need oxygen in order to survive along with many other things. Mars will not be liable if the environment can’t change from the red rock that covers the planet into green grass where trees can grow and animal life can be present.

While reading about the motivation and purpose of colonizing Mars I began to realize what was really important. The purpose of Colonizing Mars is to move way from the problems that exits on Earth in everyday life. This is where the problem comes in. Moving to Mars doesn’t guarantee we will not have the same problems we did before. While in fact I think we as people just going to another planet to go through the same issues as before. One of the biggest problems on Earth now is the issue of Global Warming. An issue like this only gets worse and worse unless we as people do something to to change. If humans are serious about colonizing Mars we need to learn to take care of this planet first before we can even think about colonizing another one.

In the reading, Mission to Mars, it stated “There are three sources: The permafrost layer, the polar ice caps, and the atmosphere” (Collins 7). With only three sources of water on this planet it makes it hard to agree to colonize Mars because of the difficulty to obtain this water. One of the sources requires power in order to refrigerate the water and have it compressed. Another source would require drilling into permafrost which isn’t one of the easier things to do. The other source of water produces a location issue. This is an example of why colonizing Mars can create a concern and might not be a good idea because obtaining water would be such a difficulty. If we as a society would like to go through with a plan to colonize Mars we need to have people working here to obtain a sufficient amount of water that can be provided to people without having to be concerned of a shortage. Water is essential to life and if Elon Musk does manage to have a space colony on mars with the population being in the thousand there has to be enough to be consumed by the people or animals that live there.

In a perfect world we wouldn’t have to colonize Mars and if we did it would actually be a very simple task but unfortunately its not. Colonizing Mars can give us natural resources that we need and some that we’ve never had. This is a valid reason to make the effort but one reason from Humans Should Not Colonize Mars stands out to me. “Settling frontiers is what humans do; it is who we are” (Stoner 10). I strongly believe this is a bad idea because it has not always went good for us before. Settling in a new place because it’s what we’ve always done can cause the same problems we had on Earth. These problems consist of running into conflicts and potentially getting our people sick. This so-called pioneering nature needs to stay on earth instead of venturing into territory we know little to nothing about. Although I strongly agree with reason #4 in the essay which was, “We should colonist Mars as a backup planet” (Stoner 11). This makes sense because in life it never hurts to have a backup plan. The best way to go about this is to put in the effort to improve life on Earth and while this is happening people can be exploring Mars and try to create a way a temporary system of living that can potentially turn into something permanent for us all.

When reading the last essay, I feel like it started to take a different approach towards the subject. It brings up the question, “But is the Red Planet really the best target for a human colony, or should we look somewhere else? Should we pick a world closer to Earth, namely the moon? Or a world with a surface gravity close to Earth’s, namely Venus?” (Warmflash 17). This essay moves away from the idea of colonizing Mars and moving towards another planet and or the moon. Before this comes into play the research needs to be done at all these locations in order for this to be considered. First off the moon should not be considered for a number of reasons. Although the moon is the closet to the Earth other planets would serve as a better solution.

In order to get to Mars we must have transportation which would cost a lot of money. The distance between Mars and Earth is very far to get people there will end up being very time-consuming. Elon Musk said he, “wants to build a Mars colony with a population of 80,000” (Warmflash 18). This idea seems to be very extreme because of the time it would take to bring people up to space will be many of years. The money it takes to build the aircraft is one thing and the amount of fuel that will have to be used will be another issue in itself.

Reading through the various reasons to colonize Mars and the many reasons to colonize other planets and moons, I believe colonizing Mars is a goal that is worth pursuing when the time is right and a plan is set out. If eventually, Mars does not work out we can always look at Venus as well. Building an ecosystem of elements that will work together within the environment and terraforming the environment to sustain life is possible in the years to come. I do not believe this is a project that people should put all their hope into because there is always the possibility that Mars is unable to sustain human life permanently and we as people will have to come up with another solution. While in the process of colonizing Mars we need to explore the possibility that we could have the same problem over there with global warming like we do here. In the case we do colonize Mars, taking care of the planet should be the number one priority. In or for Mars to last we can’t make the same mistakes we did on Earth. If we are really motivated to start life on Mars we will be able to get the money to build everything necessary to get us there.

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