Space. The final frontier. It is the destiny of Humanity to leave our world, colonize the planets of other stars, and spread throughout the farthest reaches of the galaxy. However, we can’t just go out and start colonizing the galaxy overnight. First off, we need to take relative “baby-steps” and colonize another planet in our Solar System. The best candidate for this; Mars. Mars is the best candidate because it has water ice on its surface, it’s not as hot as Venus or Mercury, it has an atmosphere to shield from asteroid impacts, and its days are nearly as long as Earth’s. There are many reasons for colonization, but 3 big ones are; ensuring the survival of Humans, learning more about the planet and its history, and its economic potential. …show more content…
In an interview with Business Insider, Bill Nye, the CEO of the Planetary Society, said, “If humans go to Mars then scientists estimate we could make discoveries 10,000 times faster than the best robot spacecraft explorers we have now.” Redcolony.com also says, “As any engineer will tell you, the ease with which a human being can cover a stretch of ground and examine specimens along the way, gathering and processing data, cannot be emulated with a machine.” The rovers and probes that we have sent to Mars so far have gathered an iota of data, but if we had a colony of Human scientist on Mars, we could gather so much more data than what we have been able to collect with probes and rovers over the last 20 years. We could learn about the history of the planet, and the formation of the Solar System. The history of Mars could, possibly, include life. According to Redplanet.com, “With its similarity to Earth, there is a strong possibility that bacterial life (or something more?) exists on the planet.” This theory is supported by a statement from John Grunsfeld, NASA's associate administrator for science. “Briny water flows during the summer months on Mars, raising the possibility that the planet long thought to be arid could support life today…” The salt-rich water that flows on Mars during the summer would be an oasis for bacterial life on the Martian surface. If bacterial life does indeed exist in the brine-water streams, it would be a game-changing discovery for Humanity. And, as aforementioned, the bacteria growing there could start the process of terraforming the Martian surface and atmosphere to make it more suitable for Human life. Mars is also interesting from a geological standpoint. Redplanet.com states, “From a geological standpoint… Mars is exciting because it offers scientists a view of how planets develop. Mars is billions of years older than the Earth, and its features are much more
In conclusion Mars does have the potential of supporting life, but it might be different life than humans, since the properties of the macromolecules of life might change. Water is essential for life and useful in many ways, such as regulating temperature. The NCHOPS series can be mostly found on Mars, if they are not they can be replaced by the elements that are both found on Mars and need the same number of bonds to become stable.
Supporting the theory that we can colonize mars on mars, Chris Larson wrote, “Liquid water flows, at least sometimes on the planet Mars.” (Larson 1) Needs, such as water, food, and human-survivable climates often aren’t met on other planets, so researchers try to find evidence of these. Water on Mars is a huge breakthrough because of this, as that is one previous limitation of Mars that is now known to not be one. But, there are other options too, such as other exoplanets, as in planets outside of our solar system. “Now scientists have discovered the first Earth-sized exoplanet, dubbed Kepler-186f within the so-called habitable zone of a star.”(____) That is just one example of a recent discovery. Although there might be flaws, it may be plausible to colonize on the surface of a
Mars is most likely planet that has the ingredients of life that is need for a living organism in the solar system other than the known planet Earth. These ingredients of life are the following. The planet in question must be at the correct distance from a host star. Mars is a planet that is on the outer edge of being correct distance of its host star. Next item is that the planet must have water. Mars has water but its water is frozen in the planet ice caps or under the soil. Last is that the planet must have an atmosphere that is suitable for living organisms. Mars’s atmosphere is weak and it is being blown away by the solar winds form the host star. (""Life" on Mars") With Mars’s weak atmosphere the surface temperature of the planet is every cold and the water on the surface of plane...
“I think humans will reach Mars, and I would like to see it happen in my lifetime” was said by Buzz Aldrin, a NASA astronaut. The former American aeronaut from Montclair, New Jersey believes that since Mars does exist, it is waiting to be reached by humans. When this would happen, he says that the human race would “evolve into a two-planet species.” Present day Mars has a lot of canyons, mountains and volcanoes. Even though the surface is Mars is very old, scientists learned about different younger rift valleys, plains, hills and ridges. According to recent reports, there were lakes and rivers, along with an ocean billions of years ago. The low temperatures on the planet cause there to be polar ice caps and frozen water present. Scientists continue to notice several discoveries on the planet that lead them to think there was once life on the planet. Different clues have scientists wanting to find out about even more. Many scientists in the past few centuries have been curious if life on Mars is possible or if it has ever been before.
As a country we need to start investing more money and research into space technology. Programs currently exist for this effort, but the potential for research and progress is limited by a lack of funding; compared to other government funded programs, aerospace funding is pitiful. Continued research in space technology is a necessary step in our growth and development not just as a country but also as entire human race. If we are to achieve this goal, it is necessary to increase funding for space research and technology and consider the possibility of colonizing outer space. If we limit our existence to the planet Earth, and continue to drain the resources on this planet, we will destroy the only home we have.
NASA has made great advancements, we continue to explore the vast solar system filled with magnificent sights. There is so much more out there, from black holes to some of the biggest stars coming to the end of their life cycle. With all this out there waiting for us why don't we pursue all the possibilities out there, all the knowledge and advancements we’d gain would be significant. We must continue to fund these space exploration projects to see all that there is to see. We would discover there’s more to space than we think maybe more the the life cycle of a star or more to nuclear fusion. It's important that we expand and explore to find a new planet, one day this planet will die and we need somewhere to go and something to do, if our species wish to live on. Its also paying off in many other ways. Technological advancements you see today like your phone was possible through space exploration even though you may not think of it. The space programs have made huge advancements in our world such as more fire resistant clothing and, car interior. We went from having a 70 pound micro computer with just 40 KB of memory (Less than a GB, Less than a MB(Which is 100 times smaller than a GB) so it's 40/1000 of a MB) Today we have 1 TB(1000 GB) flash drive the size of your thumb in just about 40 years. Allowing us to miniaturize
Mars is our next best hope in life on another planet. Because of science mankind can grow and harvest plants in the modified mars soil, make a thick warm atmosphere, and drink no frozen mars water. Mankind can grow and flourish more as a species with this idea of colonizing mars. With more scientific advancements we can colonize mars and we will colonize mars.
Have you ever looked up in the sky and wondered if there is life elsewhere in the universe? Have you ever looked at a photograph of Mars and wondered if there really was ever life on it? People have a wide variety of opinions regarding these questions and with good reason. As far back as the broadcast of H. G. Well's novel, "The War of the Worlds", the world has been fascinated with the possibilities of what Mars may hold. Over time, the majority of people have come to realize that there is no way that life can currently be on Mars. Those who are uncertain think there may be microscopic bacteria underground.
Mars, the beautiful red planet, is the most similar planet to earth. The terrain in general is very close to what we are used to on earth, minus the vegetation. Earth and Mars both contain polar ice caps. Mars also has water throughout the planet, but it is mostly subsoil.
This provided a list which answered a very important question which I needed in order to understand what planets can or cannot support life. Then I was curious if Mars contained all these characteristics, so I searched on Google if Mars could support life. I found article by space.com. This provided interesting information on why Mars could or could not support life. Even though Mars, may not be able to support terrestrial life, It is promising for smaller life forms and bacterias.
Mars is the fourth planet from the sun and is the second smallest planet recorded in our solar system. Mars has a very distinctive color this planet from afar has somewhat of a red color from rusty dust blowing around the planet’s atmosphere. If you are up close you can see that this planet has a more of a golden look. Mars is approximately 4,222 miles in diameter. Mars’s density is about 3.9 grams or centimeters cubed. Mars experiences many dust storms and has ice caps all over. An average day on mars is -80 degrees Fahrenheit and at night the average temperature is -100 degrees.
Water provides the necessary conditions for life. Of course, there are a lot of water resources on Mars, and billions of years ago there could be organisms on Mars. However, they are likely to have been eliminated by climate change. So, we can conclude that there may have been life on Mars but for special some reason it already disappeared, but it is undeniable that Mars is the only planet in the solar system close to the Earth's ecological environment. Maybe in the future people may go to Mars to live and
Recently, two probes were sent back and they made it to Mars. They landed on the South Polar Caps of Mars. That is where NASA plans to find water. After landing on Mars, the probes extracted water like crystals from the surface of Mars. They found that there was a small amount of water in the crystals, which means that there is a strong chance that life, was on Mars at one time.
With a field as large as space is, metaphorically and literally, there is no end to all the advantages that can come of exploring the magnificent cosmos. One of the major questions we face currently is the possibility of life on other planets. “NASA's biggest ambition is the hunt for life and a habitat that can support life. Several planned or prepared missions will specifically explore the question of whether or not life exists, or once existed, elsewhere in out solar system” (Folger 3). That's exactly what we plan on using the Curiosity rover for. The MSL (Mars Space Laboratory) Curiosity rover was launched November 26th, 2011 and landed on Mars on August 6th, 2012 (Launch 2). “MSL Curiosity's mission is to analyze the climate, geology, and habitability of Mars to see if there is or has ever been life on Mars. Then, after gathering enough data, it will see if it's feasible to send a manned mission to Mars” (Anthony 2). We are already searching ...
Mars is a very similar planet to earth in relation to size and atmosphere. Therefore it seemed like the most likely place to search for life. At the end of the 19th century, an American named Percival Lowell built himself an observatory so that it was possible for him to study Mars in intimate detail when its orbit was closest to Earth. At this time it had recently been suggested that the planet had a system of channels on the surface, present from the evaporation of flowing water. Looking through his telescope Lowell became convinced he could see a network of artificial canals. This led him to believe that there were intelligent beings on Mars who had built these canals. However, spacecraft have now visited Mars and found that there is no evidence of water at all. It is now thought that the lines he could see were the combination of Lowell's overactive imagination, and scratches on the lens of his telescope. We are now searching one of Jupiter's moons, Europa, as this seems to be the next likely place to hold life.