Surviving Mars: A Journey Into Colonization

The Red Planet

Introduction

The sky is illuminated by the sun, only the size of our moon this far out. The red dust swirls with a gust of wind and your movements are slowed by the weight of your spacesuit. Your progress across the barren desert toward the compound that houses the plants you and your companions need to survive is slow but by now, four months into your new life, you have become used to it. Just eleven months ago you left Earth and started your journey toward what is now your home, the red planet of our solar system, Mars. The year is 2027 and you can’t believe you arrived here at last.

Colonizing Mars used to seem like a distant far off memory, but according to Alana Semuels, writer for the Atlantic, some commercial space

Well, Robert Zubrin, an aerospace engineer, believes that inevitable scientific advances and the “challenges of terraforming other worlds” is what will draw humanity to Mars and beyond. Which is certainly likely as the chance to explore where no one else had ever set foot and the advances humanity had made is what led to the Apollo missions and the international space station. But humanity has sat on the technology to travel to Mars for a long time, why would that motivate them, humanity needs a greater shove. Perhaps that shove might come from wanting to generate a better society. Kenya Armbrister, a humanitarian, has given up her normal life on the chance that she could be one of the few picked to colonize Mars with the new Mars One mission. Armbrister believes that the colonization of Mars is “ the next step for humanity” and that it might create a society “where people are truly equal.” Even though a society of people who are all equal seems like a long shot, perhaps for a lot it is enough to risk their lives for. And if the wonder of a whole new planet and equal society is not enough for you perhaps the continuation of the whole human race is what will motivate you to support a mission to Mars. Alana Semuels, writer for the Atlantic and graduate of Harvard University, believes that our time on Earth is numbered and we should prepare for the worst by perpetuating humanity's existence on Mars. Anyone of these reasons may be what leads humanity to Mars, but could it not be a far simpler reason? Humans contain a natural curiosity for anything they don’t understand, why would this not lead humanity to Mars. Yes, we see pictures of Mars all the time from out Mars rovers, but pictures don’t capture the sound of the wind as it whips through valleys, or the smell of the dirt you walk in. Would our curiosity not be what leads us to