Situation
NASA’s latest mars rover, Curiosity, is currently exploring mats, on a mission to determine wheather life could exist there. If we’re going to colonize mars - and some scientists say we must - its likely that we’ll start by terraforming. Terraforming, or planetary engineering, is the process of altering the climate of a planet to be more hospitable to life and human exploration. Of all the bodies in the solar system, Mars is by far the best candidate.
Why mars?
The unique history of Mars makes its planet the most attractive planet to terraform. As far as we know mars is one of the only planets with a history of being far more earth like than any other planet. If we were to choose any other planet in the world then near magical technology would be required to do tasks such as speed up the rotation of the planet. Or also creating an atmosphere. Mars has been chosen as the best fitted planet to terraform because of the similarities it shares with earth. Although they are similar they are simply not suited for humans to live on. For instance the planet still gets sunlight unlike some of the other planets. The time that it takes to rotate is just a matter of minutes of difference to Earth. The temperature is not as cold as other planets but this would also need to be adjusted in order for life to be on Mars. There are other planets that could be included that would be possible to live on which are. Venus, Europa (one of jupiters moons), Titan (one of saturns moons). The problem with Venus is that it is far too close to the sun and the two moons are too far away that the planet would just be too cold. Hence why Mars has been chosen as the one planet in out solar system (excluding Earth) that would be possible to support huma...
... middle of paper ...
...mary maths equation where you can answer it in about 2 seconds. Life on mars is not easy thing to happen. It will take time. First off you must produce the necessary gasses that will warm the planet up and to change the ozone layer and to make the air breathable. This is done my perfluorocarbons. which could potentially take up to 2000 years to complete. For the algae to make an effect it could take maybe 7 years. Also the travel time can take up too 8 months. This leaves us with a timeline of 2007 years 8 months and one day if we start tomorrow.
Conclusion
To travel to mars would be one of the hardest thing any astronaut is faced with. But to terraform mars could be even harder. In order to terraform mars five challenges had to be overcome and the solutions for these have been stated above. But the ultimate solution would be to artificially make perfluorocarbons.
Elon Musk, NASA, and Nikola Tesla have all incorporated the first steps into the plans for colonizing Mars. Nikola Tesla let out his ideas to colonize mars and now Elon Musk and NASA are currently in the lead of many in the race to colonize this planet. There are ideas to colonize other planets but Mars and the moon are closest to our accomplishments. In 2011 a project was launched known as Mars One. The founders of this project, Bas Lansdorp and Arno Wielders, launched an official idea to send one hundred people to mars for a permanent vacation by the year 2020. Sarah Cruddas from the CNN website says, “The journey itself is expected to take around seven months and recent MIT studies found that, should explorers succeed in landing, using current technology they would likely survive only 68 days.” Crudas goes on explaining how the volunteers are ready to take on any risks for scientific purposes. Mars One is requiring the winning applicants years of training and isolation before being able to set foot on a spaceship that takes them to mars. Later in Febuary 27, of the year 2013 another idea based around moving to mars was proposed by Dennis Tito known as “Inspiration Mars.” The initial plan for “Inspiration Mars” was to send a couple into Mars. They require large funds that were never met and Inspiration mars was called off. The founders of project one had a backup plan known as “Plan B” which
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
Bridges, Andrew. "Mars Even More Likely to Have Hosted Life." Geelong Advertiser: n. pag. Student Research Center. Web. 9 Mar. 2014.
...egular people, believing that if someone was to go to Mars they might have been able to survive A variety of organic compounds present may mean a life is probable. Also, if the trip to Mars in 2023 turns out to be a positive one, then it will prove to everyone that in the future more and more people will move to this other planet. A lot of people will find it unnecessary to stay on Earth if they can start a new life somewhere else in the galaxy. Even though the trip will have America paying billions and billions of dollars, it truly is worth it. A life on Mars could mean living to an older age and being healthier. The point of going to the Red Planet is to find out if there is a better life somewhere other than on Earth. Just like NASA astronaut, Buzz Aldrin said, humans will most likely reach Mars and when they do humans will turn into a two-planet species.
Earth requires about 11,000 m/s of delta-v. To travel to Mars orbit about 6,000 m/s is required. The smallest portion of the delta-v required is the approximately 5,000 m/s necessary to land on the surface of Mars. (Clarke 221). However, what makes this one of the most interesting phase of the trip is that whereas we pretty much know what to expect from the first two legs of the trip, what types of situations we may encounter on landing are largely unknown.
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.
Scientists have dreamt over the possibility that it may be possible to live on another planet. Some think that Mars has that potential to support life, if it's hidden resources are uncovered and exploited to their full potential. There is even evidence that it once contained enough water that it had been possible to hold life. Think about it, what if we could transform it into such a place, even if only our children's children get to see any result? The following will describe Mars, present evidence of ice and water, give possible ideas for the future exploration of Mars, and give reasons for why it is important.
Since 1976, when the Viking Landers took off toward the red planet, people have been wondering if there is life on Mars. There have been questions of pictures taken from Mars and skepticism about why some of the recent landings have failed. Scientists, up till now, have been doubtful about life on Mars.
As we arrive to Mars there are some resources already there, such as water and atmospheric 02. But the difficult part about these resources is that we have to transform them in a certain way so it can be used for humans. We would have to extract the water from the rich soil using a tool, therefore this would be our water source. We would also have to bring some sort of greenhouse so we could grow plants and give off mor...
Terraforming Mars is the process of purposely changing the known properties of Mars to ensure safe human habitation. In order to do this, we would have to use a 1000-year timeline. A thousand year timeline is best because it gives humans the time needed to change the atmosphere of Mars, change the temperature of Mars, grow food, and more. In order for the terraforming process to work, humans must permanently live on Mars. For humans to permanently live on Mars, a fuel source must be used.
There are many reasons that space exploration should continue. If Earth ever becomes too overpopulated or over polluted, then perhaps people can move to Mars. The world population in 1970 was approximately 4 billion people, and is currently nearly 6 billion people. The world population in 2015 is estimated to be 7 billion people. There is a possibility that there are useful resources on Mars. Scientists have found ice and some other clues, such as craters, volcanoes, and valleys, that have led them to believe that there was once life on Mars, and they believe that sometime in the future, should planet Earth need to be evacuated, humans will be able to live there (Jakosky 142). Many of the rocks on Mars appear to have been formed by gasses, breathable by humans and other creatures. A process called terraforming will allow astronauts to make use of the resources that are on the planet and create an atmosphere that will support life. One method for terraforming is that scientists would convert the gaseous rocks back into gasses, and use gas-eating organisms to eat the gas, which results in the formation of other gasses. If these organisms continue the cycle, then Mars would have a stable atmosphere for humans to live in (Getz 39).
To recap, the planet Mars which is also known as the “red planet” or the “terrestrial planet” is most similar to Earth. It has an atmosphere made up of mostly carbon dioxide and can drop to very cold temperatures. These are also some reasons that you can not go to Mars without wearing a spacesuit. Mars is the fourth planet away from the sun and the second smallest planet in the solar system after Mercury. Mars also has two moons; named Phobos and Deimos. In conclusion, there have been many missions to Mars and it is the most studied planet in the solar system.
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.
...ws radiation from the sun to expose the surface of the planet, adding to environment changes. If life exists on Mars today, it is most likely hiding beneath the surface. Over the past four billion years Earth has had many rocks blown from the surface of Mars, after much research, scientists say that of the thirty-four meteorites, three have the potential to carry evidence of past life on Mars (Carey, 2006). Researches have gathered evidence and continue to explore for life outside of Earth. Earth has provided these scientists with enough knowledge to understand the components needed to sustain life, therefore any research found is compared to the knowledge already understood about life on Earth. Earth is home to billions of plants, animals, bacteria and all types of living things, it is where human beings have evolved and adapted making this planet our home.