Debates Over The Colonization Of Mars

Science has been developing at an incredible rate, and with this development comes questions about the possibility of life on other planets. One of the questions scientists and fictions writers alike have pondered is the question of whether life can exist on Mars. With the developments in science the possibility is becoming increasingly more science than fiction. It’s important to know if we can live on Mars because in the future Earth not be able to support human life; because of its similar size, relative closeness to Earth, and proximity to the sun Mars would be the next survivable option. Learning how to space travel and colonize Mars – and potentially other planets – as well as studying the current limitations on the feasibility to thrive as a human population on Mars are central topics in space exploration today. This analysis will reveal the history of human space exploration and how much it, and we, have grown as a race in achieving the first step in space travel. In addition to taking the next step in space exploration, this assessment will examine whether humans can reach and colonize and will also analyze the improbability of the human population thriving in that type of environment. Regardless of the difficulties and challenges in such a task humanity should continue seeking human space exploration and explore the possibilities of colonization of another planet that might or might not be able to sustain human life.

Humans have been trying to achieve space exploration since before the 1950s, with the most serious research being conducted following the conclusion of World War II and into the Cold War. The United States and The Soviet Union were the first countries in the world to create their own respective space programs. On October 4, 1957, the Soviets launched the first artificial satellite into space, Sputnik 1. Then, in 1961, Russian Lt. Yuri Gagarin became the first human to be successfully sent into space in the Vostok 1, with his flight lasting only 108 minutes and achieving an altitude of 327 kilometres. In competing with Russia during the “Space Race” The United States launched its first satellite, the Explorer 1, which went into orbit on January 31, 1958. In 1961 Alan Shepard became the first American to be sent into space, then nearly a year later, on February 20, 1962, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth. In 1961 President John F. Kennedy said: “Landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth within a decade.” That became a national goal, and on July 20, 1969 astronaut Neil Armstrong took the famous “…one giant leap for mankind” as he stepped onto the moon. There were Six Apollo missions after with one goal to Explore the moon in between 1969 and 1972. By the 1970’s Orbiting satellites for communication and navigation were in everyday use. Despite the fact that for much of the 1980’s the drive to reach and achieve greatness through the exploration of space became somewhat diminished modern space exploration is again taking center stage in both the media and in public awareness, reaching areas that humans use to only dream about. The manned exploration, and possible colonization, of Mars has become the focal point in the future of space exploration.

Once again serious research into reaching and colonizing Mars was, and is, centrally the focus of only two countries, Russia and The United States, as they are currently the only two countries with an operational space program. The first spacecraft ever to make the journey from Earth to Mars was NASA’s Mariner 4, it launched on November 28, 1964. It reached orbit outside of Mars Orbit on July 14, 1965. Mariner 4 successfully took a series of twenty-one photographs of Mars and then returned back to Earth, with a total flight time was 228 days. After the Mariner 4 came the Mariner 6, which blasted off on February 25, 1969, and reached Mars by July 31, 1969. Showing clear advancement in scientific technologies the flight time of the Mariner 6 was only 156 days. Mariner 7 again beat the previous Mariners in terms of travel time, taking only 131 days to make the journey. Showing even greater development and capabilities Mariner 9, launched on May 30, 1971, became the first spacecraft to successfully enter and exit the orbit of Mars after a total travel time of 167 days. There have been several other spacecraft to make the journey from Earth to Mars, such as the Viking 1 and 2 in 1967, and in the 20th century with Phoenix Lander and Curiosity Lander, which were the first spacecraft to place Mars Rovers on the red planet.

The red planet, Mars, is and has always been one of the most brightest star in the night sky, its visible in the sky as a bright red star. “Every two years Mars and Earth reach their closest distance between each other known as the ‘opposition,’ which is when one celestial is opposite of another. During this time Mars is about 55,000,000 kilometers from Earth” (Cain). Every two years space agencies take advantage of this Earth/Mars alignment and send spacecraft to Mars. Currently, the total journey time from Earth to Mars is approximately 150 to 300 days, depending on other factors such as rocket speed, fuel capacity, and the alignment of Earth and Mars at the time of launch. Rocket speed and time in transit mostly depends on how much fuel one is willing to burn, with more fuel equaling a shorter travel time. Additionally, factors creating difficulties with reaching Mars, which is only 55 million kilometers, is the fact that Earth and Mars are both in orbit around sun. Because of this the space occupied by Mars, and by Earth, are constantly changing. It becomes necessary to measure the orbit of Mars around the sun and launch a craft where Mars is going to be in space by the time the rocket gets there. An average Earth year with the exception of a leap year is 365 days. An average Martian year is 687 Earth days or 669 sols, Earth does 1¾ rotation around the sun before Mars does one. The mathematics involved in calculating this makes the STEM field extremely important, and especially relevant when one considers how far behind much of the rest of the modern world America is in terms of developing an understanding and enjoyment of the sciences in children.

The biggest difficulty to overcome presently is fuel; if a craft had an unlimited amount of fuel to burn, or if new technology was developed that could use a different power source, it would be possible to cut that travel time down to just a fraction of what it was before. If fuel wasn’t an issue and that travel time down it would make it far less dangerous for the astronauts while in space, such as exposure to cosmic rays that inflict cancer-inducing radiation or massive solar storms that can be deadly, plus it would require less supplies.

The debate over why we should go explore space to begin with and the in-between of what human and robotic discoveries should be. “Technologies that exploit space resources will finally open up the solar system to human exploration” (Courtland). Think of what we could do if we can make something that can then go and make a duplicate of it by using the resources out in space. With all of this said, technological advancement is crucial to space exploration. There is a strong argument that the development of artificial intelligence is needed as much as the development of better spacecraft, despite arguments and concerns over artificial bits of intelligence, because an AI could accomplish much that a human could not in space, with far less risk for loss of life.

All current hopes for space exploration are at risk today, and will ultimately be impossible if present trends continue, however. With increasing economic concerns, divisive politics, the constraints on money and budgets, and the constant change in plans, space exploration is becoming increasingly pushed back. Cost, more than anything, is the central issue facing space exploration today. “The price tags have come out to be so big that they’re just not palatable” (Ralph McNutt). The price tag needs to disappear or needs to be lower for the government to pay for space exploration, it all boils down to basic economics – supply and demand. Many scientists have said that the basic human trait to be self-serving, and the tendency to seek personal gain, needs to come to a stop for space exploration to come to really being. This statement, while in some ways true, can be taken to extremes, however; in my opinion, the spirit of exploration and the want to discover is itself partly self-serving. To remove that completely would probably also have a damning effect on space exploration because if people become more like components than explorers there will likely be little or no enthusiasm.

Regardless, we already developed and achieved space travel, which was impossible in the past century. NASA’s current plans include sending humans to Mars by the 2030s. With NASA’s current budget and current political standing with presidents shutting down NASA and reopening it nothing about the future is guaranteed.

That next step in space exploration now that we have achieved the ability to get in to space and landed people on the moon, is going to be going to Mars and seeing if we can colonize the red planet along with achieving the next step in space travel. With the “building blocks” of life being discovered in a 3-billion-year-old organic matter in the Gale Crater, that was believed to once be a lake. We still don’t know if this discovery shows that life once existed on Mars or if it was just a geological process that the planet went through in the past. But as NASA biogeochemist Jennifer Eigenbrode said: “we’re in a really good position to move forward looking for signs of life.’ (Eigenbrode) The material in question was found by the Curiosity Rover, which has been on Mars since 2012. The Rovers mission is to determine if Mars was ever able to support microbial life. “Mars is more Earth-like than any other planet in the solar system” (May) that makes Mars the next viable option if Earth ever becomes inhabitable. The fact that Mars is only 150 Earth days away from earth and the natural landmarks already on the planet make it all the more reason to get humans there, Mars has a Grand Canyon that’s the size of the entire United States and a volcano the size of Arizona.

The Colonization of Mars has been a rising interest in both the private and public sectors, Sovereignty in space is a renewed discussion on Earth. The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 (OST), prohibits nations from sovereign claims to celestial bodies. The treaty decrees that “the exploration and use of outer space shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries and shall be the province of all mankind” that make sure that space is “free for exploration and use by all States”. The OST also states that “any celestial bodies must be used exclusively for peaceful purposes not for conquest over others” but the treaty does not talk about how to safely colonize other planets (Mars). It seems that world governments and the United States don’t have a plan on how to safely colonize because the people running these governments don’t have time to deal with something so far in the future. There is a pragmatic approach for the colonization of Mars based on a “bounded first possession model” (Bruhns). In this model, Sara Bruhns and Jacob Misria stays inside the rules and regulations of the Outer Space treaty and also shows principles to resolve how nations, individuals and corporations might utilize the resources of space on Mars. This model states that World leaders and scientists will establish a planetary park location as well as the regulations through a worldwide community that “asks” the world leaders and Scientists for the land distribution in order to protect scientific, historical, cultural, spiritual and environmental land from developing human infrastructure on that planet, these will be the planetary parks, after they are all accounted for. The Colonization Parties get to occupy plots of limited land on Mars and can claim economic rights within the zone that you live in, while still refraining from sovereignty claims. Every colonist will remain under the legal jurisdiction of their nation, any and all conflicts will be resolved diplomatically or will be through a tribunal system made up of representatives from other Mars colonies. There will be a formation of a Mars secretariat for an administrative body with limited power to keep the communication among parties.

My approach to the colonization of Mars would be a lot simpler than theirs but still reflect their overall goals. My approach to the Mars colonization is once we are able to achieve mass transit from Earth to Mars, which will go from Earth to the Moon where there will be a multinational space station on the ground of the moon and in the orbit of the moon. NASA is currently planning to construct a space station in lunar orbit called the “Deep Space Gateway.” This Station can serve as a stepping stone to lunch colonists to Mars from Earth’s moon. Instead of using a planetary park model the locations of colonies on Mars is going to be of the utmost importance; each nation will send a group of scientist and experts in their field to determine where individual colonies will be. This would keep politics out of the picture. The colonies will be all around the planet with a central city where the colonist can do business and trade among colonies from multiple countries, so you won’t have that “Mars secretariat” that was in the “bounded first possession model”. I will use an economic approach that lets people colonize plots of land that were already cleared by Scientists and experts before the colonist get there so there would be no concern about human infrastructure destroying important sites on Mars. And again, this would help keep greedy politicians and corrupt deals a bit more out of the picture. Once cleared, the colonist can then be free to pick a plot of land from the ones that are available for them, because my plan is based the freedom to choose and basic human rights related to mobility as oppose to assignments. They then get the rights that were established by their home nation. The colonist groups that arrive on the surface of Mars get separated back in to their original nations. Each nation that is a first world country gets a part of Mars for their respected colonist to live, so just as on Earth the United States is separate from Russia in terms of governments and constitutions it would remain that way on Mars, so the rights of each colonist stay the same. Every colonist will remain under the legal jurisdiction of their nation, any conflicts will be settled either diplomatically or by a Mars council depending on the conflict. The Mars council or World council will be made up of five representatives of each Nation occupying Mars land, the council members will be voted into office through elections, the same way the presidential election works in the United States but based off the popular vote instead of an electoral college system. The reason for five members from each nation instead of just one, to make up the Mars council is for share of power to be equal among council members and for the council to be big enough to avoid corruption, One member of the council can’t make a choice without the other four, the system will run on the majority vote. The main reason for the “Mars council” is not only to establish order among the colonies but to prevent wars from raging among colonies and to decide on how the Martian resources are used for the benefit of the society. This is my approach on how to colonize and have a functional society on Mars. We have an approach to functional colonization on Mars. It is necessary to examine the challenges and surface conditions that humanity would have on the Martian planet.

With Mars being the next best survivable option after earth, we need to know the challenges the red planet has instore for the human race. Before you know how to correctly fix the challenges Mars has for the human population you need to know history of Mars. The present Mars atmosphere is too thin to support life, but when the Curiosity Rover found signs of the basic building blocks of life in the Gale Crater, we discovered that about 3.5 billion years ago Mars had an atmosphere thick enough for water to be on the surface, which means that Mars at one point had a water cycle. Orbital pictures have shown old river plains and ocean boundaries, and Rovers have collected samples from all over Mars and found evidence of water-soaked rocks on the surface, mostly clay or hematite. We still don’t know what happened to Mars in the past that made the atmosphere suddenly thin-out; there are multiple theories as to how but few discovered scientific facts. The leading theory in to why Mars is in the state its in now is because Mars’ light gravity plus its lack of global magnetic fields left the Martian atmosphere vulnerable to solar wind, and the constant harmful particles and rays from the sun, as well as the sun’s pressure, stripped away the lighter molecules in the atmosphere thinning it out over millions of years. It is impossible to breathe in Mars atmosphere, though that atmosphere is still thick enough to support a climate. Mars goes though four seasons just like earth does. The thin atmosphere along with a greater distance from the sun makes Mars is much colder planet than Earth, with Mars having an average temperature of negative 80 degrees and that temperature ranging drastically on different parts of the planet and depending on the season. The temperature can vary from negative 195 degrees Fahrenheit by the north and south poles during the winter to a nice 70 degrees Fahrenheit during the day by the equator. There are also constant dust storms that kick up the oxidized iron dust in to the atmosphere; these dust storms are among the largest in the whole solar system and can engulf the entire planet for months at a time. During the winter months it even snows on Mars, with the snowflakes being made of carbon dioxide rather than water and being small. Basically, they create a fog than it appearing as falling snow. The ice caps in the northern and southern poles are made of frozen carbon dioxide, “seasonal changes are due to the waxing and waning of the carbon dioxide ice caps” (NASA). Most of water on Mars is in the northern ice cap, and is exposed and melts during the Martian summer after the carbon dioxide melts off the ice cap. The water on Mars is believed to be frozen under the surface of Mars with a top layer of frozen carbon dioxide on it buried by a cold dessert. This provides a potential chance that some form of life might still exist there. The Curiosity rover that’s on Mars right now is currently seeking habitable environments on the planet. NASA’s Mars 2020 Rover is supposed to be able to detect biosignatures from samples. The ESA (European Space Agency) has a mission called the ExoMars mission, and wants to put is own biosignature Rover on Mars within the next couple of years.

Mars is a very big and beautiful planet and is almost always changing. The planet has no oxygen, so humans would have to wear spacesuits or live in bases that are designed to produce oxygen and keep the cold and carbon dioxide out. It would be necessary to develop green rooms to grow food, all of which would have to be inside of a space facility. While humans can, with scientific development, survive on Mars as a race that cannot thrive. It would be necessary to change the planet in some way that would transfer the carbon dioxide into oxygen. Mars is a viable option for life, and it has the potential to be able to sustain human life, but not without significant advances in science and technology. At present the human population can’t live on Mars, but a smaller group of specialized scientists might be able to, though it would be hard because they would be dependent on the modern technology all of the time to keep them alive.

We have had many advancements in science in recent years. We need to advance space travel so we can go out and discover other solar systems that might be able to sustain human life or we as a race will die out, when not if the earth becomes inhabitable.