• Question: Do you think that eventually humans will be able to live on Mars?

    Asked by anon-209707 to Sergio, Nick, Maria, David on 14 Mar 2019. This question was also asked by anon-209700.
    • Photo: David Whitworth

      David Whitworth answered on 14 Mar 2019:

      Certainly, it will have to be in habitats though as there is only a very thin atmosphere on Mars. SpaceX have plans to send people to Mars in the next 10-20 years, so we could see people living there within maybe a hundred years.

    • Photo: Maria Walach

      Maria Walach answered on 14 Mar 2019:

      As David says, there are planned missions to send humans to Mars, but one of the big problems that no one likes to talk about: and that is radiation. I think until we solve that, it would be very difficult to even get there without getting cancer!
      Space weather is really dangerous and unlike Earth, Mars doesn’t have a strong enough magnetic field & atmosphere to protect the surface from radiation and energetic particles!
      So maybe humans will get there, but as things currently stand, they would sadly have to live underground to be safe…

    • Photo: Nick Werren

      Nick Werren answered on 14 Mar 2019:

      Definitely! We’re aiming to build a colony on Mars for people to live in that is protected from the harmful environment of Mars. Mars has a weak magnetic field which means it cannot protect itself from the really harmful and radioactive solar flares that the Sun releases all the time, this means the soil is full of toxins and any life will get fried on the surface! It also doesn’t have a breathable air! If we want humans to live on the OUTSIDE of Mars then we need something called TERRAFORMING!
      .
      If we terraform Mars, it means we have turned it into an Earth-like planet that we can live on. How would we do this? We would need to protect the surface from the Sun by creating an artificial magnetic field or filling the atmosphere with heavy gases that can absorb the dangerous solar radiation! THEN we need to clean the soil so that plants and animals can live there and FINALLY we need oxygen to breathe. If we do all of these things then we can make Mars a place for humans to live and it’s actually possible to do! If we don’t destroy our own planet then I think the human race will go to Mars, we’ll change it, and we’ll live there! 😀

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