Mars Exploration and Colonization

"Why should we colonize Mars?" you might ask. "Aren't we fine here on Earth?" Technically, yes, we are fine on Earth. But colonizing Mars is about more than just about "what will humanity do when the Earth's resources run out?" and "what if we wipe ourselves out by war?" or "what if our nuclear wastes ruin the planet?" (see my next blog post for my article on that one). 


We need to explore and colonize Mars because exploring new worlds is at the heart of human nature. Throughout history, humans have been exploring unknown corners of the earth and settling in new lands. Europe, Asia, Australia, and North and South Americas are examples. Exploreres, searching for better lands and more food, came and settled. The USA would not exist if people had not been willing to make the voyage over and settle. And the entire point of the Western Expansion was settling the new land. It is the same for Mars. We must settle Mars because exploring and settling new lands is what humans do. 


On top of this, Mars is a treasure trove of scientific data. Mars has or has had every type of geologic process known on its surface. It once had oceans, and the possibility of life, even microbial life, fascinates astrobiologists. Mars once was like Earth, before it got too cold. It is the logical place to really begin our expansion into space. 


How are we going to make it to Mars? Right now, it takes almost 2 years to make it to Mars. This is too long for humans to travel. But NASA propulsion engineers are currently working on faster ships to carry us to the Red Planet within a matter of months, and once this is accomplished, we will be ready to begin the next phase of the Mars Mission. 


How will we survive on Mars? The first step to surviving on Mars is to build a base to keep the colonists safe from the Martian elements. The Mars base must be able to protect against the following:
Temperature
Dust
Radiation
Little Green Men (jk!) 


The Martian temperature ranges from -143 to 27 C (-225 to 81 F). The Mars base must be insulated to protect against the extreme temperature range of the Martian surface. 
Martian dust is similar to moon dust, and moon dust has been known to cause lung damage when it is inhaled. (Moon dust from astronauts' suits got into the Apollo capsules and caused serious damage to the astronauts lungs). Martian dust is worse because of the iron oxide; the rust in the iron will do even worse damage to lungs than moon dust. The Mars base must have the proper air filters to keep the dust from being breathed by colonists. 
The Martian atmosphere is thinner than Earth's, and it's magnetic field is very weak. This means that although Mars is farther from the sun than Earth, it is bombarded by much more radiation. The Martian base will bahe to be lined all over with protective materials. Lead is a possibility, but it is very heavy and will be expensive to transport because of it's weight. Another possibility is Demron. Demron is a lightweight fabric that protects against radiation. Special plastics are currently being developed to protect against radiation while being lightweight and easy and cheap to transport. 


There are many challenges that stand in the way of exploration and colonization of Mars. But NASA is working on solving these issues, and is plannning on a fully operative Mars base within the next ten years.