IS IT TIME TO BE A MARTIAN?

Is There Still Time to Live on Mars? I Believe So

Photo by Nicolas Lobos on Unsplash

We all must have seen The Martian, directed by Ridley Scott. If you haven’t seen it yet, believe me — you should. With a solid 8/10 rating on IMDb, the movie is genuinely mind-blowing.

I was 7 when I first saw this film. The fascinating storyline and the incredible facts inspired me to become an astronaut. Of course, I was too young to realise that being an astronaut is one of the most challenging careers to take and is everyone’s dream to pursue.

Now that I am 16, rewatching the movie made me ask myself a question:

Can we actually reach Mars, or does it only belong in movies and books?

Most of us know the basics. Mars is our neighbouring planet (of course, that’s common knowledge), it appears red in colour, scientists believe it once had flowing water on its surface, and apparently Elon Musk is determined to get humans there (I’m telling you, he will!).

At roughly half the size of Earth, Mars is a completely different world. The first problem? The atmosphere.

We humans need oxygen to survive, it’s essential for all life on earth but unfortunately mars did not get the memo.

Mars atmospheres consist of 95.3% carbon dioxide, 2.7 % nitrogen and 1.6 % argon. There is barely any amount of oxygen and water vapour present. This mean you will be wiped out in minutes if u step on mars without a space suit (sound crazy right)

Photo by Aung Myin Thu on Unsplash

The surface temperatures are not welcoming either. The thin atmosphere of mars cannot trap the heat from the sun like our planet earth. Now you must be wondering that carbon dioxide is an excellent green house gas, so why can’t it trap the heat! The answer is that it lacks density.

The atmospheric pressure on mars is 1 % less that of earths because of which gasses have lesser volumes. As a result, temperatures range from a chilling -143 degree Celsius to a mild 20 degree Celsius, with a global average of — 63 degrees Celsius. These temperatures are far too extreme for humans and most animals, dealing another blow to our Martian dreams.

Now if we do mange to survive these conditions another problem appears to be, Food! If you’ve watched The Martian, you’ll remember Mark Watney successfully growing potatoes on Mars. It makes for a great movie scene, but in reality, it’s impossible.

The soil on mars consists of Iron oxides, volcanic ash, some chemicals like iron, magnesium and silicon, and toxic salts called perchlorates. The soil is completely sterile (no organic matter present). In simple terms, mars is a farmer’s hell.

To make the matters worse, the planet also provides occasional dust storms, and absolutely zero protection from the sun’s radiation.

So, with all this can we still live on mars, in theory yes! If earth becomes unhabitable, mars is our best option to go with. We can live underground or even make a space colony on the surface with big domes and alien vibes, but do we have the tech to do that.

The answer may surprise you.

SpaceX, which is founded by Elon musk is the company which is developing starship. This is the largest rocket ever built by humans and is complete reusable, which means the space debris issue is out of the game. This rocket can carry tonnes of material and humans to mars in roughly 6 to 9 months. But reaching mars means only half the battle is finished. What happen after we land?

NASA’s Perseverance rover carried an experiment called MOXIE, which successfully produced oxygen from the carbon dioxide-rich Martian atmosphere. Well, this might not sound like much but this great progress toward our Martian dreams.

But shifting humanity to Mars is far easier said than done.

While companies like SpaceX are making incredible progress, rockets are still not perfectly reliable, especially when human lives are involved. A journey to Mars would take around six to nine months, meaning astronauts would be trapped inside a spacecraft for a very long time with little room for error. Furthermore, it will take enormous number of launches, vast amounts of resources, and decades of planning. There is risk of equipment failure which is quite concerning.

Photo by Dmitry Grachyov on Unsplash

But still reaching Mars is way easier than surviving there.

So, is it time to be a Martian?

Without a doubt, Yes!

For the first time in history, living on Mars is no longer just science fiction. However, before we rush to colonise another planet, we should focus on protecting the one we already have.

Mars may be our future home, but Earth is still our home.