Voyage To An Unknown World

Our current situation

Mars - a planet we have been dreaming of living on for decades. Scientists of all ages across the world have been trying tirelessly to find a way to accommodate us homo sapiens onto this planet we still do not know enough about. Although we still do not know much, we do know that this planet is currently inhabitable. There are many reasons for this. Water - the basic need of life - is present on mars, which might give one hope that life could be a possibility on this planet however, that is not the case, unfortunately. Even though the chemicals needed for life are present, Mars does not have the correct physical conditions required to produce life. Additionally, if liquid water exists, it does in insignificant amounts only, not enough to provide for the entire human race. There are doubts as to whether it does as there is extremely low temperature and low pressure on the planet which makes it impossible for liquid water to be present.

Another obvious reason for the inhabitability of mars is that it has a thin atmosphere which leaves us vulnerable to the harmful Ultraviolet rays emitted from the Sun.

Conrad simply summarises this and states, "The emergence and sustenance of both life and its habitat require a convergence of the right chemicals and physical conditions in the right place at the same time."

Despite this, scientists are currently working to find ways to extract water from Martian soil in the coming years which will be vital to enable the journey to Mars.

The promising past

It has been noticed that in the past, about 4 billion years ago, it could be said that Mars was habitable for humans. It can be argued that it had almost perfect conditions to live in and was close to the current climate of the Earth. Scientists have discovered that in the earlier years, the planet had a thick atmosphere which could support oceans of liquid water and form a layer of protection against the destructive Ultraviolet rays from the Sun.

However, this changed over time and led to the formation of the current state of mars.

An optimistic future?

'A study by scientists in 2018 suggested that salty water below the Martian surface could hold a considerable amount of oxygen, which would support microbial life.' Mars Facts: Life, Water and Robots on the Red Planet | Space

It is difficult to confirm whether life has existed on mars before but a meteorite from mars that was discovered in mid 1996 indicated that there could be fossils of bacteria present on the surface of mars. But even if life previously existed on the planet, this does not confirm or even indicate whether it is the case right now or if it could happen again in the future as the conditions on the planet have changed from the past to the present and will continue to change in the future so it is difficult to predict if the change would be in our favour and make the planet more liveable or do the opposite.

Project Mars One - is the move possible?

Found in 2011, this project aims to move humans to Mars before 2032 so that they can have a permanent settlement on the planet. 100 humans were selected using interviews and video applications. The foundation has already started training the 100 crew members to prepare them for living in a remote location. The training includes learning how to deal with medical issues, growing crops for food and all the mechanical duties like repairing components of the habitat and rover.

In the coming years, a communication satellite and a rover will be launched on mars which will enable communications between Mars and the Earth and allow us to find the best location for the settlement. Solar panels will be trialled and tested in the coming years as well which would mean that we would be able to produce renewable energy on the planet.

Once this is completed, the rovers will settle cargo units containing all the resources needed to live on the planet sent from Earth ready before the arrival of the first crew in 2031. If everything goes right and all the trials are done, the first crew will leave the Earth for Mars in 2031. This gives us hope that humanity can settle on this planet however, there is still a decade to go, and we cannot confirm what hurdles may come our way and whether everything will go as planned.

So even though we're still unsure of what the future holds in store for humans, whether we will continue living on Earth or be driven to migrate to a different planet and although it seems that we do not have many options to choose from right now, the advancements of technology and progress of science could change this in the future so we can be more optimistic.