#msjchronicle

By Hattie Baxter, Year 12.

This article featured in the MSJ Chronicle publication in 2018.

With space agencies all over the world planning missions to Mars, I think it’s safe to say that a Martian colony is no longer a distant sci-fi concept. But in all the excitement about things like ‘how we’ll get there’ and ‘what a Martian colony would look like’, many people seem to have overlooked the most important question: not could we colonise Mars, but should we? Humanity has always had a fascination with exploring space – but have we gone too far this time? 

First of all: what is Mars? Mars a rocky planet, the fourth from the sun, and is about half the size of Earth with 62.5% less gravity. It has an average surface temperature of -63℃, so any water on the surface is in the form of ice. Its atmosphere is mostly made up of carbon dioxide, with a tiny amount of other gases, and is much less dense than that of Earth. From this description, it doesn’t sound like the most hospitable planet; in fact, it resembles Earth in its early stages, before life evolved. As it is not part of the ‘Goldilocks zone’, the area just the right distance away from the sun to make the conditions perfect for life, it isn’t somewhere that we could colonise without extremely advanced technology.

 One of the most important reasons for colonising Mars is for scientific discovery. Although the planet is currently hosting several Mars exploration rovers such as NASA’s ‘Opportunity’, these robots don’t really compare to human scientists. In addition, much of the technology developed for space has been adapted for use on earth in areas such as medicine. However, many people would say that the billions of pounds it takes to build spacecraft would be better spent directly on research into these areas. And our scientists should surely be doing research to improve people’s lives, not to make things worse for a select few; although it sounds fun, living in a Martian colony may not be as exciting as it seems at first.

To begin with, space travel can be very dangerous: if the spacecraft fails at any point it would mean certain death for the entire crew. During the journey, they will be exposed to radiation which could cause cancer, and there would be no treatment for this. Even once they have arrived on the planet, if any of the systems fail this would also mean death as humans cannot survive exposure to Mars’ atmosphere. As well as these physical health risks, there are also mental health risks: Exploring the surface of Mars would involve many complicated processes, which means that it wouldn’t happen very often. Colonists could therefore find themselves with very little to do, as it is enough of a technological challenge to set up a functioning Martian colony without also making it fun.  

Another of the reasons for colonising Mars is to ensure the survival of humans. However, it is extremely unlikely that we will be able to establish a completely self-sufficient colony on Mars, as it does not have all the resources we need as Earth does. Also, there are places on Earth which we could colonise far more easily than Mars to solve the problem of lack of space. One idea, widely used in science fiction about colonising Mars, is terraforming: changing a planet to resemble Earth and therefore support life. However, somewhat obviously, if we did have this technology we could simply use it to undo the effects of global warming. If we moved to another planet, we’d only be transferring our problems somewhere else where they could potentially become even worse. It’s irresponsible to mess with another planet if we can’t even fix our own one. 

Surprisingly, this is the view taken by some astronauts. Ron Garan, who has spent time on the International Space Station working for NASA, said ‘most of the people I know who’ve had this experience have come back with a deeper appreciation for the planet that we live on. And it’s not just an appreciation for the planet—it’s appreciation for the living things on the planet, too.’ He believes that, although space exploration is a positive thing, its focus should be on improving life on our own planet: after all, it is the only planet known to support life.  

However, some scientists think that the moon would be a much better target for an extraterrestrial colony, highlighting the problem with many of the arguments for a colony on Mars. These are ideas such as ‘space exploration inspires children to take up STEM subjects’ and ‘it boosts national morale’. This is ridiculous: should we really be going to such lengths just to inspire people? The real reason behind all of this is that the moon has ‘already been done’; It was incredibly exciting when man first went to the moon, but now the idea of a moon colony sounds boring. This fixation on Mars is worrying, as space agencies should surely be thinking about what would be best for humanity, not what will – temporarily - get the most public support. 

So while I do think that a Martian colony would be a huge step forwards in space exploration, my worry is that we will let our greed for new and exciting things overcome our common sense. If we ever get round to sending a crewed mission to Mars, as it may take a long time to develop the technology needed, how long will it take before people get bored of hearing about what’s happening there? If we only go to Mars ‘because it’s there’, we’ll end up wasting our precious resources on a useless project. The whole scheme is irresponsible:  Earth does not only belong to us. It belongs to every other species it supports, and a diverse ecosystem is what allows our species to survive. We need to get our heads out of the clouds and accept that, although colonizing Mars may sound exciting, in reality it would be far easier simply to optimize the conditions on our own planet.