What Do We Need To Live On Mars?

We are living in a time where science and technology are advancing at a rapid pace. Many want to live on Mars. That's why I'm here to tell you all you want to know about it. So what do we need to live on Mars? When can we colonize the red planet?

Mars is an attractive second place for human race. Its natural beauty is amazing. The plan is to send human to Mars by 2040. But by looking at the progress, especially by private companies like SpaceX, it might be much sooner than that!

 Overcoming all the difficulties related to landing on Mars and actually stepping foot on it will be the next great achievement of mankind after landing men on moon. Every one of us should be excited about the future that lies ahead.

COULD HUMANS SURVIVE ON MARS?

Mars is a hostile place for humans. It’s very cold, desert stretches as long as you can see, has very little oxygen and gravity is only about 38% that of the Earth.

On an average, the temperature on Mars is about -60 degrees Celsius. In winter, near the poles temperatures can get down to -125 degrees C. A summer day on Mars may get up to 20 degrees C near the equator but at night the temperature may get down to -73 degrees C. It is because the atmosphere of Mars is 100 times thinner than Earth’s due to which it can’t trap any heat energy from the sun.

The low atmospheric pressure is nearly like being in a vacuum as compared to Earth’s. The skin and organs would rupture, if a human were to be present without a spacesuit and it would lead to a painful death.

Mars has only about 0.1% oxygen in its atmosphere as compared to earth’s 20%. Humans would not survive with such a low level of oxygen. The very cold surface temperatures, irritating dust, the intense UV radiation, surface chemicals and oxidants are all the other factors that will lead to death of any person present on the surface of the planet with protection.

WHAT DO WE NEED TO MAKE LIVING ON MARS POSSIBLE?

We’ve established that Mars is a hostile place. But it seems that you still want to go and settle there. Maybe you’re up for one of the most challenging adventures of mankind or you just think it is cool. Whatever maybe the reason, you need to take care of a few things if you want to settle on the red planet.

• Due to extremely low air pressure, humans are going to need a pressurized environment. Being on Mars won’t be too much different from being in deep space if you compare the air pressure. So humans would need a pressure vessel to survive and operate on Mars.
• Mars is far away from the sun and its atmosphere is too thin to retain any thermal energy. So it is very cold. We’ve already stated the range of temperature on Mars. Living on Mars will require special habitats that can provide warm temperatures so that we survive.  A pressurized warm vessel.
• Oxygen is vital for human survival. There needs to be oxygen in the pressurized vessel. However, in some of those vessels, the gas will eventually run out. What then? The atmosphere of Mars, despite being thin, consists mostly of carbon dioxide. There are many ways to break down carbon dioxide to oxygen. One needs just the right techniques and machines to make it work.
• Another very essential component that human beings need is water. There is evidence of water on Mars’ soil and atmosphere. One can extract water out of atmosphere just like carbon dioxide although with different processes. Scientists have found perchlorate, a type of salt with ion ClO4-, all over Mars and it sucks up water from the air, and astronauts can extract the water by using perchlorate.
• Food is vital for survival too. Growing food on Mars can be challenging. The soil does not have the essential nutrients plants need to survive on mars. There may not be right amount of nutrients depending on where the astronauts land on the red planet, so fertilizers may be added to the soil. The perchlorate would be leached out and separated from water. The atmosphere contains carbon dioxide which is great for plants. However, they need to be grown inside controlled environments to make the temperature tolerable.
• Our planet’s magnetosphere protects us from the dangerous high energy radiation, especially from the sun. Mars doesn’t have any magnetosphere and the atmosphere is 100 times thinner than that of Earth’s. Without any kind of protective measures, the trip to Mars and the stay on Mars will mean extended radiation exposure which will lead to cancer. Astronauts will need special habitats, suits and machines that will protect them from radiation.
• To operate all the heavy machineries that will check the pressure, temperature, convert atmospheric carbon dioxide into oxygen, extract water from the atmosphere, control environments for growing plants, there needs to be an efficient energy source. Unless you want to destroy yet another planet, solar energy is the best solution.  However, it won’t be possible to power anything on Mars with today’s technology. The solar cells have to be way more efficient to function as a source of energy. If we can’t use solar, nuclear reactors are the next best thing. However, they are very dangerous.
• If we go to Mars, it goes without saying that we would want to explore the planet. For that, we need specially equipped spacesuits. It’s obvious but still a necessary requirement. Vehicles specially designed to operate on rocky terrain would help a lot too.
  

To sum it up, we would need a pressurized vessel with temperature warm enough for humans and continuous supply of oxygen. We would need machines to convert atmospheric CO2 to O2 and use perchlorate to extract water. We would need greenhouses to grow plants and specialized suits to save us from radiation. At last, a source of energy to run all the devices and machines on the planet and sustain us.

One problem that we haven’t approached is gravity. All the other problems can be solved with today’s technology or improvement of today’s technology. Gravity is a different matter completely. Surface gravity of Mars is 38% that of Earth. Microgravity is known to cause health problems such as muscle loss and bone demineralization but it is not known if Martian gravity would have similar effect. If the astronauts don’t want to be crippled in space, they need to find a way to combat low gravity and find a way to make their weight similar to their earth weight. This problem is a major problem that needs to be solved if we want to colonize Mars.

WHY SHOULD WE GO TO MARS?

From the above sections, it is quite clear that humans cannot survive for long on the red planet. Why should we risk our lives and go there? What is so special about landing on mars and colonizing it? Well, there are a lot of reasons-

• It will be the next big achievement of mankind. Humanity set foot on moon at the end of the 60s. After that, the progress in space travel has halted. Landing on mars would be the next “giant leap for mankind.” The significance of landing and then colonizing mars would be immense for the humans as a species. We would establish ourselves as an interplanetary species. This is a fantasy that will soon become reality.
• The only home humans have ever known is Earth. History shows that surviving on this tiny speck of dust is tough. Putting humans on more than one planet would increase the chances of survival of our nomadic species. Human induced climate change would surely make this planet unbearable. We should take care of our planet but if something goes wrong, just like we predict it would, Mars would be a great backup location.
• Humans can make discoveries 10,000 times as fast as the best spacecraft explorers we have today, Bill Nye said. If we send humans, who knows what we could discover! One such discovery might be whether or not life exists on Mars. Many scientists already think that there might be microscopic life on the red planet. It would be cool to discover alien microbes.
• Going to mars will unite us as a species. So many different kinds of people will come together and this mission will give them worth. We will realize the significance of our lives in this vast universe. It will truly be a humbling experience.

Like every other mission to space, specifically the ones involving travel to other worlds, this one is hard too. But, that doesn’t mean we’ll sit back and not do it. Back when United States prepared to send men to the moon, the then president John F. Kennedy said the following-

We choose to go to the moon!... we choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win.

CONCLUSION

Landing and colonizing Mars would make humans interplanetary species. This will be the next big step of mankind. Humanity will unite and celebrate this occasion.

All of the challenges await the first astronauts who will set foot on Mars. Despite our limitations, we will become interplanetary species and a new era of space exploration.

What do you think about all the challenges that humans will face on Mars? What could be other challenges? Let me know your thoughts on the comments below.

Thank you for reading and keep on being curious!!