It seems that the possibility of humans visiting, and maybe even inhabiting, Mars is getting larger and larger each day. The red planet is starting to not feel so far away…
What do you think? Will there be at least 100 (maybe more!) humans inhabiting Mars within the next 30 years? Do you think more than 100? Less than 100?
After you vote please leave a comment. Would you go to Mars if you could?
I would not go, after the novelty of being on another planet and “I’m living in a cargo container the rest of my life” sit’s in, probably the next morning, I would be wondering what have I done with my life leaving a beautiful planet like Earth!
I think trying to go to Mars is a huge waste of time and money, especially if it is government money. Use the money to solve problems on earth.
Exploration of all kinds has always improved the life of the majority, though sometimes causing damage to the discoveries.
Exactly what have the majority gained? The only gain I have seen is jobs. Because of space exploration we have ??? What new products do we have? What do the majority have that we didn’t have before ? How has our life improved? I am waiting to hear.
I grew up during the moon race and have been an avid space nut and amateur astronomer since then. As a kid I dreamed of the future where we’d be flying around in space ships, but I DO NOT think sending people to Mars is a good idea, certainly not in the near future. While technology has improved since the 1960s the difference in distance between the Earth and Moon and Earth and Mars is huge! At best it’s about 140x farther, then of course there’s the return trip. Everything would have to work the first time since there wouldn’t be any practice runs like there was with going to the moon. Even then, it was estimated the Apollo 8 mission had about a 50% chance of success in getting the astronauts there and back alive – and that was just to orbit the moon and come back. The actual moon landing had issues too, including a broken arming switch for the ascent engine that was luckily fixed with a pen tip.
Of course they will.
And I guarantee that someone will still call there from Earth trying to reach them about their cars warranty!
Robots.
Mars is the only planet in the solar system, and maybe further, inhabited entirely by robots.
Health issues alone, while in space, will prevent the colonization of mars. As for other planets and solar systems, the distance is far beyond our capabilities. It is just like our creator didn’t want humans messing with each others universe.
To get all the materials for living and food to Mars for a 100 people will take many, many tons of rocket fuel……..leaving the other 9,999,999,900 people with a terrible CO2 increase making climate change much worse. But if we make life uninhabitable on this planet, maybe Elon Musk and 99 other top billionaires can live on Mars. Or maybe we should just send them now with everything they need to live on Mars except food… and they can eat each other.
I voted yes but really don’t care. It would be much easier and cheaper to set up habitats on Antarctica, the northern tundras, or on the ocean surfaces than to send humans to Mars.
At what point will they cease to be Human?
Today’s society only does things for profit. There is no profit in living on Mars.
then why is Elon Musk so interested in his Mars project?
I do believe we humans are explorers and are not content to limit ourselves to just one rock in the galaxy. But money and determination are the limiting factors. If we are beyond repair of the damage we’ve done to this rock, we may need to start finding another one to live on. Mars would need a lot of work and more than 30 years to be home to millions.
I’m an optimist and said yes. But a lot is going to depend on the will of society to do the necessary research and engineering to allow (note I said ‘allow’, not ‘make’) it happen. I also believe Mars will be best used as ‘trading route cross road’.The real value will be asteroid mining for high-value rare (on Earth) minerals. Better to do that ‘out there’ than ‘down here’. Mars’ moons may have an even larger population as ‘ship yards’ with just enough gravity to facilitate repairs and refits.
I think Mr. Johnson is correct.
NASA has a great page with the basic information about Mars’ moons
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/moons/mars-moons/in-depth/
Since the soil is toxic and mars has no magnetic field so the radiation is high, I can imagine short scientific stays but nothing permanent. I think it will be a long, long time before anything like a permanent habitat could be built to provide a safe environment for humans.
I can think of 100 people I would like to see go !!
:-)))))))
I have no desire to do space travel. Home sweet home is here on earth. But, there very probably willbe humans of some nationality there.
No but I can think of at least 10 I’d like to see go.
Likewise Skip. At least 10 should go into space. And stay. T,G,Bobo, C,H,J, toname the top six
Really? We need to save America right now! I’m sure not worried about if we are going to another planet! People need help here, so quit spending trillions! Take care of our veterans and the homeless! Flame suit on!
Amen!
We all ready had a space race to the moon and what did that prove? That we could beat the Russians! I don’t see anyone living on the moon, does mars have an atmosphere that we could walk around outside? From the pics being sent back from the explorers it looks like a barren rock with no resources so we’d have to constantly have supply missions at what cost? No I see no reason why we would colonize mars. It could turn out to be like the British empire sending all their prisoners to Australia, now Australia is bigger and better than England.
Correct, the reason for going to the moon was a fear if the Soviets were on their way to militarize space. Thought of a nuclear missile base on the moon had people worried. Plus, America needed something positive in a time of internal turmoil.
As for Mars itself? Nope, no breathable atmosphere nor running water but there is frozen water ice on the planet and there have been experiments to see if it’s possible to extract oxygen from the thin atmosphere using machines – see the MOXIE device on the Perseverance lander. It “may” be possible to send a crew there for a “short” stay, but living there is a loooooong way away.
My thoughts exactly.