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Humans Will Never Colonize Mars
The suggestion that humans will soon set up bustling, long-lasting colonies on Mars is something many of us take for granted. What this lofty vision fails to appreciate, however, are the monumental—if not intractable—challenges awaiting colonists who want to permanently live on Mars. Unless we radically adapt our brains and bodies to the harsh Martian environment, the Red Planet will forever remain off limits to humans.
Mars is the closest thing we have to Earth in the entire solar system, and that's not saying much.
The Red Planet is a cold, dead place, with an atmosphere about 100 times thinner than Earth's. The paltry amount of air that does exist on Mars is primarily composed of noxious carbon dioxide, which does little to protect the surface from the Sun's harmful rays. Air pressure on Mars is very low; at 600 Pascals, it's only about 0.6 percent that of Earth. You might as well be exposed to the vacuum of space, resulting in a severe form of the bends—including ruptured lungs, dangerously swollen skin and body tissue, and ultimately death. The thin atmosphere also means that heat cannot be retained at the surface. The average temperature on Mars is -81 degrees Fahrenheit (-63 degrees Celsius), with temperatures dropping as low as -195 degrees F (-126 degrees C). By contrast, the coldest temperature ever recorded on Earth was at Vostok Station in Antarctica, at -128 degrees F (-89 degrees C) on June 23, 1982. Once temperatures get below the -40 degrees F/C mark, people who aren't properly dressed for the occasion can expect hypothermia to set in within about five to seven minutes.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by driverless on Friday August 02 2019, @02:40AM (3 children)
That still depends on what's on there. You can colonise somewhere because (a) it's easy, (b) there's stuff there you want, or preferably both. With Mars we don't have (a), and we currently don't know whether we have (b). Both of which would indicate there'll be no rush to move people there.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @08:27PM (2 children)
To play devil's advocate, it might have the same (b) that Australia once did: provide space to dump people you want to get rid of but can't outright slaughter.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Saturday August 03 2019, @02:45AM
I was actually thinking of that when I posted, the centre of Australia is a good approximation of Mars, however the colony was self-sustaining, they had air, water, firewood, building material, and pretty soon food as well. Places like Tasmania are actually pretty pleasant, in the sense that if convicts hadn't been dumped there then settlers would probably have gone anyway. It's a long call from Mars, where you'd have to haul everything you need up there with you.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 07 2019, @09:14PM
It's probably cheaper to lock someone up the rest of their lives than send them to Mars. Though if we were willing to spend that sort of money to get rid of undesirables, why not spend the money on educating and rehabilitating them instead so they become useful?