Mars is a big, bright and red planet a long way away from Earth. Its surface temperature is chilly and its atmosphere is toxic.
But if humans can survive the trip, they might one day colonize the planet and build a civilization that’s more advanced than what we have now. The first settlers might have to live in capsules, but later they’ll want to create their own habitats using local materials.
It has water
The planet mars, a world that could be the future home of humanity, is rich in water and minerals. These resources can help humans create a sustainable, long-lasting settlement.
The most important resource to consider for creating a colony on Mars is water. It’s essential for life, and can be used as an energy source.
Scientists are constantly studying the Martian surface to find ways of extracting water from rock, especially minerals that have been hydrated with water as they formed. NASA’s Curiosity and Perseverance rovers are searching for signs of minerals that hold water.
They are also looking for signs of organics, which scientists believe may have been produced by living organisms in the water-logged Martian past. These materials are the key to determining whether there is life on mars.
One of the best places to look for water is on Mars’ icy south pole. This region is too cold for salty water to remain liquid, but scientists think it might be possible that the ice beneath the planet’s south polar cap has been shaped by the presence of liquid water.
Another possibility is that a lake or ocean has formed in this area of the planet, as they do on Earth under Antarctica. A lake like this, filled with organisms, would have kept the ice from freezing and forming a solid surface.
These possibilities are all interesting, but they do raise a lot of questions about how to find water on mars. They will be answered by future missions, which will be on the lookout for signs of water.
Professor Mark Saydam, from the School of Mineral Energy Resources Engineering at the University of Southampton in England, says a main focus for a colony on Mars will be finding and extracting water. He says: “The idea is to build water treatment plants on Mars and use robots to get it ready before we send people there.”
Having a water supply would be essential to the survival of a human colony. It would need to be extracted, processed and used as a source of drinking water and to separate out the hydrogen that can then be used to create electricity.
It has minerals
One of the biggest challenges for any future human colony would be to survive and thrive in the harsh Martian climate. Fortunately, a number of ways are being developed that will help humanity live comfortably on Mars.
For example, scientists have proposed a method that could help to terraform the planet’s atmosphere in order to allow for more life. It involves using silica aerogel, which is a porous synthetic material that can help to keep the temperature down on Mars’ surface.
Another possible solution is to build habitats underground, which can be safer and more comfortable for settlers. In addition, it can also protect them from radiation exposure.
Scientists are also looking into the possibility that the red planet may be a source of unique minerals and gemstones. For instance, in 2013, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter discovered evidence of large deposits of opals on the planet.
The opals on Mars are made of hydrated silica, which is similar to the type of rock found on Earth. It is a product of asteroid collisions that occurred billions of years ago.
Other materials on the planet are likely to be readily available as well, such as regolith, a pulverized mix of silicon dioxide and ferric oxide that has been deposited over time. This could be used as a concrete substitute, allowing humans to build homes and other structures on the Martian surface.
However, this won’t be a sufficient solution to support a human colony indefinitely. In order to sustain the colony, colonists will need to be able to sell their products back to Earth in exchange for passage fees on spaceships sent to send them supplies from Mars.
This will require a large population, as there will be a limited supply of goods for sale. In order to make this profitable, colonists will need to sell their products in high volumes at a competitive price, so that they can afford to pay the high costs associated with sending them to and from Mars.
It is likely that this process will be a long-term solution for humans to thrive on Mars, but it will take a considerable amount of time before the colony can become self-sufficient and support itself indefinitely. In the meantime, colonists will have to be creative in finding ways to survive.
It has a climate
Mars has an atmosphere that is less breathable than on Earth, but it does have a lot of water and minerals needed to support life. It also has an axial tilt that makes it experience seasons like Earth, which can be useful for growing crops and having annual festivities to mark the changing of the year.
A key goal of any colony on Mars will be to ensure that the planet is able to sustain a human population and provide them with basic needs such as water, food and energy. There will also be a need to explore and exploit resources that might not be available on Earth, such as carbon dioxide gas and hydrogen from water ice and permafrost.
There are a number of possible ways to make the Martian environment more hospitable to humans, and some of them have been done before on Earth. One of these is called geoengineering, which involves manipulating the surface to improve its conditions. Another option would be to use orbital mirrors to heat the planet and trigger global warming (which could eventually lead to a terraformed surface).
Other possibilities include injecting oxygen into the Martian atmosphere through biological processes, such as cyanobacteria and phytoplankton. These organisms could convert carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into breathable oxygen for the colonists.
In addition to oxygen, the colonists will need access to liquid water on Mars to survive. This will require the ability to extract and process it before they land on the planet, says Prof. Saydam from the School of Mineral Energy Resources Engineering at the University of Southampton in England.
Moreover, the colonists will need to have systems that allow them to produce rocket fuel from liquid oxygen. That is necessary not just to breathe but to launch rockets that will transport people back to Earth from the planet.
And it will be important for them to have strong immune systems in order to survive the rigors of long space voyages. A recent study found that astronauts who have logged long space flights, such as the International Space Station missions and the shuttle missions, are more likely to develop infections such as herpes, chickenpox and shingles than those who have not spent prolonged periods in low-or-zero gravity environments.
It has life
Despite its apparent lack of life on the surface, Mars has a lot to offer as a home for future settlers. The Red Planet has everything needed to support human life, including water, minerals, a climate and breathable oxygen.
There are many reasons to colonise Mars, but one of the biggest is that it could help us answer some key questions about our own planet’s origins and evolution. There are a number of groups that promote permanent settlement of Mars, and the debate over whether or not it should be done has become a hot topic at recent BBC Future World-Changing Ideas Summits in New York.
The main challenge for establishing a thriving population on Mars would be the lack of breathable oxygen. This is because the Martian atmosphere is 95% carbon dioxide. However, some scientists have proposed a way to convert the carbon dioxide into breathable oxygen using organisms such as cyanobacteria and phytoplankton.
Another challenge is radiation. Because Mars is so far from Earth, astronauts are subject to both the protons blasted out by the sun and cosmic rays, which are high-energy atomic and subatomic particles that blast from exploding stars, black holes and other sources in space. Cosmic rays can damage the cells in your body and may cause cancer, according to research by scientists at the University of Las Vegas.
Colonists on Mars will also want to find other energy sources, as they can’t depend on sunlight. They will need to find sources of chemical or geothermal energy, which are often found in places where the Sun doesn’t reach.
As well as finding water, a future colony on Mars will need to tap into mineral resources such as metals and glass for construction and manufacturing purposes. These resources can be sourced from the surface of the planet or mined deep beneath it.
The prospect of a thriving human colony on Mars is becoming increasingly real. Several non-governmental organizations advocate permanent settlement of the planet, and the first human-made structures are set to land on the Red Planet as early as 2029. While many people are excited about the possibility of settling Mars, it remains to be seen how well such an endeavor will work out.