• Question: Do u think that we will live on mars??

    Asked by joshie to Barbara, Matt, Ravinder, Sophie, Tristan on 13 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: Matthew Moore

      Matthew Moore answered on 13 Mar 2015:

      Yes! Unless nuclear war or a superbug or something wipes us out first. The upcoming Mars project is horribly planned out, has overestimated its funding and probably won’t go ahead.

      NASA are making serious steps towards sending humans there though!

      What could happen then is something called terraforming, where the atmosphere is purposefully filled with CO2 to heat the planet and melt some of the frozen water. In the meantime humans could live in self contained pods.

      One of the greatest difficulties to overcome for humans to move to space or other planets is the different gravity. If a baby was born on Mars it would surely be deformed (as happened to chicks being born on the space station).

    • Photo: Barbara Shih

      Barbara Shih answered on 15 Mar 2015:

      I think that should be possible and I’m very excited about the Marse One project (sending people to Mars by 2025)! Although I think Matt is more up to date with me on this one – I am not aware of the financial problems. The fact people are looking into it is promising enough though. Saying that, I doubt we will get to live on Mars in our lifetime. Maybe just as tourists or small number of people living there doing specific projects.

      The health issue Matt mentioned is very important. Here is a list of problems with long term space travel.
      http://www.racetomars.ca/mars/article_effects.jsp

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