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| Figure 1. Photo of the surface of Mars (Folio) |
Some of us are not aware that we can’t live on Earth forever. Believe it or not, I'm still in awe about this fact. There will come a time when the Sun will just die and the Earth will vanish out from existence, forever. Billion years from now, we might transfer to another habitable planet. I sound ridiculous, but yes, it might be possible because the study for this proposition is still on-going. The biggest question about this is where are we going to live? Is it possible that I can continue my life even if I’m in another planet? Maybe yes, or maybe not.
Mars is the fourth planet from the sun. Befitting the Red Planet’s bloody color, the Romans named it after their God of War, in truth, the Romans copied the ancient Greeks, who also named the planet after their God of War, Ares. Yes. The answer for the next planet is the Mars. At first I doubted and asked myself if it is truly possible. But until now, experts are still gathering information and have been conducting various experiments to satisfy all of our confusions.
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| Figure 2. How Mars look like from the outer space (Wikipedia) |
The bright rust color Mars is known for is due to iron-rich minerals in its regolith. The soil of Earth is a kind of regolith too, albeit one loaded with organic content. The Red Planet is home to both the highest mountain and the deepest, longest valley in the Solar System. It is good to know for me that just like on the Earth, there is still some land and water forms just like the Olympus Mons of the Mars which is about three times as small as the Mount Everest of the Earth. With all these raised possibilities, it just gets me more and more excited of the day wherein all humans embark to a journey to the next probable planet we may inhibit -- a journey towards Mars.
I have read tons of articles and facts about this case. I found out that even though Mars has an environment that is harsh for life as we know it, it appears to be the most habitable planet in our solar system, besides Earth. And this one is also amazing because Mars even had oceans like our own. Some places on Earth have been used to study Mars, since their environments are somewhat similar to conditions on Mars.
I already said earlier that experts or scientists are studying Mars since the early 1960’s. They've spent such a long time committing to a single task so I must say that this is really challenging for them. But well, they must do their jobs right since the lives of the people are those at risk here. Over the years, they have sent small spacecrafts that flew by, orbited and landed on Mars. These spacecrafts found so much photos, footages, and evidences which somehow showed us what it's like to actually be on the planet. One discovery for example is that although some places on Earth look like Mars, the Red Planet is indeed a harsh environment for life.
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| Figure 3. Photo of a rover on a mission in Mars (The Verge) |
The planet's atmosphere is 95% carbon dioxide, therefore the surface of the planet is too cold to sustain life and it would be impossible to breathe. Its gravity is a mere 38% of the Earth's, so it would be very difficult to do things normally as to what we are used to today. The NASA’s Viking mission that landed in Mars in 1976, recorded average temperatures of -81% degrees Fahrenheit which is colder than either South or North poles here on Earth. If exposed to that temperature, plants, humans and other living beings would freeze. Other than that, it has almost no surface water, deadly solar radiation, and few to none of the natural resources that are critical to humans' existence. Basically, the way it is seen today, it is pretty much impossible for us to live in Mars the way we live in Mother Earth. But still, scientists and researchers are still finding ways to give us further possibilities to how we'll be able to inhabit it.
There is a movie I’ve watched entitled "The Martian" which shows the struggles and difficulties of trying to live on Mars. It was a fictional story about an astronaut that was left alone in the planet, trying to survive each and every day with the limited resources that he has, and contact those left in earth. This movie made me realize that it will be very risky and hard living there, considering the lack of resources, the restrictions within the atmosphere, just thinking about being on another planet other than our Earth is definitely challenging and complicated.
Lately, there have been countless new discoveries that gave the scientists and us, humans, something to hope for that we may someday inhabit Mars. NASA’s "Curiosity" rover has found new evidence preserved in rocks on Mars that suggests the planet could have supported ancient life, as well as new evidence in the Martian atmosphere that relates to the search for current life on the Red Planet. Another one is that orbiters and rovers at Mars have confirmed that the planet once had liquid water, thanks to clues that include dry riverbeds, ancient shorelines, and salty surface chemistry. While not necessarily evidence of life itself, these findings are a good sign for future missions exploring the planet’s surface and subsurface. Here is a video which explains more thoroughly what we have discovered so far about the bases and limitations of this idea.
Video 1. Could Humans Live on Mars? (Top Trending)
To give a gist about the video, it describes Mars as a globally dry planet whilst being absolutely freezing cold. But, although Mars is dry and is currently in a state of frigid hostility, it may be possible with future technologies but we need to be very specific. There's little to no oxygen, specifically only 0.14% in its atmosphere, but scientists claim that there is a certain chemical found all over the planet which they can utilize to produce oxygen. Next, mars has an extremely small magnetic field, so people would absorb radiation at a rapid rate, raising the risks of cancer. Basically, the habitability zone of the planet is very, very small, so it is questionable if it will still be very worth it. Watching this video really got me scared and gave me doubts if we should still go after this certain goal. There are lots of findings which prove that it is still really far from our reach, with some discoveries hindering us, while some are letting us advance.
It will surely be a long journey for scientists to study and examine the Mars' environment whether or not we can live in it. On the outside, it really sounds impossible to know that we might live in other planet but this might be the fate of our life, or in simpler words, our last resort. There is a back-and-forth cycle, it requires years and years of continuous effort. But at the state we're in and the information we have now, the fact still remains that there isn't any planet as habitable as our Earth, or rather we still haven't found one. Even though it's likely that we won’t experience this in the future, I believe that whatever lies in Mars, it will be crucial for human life to strive.
Ed Oswald (2020) "We're going to the Red Planet!"
Roger Wiens (2020) "Life on Mars?"
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