"Earth and Mars to scale."by Bluedharma is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0
Mars is right behind Earth in the order of planets away from the Sun. Being a terrestrial planet with many striking similarities to our planet and capable of sustaining life, it is currently a subject of huge interest to astrologists and opens a door to a very possible escape plan, should conditions on Earth become irreversible.
A very sensible question to ask is why we should even consider going to Mars. Global warming is an issue powerful enough to spark strong protests for a reason; Earth may become inhabitable. There are more frequent and severe natural disasters like tropical storms and forest fires due to higher temperatures; an increase in sea level results in more frequent and severe flooding; oceans become more acidic due to carbon dioxide, making it less habitable for marine animals, which can seriously disturb food chains; higher temperatures also bring about drought more often. All of these cause death rates to increase, therefore deeming our planet to be increasingly dangerous. It has been a dream for many years to create conditions on Mars suitable for human life; with the landing of the Perseverance rover on 18th February 2021, this dream is closer to becoming a reality than it has ever been before.
How would life on Mars be possible?
In order to understand the necessities of life on Mars, it’s easier to just state the necessities of life on our own planet. As journalist Stephen Petranek says in his Ted Talk “Your kids might live on Mars”, these include food, water, shelter and clothing. It becomes clear that the same is needed to live on Mars, with one vital addition: oxygen. Once these criteria are met, life on Mars will seem increasingly possible.
Water
Water is the basis of all life as we know it. We will have to depend on the extraction of water on the red planet itself if we intend to live there. Thankfully, the Mariner 9 Mars orbiter, launched in 1971, first found evidence of past water on the planet in the form of dry riverbeds and canyons. Further down the line, NASA’s Curiosity rover found direct evidence of a stream-bed on Mars in 2012, and not just in images, but in rocks that the rover processed in its built-in laboratory when it landed on Mars’ surface. Mars’ soil is actually composed of up to 60% water. Mars’ atmosphere is also very humid, so by using devices like dehumidifiers, we can extract water straight out of its atmosphere.
Oxygen
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSHA, determine the optimal range of oxygen in the air for humans as between 19.5 and 23.5 percent. On Mars, this figure is a mere 0.16%, with 96% of the atmosphere being carbon dioxide. However, NASA has a solution to this seemingly unsolvable problem. A scientist at MIT named Michael Hecht designed a device, named Moxie, that separates the carbon from the two oxygen atoms in a carbon dioxide molecule, thus producing oxygen gas. This device is to be tested out on the new Perseverance rover that landed this year on Mars.
Food
The soil on Mars doesn’t have the nutrients that are needed for plants to grow. As such, we will need to use hydroponics (the process by which food is grown in sand, gravel or liquid with added nutrients) to make as much food as we can. This however won’t be enough to sustain our population, so an estimated 80% of our food will need to be dried, transported from Earth.
Shelter
Both the Sun and cosmic rays emit lethal radiation. This radiation hits Earth all the time, but it doesn’t harm us due to Earth’s magnetic field and atmosphere. Mars’ core mysteriously solidified about 4.2 billion years ago, which caused its magnetic field to deteriorate. Mars has a much thinner atmosphere than Earth due to this, further enhancing exposure to radiation. As such, we will have to rely mainly on underground cave systems, as well as some pressurised bubble-like structures. Luckily, there are many of these systems which can be converted to places of shelter whilst we use Mars’ raw materials to make bricks thick enough to block out all the radiation.
Clothing
This may not seem vital at first, but there are three key things to consider: temperature, atmospheric pressure and radiation. We need spacesuits that will keep us warm in the very cold Martian environment, as well as something thick enough to save us from radiation when we walk outside as well as the very thin Martian atmosphere. On Mars, atmospheric pressure stands at 6 millibars - 0.006% of what we have on Earth. Our spacesuits, therefore, will have to keep our organs from rupturing. As NASA spacesuit designer Amy Ross said in a Q&A, aboard the rover Perseverance five materials are being tested in Martian conditions, which may well be used in the spacesuits that people will have to wear when first going to Mars.
The next big step: terraforming the planet once and for all
The remaining problem with Mars is its temperature. Whilst on a hot day near the equator temperatures can rise to 20 degrees C, a cold winter’s day can see temperatures plummet to -125 degrees C. To make it warmer, we must find a way to melt Mars’ polar “dry” ice caps (meaning they consist of frozen carbon dioxide). When this is heated, it sublimes straight into carbon dioxide gas, which as we know is an extremely potent greenhouse gas. This however is a long-term solution, as we must be certain that there is enough oxygen present before we start the process. With a thicker atmosphere, temperatures rise, atmospheric pressure increases, and radiation exposure decreases- everything becomes better.
Life on Mars is a real possibility and could come about much earlier than we thought. We must first dream. Then we must plan, and finally we must execute. The next phase of humanity is upon us!
Written By Orestis Sabetai, 11MG
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