Babies born today will see first ‘self-sustaining human colony’ on MARS – but experts are warning against ‘mass immigration’ to red planet
BABIES born today could live to see the first human colony on Mars, according to an expert.
Lewis Dartnell, an author and professor of science communication at the University Of Westminster, thinks a self-sustaining colony on the Moon or Mars will exist within 100 years and, with advances in modern medicine, it's likely that's lots of us could be around to see it too.
Dartnell told the : "In the next 100 years, it’s very feasible we will have a self-sustaining colony on the Moon or Mars.
"These could then keep themselves going and serve as a sort of “backup file” if we suffered some sort of apocalypse event here on Earth."
Elon Musk's company SpaceX has the aspiration of landing the first humans on Mars by 2024.
He isn't the only one in the race though as Amazon boss Jeff Bezos also has big plans for colonising Mars with his company Blue Origin and Nasa hopes to get there before 2030.
However, there are also experts who caution against mass migration to Mars.
Cambridge Professor Martin Rees : "I strongly disagree with Elon Musk and my late colleague Stephen Hawking who talk about mass immigration to Mars.
"I think that’s a dangerous delusion because Mars will be a more hostile environment than the top of Everest or the South Pole, and dealing with climate change here on Earth is far more important than terraforming Mars."
Mars is still a more desirable place to live than the moon though as it is thought to have a lot more resources that could be harnessed.
When previously discussing the need for colonies on other planets, Nasa said: "While Nasa spinoffs and other inventions can allow us to be more thrifty with Earth’s resources, we nevertheless must come to grips with the problem that humanity is currently limited to one planet.
"Space colonies could be the answer to this problem if we can solve the medical problems posed by microgravity (also called weightlessness) and the high levels of radiation to which the astronauts would be exposed after leaving the protection of the Earth’s atmosphere.
";The colonists would mine the Moon and the minor planets and build beamed power satellites that would supplement or even replace power plants on the Earth.
"The colonists could also take advantage of the plentiful raw materials, unlimited solar power, vacuum, and microgravity in other ways to create products that we cannot while inside the cocoon of Earth’s atmosphere and gravity."
How long does it take to get to Mars?
It's not that short of a trip...
- There's an immense distance between Earth and Mars, which means any trip to the red planet will take a very long time
- It's also made more complicated by the fact that the distance is constantly changing as the two planets rotate around the sun
- The closest that the Earth and Mars would ever be is a distance of 33.9million miles – that's 9,800 times the distance between London and New York
- That's really rare though: the more useful distance is the average, which is 140million miles
- Scientists on Earth have already launched a whole bunch of spacecraft to (or near) Mars, so we have a rough idea of how long it takes with current technology
- Historically, the trip has taken anywhere from 128 to 333 days - admittedly a huge length of time for humans to be on board a cramped spacecraft.
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In other news, Nasa's manned mission to Mars could be delayed by 25 year as experts warn of ‘radiation, health scares and food shortages’.
Japan is ready to mine Mars's largest moon after successfully completing all of the compulsory 'space contamination' paperwork.
And, ancient asteroid strikes on Mars may have produced ‘key ingredients for life’.
Would you like to live on Mars? Let us know in the comments...
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