-
Asked by Ryan to Cristiane, Nikolai, Richard, Samuel on 18 Mar 2015.
-
Nikolai Adamski answered on 18 Mar 2015:
It depends for how long. We can live on Mars for some time.
But for a permanent colony on Mars, we need to do a lot more work.
A colony on any planet needs to be able to sustain itself, i.e. the people need to be able to grow/create at least some of their own food.
The colonists need to be able to create tools and spare parts as needed: 3D-printers could fill this gap.
A colony would need medicine and drugs for treating diseases and illnesses.
Regular supply from earth could complement the food stores and supply medicine.I think we could live on Mars now. But this would need a dedicated effort by pretty much all nations on earth. A mission like this is costly to set up and costly to run. Not to mention the required technical know-how.
The Mars One project that is currently in the news (http://www.mars-one.com/) seems like a hoax to me. The organizers of that project have no idea how to send people to Mars in the first place. They have some sketches for buildings and modules, but nobody has built them yet (things like this need extensive tests!). I think this whole thing is just a new sort of Big Brother, as the company running Mars One project has announced to follow the volunteers during training etc.
-
-
Samuel Ellis answered on 18 Mar 2015:
Nikolai has answered this question well.
One point I would make is that a manned mission to Mars will be extremely expensive. For example, the Mars One mission estimates they will need at least 6 billion dollars, and have so far raised less than a million through fundraising.. so a very long way to go. As Nikolai mentioned, I imagine a successful Mars colony would have to be backed by lots of the world’s major nations just to get enough funding and expertise!
Comments