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Mars' environment is extremely hostile to life, with no breathable air, temperatures more extreme than what's found in Antarctica, and no water or food resource
by ETH_start 2y ago
Mars' environment is extremely hostile to life, with no breathable air, temperatures more extreme than what's found in Antarctica, and no water or food resources that can be foraged. As if all this were not enough, radiation levels on its surface are also 20 times higher than what's found on Earth.
Adding to the difficulties imposed by the harshness of the environment and the paucity of its resources, a habitat there will be more remote than any human habitat that has existed in centuries, perhaps in history, in terms of difficulty of resupplying it.
Simply surviving without the vast support network of civilization at hand is a constant struggle on Earth, and all of this will be exponentially more challenging on Mars.
- SoftTalker 2y agoYeah I think humans living on Mars is a complete fantasy, at least in this century. Will humans visit Mars? We'll probably attempt it. But living there permanently? Not going to happen.
- ETH_start 2y agoIt would certainly be difficult, but if we do manage to create viable permanent settlements on Mars that would massively expand the space where humans can live, since it would require significant upgrades in a whole suite of technologies necessary for human colonization of extraterrestrial environmens. Even a technology as seemingly unrelated to Mars settlement as autonomous robots I believe would see significant advances as part of any effort to create a permanent human presence on Mars.
- SoftTalker 2y agoBest case, the technology will allow us to continue to live on a warmer earth, which will still be vastly easier than living on Mars.
- BurningFrog 2y agoYou make a good case for why being on Mars is dangerous. My point is not that it's safe, but that there isn't much to do there, and very little unforeseen happens. I assume no one goes to Mars without the resources to live safely and feed themselves. If we're talking about some adventurers hijacking a Starship, I fully agree that they're in for a world of stress :)