Should We Go to Mars?

Human settlement on Mars may seem insanely futuristic, but the origins of the idea actually go back to the early 20th century. Now, with major breakthroughs just around the corner, everyone’s asking: Are our plans for the Red Planet feasible? And is the journey worth it??

[SCRIPT]

It’s just another normal day.

You wake up and pour yourself some coffee. You’ve gotta make sure the kids get to school on time. After that, it’s off to work. Tomorrow will look the same.

You might call it a tedious existence … under other circumstances.

Because the year is 2075. And the planet is Mars.

Could we actually accomplish this?

Well … it’s complicated.

[OPENING SEQUENCE]

Here’s a little story about humanity. From the dawn of time until the early 20th century, we basically stayed on the ground.

Well, except for when the French were trying to be fancy:

But then, in 1903, this happened:

And then, in 1969, this happened:

Today, we’re here:

And in the not-too-distant future, a lot of people think we’ll be here:

Human colonies on Mars.

But as more and more people are telling us we’re closer and closer to this becoming a reality, it’s worth asking: Is it worth doing? And is it feasible?

The first thing to know is that if going to Mars sounds insanely futuristic to you … it shouldn’t.

In fact, as early as 1911, one of the intellectual godfathers of space travel, a Russian scientist by the name of … [Screen displays ‘Konstantin Tsiolkovsky’] well, go ahead and work out the pronunciation on your own … pronounced that “Earth is the cradle of humanity but one cannot live in the cradle forever.

And, sure, one Russian guy who looks suspiciously like he’s trying to lure you into a haunted house doesn’t necessarily prove the pedigree of this idea. But you know what does? The fact that by as early as the 1950s both the United States and the Soviet Union were already in the planning stages of trying to get humans to Mars.

Why did the concept go into hibernation for so long? Well, for one thing, the technology wasn’t there yet. After all, when the Soviets finally got a lander on Mars in 1971, it worked for 14 seconds — and only sent back this image:

So, rough day for these guys:

Another factor: The public absolutely did not care.

Even in the wake of America’s triumphant landing on the Moon in 1969, polling showed that public opinion on the idea of the U.S. putting a man on Mars — humanity’s first-ever visit to another planet — was what social scientists refer to as “ehhhh.”

In recent years, however, that’s changed. In 2019, polls showed a majority of Americans backing a manned mission to Mars for the first time in 50 years of asking the question.

Why make the journey? Among proponents, there’s a wide variety of arguments.

For Buzz Aldrin, it’s about reestablishing America’s global leadership.

For Elon Musk, it’s about making sure that humans become a multi-planet species.

And for scholars, it’s about everything from accelerating the development of new technology to better understanding the origins of life.

But in a lot of cases … there’s no practical argument at all — at least not in the way you’d think. Because for many people the whole point is that we don’t know what we’ll find or what innovations could come out of it.

Which … is not an inherently unreasonable position. After all, the spirit of exploration that has driven so much of human history can kinda be boiled down to “What’s out there? Let’s check it out.”

And when it comes to Mars, the answer to “What’s out there?” Well … Mars has a volcano that’s about three times as tall as Mount Everest and as wide as France.

It has a canyon that’s about 4 1/2 times deeper than the Grand Canyon and so long that on Earth it would run from Los Angeles to the East Coast.

And every five years or so, the entire planet is covered in a massive dust storm that can last for months.

What we’re saying is that it’s basically Arizona on performance-enhancing drugs.

So, should we be optimistic or pessimistic about a future for humanity on Mars?

There are reasonable cases to be made on both sides of that argument.

The optimists can point to advances in rocketry, like SpaceX’s development of its Starship, which will utilize the tallest rocket ever built and cut the costs of a launch by more than 2/3 from where they were just 20 years ago. SpaceX’s plans even call for the Starship to be refuellable on Mars using the planet’s own resources.

The optimists can also point to a lot of natural advantages Mars offers for would-be settlers.

There are huge amounts of water in ice deposits spread over much of the planet, which could conceivably be utilized by future colonists.

The length of a day on Mars is only about 40 minutes longer than one on Earth, making it easier for humans to adjust. And the planet has all the basic materials needed to not only sustain life, but also, eventually, allow for self-supporting agriculture and industry.

So, the good news for those who want to extend our species’ reach into space: Mars is the second-best planet in the solar system for humans.

The bad news: That’s sort of like saying North Korea is the “second-best country on the Korean Peninsula.”

Because there are a lot of problems we have to solve before Mars can become a reality.

For starters, while a round-trip flight to the Moon can be done in about a week, going to Mars and back would likely entail a journey of at least two years and likely even longer.

And there are real causes for concern there.

The European Space Agency has estimated that the amount of radiation an astronaut would be exposed to on a voyage to Mars would be 700 times higher than it is on Earth.

Because of the distance from Earth, it’d take astronauts headed to Mars 25 minutes to communicate any message back to us — and make it nearly impossible to rescue them if anything went catastrophically wrong.

And the challenges don’t stop once you make it to the red planet. There’s the fact that the soil on Mars is potentially toxic to humans, that we don’t know what the effects of prolonged exposure to reduced Martian gravity would be on astronauts’ bodies, and that NASA worries that the astronauts may just crack under the stress of being isolated with their co-workers for that long.

See, things aren’t that different in space.

So, when it comes to getting to Mars — let alone staying there — there are a huge number of challenges standing in our way. But there are huge amounts of research and innovation going into solving those problems as well — which means the day when this becomes a reality may be sooner than the pessimists think.

That progress will probably be messy and uneven. But that’s how exploration works. Throughout human history, our reach has often exceeded our grasp at first. But that’s no reason to give up. Because the road to discovery often requires lots of setbacks on the way to success.

Just ask these guys:

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Kite & Key Media?is a research and evidence-driven organization. Our videos take as their sources cutting-edge research in universities, think tanks, books, and journalistic outlets. We rely on these sources because we believe that conversations about important issues should be rooted in an understanding of the underlying facts. Follow?our LinkedIn page for more updates.