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Survival on Mars
Colonizing Mars Possible?
By:Manuhe Abebe
What are the obstacles to a successful Mars Colonization, and how might we overcome these obstacles.
There are many barriers to a successful Mars Colonization. One challenge or barrier to a successful Mars Colonization is food. Food provides people with nutrients for energy and good health. Appropriate foods also boost happiness, increase mental functioning, Including helping sustain the suitable body weight and limit specific illnesses. Because food is vital to a successful Mars Colonization, a way we can overcome this obstacle is to plant vegetation on Mars. This may sound improbable or not plausible but there have been research that have been done on this. In an article written by Fiona MacDonald on Sciencealert it states “In an experiment testing how well we can grow crops in space, scientists have managed to harvest 10 crops, including tomatoes, peas, and rye, from soil that mimics the conditions on Mars” How, you may ask? Well researchers have shown that it is not only possible to grow vegetables in soil similar to that found on Mars, but they are also safe to eat. There may not be a good amount of nutrients depending on where you land on the planet, but fertilizers may need to be added to the soil. Furthermore NASA is developing a more “detailed” replication of Mars soil, to better understand how it can be used for plant growth and other purposes. Without proper research and mindset, Humans will have a hard time living and coping with the new environment you may be exposed to. In conclusion that is one challenge or barrier to a successful Mars Colonization.
MacDonald, Fiona. "Tomatoes, Peas, and 8 Other Crops Have Been Grown in Mars-Equivalent
Soil." ScienceAlert. N.P., n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2016
<http://www.sciencealert.com/tomatoes-peas-and-8-other-crops-have-been-grown-in-mars-equivalent-soil>
Colonizing Mars Possible?
By:Tyler Magazine
With our planet falling apart ( due to our own actions) we need to find away to live on Mars, however a major problem stopping us from doing that is terraformation. Terraformation is the process of changing a planet's temperature, atmosphere, and its surface to be similar to Earth’s, so that we can live/ survive on it. Compared to earth’s atmosphere Mars's atmosphere is extremely thin and unbreathable (Earth’s atmosphere is composed of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and trace amounts of other gases, Mars’ atmosphere is made up of 96% carbon dioxide, 1.93% argon and 1.89% nitrogen). Since Mars doesn’t have a magnetosphere it gets way more radiation from the sun than earth. The albedo reduction is a method in which we would cover the surface of mars with dark materials which would increase the amount of sunlight absorbed. We could use dust from phobos or deimos to extremophile lichens and plants that are dark in color.
Williams, Matt. “HOW DO WE TERRAFORM MARS” Universe Today space and astronomy news. October 3. n.p
Colonizing Mars Possible?
By:Logan Stocks
One problem we have when colonizing Mars is the amount of water. Humans need water to survive, and all of mars water is either frozen, to toxic for us to drink, found near the poles, or on the surface. This is a major problem for us because we can only live about 3 days without water before we start to perish. As stated in mars for the many article, living on Mars- The water we drink, “The water on Mars is so full of salts, called perchlorates, that it would be highly toxic to humans and plants. Perchlorates are so toxic, in fact, that several states in the U.S., including California and Massachusetts, limit the amount of perchlorates that can be in your water.” This means if humans were to colonize mars we would need to find a way to rid of the perchlorates in the water. One way of stopping this is the process of Reverse osmosis. Reverse osmosis is a method of desalination used on earth, which involves pushing salt water through a thin plastic membrane to make fresh water. However, there is a couple problems with this solution. One problem with this solution is that it trickles out a little bit of fresh water. A better way of making fresh water is to collect the water and boil it. Boiling water is the most efficient and easiest way of making fresh water to drink.
Colonizing Mars Possible?
By Maria Clark
People have started getting the crazy idea of colonizing Mars since it seems uninhabitable. The main concern about living on Mars is finding food and water. Food and water isn't an impossible thing to obtain for example, we can obtain food by building greenhouses on Mars where plants can grow. A way we can obtain water is by bringing it back from earth and putting it in a water system, or we can melt some of the ice on the planet, purify it, and use it to drink. In the Martian by Andy Weir it states, “One complication I haven't thought of: Water.” which shows that it is an issue when living on Maris. Another quote from the novel is, “Martian soil has the basic building blocks needed for plant growth, but there’s a lot of stuff going on in earth's soil that Mars soil does not have…” This quote shows that with some supplies from earth, we can grow food for all the people planning to live on Mars. Food and water may be a main issue when living on Mars, but it's not impossible to obtain.
Weir, Andy. The Martian. New York: Random House, 2014. Print.
Is Colonizing Mars Possible?