Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is a cold desert world with a thin atmosphere and two moons. The average distance between Earth and Mars is 140 million miles. Using current technology, a trip from Earth to Mars and back takes 2-3 years. Scientists continue to work on reducing the time necessary to make the trip.
Mars has long been a subject of science fiction writers. Our collective imaginations are filled with stories about Martians and spaceships. One of my favorite movies is Mars Attacks! — a parody movie about Martians coming to Earth. They are eventually defeated by a country song that causes their heads to explode. Must have been a Toby Keith or Morgan Waller song. 🙂
Listen to “visionaries” such as Elon Musk and others, and you will be told the future of our civilization rests on us being able to colonize Mars before global climate change, war, and fascists such as Donald Trump and his fellow MAGA Republicans destroy the planet.
It is certainly possible for us to build a colony on Mars, but how many people, out of the eight billion people on Earth, will make the Red Planet their new home? By the time sea waters flood our coasts and turn Florida into an underwater marine park, how many people can we rationally expect to be colonists on Mars? Not many, and those that do will be rich. Most of us will never have the opportunity or the money to become Mars colonists.
No, the truth is, most of us will live and die on Earth. We will face the brunt of our indifference towards climate change and our unwillingness to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We do not have the requisite will and commitment necessary to make a difference. Shit, we have a President who wants us to drill for more oil and natural gas, refire coal burning power plants, and restart nuclear reactors. He’s a filthy rich seventy-eight-year-old narcissist who only cares about himself. If Americans suffer because of his energy policies, he won’t be affected. The rich are never affected when hard times come. It is the working class and the poor who will spend their days on a dying planet, watching the skies as handfuls of billionaires escape to Mars (or the Moon) on Musk’s rockets.
It is far more likely that we are headed for the next great extinction. I fear we have crossed the line of no return, and whatever it is we do now will be little more than Band-Aids on a severed aorta.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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Any colony on Mars would not be wotth traveling too. There would be nothing familiar there that makes life enjoyable. Pod life sucks !
It will be a verrrrrry long time before a colony on Mars will be feasible. Does Musk really believe that the billionaires will give up their mansions, yachts, sunny beaches, winter ski slopes, and chef prepared meals for life on a cold, cramped station with no luxuries. With the technology we have now, the only “colony” that could be built is a small research station, holding about 4 to 8 individuals. And, they would be scientists there to work, not to have fun. Having enough oxygen, food, and water for 2 or 3 astronauts would be costly and difficult, never mind hoards of rich people whose idea of camping is a castle in
Europe.
Musk’s pushing a colony in such a short span of time is delusional. Hundreds of scientists have said so. Terraforming a planet is still science fiction. Long term space travel is in it’s infancy. Any people following Musk’s plan would lose their money at best. At worst, they would die of cold, hunger, and lack of oxygen on a strange planet, with no help available. Musk is known for his grand visions that never pan out. Remember the cyber truck? It’s a piece of crap. He’s like another grifter we all know and hate.
I am not as pessimistic as you, Bruce, but assuming you are correct: there is nowhere for billionaires to hide anymore. Yes, the poor will suffer first. But, eventually, the same dirty water will pour from their golden taps. The same filthy air will blow onto their estates. The same lack of food will reach their tables. And, with the lower classes sick and dying, who will wait on them? Who will build their mansions, yachts, cars, and planes? No, the future of a billionaire class running off to Mars or living in a remote bubble safe from it all is a delusion. They need to believe it so they don’t have to change their lifestyles (pay taxes, invest in society, give up a few luxuries).
I don’t want it to end bad. But, I know as we die, the rich will die slower. Probably fighting over the last truffle.
Is it possible to keep AC running (and heat…fuck Cruz), feed and clothe the poor, and salvage our planet at the same time. Honestly asking because I have no clue at this point.
I don’t think we can salvage our planet while continuing to do whatever we want. Sacrifice is required, and we Americans are not much into “sacrifice.” We want to maintain our standard of living regardless of our carbon footprint. 😢😢
We are faced with interlocking crises, including climate change, morbid concentration of wealth, and not looking ahead and using our intelligence. It would be easier not to see probable disaster, but once you see it, it’s impossible to look away. I think of the concept of the “rapture” as a form of theological revenge porn and a magical escape valve, but the truth is we are going to have disaster without redemption. It’s a peculiar justification for doing nothing.
Forget Mars. Uninhabited places like Antartica or under the ocean are far more feasible than living on Mars and would have a far better quality of life. And, if any of those places on Earth failed, it is likely one could get back to civilization. But on Mars? Forget it. If you ever made it to Mars, you ain’t coming back, and nobody will come to rescue you.
If we can’t keep a planet like Earth, which is so well-suited to human life, in good shape for future generations, how could we ever transform Mars into a paradise?
In America,the Golden Rule is ‘profit’. We do to others what has been visited on us. Marvel Comics invented MAGA using the Golden Rule and gifted it to America. Now Zionist-elite America wants GAZA-lago and is applying the Golden Rule. Canadian Leonard Cohen said democracy is comin’ to the USA but Conscription comes first: Again, the Golden Rule. Elon is promising Mars to the Zio’s… if they persist with the Golden Rule.
Meanwhile, soon to be 73, I am planning my garden for this year, heritage seed only and doing a bit every day as I am able, raging against the machinations of endless war on X, whining to useless Canadian politicians bought-out by Israeli lobbies and telling everybody I can that the Golden Rule didn’t used to be just the three words, ‘Do unto others.’ It used to have a different ending; I’m sure of it.
We have only the Earth as a reasonable habitat. I agree with you sacrifice would be required to keep the Earth working. Population reduction would be required, meaning no more than 2 children per family. We would not be able to allow religions to determine this. Rich people would have to pay taxes for things like social security. We would need to rely on renewable power. Trump and his minions do not want this. We would need to police how we use plastic and/or develop other alternatives. Industries would have to reduce other chemicals which harm the environment. If we are idiots enough in the United States to elect someone like Trump I think we will kill off much of what is on the Earth and the die out ourselves.
I leased solar panels for 20 years about 12 years ago since I did not have enough to buy them. I am hoping we have enough in our retirement savings to pay for more after this lease is over. We put modern insulation in our attic. We have a heat pump. We have all these things because we made more than most people and saved money.
I am sorry, you have hit a sore spot for me. I have known since I took algebra that the population could not continue population growth.
Thank you for continuing to talk about this problem. No one will listen to me a 65 year-old retired software developer/computer programmer
I get where Musk is coming from. If humanity had a colony and ultimately a terraformed Mars, humanity could survive if a biosphere destroying event occurred on Earth. That said… the only thing I personally would like about living on the perch of Mars is seeing that beautiful crescent blue marble and its little white crescent companion just before sunrise. As for a biosphere destroying event, the most likely is man made. An asteroid impactor has a frequency in the 10s of millions of years, and we haven’t been around that long.
As for a robust space program with a human base on Mars and the Moon, I’d say yes to this. While the DOGE dweebs were playing around, the biggest waste is the American war department. We spend an amount exceeding the combined spending of the next nine countries. Why not spend it on science bases instead?
There’s a great recent book by Kelly & Zach Weinersmith, “A City on Mars,” that takes a very thorough look at all the issues. When people talk about a Mars colony they almost always only talk about the rocketry and technology. Those parts are relatively easy (and I’m a big admirer of recent progress in commercial space), but there’s a lot more to colonization that never gets discussed. What about the social issues… what would the government look like? As Merle points out above, you’ll be a long way from Earth, no hope of emergency rescue or governmental intervention if there’s a riot etc. You have to be totally self-sufficient for a few years at a time. And what about reproduction… we’re not even sure humans can reproduce properly in a radically different gravity and radiation environment, or what health issues those children will have. This book goes into those kinds of details and a lot more. They conclude that we would have to start, now, doing a lot of research that will probably take a long time to produce viable solutions. Starting to send permanent settlers as soon as the rockets are ready would be a very bad idea, IMO.
Strong agree, Bruce. Somewhere along the way, “wants” became “needs” and the average first-world lifestyle went completely off the rails. We’re stuck on a hedonic treadmill, where what we have is no longer enough to satisfy.
If things continue on the current trajectory, it’s going to be a mess – crop failures, people displaced from coastal areas, conflicts over land and resources. Survival is going to depend on things like education, the ability to build and protect community… and location, location, location.
Two movies I think are interesting to watch are “The Martian” and “Interstellar”. Both explore the physical and psychological effects on the human body from both space travel and living on another planet. Interstellar is admittedly more sci-fi than The Martian, but both explore the various issues that arise with travel to other worlds.
I personally think we would have a very difficult time adapting to long term living on Mars. Our bodies are adapted for Earth’s gravity and conditions, within limitations. No amount of technology is going to overcome our frailty in that environment. Also, does anyone really believe Trump, Putin and Xi (or their successors) could cooperate long enough to make colonization of Mars even possible? They can’t even agree on how to end the war in Ukraine.