This will be a 2-part post. Please note, both of these are old articles that I wrote years ago on another website of mine. Since I recently deleted that website, I decided to move some of the content amid multiple blogs of mine. On this particular post, Part 1 was written back in 2012, and Part 2 was from early 2013.
Original Post Date: 9-23-2012
Personally, I’m almost tired of hearing about space colonization, which just adds to the reasons why this latest “Curiosity Mission” featuring a big rover on planet Mars searching for microbial life and whatever else, interests me about as much as an article written about hemorrhoids.
Even as a small child, I remember reading and thinking about space stations being set up for humanoid advancement, but yet, after all this time, still no advancement has been made – even though billions of dollars are constantly being wasted on asinine research that is about as useful as finding a way to help a Bonobo scratch his/her genitalia in a more effective fashion. Sure, you can read about life on the ISS (Internation Space Station), but that is not what I mean by advancements. I'm talking about sustainable living conditions where you can grow enough food for a colony, provide your own oxygen, be energy independent, extract and mine for all of your water & resources and build from there.
This subject recently came to mind, when I was talking to some conspiracy theorist online that basically told me that we are not allowed to have manned spaceships in space (in certain areas) due to some type of alien law… WTF? Is that really the reason? Maybe the cost of building massive outer space colonies and the fact that we, HUMANS, are not biologically built for deep space travel are partly to blame – and that all the travelling required for the betterment of mankind is right here on Earth, for the time being. I mean seriously, the mind is a universe in itself, so why not use it!?
To make this a little more interesting, let's go ahead and bring up the fact that we, humanoids, might also have a problem procreating on a space station due to the cosmic radiation, so WE (as much as I hate to say it) better temporarily pull the plug on science fiction and figure this thing out for real, if we are serious about living in deep space. By the way, would constant exposure to the factors of outer space also turn our muscles into spaghetti? I actually made a comment on that cosmic spaghetti post a couple years ago, #20th comment under the name "perpendicularity" and it was funny that I found it still there today. [link: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2010/08/19/a-trip-to-mars-could-reduce-astronauts-muscles-to-spaghetti/]
At any rate, do common folks really think these issues are easily overcome by simply hitting a button or flipping a switch? This ain’t cell phone technology, and your I-Pod can’t save you, as I’m talking about living in Outer Space, outside of Earth, for the rest of your pathetic lives…
Now, back to the procreation point:
Researchers at the agency’s Ames Research Centre in California found that without effective shielding on spacecraft, powerful proton particles would probably sterilize any female embryo conceived in deep space – in addition to the probability that male fertility was also likely to be negatively affected (due to a negative impact on the sperm count). Unless we advance to greater speeds, travel to distant planets is likely to take decades, centuries or longer, and this could make any mission to colonize other environments a non-starter. The scientists noted that space-shield technology is currently not sufficiently advanced enough to offer an ample amount of protection from this type of radiation.
Here’s a quote from this page (http://theweek.com/article/index/212267/why-humans-will-never-colonize-space), here: Why couldn’t humans colonize outer space?
“Because any child conceived and born in space is likely to be born sterile. Scientists at NASA say that the high levels of radiation in space would kill any female fetus’ lifetime supply of eggs, while males in the womb would likely become sterile. The child could also suffer “mental and physical defects” from exposure to harmful radiation.”
We need an atmosphere to protect us, is the bottom line. Sure, if we could somehow inhabit Mars and find a way to make it work, then yes, we could most likely procreate without the ill effects of damaging radiation, but I wouldn’t bet money on it! I’m totally an original series Star Trek fan, but unless we get some serious help from an alien race (one can only guess the motive), then it looks like it is going to take a little longer than expected!
---Side Note: If I was a conspiracy theorist, I’d be having a ball with this post and would fill the comment field full of interesting junk that is featured from today’s most popular reject websites…
Anyway, when it is all said and done, we let ourselves get ahead in thought before practicality, albeit I still favor imagination and intuition. …This is normal, but many of us shoot for the stars before we are able to properly hit the targets here on this planet (or is that called “shooting yourself in the foot?”). Even though the main question on this post is “Will humans ever colonize outer space?” – an even better question may concern the query as to whether or not we can co-exist with Mother Nature. Ha! What do you think? No, never? During the next 10 years? Anywhere from 10 to 40 years? Or perhaps you couldn’t care less about fully self-sufficient space stations or what we colonize, either way. Ha!
Whether or not you believe that humans will have success even within our own solar system, have you ever heard of this crazy book: “Interplanetary Travel: Secret Journey to Planet Serpo“
---End of Part 1: "Will Humans ever Colonize Outer Space?"
Part 2: "Will the Colonization of Mars be possible for Humans?"
Original Post Date: 3-4-2013
This article will act as a sequel to the one I wrote a while back, entitled “Will Humans ever Colonize Outer Space?”
…Going by the current poll results from that page, after analyzing the data from the massive 15 votes it received, it seems that 40% of the people think that outer space colonization will be possible in 10 to 40 years via space stations. 33% says that they couldn’t care less about stupid space stations and are still thinking about procreating on Earth. 20% simply say “no” and 7% of those voters say that it will be less than 10 years from now, but hold on to your seats, as the votes are still pouring in… [The Poll is no longer available]
Wow! With this particular piece of data that I have recently collected, I am now ready to become an aspiring author and write a book that describes the possible birth defects of space babies, only to be followed up with a wonderful novel that entails cattle mutilations & cow abductions from UFOs and why the aliens are displeased with McDonald’s version of 100% beef burgers… Just think, I’ll be rich way before these Earth-bound humanoids get the space stations built… Hurrah!
At any less than insane rate, I am getting way off track here. This post is about planet Mars and the not-so-far-fetched idea of human colonization on the Red Planet.
I’m sure that many of you have heard about the project “Mars One.” If everything goes as planned, from the time I’m writing this, they say that certain humans from this planet will land on Mars 10 years from now, during 2023. For those of you that are not aware of this project, check out the short video, below: [Video is no longer available. Hmm... I wonder what happened? Ha!]
Of course, for these “Mars One” folks, it is a one-way trip; if you journey to Mars, you shall stay until you die. I know they will have plenty of volunteers sign up that meet the requirements to go, that is, if this project unfolds as predicted, but that is one boat I would never get on. Unless I knew for a fact that this planet was about to be blasted into mass extinction, (Where is the Hollow Earth Theory when you need it?) etc., I would not go. Anyway, that is what they are saying now, but if everything goes successfully and they can sustain life on the Red Planet, then you know dang well they could come back to Earth, no matter what they claim within their program.
Okay, whether or not we should be concentrating on doing this or not, let's focus on the “why” and what good could spawn from it and/or how it could help humanity. Personally, I’m not interested in hearing about that little rover thingy they got buzzing around Mars at the moment, especially since one of the main goals NASA is currently speaking about is how they are seeking out evidence for Martian microbial life from planet Mars. WTF? I would hope that all the ungodly amounts of money spent on NASA’s Mars rover “Curiosity,” was for a little more than dusting rocks, taking crappy images, and wandering around aimlessly while looking for signs of microbial life. It would at least make more sense if it was an extensive study to help safeguard future trips and provide us with better insight, if and/or when humans decide to try and land on Mars or even colonize the place, for that matter.
Now, back to the “why” part of the equation. First, I’ll provide a couple links that cover this subject somewhat elaborately, in case you need something else to peruse over before forming an opinion, but either way, you can always tell me why you think we should or shouldn’t try to colonize Mars in the future by utilizing the comment field below.
* http://www.redcolony.com/features.php?name=whycolonizemars [Why Colonize Mars?]
* http://www.nss.org/settlement/mars/zubrin-colonize.html [The Case for Colonizing Mars]
[Update: It appears that neither of those links exist anymore in the year 2022.]
The reason why the colonization of Mars by humans is something to take somewhat seriously, is firstly because of the surface conditions, such as the availability of frozen ground water. Even though the Moon, due to its close distance from Earth, has been proposed as the first location for human colonization, lunar gravity is only 16% that of Earth’s while the gravity from our Martian Red Planet is a more substantial 38%. There is more water present on Mars than the Moon, and Mars has a thin atmosphere. These factors give Mars a greater potential capacity to host organic life and human colonization than the moon, and definitely looks like a more productive, quicker option than the fantastical space stations we once dreamed about, at least for now…
There are loads of possibilities that come with the notion of colonizing Mars, including the mining of minerals & resources for easy transport back to Earth and the ability to have other means to produce food from another planet to help feed an overly populated one, such as Earth, if we continue to thrive without a massive population decline due to severe cataclysmic events, etc. (Feel free to read about the Terraforming of Mars, here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terraforming_of_Mars)
Plus, we would be even closer to the asteroid belt, so there should be lots of goodies to explore there, as well. On the downside, challenges such as low gravity, solar radiation and space weather, retaining atmosphere and water, etc., make the terraforming of Mars a little more difficult than slapping down a few positive remarks on paper and whatnot.
I suppose there is too much to cover on this subject for one post, so I’ll stop right here…
So, what do you think? Will it be possible for us crafty little humans to succeed in the colonization of Mars?
—End of Part 2: "Will the Colonization of Mars be possible for Humans?" (Date 3-4-2013)
Image Credits: perpendicularity.org/blog/ [link is no longer active]
---End of Post "Will Humans ever Colonize Outer Space? Colonization of Mars?"
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