Introduction
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| Mars and the aspirations and hopes of the human future |
Introduction
In this article, we will raise a question that may be on some of our minds, which is: Can Mars be an alternative to Earth? At the same time, we will try to answer this question and address the issue of colonizing Mars from all sides in order to reach a convincing result and the picture will be clear.
* First, the age of man in the matter of space travel is a little more than fifty years since the Russian Yuri Gagarin went outside the Earth's gravitational field and took an orbit around the Earth. But since that date, man has not gone out to permanently reside in another place outside our planet.
We do not deny the existence of the International Space Station outside our planet, but residence in this station is a temporary residence due to the constant change in the scientific groups that live in it, as each group stays in the space station for a certain period to conduct studies and then returns to Earth.
It is noted that man is looking forward to leaving the Earth and colonizing other planets. This is not related to the exhaustion of space on the surface of planet Earth in the near future. There is no doubt that colonizing uninhabited deserts is still much easier than moving to other planets. There are no more deserts on our planet. But perhaps the matter is more related to the challenge that man carries in his chest towards the vast universe. Perhaps it is related to the imminent depletion of the planet's resources with the terrible population explosion and the need to search for new sources of resources. In addition to this, in the very distant future our numbers may reach numbers that the planet cannot bear, so leaving it becomes inevitable. Of course, if we think about colonizing a planet, the first thing that comes to mind is Mars. If we talk about Mars, we find that many scientists believe that there was life and water on Mars at some point. Recent images show what looks like snow at the poles of the planet, and scientists now firmly believe that there was water at some point on the surface of Mars. The evidence for this is the presence of hematite and goethite compounds, which are only formed in the presence of water.
*Why Mars?
Mars has always excited the imagination of writers and science fiction writers. In hundreds of stories, they began to excel in describing the inhabitants of Mars and the characteristics of their civilizations, especially in the days of the golden age of comics. Today, the planet excites the imagination and appetite of scientists to colonize it. While Venus has always been described as Earth's sister, its temperature and climatic conditions are not at all compatible with the requirements of life, so attention is always directed to Mars because of the high probability of the presence of water at the poles and under the surface, and the richness of this planet in carbon dioxide and nitrogen. *There is a great similarity between the atmosphere of Mars today and the atmosphere that prevailed on planet Earth millions of years ago, as the atmosphere of Earth consisted of nitrogen and carbon dioxide with a lack of oxygen. Therefore, when the inhabitants of Earth want to visit Mars, they must carry large quantities of oxygen with them to be able to live, but this is not a solution to colonize Mars.
*Planned stages for colonizing Mars
There are two main stages in this regard
*The first stage is changing the climate of Mars so that it becomes suitable for living
There is a large plan for scientists to change the climate of Mars, which may take several decades to implement in order to transform a dry and cold planet into an environment suitable for the life of humans, animals and plants.
*Scientists have several scenarios to change the climate of Mars, including:
*The first scenario is mirrors:
It depends on launching a number of huge mirrors to orbit Mars, reflecting the sun's rays on it. This will lead to a direct increase in temperature, which will help convert the frozen carbon dioxide on the surface of the planet into a gaseous state, and thus this will lead to the emergence of the greenhouse phenomenon or global warming that prevents heat from escaping from the planet.
*The second scenario is building an atmosphere:
This depends on using ammonia gas (ammonia) as a source or generator of the thermal phenomenon known as the greenhouse phenomenon. Ammonia can be sent to the planet in its solid, frozen form by changing the path of one of the asteroids rich in frozen ammonia, which fills the solar system, and making it collide with Mars. This can be done using nuclear-powered rockets.
Part of the ammonia that makes up the asteroid can also be used as fuel for the trip. Since ammonia is rich in nitrogen, this will lead to an increase in its percentage in the atmosphere of Mars to approach its percentage in the atmosphere of Earth. This process can be repeated several times until the percentage of nitrogen increases and the density of the atmosphere of Mars increases and its temperature also increases. The increase in the density of gases in the atmosphere of Mars has another benefit, as it will protect the planet and its future inhabitants from the solar radiation that currently penetrates it. Mars, with its current atmosphere, is devoid of a magnetosphere layer that protects planet Earth from harmful radiation, especially that which comes from solar winds.
* The second stage is to increase the percentage of oxygen required for human life.
At this stage, it is the role of genetic engineering scientists to send genetically engineered microorganisms to manufacture food and can tolerate the current atmosphere of Mars to consume carbon dioxide and release oxygen, and thus their biological activities lead to an increase in oxygen and adjust the proportions of gases on Mars to become close to the proportions of gases in the atmosphere of Earth.
The advantage of these creatures is that they have the ability to reproduce and spread, and therefore it will not be costly in the long run.
Conclusion
It is clear that the process of preparing Mars to be suitable for life may take decades and will cost a lot and will require double efforts by scientists and specialized scientific institutions throughout the ages. Therefore, Mars will not be an alternative to Earth, but it may one day be an outlet and a refuge for some in the event that Earth becomes too crowded for its people and its resources become scarce.
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