Mars....Our next home?

I don't see terraforming Mars very resource efficient. Either way, Living on another planet will not happen until Earth is in immense and imminent danger.

 

I think that we will eventually spread to different planets. Whether or not this would be Mars who knows.
Although, as GodGenesis said, we probably wont start living on another planet until we need to. I don't exactly see it happening in my life time though. Maybe towards the end of it yes, but I doubt it.

I'm all for it, but as long as people know what they are doing and are prepared for anything to stop any disasters.

 

If my understanding is correct, Mars doesn't have a sufficient magnetic field (if any at all?) to retain a substantial atmosphere.

 

I currently work for NASA and can say this has been a good conversation for the last couple of months 'ever since Newt proposed a moon colony'. There is no chance of us leaving earth if politicians continue to ignore how big of an impact science is on economic growth. That is it PERIOD, our funding is so very limited and we stress for 100k instruments that HAVE to be on ISS. I envy Neil Tyson for his courage on speaking out about the budget problems (even if only three senators will listen to him when he testifies *New Mexico, Florida, and Texas).

With that said. Let's look at the possibility of Mars being Colonized. I see a lot of you referring to terraforming and the lack of a magnetic field. Both arguments are correct in that they are HUGE questions, but we are unsure of the real outcome of an attempt at creating an atmosphere. It would take a large amount of testing on the surface of Mars to truly know. Right know, we are looking at Mars more as research station similar to a 'Moon Base'. This is not something that should be considered a let down though. If we can create fuel on Mars and draw water from Mars I can not imagine the advancements in space travel.

Just to answer some questions above me: Yes Mars has a magnetic field, very weak but it is there.

If we wait for Earth to be in danger we will be too late. We need to start reaching out now.

Let's just hope that China publicly announces a trip to Mars, we will be on Mars in 2 years. Currently it is funding holding back this nation.

 

It's true. The people affecting the advancement of the human race are those in positions of power and wealth.

On a more positive subject, asteroid mining has progressed a bit further, even if it is just to make money.

http://www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/asteroid-mining-backed-by-google-james-cameron-1077565

 

Well, it could possibly make a large amount of money yes, but one of the important things is to find a water source not on earth. It would save a TON of money being able to create water in space rather than paying to ship it to the Space Station, it also would help with long duration travel being that you can gain more resources rather than just being limited to the on board items you have. Could possibly save money.

 

im packing my bags as we type..
im gone
lol

 

Wow.. this could be possible, although, it could take a few hundreds of years before we would achieve that.. Most likely when this all happens, I won't be around here anymore lol

 

i wonder if it will be cold in their or hot as earth...and dosent mars have strong air waves moving around all the time?

 

Doubt that this will happen in the next 500 years at least.

The human body itself will go through severeties trying to adapt to Mars.

 

If we do begin to populate Mars it would take several thousand years for us to evolve, and adapt to it there. I am one of those people that believes anything is possible. With that said, Oephi (the banned guy) has a great point. Chances are very high that there is a parasite on Mars that is not on Earth. Therefore we will not be immune to it at all. It could be a bad enough parasitic organism to slowly drain the life from people, or rapidly kill off the population. For this to begin we would need people that are willing to risk life in order to see if it is possible. I know if the chance presented itself I would gladly accept.

 

Any bacteria we find on mars would likely be highly susceptible to penicillin because it doesn't naturally occur there, so I doubt it would be much of an issue. Its technologically possible to colonize mars, but not a very cost effective venture. You would need to generate your own magnetic field around the area at the very least, completely seal and live in an area where you can climatize it and generate your own water/pressure so that you can actually live.

At this point its just a gigantic money sink more than anything else.

 

This thread is old but I just wanted to throw out the fact that first - Africa will be liberated and civilized and following that in many years the polar regions will become habitable.