Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
lite will long remain a hostile place to live and work. Next is Mars, where more abund-
ant resources—especially lots of frozen subsurface water, but also sunlight, minerals, and
a tenuous atmosphere—are at hand. It won't be easy or cheap; nor is Mars destined to be-
come a thriving colony anytime soon. But settling, and perhaps terra-forming, our prom-
ising neighbor may well be the next essential step in our species's evolution.
Two obvious obstacles will probably delay, if not prevent, the establishment of a Mars
base. The first is money. The many tens of billions of dollars it will take to design and im-
plement a Mars landing is outside the most optimistic NASA budget, even in the best of
financial times. A cooperative global effort may be the only option, but such a massive in-
ternational program has never been attempted.
Astronaut survival is an equally daunting challenge, for it's next to impossible to ensure
a safe round-trip to Mars. Space is harsh, with myriad sand-size meteorite bullets to pierce
thethinshellofeventhemostarmoredcapsuleandunpredictablesolarburstsoflethalpen-
etrating radiation. The Apollo astronauts, with their weeklong voyages to the Moon, were
damned lucky that nothing bad happened. But a voyage to Mars would take many months;
in the gamble inherent in any space mission, more time means more risk.
What's more, no rocket technology on the topics would allow a spaceship to carry
enough fuel to get to Mars and make it back. Some inventors talk of processing Martian
water to synthesize enough fuel to refill the tanks, but that technology is only a dream
and probably a long way off. Perhaps the more logical option—one that flies in the face
of NASA mores but is increasingly promoted in passionate editorials—is a one-way trip.
Were we to send an expedition with years of supplies instead of fuel, with sturdy shelter
andagreenhouse,withseeds,withalotofoxygenandwater,andwithtoolstoextractmore
life-giving resources from the red planet, then an expedition might just make it. It would
be unbelievably dangerous, but so were many of the pioneering human voyages of discov-
ery—the circumnavigation of Magellan in 1519-21, the westward explorations of Lewis
andClarkin1804-6,andthepolarexpeditionsofPearyandAmundsenearlyinthetwenti-
ethcentury.Humanshavenotlosttheirlusttoengageinsuchriskyventures.IfNASApos-
ted a sign-up sheet for the chance at a one-way trip to Mars, thousands of scientists would
volunteer in a heartbeat.
Fifty million years from now, Earth will still be a vibrant living world, its blue oceans
and green continents shifted but recognizable. The fate of our human species is much less
certain. Perhaps we will be extinct. If so, fifty million years is more than sufficient to erase
almost every trace of our brief dominion—every city, every highway, every monument
would have weathered away millions of years earlier. Alien paleontologists would have to
search long and hard to find the slightest near-surface trace of our vanished species.
But it is also possible that humans will survive and evolve, moving outward to colonize
first our neighboring planets, then our neighboring stars. If so, if our descendants make it
