spot_img
28.1 C
Philippines
Friday, March 29, 2024

Why go to Mars?

- Advertisement -

ONE evening in October of 1899, young Robert climbed a cherry tree to cut off dead limbs. As Robert looked up into the darkening sky, his task done, he was possessed with the possibility of going to Mars. Young Robert went down the cherry tree a different person. 

Robert H. Goddard’s lifelong obsession of building rocket ships that will take people to Mars led him to become the father of modern rocketry. Although he did not see it come true, his dream lives on in the hearts of the men and women working to put the first pair of human boots on the dust of the Red Planet.

As with all great space projects, dreams of Mars lead us to questions of priority. Why explore another planet if we have many problems here on ours?

One usual answer astronomers will give you is this: The amount of money spacefaring countries spend on their space program is very little compared to the amount of money they spend on their military, infrastructure projects, or social services. For example, the cost of India’s space program is less than 1 percent of the budget allocated for social services meant to combat poverty. 

Given the discrepancy, slashing the small budget meant for space exploration might not be the proper solution to our Earth-bound problems. Perhaps a more appropriate response would be to demand for better governance, so that services meant to combat poverty or hunger really do what they’re meant to do. After all, having a space program might even help us solve these problems.

- Advertisement -

Which brings me to the second part of an astronomer’s usual reply: Spending a relatively small amount of resources on exploring space ends up helping us solve our problems here on Earth. For example, India’s relatively modest space program has already saved millions of lives there by helping local governments plan evacuations when a storm is about to arrive.

But such replies fail to address why we should go to Mars. 

First of all, why Mars? 

Well, because it’s the closest we’ve got in the Solar System to a planet we can create a habitat on. For one, Mars has a day only slightly longer than the Earth’s. It also has seasons that cycle quite like the Earth’s. We now know it has stores of liquid water and water ice, which future visitors can use for drinking and for fuel. Its gravity, though weaker than what human bodies are used to, is stronger than the Moon’s, which is a big plus. 

The fact that it potentially harbors life either now or in its distant past is also a major factor. A planet that could’ve once harbored life can be made to harbor life again in the future. Mars could also serve as a springboard to future explorations of the Asteroid Belt and the outer Solar System.

But why colonize it? Because astronomers think it would be better for humans to become a multi-planet species. One quip in the astronomical community describes asteroids as nature’s way to asking us, “How’s that space program going?” They say that the dinosaurs went extinct because they did not have a space program. 

It is argued that if we want the human race to continue existing, then it has to exist on multiple planets. Sure, we should make the Earth a better place to live on. But we can do that while also making another planet livable. And even if we did, the Sun will one day gobble down the Earth. Only a spacefaring species could survive such an event.

Those are the answers astronomers will probably give you if you ask them in public. But if you ask them in private, they’ll tell you a different story. Deep in their heart of hearts, space scientists, engineers, and explorers have a different reason for going to Mars. 

They, like the young Robert Goddard, felt that primal pull, that most human of urges to go where no one has gone before, the very same urge that allowed humans to spread from Africa to all of the Earth. 

And we, as humans, understand the value of that urge. Like the urge to create great works of art and music, or the urge to compete in great sporting events, the feverish desire to see what’s waiting for us out there in the great beyond is something that courses through our veins. There is no stopping it.

Personally, I hope we will solve our problems here on Earth soon so that we could begin to take the first steps in conquering another planet. To the future generations who are there on the surface of Mars, I am so proud of what you have accomplished, and I wish I were there with you.

Pecier Decierdo is the resident physicist and astronomer of The Mind Museum.

- Advertisement -

LATEST NEWS

Popular Articles