Some people want to invest these resources in solving global problems instead of launching astronauts to other worlds. People in the 1960s questioned the Apollo program for similar reasons. It was also a time of structural inequality and the fear of nuclear war. Today, US adult polls show that NASA’s climate-related efforts and near-Earth asteroid monitoring are more popular than manned missions to the Moon and Mars.
“If people weren’t starving to death, it would be easier to justify going to the moon and going to Mars. I don’t think there’s a scientifically rational reason for it, and that’s fine.” , says Natalie Trevigno, a cosmological theorist at the Open University in the UK. But, as she points out, the drive to explore isn’t always logical. “Why do we make art, why do we make music? Living in contradiction is the human experience. It is both amazing and tragic.”
Depending on the vivid vision behind Mars exploration, the first astronauts could be scientists, poets, tourists, or military officers. They can be considered visitors, settlers, cowboys and settlers. Treviño likes to use the word “migrant”, partly to stigmatize immigration on the planet. I also like to include the artist to understand his shock of the existential experience and colossal culture of living in this ruddy and barren world.
let’s say Works: Humanity overcomes the costs and practical barriers of settling on Mars, and immigrant Earthlings arrive. He has one thing left to consider. Perhaps Mars would be better off without us.
If the processing of Earth’s atmosphere is any indication, the Martian atmosphere will also be corrupted. We litter the crap because we ravaged our world. Maybe we’ll geoengineer the atmosphere or fulfill Musk’s desire to terraform the world. blow up a nuke To create a “nuclear winter”. This is something we have avoided domestically so far. It raises temperatures, causing beneficial climate change and melting some of the polar ice. As with any geoengineering proposal intended to address global climate change, such a plan carries significant risks.
It could also reproduce the economic inequalities and unsustainable practices already prevalent on our planet. For example, Treviño says the supply of Martian ice is limited, but there are no binding rules about who can use it, how much, and for what purpose. Furthermore, if life forms on Mars are underground, terraforming and mining attempts could destroy them and their ecosystems, and who decides their fate? Deciding what to do with an entire planet that is not our home is the height of arrogance.
So as you venture to Mars, be ambitious and curious, but also thoughtful, ethical, and sustainable. will remind us how lucky we are to have our own world, says Sasha Sagan. “
