Colonizing Mars

Lately there has been a lot of hype in the media about travelling to Mars with the intent of colonizing it. Without naming any specific individual with these ideas, this is not a simple process.

Getting there is the smallest problem of many. Build a rocket for space travel, scale it, test it, man rate it, load it with cargo and launch it. We’ve mastered all of that except the scale part, and we did that over 50 years ago when we went to the moon.

Once you get to Mars, that is when the challenges begin. You need water, food, oxygen and protection. And the one thing Mars lacks is a magnetic field to deflect charged particles and protect life forms. Searching for life on Mars is futile, but searching for fossils to confirm past life would be an excellent scientific expedition, and one best left to robots.

We are getting to the point where we can build robots almost as smart as humans. In fact, in another decade, we will be well capable of robotic exploration on a level comparable to human exploration. And we can do all of that without the significant challenges, cost and logistics needed to do it with humans.

And so, while it may appear on paper to be a neat idea to travel to Mars with the intent of colonization, the proposition is about as absurd as actually carrying it out. I’ll put my money on the robots.