Exploring Other Worlds

 

Exploring Other Worlds


The idea of colonizing other worlds has been sold to the public not only by the appeal of science fiction movies and TV series, but also by fear generated by apocalyptic movies that forecast that the earth would become unliveable due to radiation resulting from nuclear wars. It can't be done, in the true sense of colonizing, because there is no body (other than the earth) in the solar system that has an atmosphere that will support life.

Of course, life is now sustained artificially on the International Space Station, but even though water is recycled, and some plants may be grown, there is still a need for additional life-sustaining supplies from earth. Those supplies would not be forthcoming if there were no life on earth to provide the supplies. We would run into the same problem if we should attempt to build a structure similar to the ISS on the moon.

The general public has yet to be disallusioned about the possibility of colonizing Mars. The problem, other than being too far away from the earth, and from the sun, is that Mars has a carbon dioxide atmosphere, which will not sustain either plant or animal life. Earth has a mostly nitrogen atmosphere with the right amounts of both oxygen and carbon dioxide, which are maintained by the carbon cycle. The plants provide the animals with oxygen, and the animals provide the plants with the carbon dioxide that they need for life and growth.

Those polar ice caps on Mars are frozen carbon dioxide. There may be water on Mars, but it evaporates due to the low atmospheric pressure.

If we look to the planets and satellites beyond Mars, we face the problem that they are even farther from the sun and the earth. If we lower our sights and settle for exploring other bodies in our solar system remotely without involving living organisms, then we have again entered the realm of possibility. In fact the Moon Rover project does just that. But the information provided by the project is pretty much what was expected. Mars is a cold dead world, rendered uninhabitable by an atmosphere lacking in the essential gases required for life.

Even fly-by spaceships that provide information about the distant planets and their satellites may satisfy our curiosity about those worlds, but we already know that that knowledge will be of no practical use on earth. The time and money required to carry out these projects could well be spent otherwise.

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