By Allison Pumo
Humans could soon be heading to Mars. Humans have been exploring Mars with robots and special space technology for over 40 years, but soon, scientists plan to send humans to Mars to get a closer look themselves. If executed correctly, the benefits of life on Mars could be extremely beneficial to the human race.
Eventually, planet Earth will go extinct with no traces of life. The distance from Earth to Mars is 54.6 kilometers, meaning the trip to Mars could take up to 7-9 months, which is longer than people are currently staying on the International Space Station. Certain studies show that our planet could potentially turn out like the planet Venus, a dense fireball with no ozone layer and no breathable air. Some say that our sun will burn our planet up. Other scientists predict that our neighboring galaxy, Andromeda will collide with the Milky Way.
“Fueled by gravity, the two galaxies are hurtling toward one another at 402,000 kilometers per hour. But even at that speed, they won’t meet for another four billion years.” National Geographic.
Some people may find the concept of traveling to Mars dangerous, costly, and unreachable. Firstly, Mars has a completely different atmosphere than Earth, but with adaptation and proper use of technology, we could easily slowly adapt. In fact, there are certain ways to adapt to radiation that is passed through space. Scientists are looking at a special mite called the Tardigrade. The Tardigrade is a mite that lives in volcanoes and dew drops. It can withstand extreme radiation. Scientists are considering infusing its DNA with ours someday to experiment with space travel (How the Universe Works).
Secondly, the journey and the expenses to begin life on Mars would be extremely costly. Nonetheless, moving an entire species to a whole new world could eventually pay off. Mars is just the beginning of a whole new beginning.
Yet in the end, traveling to Mars or even other planets in the future could be very beneficial to us. The exploration of new parts of the solar system as well as expanding to new places can only help us grow.