Although colonizing Mars would seem like a great achievement for humanity, I don’t think it would be a rational thing to do. Inventor Elon Musk recently told of his plans to colonize Mars and the rest of the Solar System through his company, SpaceX.
After hearing about his ideas for colonizing the planet, I was impressed. However, I began to think about the many consequences that could occur after the colonization.
There is already an abundance of risks that comes with space exploration alone. Imagine the many risks humanity could face while trying to live on Mars.
Think about the number of lives that would be put in danger during the colonization process. It is possible that people could lose their lives because their bodies may not be able to adapt to the new environment. People could also become ill because their bodies could be susceptible to certain unknown deadly diseases on Mars.
I believe it is a big risk and will involve many sacrifices to colonize Mars. I don’t think it is worth it. I don’t think it is worth risking lives, and I definitely do not think it is worth spending millions of dollars on a project that may not even be successful.
Instead of spending money on something that won’t happen until years from now and what might not even be successful, the money should be spent on helping people to live better lives on Earth.
Also, think about the annoyance that would come with living on the Red Planet. We would have to constantly wear spacesuits to breathe and to protect us from dust and radiation.
However, according to www.cnet.com Dr. Jim Logan, who spent two decades as a medical expert at NASA, stated that “There’s too much radiation for just hanging out in spacesuits and rovers.”
In order for us to survive, we would actually have to live in a radiation shielding dome or underground. According to cnet.com “raising a family on Mars could weaken their bones and muscles so much they’d no longer be able to survive Earth’s gravity.”
Aside from the potential dangers and risks living on Mars would bring to humans, also think about the potential damage humans would have on Mars. From historical evidence we can see how humanity treats planets. Just look at how we treat Earth. From global warming to the frequent process of deforestation, the Earth is slowly dying by our hands.
Who’s to say we wouldn’t treat Mars and any other planet in the Solar System the same way if we colonized it? To avoid bringing destruction and harm to another planet we should start caring more about the Earth and leave it as our one and only home.
