• Question: do you think it will never be possible to live on mars?

    Asked by 07creagand to Alastair, Emma, Hywel, Keith, Vicki on 23 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Alastair Sloan

      Alastair Sloan answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      Well, if we can get there (and it would take a long time to get there) it may be possible to build artificial environments inside buildings (think the biomes at the Eden Project). But it would be an immense challenge. I am an optimist and would like to think we can rise to that challenge.

    • Photo: Keith Brain

      Keith Brain answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      It might be possible, just in way that the people currently live on the “International Space Station”. In the longer term it might be possible to change the whole environment of Mars to make it habbitable (terraforming), but it would take a long time, be very expensive, and also raise the ethical question of whether it’s right to manipulate a whole planet to suit our wants.

    • Photo: Vicki Stevenson

      Vicki Stevenson answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      i think it will be possible but it will be very difficult and expensive – whether or not humankind decides to make that level of investment remains to be seen.
      It will be very brave people who take the decision to go – it will take a long time and be very risky!

    • Photo: Emma Carter

      Emma Carter answered on 23 Jun 2010:

      I think it’s unlikely because it’s such an inhospitable environment for humans.

    • Photo: Hywel Vaughan

      Hywel Vaughan answered on 23 Jun 2010:

      Hi Creagan,

      Yes, I think it will be perfectly possible to live on Mars – given the right equipment. I see no reason why we could not eventually build a station on the surface in years to come, and from there look beyond Mars. One interesting option would be that of ‘terraforming’ the planet to make it habitable like ours, but I think that that is a long way away yet 😀

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