Mars Settlement- with a Difference

With the race for Mars landing heating up there is a buzz about the prospects of the first settlers who will leave  for the red planet. The first human landing is at least more than a decade away yet,   but space agencies of leading nations are already planning the next step, that is sustenance.  Landing on Mars is one thing. Surviving on the planet would be something else. 

That the human landing on Mars will be a momentous occasion is to say the least. It will change the way we look at ourselves. Humans will become space farers in the true sense. Man has already been to the Moon.  But Mars is a planet in our Solar System.  Moreover, Mars is more suitable for colonization as its mineral composition is richer than that of the Moon and it has an atmosphere.

However when one thinks about new a  colony one would expect everything to be new.  Man will start on Mars with a clean slate. This I feel will be an opportunity for us as humans to reinvent ourselves.

Human civilization on earth has made rapid progress in a relatively short time. Our world is not a perfect one. If we as humans could do away with some of our civilizational shortcomings we would be so much better off.  That opportunity will be presented by Mars

Earthly politics can be avoided when we go to Mars. A single colony for all nations can be set up].  When man first reached the South Pole there could have been a single common research station established, but political rivalry among countries did not permit that. Mars could be different. Political rivalry can be passé on Mars.

All aspects of human life on earth should be open to debate especially before starting a new civilization on a new planet.  We can relook the way our cities are planned and administered , the way we handle pollution, transportation and other aspects of our daily urban life.  As we are starting a new colony, we have an opportunity to look at these issues afresh and address some of their lacunae.

We could have different systems to run our day to day lives there.  Thinking out of the box has to be the norm here.  E.g. we can explore if we can do away with money on Mars, have an alternative system for exchange of legal tender.

The aim here is not to present a system per se, but to suggest that since we  are making a new beginning, we may start differently  and try to avoid the some of the drawbacks which we see in our world today.  Of course not all new systems we implement on Mars are going to be foolproof. Human designed systems seldom are. But we would have broken new ground and taken an important step for making our civilization more evolved. 

In saying this it is assumed that humans will be more as a community when they land on Mars.  The prejudices that plague us on earth will not be carried to Mars. For e.g.  differences in race, religion, color or even nationalities could be abolished altogether in the new colonies. Humans may not take to the new ways easily. New rules will have to be put in place. Entry to Mars could be made conditional to accepting these rules.  Noncompliance will invite deportation back to earth.  Anybody leaving for Mars will go with a different mindset. Our fundamental thinking will have to change.  As an evolving species, we owe it to ourselves to at least make the effort.

Technological challenges will also have to be overcome.  A start in this direction has already been made.  Designing shelters, life support systems , food supply  and other human needs are being looked into. An experiment named the Biosphere2 was undertaken some time back by NASA  in which humans (volunteers) were tested.  Biosphere 1 is the earth, hence the name Biosphere2.  The volunteers were locked in a closed dome, cut off from the rest of the world for one year. They were subjected to the same conditions that will be faced by the astronauts on their journey to Mars and their stay on the planet. This included living in confined spaces for long periods, growing your own food in a closed environment, recycling and waste disposal etc.  An experiment like the Biosphere 2 could be undertaken to test social and psychological parameters.  AI and Machine Learning can be used to analyze the long journey and settlement on Mars.

The human challenges in this venture will be just as difficult to overcome as the technical ones. It is inevitable that human traits will be carried to Mars. That cannot be helped, but as a community we should try and leave behind some of our unwanted civilizational baggage.  Leaving earth, humans have a chance  to become a different and better race altogether.