Will man be able to live on Mars independent of any support from Earth?

1. 60

   Vegas Eliasposted 11 years ago

   Will man be able to live on Mars independent of any support from Earth?
   
   I read that some corporate tycoons are trying to send manned missions to Mars which will colonize Mars over a period of around 20 years and then return to earth using equipment sent to them over this period. I wish to know whether this is possible.
   What if those landing on Mars learn of ways and means of surviving independent of any support from Earth?

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2. 57

   kumar24894posted 11 years ago

   I think no, if there will be creatures on the mars like on the moon.

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3. 57

   lj gonyaposted 11 years ago

   It might be possible, but they would need to live in an enclosed environment, that would be able to produce its own oxygen supply. There has been talk of forming an atmosphere by introducing plants to the environment that would, over time, create an atmosphere that would contain oxygen, but this would probably take hundreds of years, if not more.

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4. 0

   scottcgruberposted 11 years ago

   Any Mars colonization mission would have to be independent of Earth. Relying on shipments of supplies from Earth would be too expensive and too risky - you don't want your colonists starving to death because the supply craft failed to leave Earth orbit or burned up in the Martian atmosphere. For the mission to work, colonists would have to be completely independent - growing food, manufacturing equipment, producing fuel, and making their own medicine.

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5. 0

   Jade0215posted 11 years ago

   I wrote a hub on this http://jade0215.hubpages.com/hub/Lets-Go-to-Mars. In 2023 they're supposedly serious that they're going to start colonizing Mars by sending up four crew members then two more members every two years and these people aren't going to be able to come back to Earth so once they're up there, it's for good and they're planning on broadcasting it like some reality TV show. I think it's a stupid idea to be honest. We haven't explored out own planet yet and they're trying to take over another one.

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   syzygyastroposted 11 years ago

   Mars has all the resources available to support the development of Earth independent colonies, but it is going to take some initial input from Earth to get it going. Once the basic equipment is there, it should become increasingly easy to terraform the planet by reducing the iron oxide and obtaining oxygen. Hydrogen protons can be trapped coming in from the sun and these combined with the oxygen to produce water. This single operation can yield large amounts of water in a relatively short time. But in order to keep it from becoming disassociated hydrogen and oxygen, an artificially created planetary magnetic field will have to be created. Alternately, the water can be stored underground. The iron reduced by a solar method can be used for all kinds of construction. Shelters can be built in order to grow food, but as Mars only receives about 1/4 of the solar intensity of the Earth, the available light will have to be concentrated. Alternately, it can be collected by solar power and the electricity so generated can be used for strong artificial lighting. Over time, man should be able to live independent form any Earth support.

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7. 61

   point2makeposted 11 years ago

   The technology required for such an undertaking falls in the realm of science fiction rather than science fact at this point. We do not have the technology but there are proposals, for Mars trips, that utilizes our present day hardware. While it is possible to send a "ship" to Mars living independent of Earth is many centuries in the future.....at least.

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