We can't yet colonize Mars say MIT researchers; We need more research

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As the Mars One mission continues to sift through applicants for its first Mars colony, applicants weigh the pros and cons of leaving everything they’ve ever known—including their loved ones—for the mysteries of the Red Planet.

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A Dutch non-profit organization called Mars One announced in 2012 its mission to colonize Mars by 2025. Their intention is to send their first unmanned mission to the planet in 2018. They have already garnered the interest of many who would be among the first colonists to take a one way ride to the planet, an adventure for which almost 203,000 people have applied. Last year, that list of hopefuls was whittled down to a list of 1,058 finalists with 24 astronauts to be added to help establish a successful colony on the red planet. 

However, according to news reports on Wednesday from the The Times of India, all of these dreamers’ bubble might have been burst, as MIT reports that humans cannot survive on the planet for more than 68 days within the current state of technology.

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Many factors have been attributed to this bubble burst. Mars’ environment is already known to be less than congenial to life as we know it on Earth. With ⅓ less gravity than what is on Earth, inhabitants would be faced with an atmosphere that is much thinner since most of the atmosphere has drifted away. Protecting from UV rays would be a constant as a result of the thin atmosphere and oxygen would be at a deficit (it only makes up about 0.13 percent of that atmosphere with carbon dioxide taking up more than 95 percent). These are just a few of the things that make the planet kind of inhospitable.

But Mars One has carefully considered colonization plans which they consider realistic. They write on their website that the plan “is built upon existing technologies available from proven suppliers.” Solar powered huts to create electricity, systems to extract water from Martian soil and even plans for homegrown foods and vegetation are in the works. Mars suits will also be worn by every inhabitant in order to protect them from Mars’ harsh environment.

On the Mars One website, it is stated that no “new technology developments are required to establish a human settlement on Mars,” but current news states that “technology development will be required to make it more feasible.” MIT researchers state that Mars One may have to “take a step back” and re-evaluate the technology that will actually be needed to support a colony of people sent to the planet to establish and build their new home.

MIT researchers had created a “settlement-analysis tool” and found that new technologies are necessary for human life on Mars. The MIT News Office gives an example, “if all food is obtained from locally grown crops, as Mars One envisions, the vegetation would produce unsafe levels of oxygen, which would set off a series of events that would eventually cause human inhabitants to suffocate.” MIT states that in order to “avoid this scenario, a system to remove excess oxygen would have to be implemented — a technology that has not yet been developed for use in space.”

And the mission would be costly. With an estimated need of 15 initial rockets to get the first four humans to the colonies, along with their supplies, $4.5 billion dollars would be needed and that cost would grow every year, as Mars One sends four people at a time per year to the colony. Aside from cost, there are still a lot of unknowns that need to be found out and addressed so that a colony on Mars can be a success.

*originally published on the now defunct Examiner.com