What can one eat on Mars? An article published in the New York Times explains how monotonous and unnatural life on Mars would really be. In deep-space while en-route back to Earth, Apollo astronauts had to step outside in order to retrieve film cassettes from the Command Module's external cameras. Map Marker Humans could be sent to visit an asteroid, to establish a long-duration base on the Moon, or to explore Mars and its small moons. While humans on Mars would be able to accomplish more rigorous science at a faster pace, Curiosity only cost $2.5 billion. It would take well over a year to get there, work there and come back. The Five Deadliest Human Spaceflight Disasters in History. Sending humans to Mars is estimated to cost tens of billions of dollars (at the low end), and the added complexity of living astronauts makes for a lot of excess room for failure. Now, a new president is about to enter into the fray. Saturn’s largest moon Titan is the only natural satellite with more than a trace atmosphere. By Denise Chow 13 January 2011. From dealing with the rocket to creating a viable environment for the astronauts, here are some reasons why sending humans to Mars in four years from now is still a dream. In order to move forward, we need to adopt a shared goal and a detailed method of achieving it—perhaps even as a global community. However, I feel that for most of the points he states is actual the reason we should go to Mars. If we're going to subject human beings to the inherent risks of spaceflight, it should be for a really good reason. They would carry with them their earthly microbes. With changing administrations and a lack of oversight, the United States space program has been in limbo for decades. No cheap ride: Apollo 17 Commander Eugene Cernan knew how to get around the Moon in style. That was back in 1972, nearly 45 years ago. Space is hard, and some deaths along the way are probable. A counterargument anticipates what “the other side” might say and answers possible objections with reasons and evidence. Have a question, idea or feedback for Bad Philosopher? Until then, I don't think it's ethically responsible to continue sending humans up there. As a part of nature, it is our duty to stay on Earth and attempt to repair the damage we’ve made. , you see, when you want to land on a planet or moon, because of the low gravity you have to push thrusters away from the surface so you don't go in really fast and crash. Rather than continue on after the Moon landings and aim for Mars, the role of human astronauts in actual space exploration declined rather quickly. These are not simple endeavors, and they wouldn't be possible on the shoestring budget of the ISS; they would be to be costly, complicated, and risky, but ultimately beneficial—both scientifically and culturally. Putting humans on the Moon was never intended to be easy. Its mission was to test an extended-duration module (sort of like a battery pack) to allow longer-duration spaceflight, a "SpaceHab Research Module," and a bunch of other small scientific experiments. good argument to be had that the ISS isn't worth maintaining, Naturally Occurring Existential Risks: An Overview, Human-Caused Existential Risks: An Overview, Four Reasons We Haven't Yet Detected Alien Civilizations, We’ve Seeded the Moon with Life, Now Let's See if it can Survive. Since the Apollo program formally ended in the early 1970's, human spaceflight has never been the same. When astronauts first stepped foot on the Moon in the 60's and 70's, they were doing cutting-edge science. It was an extreme long-shot, and one that actually paid off. Image: NASA. But there’s nothing we could do to earth’s atmosphere to make it as bad as Mars, which is both extremely thin and also 96% carbon dioxide. The only reason the entire planet isn't covered in ice is because it has so little water to turn into ice, and as the atmosphere is a near vacuum, the ice sublimates into water vapour (like dry ice) and collects at the poles. Why wouldn’t we want a fresh start? He died this past week, leaving behind a legacy of human spaceflight that has yet to receive its much-anticipated sequel. That reason is That we almost did not achieve the Moon manned missions. The catch? And for the lofty price-tag that it would entail, we could potentially launch dozens of cutting-edge robotic probes, each capable of collecting useful, knowledge-enriching scientific data. Today, astronauts aren't doing any exploring. No we shouldn't go to mars. Life Pro says that we could discover new life on mars. An on-orbit rendezvous: the Lunar Module reunites with the Command Module after a successful 3-day mission down to the surface of the Moon. They would carry with them their earthly microbes. While humans on Mars would be able to accomplish more rigorous science at a faster pace, Curiosity only cost $2.5 billion. Three reasons why we shouldn't go to Mars. I'm not saying that human spaceflight is too dangerous and that we shouldn't be sending humans into space at all. We would have to cut health-care benefits, education spending, other important programs, or even raising taxes to make up the money to launch 1,000 tons into space. If humans do eventually land on Mars, they would not arrive alone. On Mars, that means we could trigger a deliberate greenhouse gas effect that would melt the ice at the poles, release a load of CO2, make the atmosphere denser, … The scientific reasons for going to Mars can be summarised by the search for life, understanding the surface and the planet’s evolution, and preparing for future human exploration. Sending a manned mission to Mars is a fantastic adventure. But what is certain is that NASA is committed to maintaining the ISS until 'at least' 2024—at which point it will have been 55 years since Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the Moon for the first time, and 52 years since the last human beings had traveled beyond Low-Earth Orbit. We all do it, we all ignore our problems and pretend like that will make them go away, but it’s time we wake up and realize that our problems as the human race are still here, and getting worse. Mars is the closest thing we have to Earth in the entire solar system, and that’s not saying much. Flying to the Moon only takes a couple of days; going to Mars takes 9 months. Lots of people are fond of this idea, considering the fact that a large sum of our Earth is trashed at this point, and is slowly dying. The Red Planet is a cold, dead place, with an atmosphere about 100 times thinner than Earth’s. A few more reasons why we shouldn’t move to Mars include the facts that it’s too cold for us to survive without an abundance of extremely reliable technology, the atmosphere is so thin it counts as a laboratory vacuum on Earth, there are rough and global dust storms and much more, according to Scientist Robert Walker. Both types of radiation could damage DNA and increase you on getting cancer. The stuff that people really care about is the planetary science being done on the frontier: the rovers on Mars and the probes that have most recently visited Ceres, Comet 67p, Pluto, and Jupiter. And when it comes to exploring space, sending robots can be several orders of magnitude cheaper than sending humans. WE DON'T NEED TO PLANT FLAGS ON MARS Just cutting the upkeep cost of the ISS for half a decade could provide enough funding to accomplish most of these things decently well. Patriotism helped get us to the Moon. Not to mention a significantly lower level of gravity. These include: implications of our hyper-technological society, global issues ranging from nuclear conflicts to climate change, advances in space exploration, and an examination of the various existential threats facing our survival as a species. CROSS-CONTAMINATION FROM EARTH “Nobody’s gonna go settle on Mars and raise a family and have generations of Martians,” said Nye. “A Dutch nonprofit venture called Mars One aspires to send four people to Mars by 2026 as the beginning of a permanent human settlement,” according to the New York Times. We belong to the Earth, not the other way around. Of course it’s possible for us to migrate to Mars, or it will be in the near future, however that doesn’t mean it’s the right move to make in terms of ethics. Buzz Aldrin on Why We Should Go to Mars ... After we build the moon base, you believe we should use what we learned and send humans to Mars’ moon, Phobos, to build a base on Mars. Rocks can be analyzed by automated probes and robots without risking human life and spending very much money. A man on the Moon can enjoy himself a sunny afternoon in the shade of the... 3. We should respect another human's life to the extent that we wouldn't seek to endanger that life on some trivial mission. NASA Astronaut Explains Why We Should Send Humans To Mars (VIDEO) ... “There have been a lot of clues we’ve seen that there is potentially life on Mars, but the only way to find out is really to go there,” he told The Huffington Post during a community event held by NASA on Wednesday in New York City. Jupiter can take 5 years or longer, depending on how big the launch vehicle is. It took a lot of organized effort, and cost a lot of money. Today, we have robots like Curiosity on the surface of Mars, essentially playing the role of a field geologist on another planet. And that spells political and economic benefit for whoever succeeds. Wrong. If our Earth is killing us, it’s partly because we provoked it to. But the vast majority of the science being done in space is achieved by robots that cost pennies on the dollar (when compared to their human counterparts). ... "I refer to them as the Martians and the Lunatics – the people who want to go to Mars… It could be argued that the only human spaceflight missions to ever measurably increase our knowledge of the cosmos were the six Apollo missions that landed on the Moon. Sending humans to Mars is estimated to cost tens of billions of dollars (at the low end), and the added complexity of living astronauts makes for a … To Understand Earth: Mars is the planet in our solar system that is most similar to Earth. Ok we're onto the second reason why we should not go to Mars. We cannot rule out a common ancestor for Earth life and possible present or past Mars life. “There will be persistent mechanical noise and vibration, sleep disturbances, unbearable tedium, trance states, depression, monotonous repetition of meals, clothing, routines, conversations and so on,” Ed Regis details. An astronaut ages approximately 15 per cent less than observers on Earth. Here on Earth, we employ robots in a variety of areas where it makes financial sense to do so—underwater exploration robots for ocean science, automated balloons for atmospheric science, combat drones for warfare, and a multitude of robotic machines for manufacturing. Mars, as close as it is, is a planet too far. All the Reasons Why Humans Shouldn’t Colonize Mars, According to Experts Just Visiting. Moving to Mars is the large-scale form of staying home from school so that you can miss a test that you haven’t studied for and avoiding your responsibilities. But today in 2017, we're not learning anything significant by having astronauts living and working in space for extended periods of time. Temperatures are rising, landfills are growing, animals are dying, forests are shrinking, pollution is increasing. But, we won’t know if a permanent presence is possible until we try. Within a few years, Mars will be a suitable place to live. To abandon Earth would be to abandon our mother after she has given us life and a home, for a newer, shinier version. 3.3% of all the people who have gone into space have died doing so. For these reasons and more, sending humans for long-duration missions to Mars would be unwise. That's exactly the sort of thing that human civilization needs here at the dawn of the 21st century. On the way flying to Mars it may take over a year and during that time you will face serious health risks from to main types of radiation like cosmic rays and energetic particles from the Sun. Even though this is all true the rejecting side has claims that outweigh these reasons to go. 1. And there are multiple worthy targets out there. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS. And the tedious and expensive task of getting there and finding a way to sustain ourselves out there isn’t even close to being worth it. Spaceflight is inherently risky, for both astronauts and robots alike. I'm just saying that, until space travel can be made as safe as air travel, sending humans into space should only be done for causes that are worthwhile and beneficial. We should take this giant scientific leap only when we are ready, and we shouldn’t subject our brave astronauts—and the success of the missions—to undue risk. Twitter. A few more reasons why we shouldn’t move to Mars include the facts that it’s too cold for us to survive without an abundance of extremely reliable technology, the atmosphere is so thin it counts as a laboratory vacuum on Earth, there are rough and global dust storms and much more, according to Scientist Robert Walker. “Every source of interpersonal conflict, and emotional and psychological stress that we experience in ordinary, day-to-day life on Earth will be magnified exponentially by restriction to a tiny, hermetically sealed, pressure-cooker capsule hurtling through deep space.” This is why Mars landings often include rockets firing toward the ground – so-called retro-rockets -- that help slow down the descent. A lofty target, a useful scientific goal, and a stepping-stone approach that saw each subsequent mission pushing the frontier back even further. The Apollo missions returned hundreds of kilograms worth of moon rocks to Earth and gathered a treasure trove of data pertaining to the lunar environment. There are 3 main reasons why we shouldn't go to mars. Besides, there's a pretty good argument to be had that the ISS isn't worth maintaining anyways! Average temperatures on Mars are similar to Antarctica. Website Our mission statement is to produce cutting-edge content that strikes at the core of what it means to exist in this vast, vicious, and incomprehensible cosmos of ours. Obama later scrapped those plans, and said that NASA would instead aim for Mars. Scientist Stephen Hawking claims that humans need to colonize planets in the next 1,000 years to ensure survival. By this we implore you to not just think of that feeling for the astronaut, but the exp… In deep-space while en-route back to Earth, Apollo astronauts had to step outside in order to retrieve film cassettes from the Command Module's external cameras. With the recent discovery of flowing liquid water on Mars, talk has turned to what it would take to colonize Mars. Mars is barred: why we shouldn't go to the red planet – Science Weekly podcast Elon Musk believes we should colonise Mars to ensure the survival of the human race . Copyright © 2021 | MH Magazine WordPress Theme by MH Themes. There is a … This is why Mars can benefit us. Nye said in an interview with USA TODAY. [T]he first argument against human travel to Mars: contamination. 3. “History shows that surviving as a species on this tiny blue dot in the vacuum of space is tough and by no means guaranteed,” Jessica Orwig writes on the Business Insider website, using the extinction of the dinosaurs as an example. Image: NASA. Eugene Cernan was the last human being to step foot on the Moon. If we are so reckless and ignorant that we destroy our planet to the point of it dying, we are obligated to heal it or to die with it. 1. The first would be the pointless endeavour of searching for life; the second would be the cost of such an activity, and the third would be the undoubted risk of space exploration. Here, Eugene Cernan poses next to the American Flag on the lunar surface. pgmrdlm writes: Bill Nye says the idea of Mars colonization and terraforming -- making a planet more Earth-like by modifying its atmosphere -- is science fiction. The Curiosity rover on Mars: "did somebody say ultra good-looking and cost-effective robot!?". By comparison, only 0.07% of aircraft pilots and 0.016% of police officers in the United States will die on the job. If you get cancer there isn’t yet any way of medical. On Mars, the atmosphere is thick enough to burn you up on entry, but thin enough to make landing with a parachute extremely tricky. Do your part to save our home, rather than trashing it and moving on to the next planet, only to trash that one too with time. “It’s not reasonable because it’s so cold.” You’d have to wear protective gear whenever you … The Curiosity rover on Mars: "did somebody say ultra good-looking and cost-effective robot!?" Nearly fifty years later, the science returned by the Apollo program is still the most comprehensive scientific data we've ever collected beyond Earth. Please do not hesitate to get in touch: Contact: info(at)badphilosopher.com © 2021 Ebb Media. Who can even envision the incredible feeling of being the first human in history to step out of the capsule and leave your footprint on the surface of Mars? Instead, they're employed doing menial experiments in the microgravity environment of the International Space Station (ISS), stranded in Low-Earth Orbit. We age less when travelling through space. The 1986 Challenger shuttle disaster is a good example of our failure to do so. Elon Musk wants to go to Mars. And many more of these types of missions could be launched if NASA were to slash its human spaceflight budget. The agency often reiterates that its on a "Journey to Mars," but they've yet to lay out any detailed plans for how they're actually going to get there. Link Could Cryo-Freezing Dead Bodies One Day Make Us Immortal? Instead, we're floating quietly in microgravity—watching the sun rise and set 18 times per day, whirling around the Earth at 27,000 Kilometers per hour. Image: NASA. There aren't many discoveries being made on board the ISS, and the money being spent up there might be better spent on robots. When the shuttle exploded 73 seconds after liftoff, it claimed the lives of seven astronauts (one of whom was a citizen schoolteacher who had no business being there). The first is the realization of an amazing dream! There are many reasons why we shouldn’t go like, it is too expensive, and that it is very dangerous. Unless we radically adapt our brains and bodies to the harsh Martian environment, the Red Planet will forever remain off limits to humans. live on Mars. Recently, there has been a lot of talk about how modern technology is advancing at a rate that could soon allow us to leave our home planet Earth and inhabit Mars. Professor Stephen Hawking is eager to see us search for a new planet to... Martian Money. Imagine living on another planet, millions of miles from the Earth; looking up into the sky with the knowledge that one of the 'stars' is actually the planet you were born on. While the benefits of sending a human mission to Mars would be colossal, arranging the budget to do so is another matter. text analysis: counterargument A strong counterargument is an important part of any argument. No human has traveled more than a few hundred kilometers away from the surface of the Earth since 1972's Apollo 17—back when the internet was still a theoretical idea, The Godfather Part I was the hottest new film of the year, and Elon Musk was only one year old. When the the first Apollo mission landed on the moon they only had 30 seconds of fuel left, 30 SECONDS! Image: NASA. Here are a few reasons why we might want to stop sending humans out into space for the foreseeable future: Despite its limited scope, NASA's human spaceflight program gobbles up a huge portion of the agency's budget—$3 billion annually just to continue operating the ISS. Patriotism helped get us to the Moon. Just because we can, doesn’t mean we should. Most people would agree that we should continue sending humans up into space. And for New Horizons, getting to Pluto took 10 years. In the 1960's and early 1970's America was in heavily entrenched in the Vietnam War, the American people were divided, with a large potion severely frustrated with their government. Humans can't wait that long; robots can. To deploy a communications satellite on-orbit and conduct other simple experiments and tasks. When it comes to colonizing outer space, Mars gets most of the attention, but there are also some very compelling reasons why we should colonize Titan. If humans do eventually land on Mars, they would not arrive alone. Scientists who studied Martian meteorites determined that microbial life is a possibility on the red planet, and hot springs … If Americans do not go to Mars, someone else will. A human couldn't survive those temperatures without technology. I also run in Ebb Media, an independent media company. Some downtime: in between Moonwalks, Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt pose for photos inside of the Lunar Module. 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