• Question: would it be possible to colonise and habitise other planets or moons e.g mars,titan ext.

    Asked by anon-200915 to Leigh, Hannah on 4 Mar 2019.
    • Photo: Leigh Kesler

      Leigh Kesler answered on 4 Mar 2019:


      First of all, I like to believe everything is possible – after all, people didn’t think heavier-than-air flight was possible, and airplanes are a fact of modern life!
      Colonizing other planets/natural satellites will be very hard. Just getting small rovers to Mars takes years of planning, careful design, and a lot of money. Getting supplies for humans to live and thrive (and potentially return to Earth) would be orders of magnitude more difficult on every level. However, we have the technological capabilities to overcome most of these challenges should humanity (or some part of humanity) decide that it is important.
      One important consideration that isn’t discussed much is the intense amount of radiation in space. The atmosphere and magnetic field of the Earth block a lot of radiation from the Sun and other cosmic sources. Without that protection, astronauts/colonists would be bombarded by dangerous levels of radiation for the entire journey to Mars. Special considerations (for example, heavy lead shielding or a magnetic shield) would be required for astronauts to survive the journey. Then, if the planet (or moon) didn’t have the same protections as Earth, the colonists would have difficulty surviving without additional protection. Besides the health of the people, the equipment they are using would also be affected by this radiation.
      Despite all of this, I do think it will be possible (perhaps within our lifetimes!) for people to travel to other places in our solar system. There will just be a lot of challenges for today’s (and tomorrow’s) scientists to solve along the way!

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