JAKARTA – People man confident of being able to build a space colony, precisely on the Red Planet (Mars). Many people may dream of going there.
Reporting from YouTube channel How come?, on Tuesday (20/12/2022), there are currently about 8 billion people on Earth. In fact, normally the Earth is only home to about 9 billion people, so scientists and experts consider it a second home for humans.
One of the considerations for moving to a stopover is to Mars. Compared to Earth, Mars is not half the size, so the planet has a thin atmosphere, its volume is only one percent of the Earth’s atmosphere.
Therefore, the gravity on Mars is not strong enough to keep atmospheric gases from escaping into space. Mars’ gravity is only about 38% that of Earth. 4.2 million years ago, Mars once had water, temperature and an atmosphere similar to Earth’s.
However, in 2016, the planet Mars no longer has a magnetic field capable of protecting humans from cosmic radiation and foreign objects from outer space.
The most abundant gas in the rarefied air of Mars is carbon dioxide, which contains up to 96%. As a result, the planet Mars has almost no oxygen, perhaps only one percent of the air, which is barely enough for humans to survive.
As a result, the surface of the planet Mars also becomes very dry with colder temperatures than the south pole. There’s no question, Mars has a pretty extreme environment.
So, the question is, is it true that humans can build colonies on this extreme planet?
Apparently, humans can build colonies on the planet Mars. Even large organizations, such as Space-X and NASA, have been preparing plans to send the first humans to Mars with a flight goal likely to occur in 2027.
According to the results of the research they conducted, there is already advanced technology that can help humans survive on Mars. One of them is creating an instrument capable of producing oxygen from the Martian atmosphere, namely MOXIE.
If MOXIE can work as scientists hope, then colonies can form on Mars, and the more oxygen humans can produce on Mars, the less they have to bring back from Earth.