New News, Jakarta – According to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, he wants to build a city on Mars that can accommodate a million people by 2050. But is it worth it? How long will it take humans to colonize another planet? And is it possible for humans to colonize worlds outside the solar system?
The answers to these questions really depend on the planet you are talking about. For Mars, decades are not impossible to achieve. Serkan Saydam, Deputy Director of the Australian Aerospace Engineering Research Center and professor at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, said human colonization of Mars was possible within decades.
“I believe in 2050 we will have a human colony on Mars,” Saydam was quoted as saying Live Science.
Saydam is a mining engineer specializing in future mining research. The first big step in building a successful Martian colony is water, and that can be extracted from ice and/or water-containing minerals, according to Saydam. He argues that water would facilitate agriculture and the ability to grow food on Mars, as in the 2015 film “The Martian,” while hydrogen from ice and minerals could be used as an energy source for rocket fuel.
However, there is no scientific consensus yet on the colonization of Mars by 2050, and other scientists have offered a less optimistic opinion. Louis Friedman, an astronautic engineer and co-founder of the non-profit organization The Planetary Society, told Gizmodo in 2019 that colonization of Mars was unlikely in any predictable time, while Rachael Seidler, a neuroscientist at the University of Florida who has worked with NASA astronauts, told Gizmodo that people love to be optimistic about Mars colonization, but that it sounds “a bit unrealistic.”
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However, it is highly likely that humans will reach Mars in a few decades. China plans to send a human crew to Mars by 2033, while NASA aims to send astronauts there in the late 2030s or early 2040s. Once humans get there, the next step could be building a colony.
Colonization implies some degree of independence, but not always complete independence from Earth. Saydam compared Mars to a deserted island where you still need to import something once in a while. “Most of the equipment and tools will be delivered from Earth,” Saydam said. “I don’t think you can manufacture trucks on the surface of Mars.”
Mars needs to produce something for a long-term colony to be financially viable. Space tourism is wrong
one idea to generate income for future Mars colonies. However, to be financially viable, a Mars colony must have sufficient infrastructure and facilities to attract tourists. This includes reliable transportation, comfortable and safe lodging, as well as interesting attractions or activities for tourists.
In addition, Mars colonies can also utilize their natural resources to produce goods or materials that can be sold back to Earth or to other planets. For example, Mars has large reserves of minerals such as iron, copper and gold which can be extracted and sold as raw materials.
Colonies of Mars could also take advantage of advanced agricultural technology to produce food for their own inhabitants, and even supply food to Earth or to other space colonies. Agricultural technologies such as hydroponics or aeroponics could be used to grow crops in the less hospitable Martian environment.
In the long term, Mars colonies can also become centers for research and development of space technology that can be sold to other organizations or companies on Earth or in outer space. For example, the development of better and more efficient rocket technology or spacecraft modules could be carried out in Mars colonies and sold to other space organizations or companies.
