In November 1964, Nasa launched a small, robotic exploratory probe from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Eight months later, after voyaging hundreds of millions of kilometres, the spacecraft, Mariner 4, sent back a series of hazy images taken using a bulky television camera that had been attached to the underside of the craft. These pictures were the first time man had gazed upon the surface of another planet: Mars.
Only three years before this, a map of Mars drawn by the US Air Force to assist with the planning of the Mariner mission, had included an unlikely feature: artificial canals. Based on telescopic observations, these straight lines connected darker spots that had been observed by some astronomers. By this time, the weight of opinion was that these ‘canals’ did not exist, but the 1962 map still represented a belief by a minority of astronomers that Mars represented a potentially hospitable environment within our solar system that could host intelligent life.
Our understanding of Mars has increased significantly since 1965, and those that hoped to find life on the planet have been emboldened by the confirmation that geological processes of Earth and Mars are similar. Great, you might think. Let’s get up there and start colonising. What an opportunity.
But, sadly, this is where the likeness between Mars and Earth ends. Two-thirds of the surface of Earth is covered with water, while the surface of Mars has no liquid water. None. The average surface temperature on Earth is 14 degrees centigrade; the equivalent number on Mars is minus 63 degrees centigrade – colder than the average temperature for elevated inland areas of Antarctica, a region of Earth where no human has ever settled. The composition of Earth’s atmosphere is 77 per cent nitrogen and 21 per cent oxygen; that of Mars is over 95 per cent carbon dioxide. This isn’t good for mammals. Breathing is pretty much key to their survival.
But, wait – there’s more. The low atmospheric pressure on Mars – equivalent to a vacuum – makes it impossible for humans to exist without wearing space suits. Idly forget to don your protective gear and your skin and internal organs will rupture within minutes. If, for some reason, the rupturing process does not occur, then humans exposed to the Martian environment would soon perish from the deadly levels of UV radiation and chemicals contained on the surface dust of Mars. It’s worth noting that the latter of these is potentially cancerous. If you’re a developer, it might not be the best place to situate a new block of flats.
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But these sub-optimal conditions haven’t deterred many tech utopians from considering Mars as the next potential platform to satisfy their expansive impulses. Most famously, Elon Musk has stated his intention to establish a space station on Mars that is able to sustain thousands of people; a test launch is planned for 2022. His vision is to find water and then establish a propellant plant that can refuel SpaceX shuttles. He envisions one million people living on Mars within the next century. More than this, he foresees colonising Mars as a way to reboot governance – another problem the Valley can fix! – championing a system of “direct democracy” that would enable people to vote on issues rather than electing lawmakers.
The benefits of space exploration and the innovations it advances are undeniable. The Apollo mission brought about a rapid acceleration in everything from computing and robotics to engineering and nanotechnology. Continuing this type of magnificent culture of invention is crucial to human progress.
And discovery and learning can have cultural as well as technical aspects. The images that came back from space changed the way that humans understood the Earth. Most people think of the so-called ‘Blue Marble’ photograph of Earth taken from Apollo 17 in 1972 – which went on to become the most reproduced image in human history – as the definitive image of the planet. But, the first image taking in the entire globe was taken by ATS-3, a weather and communications satellite, in November 1967. A year later, this image was used by Stewart Brand on the inaugural edition of the Whole Earth Catalog (WEC) – the counterculture magazine that shaped the thinking of many people who would later become significant players in the technology industry.
The image struck a chord with a movement centred in northern California that maintained a growing sense of man’s shared destiny rooted in independent thought, self-sufficiency and growing ecological awareness. Subsequent editions of WEC featured the photograph ‘Earthrise’ on the cover, an image of Earth with the surface of the moon in the foreground – a photo that emphasises the fragility of the planet. Brand’s magazine sought to be a “self-sustaining, critical information service”, a vision that had a significant effect on the culture that was central to the creation of the web – both Steve Jobs and Kevin Kelly have drawn parallels between the WEC and the internet.
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Let’s be bold, let’s be ambitious, let’s reach for the heavens but, as climate change denial and political inertia respectively challenge and paralyse the urgent need for action, there can be no confusion – colonising Mars should be significantly lower down the ‘to do’ list than taking robust and decisive action to ensure the long-term survival of Earth. Mars is not a parachute for humanity.
Given president Donald Trump’s joyful ignorance, disregard for fact and inability to build consensus, the US has removed itself from a role in which it can build global unanimity on this issue. It’s necessary to look elsewhere for leadership. This might come from China or more localized routes – in the West, a growing number of cities are showing leadership, as are many large organizations, rattled perhaps by the economic consequences of inaction as much as a desire to ensure the continued presence on Earth of pandas.
The bottom line is that we already have a planet that can sustain life for as long as we continue to ensure that it is not irreparably damaged. We have technologies that can provide sustainable energy, slow global warming, remove plastics from oceans and safeguard our dwindling forests. This is possible without humanity needing to travel millions of kilometres and don protective clothing. It can be done by governments, businesses and individuals breathing oxygen while having resources that enable them to eat, drink and lead fulfilling lives sustainably. We don’t need to think of Mars as a potential hard disk to which we can upload our data.
The mission to determine the possible presence of liquid water on Mars – whether located in the subsurface, or preserved from long ago – offers one of the most exciting challenges for scientists today. Nasa is right to pursue its mission; if, as scientists believe, Mars was once much warmer and wetter than it is today, then there is a possibility that we might find evidence of microbial life. The quest must continue. And we can do both – explore our solar system, while developing technologies and encouraging political initiatives that will safeguard our unique, diverse and wondrous planet. There is literally nowhere like it – and there’s danger in nurturing the idea that we get a second chance elsewhere.
There will be those who continue to view Mars as a viable back-up plan, cloud infrastructure for eight billion people. But the mind-set that views Earth as a starter planet where we made some mistakes (sorry, iterated) will achieve nothing other than compounding the lack of action that will doom even the billionaires of Menlo Park. If life on Earth fails, then so do their standby estates in New Zealand. We don’t get the luxury of the ‘fail fast’ mentality on this one. Mars would kill us, that is if we don’t kill ourselves first.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
