Many people have wondered what it would be like to live on Mars because of the similarities it shares with our own planet Earth. For these people, their curiosity will soon be quenched. SpaceX is working on their newest spacecraft called the Starship, which will not only be able to get to Mars but also transport people along with it to start a new civilization.
Jesse Kenyon is a Marine ecology and chemistry teacher at Wakefield High School. He enjoys talking about space and the wonders of it, telling what others may not know about the similarities between the two planets.
“They are both rocky, terrestrial planets,” Kenyon said. “They have weather [and] they have similar years.”
The Starship plans to take these similarities and host them, making the two planets more and more similar by transporting the goods we need until eventually they can bring people on board to go and live there. Of course, with this in mind, there are some risks involved in making this all a reality.
Russell Williams is an Astronomy and Physics teacher at Wakefield High School. He expresses his knowledge about this topic and raises some issues people might want to look into before getting on the spacecraft itself.
“While you are traveling, you still run the risk of any sort of solar event,” Williams said. “Cosmic rays, gamma rays burst [and] X rays. Those are just going to pass right through your ship and right through you.”
While there are a lot of risks involved in getting to Mars itself, the benefits are just as great. It could help our planet Earth become more stable with the help of transporting people away to Mars. Madison Uhrig, a senior at Wakefield, is taking Astronomy right now and has some knowledge about the topic.
“[The Starship] could potentially reduce the immediate strain on Earth’s resources by decreasing the population,” Uhrig said.
There are some risks, however, when actually arriving at Mars itself. It is hard to travel back and forth from Earth to Mars, so there are things people must bring first to ensure their survival. This would have to be enough until Mars produces resources or we can find a way to keep things preserved and growing on Mars.
“[Mars has] no breathable air, no liquid water and no food source,” Williams said. “You would need to bring all of that stuff with you.”
With all of this in mind, people may start to wonder if they truly want to go. Living on Mars is a huge step and comes with a lot of risks that a lot of people may not be ready for, but to start this expansion, someone must go.
Christopher DeHart is an astronomy lover with a lot of knowledge in the topic. He explains his opinion on the idea of living on Mars.
“At this point in my life, probably not,” DeHart said. “Colonizing a new planet is a young person’s role.”