We (the human race) need to establish a colony on Mars as soon as possible. Why? To start the process of saving ourselves from the possible extinction we face by remaining solely on Earth.
Pick your poison. Nuclear holocaust. Disease. The death of our Sun. It doesn't matter.
Every day we are only Earth-bound is a day we can become extinct relatively easily. In other words, why put all our eggs in one basket?
Of course, we nay naturally progress to colonize other parts of space, most likely due to private market forces (frontier desire, exploitation of resources, etc.). And farther down the road we may more or less be forced to due so because of overpopulation (unless we stabilize our birth rate).
But why wait? We have the technology now! We've had it for decades really.
I think it is completely irresponsible of past US presidents (since and inclusive of Nixon) to not fully engage our resources in creating a fully self-sustaining Mars colony. Human space exploration should not have ended with moon landings and should not have stalled in space stations.
This idea isn't new of course, but it is not said enough IMHO. I feel this point is getting lost in the recently increased debate about sending humans into space again, and going to Mars in particular.
So, what do you think? Will a colony on Mars save us humans from extinction?
Update: additional comments can be found here.
Pick your poison. Nuclear holocaust. Disease. The death of our Sun. It doesn't matter.
Every day we are only Earth-bound is a day we can become extinct relatively easily. In other words, why put all our eggs in one basket?
Of course, we nay naturally progress to colonize other parts of space, most likely due to private market forces (frontier desire, exploitation of resources, etc.). And farther down the road we may more or less be forced to due so because of overpopulation (unless we stabilize our birth rate).
But why wait? We have the technology now! We've had it for decades really.
I think it is completely irresponsible of past US presidents (since and inclusive of Nixon) to not fully engage our resources in creating a fully self-sustaining Mars colony. Human space exploration should not have ended with moon landings and should not have stalled in space stations.
This idea isn't new of course, but it is not said enough IMHO. I feel this point is getting lost in the recently increased debate about sending humans into space again, and going to Mars in particular.
So, what do you think? Will a colony on Mars save us humans from extinction?
Update: additional comments can be found here.
