Colonisation of Mars Literature Critical Analysis

In the article titled “Will We Ever Colonize Mars?[1]” the author Matt Williams outlines and discusses the benefits and the challenges that are posed by human colonisation on Mars. The author compares the similarities between Mars and Earth to indicate that life on Mars is not very different from Earth and is a feasible option for the future. He also mentions the challenges that hinder the successful colonisation of Mars including the extreme temperatures and the difference in gravity levels. He also discusses the prospect of geoengineering the planet to suit human settlement which may be an option if the existing technologies do not yield a successful human settlement. The article explores characteristics of Mars that makes it both a good candidate for human exploration and also a challenging one.

Williams discusses the complications of human settlement and quotes a recent research paper by MIT researchers that predicts that the astronauts would “die from…incineration in an oxygen-rich atmosphere[1]”. Despite the author accurately representing the information in the findings, that using crops as the sole food source will “produce unsafe oxygen levels in the habitat[2]”, he fails to mention solutions that may help overcome this problem. A possible solution to this removal of excess oxygen but according to Sydney Do, a researcher in the Strategic Engineering Research Group at MIT, we do not have the technology to do so on Mars[3].

The author in the benefits section of his article, claims that “Earth plants could eventually be grown in Martian soil[1]” but there is little evidence of these claims in the article. Researchers from the Netherlands have attempted to grow plants in simulated Mars soil. The results from this experiment indicate that it is possible to grow plants on Mars but there are many other factors that have to be considered before being able to conclude with certainty that Martian conditions will support the growth of plants[4]. Factors such as the reduced gravity, a higher proportion of heavy metals and the increased radiation levels must be taken into account when conducting experiments as these have adverse effects on the prospect of being able to grow plants on Mars.

Williams also says that Mars has vast reserves of water in the form of ice, which seems plausible as there is evidence from exploratory missions and there is also the recent evidence of liquid water from images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter[5]. His claim that this water can be easily extracted and purified is also plausible due to the technology of the Mars One’s life support unit that can produce potable water “through the heating of water ice in the local ground soil[6]”.

The author highlights a proposed solution to overcome the high radiation levels, by building an underground tunnel system which may also help avoid the need for pressurised suits and oxygen tanks. This solution seems credible as he has based his claims using data obtained by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter which speculates a habitable environment is present underground [7]].