• Question: Is It possible to settle and live on mars?

    Asked by anon-248675 to Zoya, Tom, Stacey, Laura, James, Connor on 11 Mar 2020.
    • Photo: James Lees

      James Lees answered on 11 Mar 2020:


      In short: Yes

      In slightly less short: Yes, but it’s super hard

      We’ve been able to get people to live in space which is a harsher environment than Mars (though not by much). It would be possible for people to live in special habitats made on Mars. However they would only be able to leave for short amounts of time whilst wearing protective suits and everything would need to be specially made there and regular shipments sent with supplies from Earth which would make the whole thing insanely expensive. So it’s not likely to happen anytime soon.

    • Photo: Connor Prior

      Connor Prior answered on 11 Mar 2020:


      Interesting question! Mars’ atmosphere is made up of ~95% carbon dioxide (CO2), 3% nitrogen (N2) and 1% Argon (Ar). There are other gases but not in huge amounts. Due to there being a lack of oxygen (O2) on mars we wouldn’t be able to breath.

      Mars also has a gravitational pull like earth. Earth’s pull is 9.81 m/s^2 whilst Mars is only 3.71 m/s^2 so it is 38% less than earth, and we rely on gravity to stand upright etc, so we’d have to adapt to that.

      Finally, there is water on Mars! But they exist as the polar ice caps (they are frozen)! The pressure on Mars is 600 pascals, whilst earth is 101,000 pascals. So if the water on mars is heated up it actually skips the liquid stage and goes directly to a gas (the is known as sublimation) a bit like dry ice (solid carbon dioxide) on earth!

      So unfortunately, I don’t think it would be possible unless we built a unit to place on the surface of Mars with the conditions of earth.

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