It feels like everyone is talking about Mars nowadays. NASA wants to send humans to the red planet by 2030, and Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are locked in a tight race to get people to Mars, with SpaceX expecting to send its first crew by 2024 and to establish a base and a self-sustaining civilisation soon after.
Mars, and the question of how we’ll survive and thrive on the red planet has also dominated Hollywood with films and shows like The Martian, Life, The Expanse and Netflix’sThe Mars Generation. But, our collective obsession with this alien planet has been deeply rooted in all aspects of pop culture for decades, from cult classics like Mars Attacks and Total Recall to Bowie’s Life on Mars and Elton’s Rocket Man.
The main difference between Mars then and Mars now (aside from the emergence of space barons like Musk, Bezos and Branson) is that we finally have the technology not only to get us there but to make life on Mars possible.
So, once we get there, how will we survive, live long and prosper? Here are the top five things we’ll need to thrive in the New World.
Genetic engineering
Synthetic biology is the most important recent scientific development that will make our survival on Mars possible. Thanks to synthetic biology we can now edit the genes of any organism, making it possible for us to engineer our food, environment, and even ourselves to thrive on an alien planet.
No one wants to spend the entirety of their life on Mars eating potatoes, freeze dried food and ketchup like Matt Damon à la The Martian, and we can’t afford to ship enough food over from Earth to sustain a growing Martian population. But, with genetic modification techniques that already exist we can get anti-freeze genes from fish and genes for drought tolerant grains like rice and stitch them into plants, creating food that will grow in the harsh Martian climate.
Now unless we want to live underground, hiding behind walls of lead, or wearing spacesuits that feel like lead, we’re going to have to find smarter ways of protecting ourselves against radiation. Through genetic engineering we could adapt the ability to withstand the cold, dehydration and radiation from bacteria like the Deinococcus radiodurans (which loves extremes) to create a generation that can adapt to low gravity, higher radiation and low air pressure and doesn’t have to live in fear of the Arnold Schwarzenegger Total Recall bugged-out eyes and face explosion effect.
The Expanse is a perfect example of how through forced or natural evolution Martians will eventually differ from Earthers, as they adapt to their environment.
Martian suits
On Earth we have miles of atmosphere piled up on us, which keeps pressure on our bodies and stops us from, essentially, exploding. On Mars there’s barely any atmospheric pressure. So, scientists at MIT have created a lightweight and slick BioSuit that’ll mechanically pressurise our bodies and fit like a glove, meaning no more bulky gas-filled spacesuits. Reebok and Adidas are already muscling in on space-fashion. Rebook recently unveiled its futuristic Space Boot SB-01. Believe it or not, this is a fast-growing industry and pretty soon next-gen spacesuits will be the new active wear (look to the new Lost in Space for inspiration).
Water and oxygen
Inarguably two of the most vital elements for human survival, so it should come as no surprise that NASA is sending its Mars 2020 rover with a reverse fuel cell that converts Martian atmosphere into oxygen, to make sure it can produce enough oxygen to keep one person alive indefinitely. The tech is scalable so once it passes the NASA test there’ll be no chance of running out of air while you’re out exploring the red planet.
As for water, Mars has 100% humidity so a dehumidifier could extract the water we need from the atmosphere. Below all that red sand Mars is covered in ice sheets; a warmer incline in temperature would see these sheets melt, putting Mars would be under 30 feet of water, and that’s where terraforming comes in.
Terraforming
Now look, no one ever said terraforming a planet was easy and The Expanse (which is looking more like science than science-fiction) definitely doesn’t sugar-coat what will essentially take centuries to achieve, but once we start generating greenhouse gases by erecting large solar sails focused on the south pole of Mars temperatures will start rising, we’ll have running water, which will lead to vegetation, the atmosphere will thicken which will lead to more atmospheric pressure and less radiation so we can eventually do without those spacesuits.
Business
Earthers are already looking to Mars for business opportunities, with Brooklyn start-up Final Frontier Design already securing multiple contracts from NASA to develop future suits and components. Space-fashion will be a booming market as more people settle the New World.
Tourism and hospitality will be a major industry with the very rich (we’re looking at you Richard Branson) wanting the full Mars experience. Hotels and bars will open up to accommodate workers and tourists and space communication will definitely be a big industry with visitors and residents wanting to call home to Earth. Construction and infrastructure will be boom as the population. There will be plenty of opportunities for entrepreneurs on Mars.
Lead image: Matt Damon in ‘The Martian’
