Why are we so obsessed with colonising other planets and is it possible?

By Tanya Giridharan

For humans, the thought of colonising other planets has always been a dream. But now, finding a new habitable planet has come to symbolize something more than simply space exploration—a hope for the future of humanity. For almost two hundred years we have been dreaming of finding another home in our universe, with Edward Everett Hale publishing the first known work on space colonization in 1869. The idea itself has become a staple in pop culture with countless films and movies based on the idea of colonising another planet such as Passengers and Red Planet. So why are we so obsessed with it?

Take the Red Planet; throughout history we have granted Mars a unique place in our consciousness. It is, at this moment, our greatest hope for colonisation. Although it is not the nearest planet to Earth, many scientists consider Mars to be the planet that most resembles Earth and therefore, some of our fascination with the Red Planet is justified. About sixty years ago the first pictures of Mars’ surface depicted a barren world filled with craters. Over a decade later, Mariner missions returned showing us a different version of Mars – filled with volcanoes, sand dunes and canyons stretching thousands of miles. This relative familiarity has also fuelled dreams that Mars could one day sustain human life. Many people believe Mars is realistically suitable for building a permanent human presence, after all it has 24.6-hour days, snowy polar caps and is somewhat nearby to Earth. As journalist Vivian Giang writes, “As Earths limited natural resources dwindle, the thinking is simple: if Earth isn’t giving us what we need, maybe space will.”

The primary argument calling for space colonization is the long-term survival of human civilization. By developing alternative locations off Earth, we could potentially live there in the event of natural or man-made disasters on our own planet. Theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking argued for space colonization as a means of saving humanity. In 2001, Hawking predicted that the human race would become extinct within the next thousand years due to a disaster ‘such as nuclear war or global warming’, unless colonies could be established in space. And in 2010, he stated that humanity faces two options: either we colonize space within the next two hundred years, or we will face the prospect of long-term extinction. This provides a logical and valid reason why we are so obsessed with colonising other planets.

A positive to this, is that colonising another planet is expansion with fewer negative consequences. Expansion of humans and technological progress has usually resulted in some form of environmental devastation such as deforestation, and destruction of ecosystems and their accompanying wildlife. In the past, expansion has often come at the expense of displacing many indigenous peoples, the resulting treatment of these peoples ranging anywhere from encroachment to genocide. Because space has no known life, this need not be a consequence, as some space settlement advocates have pointed out. As well as this, if the resources of space were opened to use and viable life-supporting habitats were built, Earth would no longer define the limitations of growth. Although many of Earth's resources are non-renewable, off-planet colonies could satisfy the majority of the planet's resource requirements. With the availability of extra-terrestrial resources like energy and materials, demand on terrestrial ones would decline. This would mitigate the negative effects of overpopulation. The reason we are so obsessed with colonising other planets is because of both curiosity and need, but perhaps the more relevant question is, is it possible?

No space colonies have been built so far. Currently, the building of a space colony would present a set of huge technological and economic challenges. Space settlements would have to provide for nearly all the material needs of the humans that would live there, in an environment out in space that is very hostile to human life. They would involve technologies that have yet to be developed in any meaningful way, such as controlled ecological life-support systems ,which are self-supporting life support systems for space stations and colonies. They would also have to deal with the as-yet unknown issue of how humans would behave and thrive in such places long-term. Because of the present cost of sending anything from the surface of the Earth into orbit, a space colony would currently be a massively expensive project.

As well as this we can only colonise other planets once we can solve the medical issues that arise due to microgravity (in other words weightlessness) and the high levels of radiation to which the astronauts would be exposed after leaving the protection of the Earth's atmosphere. Building colonies in space would require access to water, food, space, people, construction materials, energy, transportation, communications, life support, simulated gravity, radiation protection and capital investment. It is likely the colonies would be located near the necessary physical resources. The practice of space architecture seeks to transform spaceflight from a heroic test of human endurance to a normality within the bounds of comfortable experience. As is true of other frontier-opening endeavours, the capital investment necessary for space colonization would probably come from governments, an argument made by John Hickman and Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Location is a frequent point of contention between space colonization advocates. Due to its proximity and familiarity, Earth's Moon is discussed as a target for colonization. It has the benefits of proximity to Earth and lower escape velocity, allowing for easier exchange of goods and services. A drawback of the Moon is its low abundance of volatiles necessary for life such as hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon. The Moon's lack of atmosphere provides no protection from space radiation or meteoroids. Realistically the moon is not the ideal location for a larger permanent space colony.

The colonization of Venus has been a subject of many works of science fiction since before the dawn of spaceflight, and is still discussed from both a fictional and a scientific standpoint. However, with the discovery of Venus's extremely hostile surface environment, attention has largely shifted towards the colonization of the Moon and Mars instead.

The hypothetical colonization of Mars has received the most interest from public space agencies and private corporations, and has received extensive treatment in science fiction writing, film, and art. Organizations have proposed plans for a human mission to Mars, the first step towards any colonization effort, but no person has set foot on the planet. However, landers and rovers have successfully explored the planetary surface and delivered information about conditions on the ground. Difficulties and hazards include radiation exposure during a trip to Mars and on its surface, toxic soil, low gravity, the isolation that accompanies Mars' distance from Earth, a lack of water, and cold temperatures. The most recent commitments to researching permanent settlement include those by public space agencies such as: NASA, ESA, Roscosmos, ISRO and the CNSA; and private organizations like SpaceX, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing.

So, is space colonisation possible? Space agencies and private companies alike plan to send humans to the Red Planet in the next decade, with the idea of permanent settlements twinkling in the future. Technical challenges of such missions are slowly being conquered one by one. As our knowledge and resources widen, we are getting closer to being able to colonise another planet. Many proposals, speculations, and designs for space settlements have been made through the years, and a considerable number of space colonization advocates and groups are active. And as we are increasing our consumption of Earth’s resources to sustain our way of life, the idea of space colonisation has reached its height of popularity. This vision, which was purely science fiction for years and years, caught the imagination of the public in the Seventies, leading to the establishment of the organization known today as the National Space Society. As more organizations like this are formed, we can only assume that the possibility of calling another planet our home is in our future.

Sources:

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23531331-400-the-ethics-issue-should-we-colonise-other-planets/

https://www.nasa.gov/centers/hq/library/find/bibliographies/space_colonization

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