• Question: would we ever live on the planet mars

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      Asked by isaac style to Angus, Catherine, Jenni, Melissa, Waqar on 21 Jun 2016.
      • Photo: Angus Cook

        Angus Cook answered on 21 Jun 2016:

        We might, but we have to solve some problems first.

        The main one that’s stopping us at the moment is that we can’t actually safely get to Mars.

        In order to get to Mars we need to travel through space (it sounds obvious, but it’s worth clarifying). To do this we need to leave the Earth’s atmosphere and its magnetic field.

        The Earth’s magnetic field and atmosphere protect us on the surface from harmful radiation that’s produced by the Sun, as well as from other sources in the galaxy. When we’re far from the Earth we don’t have good ways to protect ourselves yet. At the moment any astronauts travelling to Mars would be exposed to potentially unsafe levels of radiation, and might get sick.

        But I think it’s certainly possible that we’ll get to Mars one day.

      • Photo: Melissa Ladyman

        Melissa Ladyman answered on 21 Jun 2016:

        People are already thinking of ways that we might be able to get to, and live on Mars. NASA has a plan in place to try figure it out in the next ten years! We have already sent robots to Mars to try and find out as much as possible so that we can prepare for travelling to Mars. Like Angus said the biggest problem at the moment is figuring out how to survive the radiation.

        Do you think it is a good idea to explore other planets? I think it’s a great idea to try and find out more about the universe around us, but I do worry about what we might do if space travel ever became easier. Would we start to pollute other planets, or have we learnt our lesson?

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