Elon Musk is still eyeing Mars to be the next home for humans. The SpaceX and Tesla CEO is even planning to send millions of humans to the Red Planet.
Elon Musk To Send More Humans to Mars
Elon Musk shared that he was developing a "game plan" to send one million of us to Mars. The wealthiest man in the world has already advocated sending humans to the Red Planet. Using X, his social media network that was originally Twitter, he revealed his expansive space plan.
"We are mapping out a game plan to get a million people to Mars," Musk reportedly wrote. "Civilization only passes the single-planet Great Filter when Mars can survive even if Earth supply ships stop coming."
The concept of "The Great Filter" describes how a species, in this case mankind, needs to overcome some obstacle in order to survive, such as nuclear Armageddon or climate change. The Fermi paradox, which characterizes the disparity between the likelihood that extraterrestrial life exists somewhere in the cosmos and the absence of evidence for it, may have an explanation, including the idea of the Great Filter.
Musk has long argued that in order to assure human existence, we need to evolve into a "multi-planet species." He stated back in 2021 that he preferred to be a multi-planet species rather than one of those species that just had one planet. Almost 50 years have already passed since the last time humanity visited the moon.
Musk said it was already too long, so humans should return and establish a permanent presence there. This time, it should be a sizable base that is continuously inhabited. Then, establish a colony on Mars to develop into a multi-planet species, a spacefaring civilization.
Musk has estimated that humans could land on Mars in 2029.
Can Humans Survive on Mars?
Although there are high chances of people landing on Mars, the possibility of us surviving the Red Planet is slim. We are not created for such an environment.
Astronauts traveling to Mars will be subjected to radiation doses of approximately 300 milliSieverts or the same as 24 CAT scans. They are more vulnerable to health issues such as cancer, heart disease, brain damage, cognitive decline, and more once they arrive on the planet.
Because they would be on Mars for a longer period of time than passengers or pilots on transatlantic flights, astronauts would be exposed to a large amount of radiation, according to Robert Wimmer-Schweingruber of the University of Kiel in Germany. He also said that humans are not made to withstand radiation from space.
According to a 2019 study conducted by the European Space Agency (ESA), radiation exposure for astronauts on Mars may be 700 times higher than that of Earth. The eyes, lungs, and intestines are the body parts most susceptible to cancer. It encompasses the uterus and breasts in females.
Infertility and cancer risk will increase for astronauts due to radiation exposure, which would be 2.6 times higher than on board the International Space Station, according to a 2020 study.
Radiation can harm the brain and impede memory and learning, in addition to damaging specific bodily organs. According to other research, astronauts experience confusion and lose their ability to make decisions.
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