The Future Of The Human Species - Part 2:where Next?

By Author: K.A.Cassimally
Total Articles: 13
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Many scientists are currently exploring the idea of going to live on Mars. Mars is the nearest planet to Earth and scientists actually think that the red planet resembled our Earth some million years ago. Some other scientists from the NASA Ames Center have already started the creation of a ‘Mars town' and many others are in fact already experimenting it. Of course, these experiments are done on Earth itself but this ‘Mars town' has an environment practically alike to that of Mars. And the perfect place for the conduction of this experiment is in Texas, USA. The astronauts working in these towns wear their space suit and also do everything they would really have to carry out if they ever go to Mars in the future. But Mars would be, like Earth a temporary place for humans. When the Sun starts engulfing the planets, Mars will disappear barely hours after the earth. So Mars only seems to be the ideal place to spread the human species. It is also a good location to send humans if ever there is a disaster on Earth. By saying disaster, I mean asteroid collision and things like that. If we, humans do not want to disappear ...
... when the earth or mars get swallowed up, we will have to go and live beyond the solar system. But are there any planets outside our solar system prepared to support life? Astronomers' answer is:
If Earth can support life, why can't other planets do same too? Astronomers have already discovered a Jupiter-like planet orbiting a Sun-like star so why not an Earth-like planet orbiting a Sun-like star next?
Astronomers clearly think that, yes, there has to be other planets alike to Earth waiting to be colonised out there. And maybe, these planets will in the future hold our species. But in all cases, this is exactly what some astronomers have in mind: transplant the human species to these planets before it is too late. Before colonising places outside our system though, it is logical to try and colonise our neighbour, Mars.
To achieve this goal though, many other problems have to be taken into consideration. How do we transform a dusty planet like Mars into one more or less alike to our Earth? How should we proceed? Before we plan to perform any of these though, we should ask ourselves whether we are really prepared to go out there where nobody has ever gone. K.A.Cassimally is the editor in chief of Astronomy Journal and Astronomy Journal Ezine. He is also the co-founder of the RCPL Astronomy Club. K.A.Cassimally is best known for his article 'Harry Potter and the Moons of Jupiter'.
He is also Senior Columnist at BackWash.com where he writes 'Not Scientific Science'.
Website: http://www.rcplastronomyclub.zik.mu
http://www.backwash.com/content.php?id=358
Email: kcassimally@rcplastronomyclub.zik.mu