How To Live On Mars

I'm Robert Massey and I'm here from the Royal Astronomical Society which is one of the biggest astronomical organizations in the world and we look after the interests of astronomers not just in the UK but across the world. What I'm going to do today is give you a few pointers to get you started in astronomy which I think is one of the most incredibly interesting subjects there is. Mars is one of the most attractive destinations for any future interplanetary travellers.

It's a planet that's, in many ways, most like the Earth. It's got ice caps; it's got in the past, it has water flowing on its surface but nonetheless, today, it's a rather harsh place to visit. It's very cold, typically the type of temperature never rises above freezing point.

It's doesn't have much of an atmosphere and what there is, we can't breathe and it also doesn't give us much protection from the ultraviolet radiation from the sun. So basically, it's a pretty tough place to live. Added to which, to get there at the moment is a minimum two year-round trip.

We don't really have any way, at this point in time, of getting there much more quickly than that. So if you decide to go to Mars, assuming you can find a space agency rich enough to send you, then it's a big ask. For that reason, I don't think we'll be going there anytime soon.

Having said that, if once we do, we'll need to take a lot of resources with us, certainly all the water and oxygen for the journey, even if we're able to make those things on the rocks on Mars once we get there, we'll also have to work out very quickly some ways of sustaining our food supply and ways of growing things on the surface. So to begin with, I think it's going to be a bit of time before we get there. When we do, perhaps we will be able to survive and flourish but right now, it's a harsh place to go.

It's even much much tougher than going to the Antarctic. .