Man on Mars

Man is a very weak creature. Our intellect is nothing to sneeze at, but we break fairly easily. Take us out of our familiar environment and we quickly suffer all manner of ailments. These are typically overcome with enough time and resources, but this is due in large part to most issues only facing a small portion of the population at any given time. When an event is small, it can be quickly recovered from. When something more significant happens, affected hundreds or even thousands of people, it tends to scar us as a species. The scars have tended to heal over relatively well so far, but I suspect we are in for perhaps the first truly unrecoverable wound we have ever faced.

And yet, along with this understanding, necessarily comes the death of mystery and the unknown. Humans love to tell themselves stories, and those stories usually have some greater meaning or important moral. There’s a reason for everything. Macbeth was compelled by prophesy. Frodo was unwittingly doing the bidding of Eru Iluvatar. Anakin Skywalker was the chosen one. Since we first had words with which to speak, humans have been telling stories to each other that explain the world and its inhabitants as possessing some extraordinarily important qualities – it scratches some itch inside the mind.

Mars is a planet that presents us with an entirely new set of challenges. Things such as lack of atmosphere and temperature are typically “solved” by suggestions of building underground or utilizing shielded domes. These would indeed solve most issues relating to the environment on Mars. However, there is one crucial issue that cannot be so easily addressed. The gravity on Mars is only 38% as strong as that which we experience on Earth. While this might sound pleasant, and indeed it would be fun at first, thinking about the ramifications of this unalterable environmental change are somewhat horrifying.

In the absence of Earth's constant gravitational challenge, our muscles would atrophy, growing weaker with each Martian day. Our bones, no longer compelled to maintain their density against Earth's pull, would become brittle and fragile. The cardiovascular system, accustomed to pumping blood against Earth's gravity, would weaken, potentially leading to a host of health issues. Our bodies are not designed for sustained existence in such a forgiving environment. Over time, with the passing of generations upon generations, weaker and weaker people will emerge. With enough time, men on Mars might grow so weak that they would be unable to stand upright, should they venture back home to Earth.

There are solutions to this problem, but they will likely not be implemented in time. You could build every “home” on Mars to be a spinning habitat, simulating gravity, but you would have a difficult time doing that on Earth, let alone a distant planet. I understand the rush outward, and am in fact a full champion of accelerating space-related timelines, but I do lay awake at night wondering what the fate of the Martians will be. Maybe one day, a small and brittle child will look up at the sky and see a faint blue orb hanging above his head. He’ll watch movies and see people outside without spacesuits, breathing the air and running in the rain. He’ll look at his spindly hands and his gaunt physique, unlike that of those back on that alien world called Earth, and ask a very simple question, “Why did we ever leave?”

10/25/2024