TERRAFORMING [3b]
(over radio): We are a go for launch. (over radio): Roger, go for launch.
Earth, 2026…
(over radio): Five, four, three, two, one. We have ignition. We have lift off.
Four civilian astronauts begin their 150-day journey to the Red Planet.
(over radio): Velocity 14,899 miles per hour.
The voyage will take them deeper into space than any human has ever traveled – over 128 million miles, 200 times farther than the distance to the moon.
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“You leave Earth at a pretty high velocity, and the spacecraft flies away from the Earth, and away from the Moon, and away from the Sun. The distance away may not be the biggest concern. And it only takes five months to get there. Now, you can certainly, withstand that. So, the problem is getting back.” – Buzz Aldrin, Ph.D. (NASA Astronaut, Apollo 11 Moon Landing) |
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“They’re traveling so fast that they can go through ten feet of solid steel. So, a rocket has to be built so that it’s very, very well shielded for human beings. It’s not an easy trip. And there are momentous catastrophes that could occur.” – Stephen Petranek (Author, How We’ll Live on Mars) |
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“I kind of like to compare that to when the first explorers were going across the ocean. Those were long, horrible journeys as well and we survived those. And I really see Mars as one of the great, first stepping stones to exploring space.” – Michael Dennin, Ph.D. |
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“I was born with a fascination for space. And the only thing I wanted to do was explore. I wanted to know what was out there, and get out there. And so, by the time I heard about Mars One, it felt like there was a calling, a destiny there. What an amazing way to kind of give your life to the greater cause of humanity.” – Sue Ann Pien (Mars One Astronaut Candidate) |
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“We are a species of explorers. And the reason why we keep looking out there, in my opinion, is because that’s where we came from. ‘Cause you will not find any other organism on Earth that has such a fascination with space, with the stars, or with anything that displays such curiosity like human beings. And our next step will be colonizing Mars. So, the idea that others have proposed is that we are nothing else but the Martians, so we are bound to go there.” – Giorgio A. Tsoukalos |
According to NASA, the colonization of Mars will begin not with humans, but with robots sent ahead to construct habitats, rovers and life-support units. Food and supplies will be sent next, and then finally the first humans will arrive, ready to start their new lives as Martians.
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“The Martian environment is very different to Earth. It has 38% of the gravity of Earth. The daily temperature fluctuations are very extreme. For instance, if you’re near the equator on a summer day, it can be as warm as 70°F. But at night, the temperatures could drop down to -100°F. So, there’s a lot of things out thee that’s getting us, including radiation, as well, and the dust storms.” – Sue Ann Pien (Mars One Astronaut Candidate) |
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“The atmosphere is incredibly thin – about one percent of that of Earth. There’s no breathable oxygen there. The radiation is very high as well. And so astronauts there are faced with multiple difficulties.” – Paul Davies, Ph.D. (Theoretical Physicist / Astrobiologist, ASU) |
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“A Martian day is almost like Earth’s. It’s 24 hours and 39 minutes. So, it’s just a little bit longer than a day on Earth. But a Martian year is two years, because Mars’ orbit is twice the size of Earth’s.” – Stephen Petranek (Author, How We’ll Live on Mars) |
Because of the day-night cycle and the thin atmosphere, Mars is the only nearby planet where large-scale greenhouses lit by natural sunlight can be utilized. These structures will allow the colonizers to grow their own food on the cold and barren planet.
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“Obviously you can’t rely on food parcels from home coming every two years. You’re gonna have to grow your own food. A lot of people think, “Well, that’s pretty straightforward. You just take a few potatoes and cabbages, and away you go. You can do farming on Mars.” Now, research that’s been done at Arizona State University suggests that when you send microorganisms into space, they behave differently. They don’t like it up there.” – Paul Davies, Ph.D. (Theoretical Physicist / Astrobiologist, ASU) |
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“Hundreds, if not thousands, of PhD theses in the last 20 years have been written about how to grow food on Mars. And there was a very interesting experiment done a couple of years ago in Holland, where NASA provided the Dutch with what they thought was almost an identical copy of the soil on Mars. And the Dutch planted 4,200 seeds in it, of all kinds of different vegetables and every single seed germinated. Some things did better than others – like carrots grew very well there. There is no question that we will be able to grow food on Mars. But it’s gonna be hundreds of years before we grow enough food on Mars that we can survive from the food we grow. The only way we’re gonna be able to do that is to terraform the planet, so that it becomes much more Earth-like so that we can grow crops on the surface of the planet.” – Stephen Petranek (Author, How We’ll Live on Mars) |
In recent years, scientists have proposed various methods to terraform Mars, deliberately altering it to be more Earth-like. Most focus on melting the ice at the poles to release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to thicket it.
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“If we heat up the poles on Mars, that causes a significant temperature rise on Mars, and we start having flowing water on Mars, especially around the equator. Then water itself will go into the atmosphere, which is another greenhouse gas. And we will warm up Mars. And we will be able to plant crops on the surface of Mars. But that’s a ways away. That’s probably at least 300 years away.” – Stephen Petranek (Author, How We’ll Live on Mars) |
With missions from both NASA and the private sector now officially in the works, humans landing on Mars is no longer the stuff of science fiction. But will we really go so far as to terraform the planet so that we can establish permanent residency there? And if so, why? What is it about Mars that compels us to go there? Interestingly, the conditions on Earth three to four billion years ago are thought to be much different from what they are today. Like Mars, the planet was relatively uninhabitable and lacked an atmosphere. According to Ancient Astronaut Theorists, directed terraforming may have been exactly how life was started on Earth. And as evidence, they point to our earliest Creation stories.
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“When we look at the world’s creation myths, one of the things that we find throughout these stories is the idea that the gods sought to create a stable environment on the Earth. The story of Genesis could be seen as a step-by-step guide for terraforming the Earth. On day one, God or the gods created the Universe. On day two, the gods created the firmament. This is described as a dome, or a boundary separating heaven and Earth. Followed by the appearance of plants and animals, and later human beings.” – William Henry (Author / Investigative Mythologist), |
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“To me, when I look at Genesis, it is exactly the thought of an extraterrestrial visitation. I’m sure there’s a god – there’s no doubt about that, that there’s a higher power. But somewhere along the line, extraterrestrials came down to this planet, created us, maybe even terraformed the planet, so that it could be adaptable to life. Heck, we’re talking about doing that on Mars right now.” – George Noory (Radio Host, Coast to Coast AM) |
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“The things that we’ll be doing on Mars may be exactly the same things that extraterrestrials did when they came to our planet. We’ll be terraforming that planet, creating a more conducive atmosphere, melting icecaps to create rivers and lakes, and then, perhaps, even genetically manipulating organisms to better survive on that planet. And perhaps mankind is being guided by extraterrestrials to go to Mars and colonize the Red Planet.” – David Childress (Author, Technology of the Gods) |
With our plans to colonize Mars, are humans actually following in the footsteps of extraterrestrials that came to Earth in the remote past? Ancient Astronaut Theorists suggest that not only is that the case, but that there is even evidence these alien visitors might have come here from the very planet that is now our destination.
Previous: Introduction | Next: From Mars to Earth
References:
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[2] History™. (2016). Ancient Aliens: 9.1 – Pyramids of Antarctica. [Episode Description]. Retrieved: May 1, 2016, from http://www.history.com/shows/ancient-aliens/season-9.
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[3a] Prometheus Entertainment. (2016). Ancient Aliens: 9.2 – Destination Mars. [DVD Footage: Introduction]. Los Angeles, CA: A&E Networks, LLC / History™. [3b] Prometheus Entertainment. (2016). Ancient Aliens: 9.2 – Destination Mars. [DVD Footage: Terraforming]. Los Angeles, CA: A&E Networks, LLC / History™. [3c] Prometheus Entertainment. (2016). Ancient Aliens: 9.2 – Destination Mars. [DVD Footage: From Mars to Earth]. Los Angeles, CA: A&E Networks, LLC / History™. [3d] Prometheus Entertainment. (2016). Ancient Aliens: 9.2 – Destination Mars. [DVD Footage: Weapons of Mass Destruction]. Los Angeles, CA: A&E Networks, LLC / History™. [3e] Prometheus Entertainment. (2016). Ancient Aliens: 9.2 – Destination Mars. [DVD Footage: Alien Artifacts]. Los Angeles, CA: A&E Networks, LLC / History™. [3f] Prometheus Entertainment. (2016). Ancient Aliens: 9.2 – Destination Mars. [DVD Footage: Secret Space Program]. Los Angeles, CA: A&E Networks, LLC / History™. [3g] Prometheus Entertainment. (2016). Ancient Aliens: 9.2 – Destination Mars. [DVD Footage: Colonization]. Los Angeles, CA: A&E Networks, LLC / History™. |
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