Astronomy & Space Exploration

[nimic]

Presumably because humans will eventually run out of land and resources. We are at about 8 billion people now and once the population grows by a few billion more, resources will become increasingly scarce. Although who knows how things will unfold with AI now in the mix.

Run of out land in what way, though? We've certainly got enough space for billions of more people. Resources, maybe, but then if we have the technology to make Mars habitable and productive, then I'm pretty sure we have the technology to increase our crop yield without terraforming another planet. It's much more likely that we'll start mining asteroids and comets for any kind of other resource we're lacking.

 

[Raoul]

Run of out land in what way, though? We've certainly got enough space for billions of more people. Resources, maybe, but then if we have the technology to make Mars habitable and productive, then I'm pretty sure we have the technology to increase our crop yield without terraforming another planet. It's much more likely that we'll start mining asteroids and comets for any kind of other resource we're lacking.

We shouldn't run out of land given that we're wasting so much of it in places like Mongolia, Russia, Canada, Australia, Kazakhstan etc. - basically very large countries with low population densities. We would need to get rid of nation states as we know them today to facilitate easier migration to lesser populated areas of the world to harness all the land the planet has available. Of course, I don't think any of this will come into play for many decades when many of us won't be around anymore.

 

[Buster15]

Genuine question: Why? Why will colonising Mars become vital for humanity?

Yes I was going to ask the same thing.
What is absolutely vital is making sure that we reduce the worst effects of man made climate change here.
Mars is very very far from Ideal for humanity

I am all for space exploration.
But I am highly doubtful that we will ever find another planet even remotely as hospitable as Earth.

There aren't that many stars within say 20 LY of Earth.

 

[caid]

Genuine question: Why? Why will colonising Mars become vital for humanity?

It wont be. It wont even be desirable.
Any resources gained will be lost getting to and from the planet. Its an objectively dumb idea to be honest.
A research station or two and maybe a refueling, launch station for exploration beyond is possible. Everything else is total bolox for hundreds of years in the best case scenario.

 

[The holy trinity 68]

To what end though? We can deduce that any planet within the habitable zone of this or other solar systems may in very small percentages have some form of primitive life - especially where water is present. It wouldn't be of any help to us since even if there were fossilized ancient microbial life deep within ancient dried up Martian ocean beds, we would still need to create a world humans could live within on Mars using mostly human technology.

Deducing is not fact or proof though, its just assumptions and we won't truly know if life exists anywhere in the Universe, if we don't find any actual signs of life in our Solar System on Mars or Europa etc.

 

[Raoul]

Deducing is not fact or proof though, its just assumptions and we won't truly know if life exists anywhere in the Universe, if we don't find any actual signs of life in our Solar System on Mars or Europa etc.

That's true, although it wouldn't exactly move the needle if we discovered microbial life on Mars since most already believe its entirely possible, and by extension, it wouldn't be surprising to one day learn its not uncommon given the amount of exoplanets there are.

 

[Buster15]

Deducing is not fact or proof though, its just assumptions and we won't truly know if life exists anywhere in the Universe, if we don't find any actual signs of life in our Solar System on Mars or Europa etc.

What about if organic gases are discovered in their atmosphere?

 

[That'sHernandez]

What about if organic gases are discovered in their atmosphere?

Organic gases may have a geological origin. What we need to be detecting are gases like CFCs and HCFCs, gases which are synthetic and not naturally occurring.

 

[Balljy]

Organic gases may have a geological origin. What we need to be detecting are gases like CFCs and HCFCs, gases which are synthetic and not naturally occurring.

Yeah, the Webb telescope has found Co2 and methane on exoplanets, but it's not proof of life just proof of carbon.

It has possibly found dimethyl sulfide though which needs more study to make sure it has, and that is only produced by life as far as we know.

https://www.nasa.gov/universe/exopl...hane-carbon-dioxide-in-atmosphere-of-k2-18-b/

 

[Buster15]

Organic gases may have a geological origin. What we need to be detecting are gases like CFCs and HCFCs, gases which are synthetic and not naturally occurring.

Thank you.

 

[ericking]

Organic gases may have a geological origin. What we need to be detecting are gases like CFCs and HCFCs, gases which are synthetic and not naturally occurring.

I think realistically we are looking for signatures of microbial life. Even Earth wouldn't have shown any evidence of technology until about 150 years ago.

 

[That'sHernandez]

I think realistically we are looking for signatures of microbial life. Even Earth wouldn't have shown any evidence of technology until about 150 years ago.

For exoplanets in systems older than ours I think it's reasonable to look for synthetic compounds, but those of a similar age you are probably right.

 

[stefan92]

For exoplanets in systems older than ours I think it's reasonable to look for synthetic compounds, but those of a similar age you are probably right.

I wouldn't expect it to be so deterministic how long it takes to evolve to a technological civilization on a planet so I think even for much younger planets I would also look for that. The last massive ice age ended about 580 million years ago (massive as in "Snowball Earth", almost the entire surface covered in ice). So Earth had less than 600mln years of a climate stable enough to allow the development of complex life, despite being 7 times that age in total. Other similar planet's might not need 4 billion years to reach that stage, so could be billions of years ahead in the development of complex life even if the planet is younger than Earth.

On the other hand there is no automatism for evolution to select for the capabilities that enable a species to develop a civilization at all.