Argumentative Essay On Space Habitability - 1189 Words

Seth Perkins Professor Erika Harnett ESS 102 AB 11 October 2017 Space Habitability The original space race may be far in the past, but the human drive to explore and discover has kept the concept of space travel and colonizing the rest of the universe a fascinating concept. Additionally, as climate change worsens on Earth and the human population continues to grow, the idea of moving out of Earth and beginning fresh becomes more and more appealing. However, Earth is the only planet known to sustain life, and whether life can be sustained elsewhere is a question that still needs to be answered. Space colonization presents a variety of new problems that need to be solved and dangers that need to be accounted for. Beyond the most obvious†¦show more content†¦Transporting this much cargo requires the development of new technologies, and potentially private sector contracting (â€Å"NASA’s Journey†). Transporting so much cargo, even if some is reusable across missions, isn’t Earth-independent. Long term, a different solut ion is necessary in order to sustain growing human populations separate from Earth. This requires being fully dependent on the sun and Martian resources for everything from food to fuel and building materials. This is challenging because most forms of life are unable to survive in a Mars-like environment without assistance. However, research at Cambridge has found that Mars contains the resources to sustain cyanobacteria, which could potentially make it possible to sustain other forms of life on Mars. Perhaps most importantly, cyanobacteria can perform photosynthesis, which makes oxygen production possible (Verseux et al., 2015). Verseux determined that sustaining a Mars crew for a year solely on Earth food would require the transportation of an extra 29 mt of supplies, which is extremely expensive. The symbiotic relationship between plants and cyanobacteria could be used to grow food, and cyanobacteria can be directly used as feed for fish, which could be an effective protein sourc e (Verseux et al., 2015). The inhabitants of Mars also need water, both for drinking and for sustaining the production of food and oxygen. Fortunately, as we discussed in lecture, Mars has large polar