Why would scientists want to colonize Mars?
Because they can . . . maybe.
There are reports today saying scientists are talking about deploying a giant magnetic shield that could make Mars habitable.
I don’t want to get into the scientific details; you can read about them in a report on the Science Alert site or on various other sites.
It all sounds fanciful, as the article points out, but you have to think if there is a chance of success, scientists will give it a shot.
Which opens up all kinds of possibilities, if they can find enough pioneering people to volunteer to leave this little blue planet — and never return.
I can only imagine what it would be like for those leaving Earth behind, looking back at this blue jewel in the universe as they travelled away from it. It makes me homesick just thinking about it.
So, I am wondering: how many of you would consider making the journey if you were able to do so, i.e. if you were young enough, fit enough and had the skills required?
Anybody?
— Jillian
Photo: This view of the twilight sky and Martian horizon taken by NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover includes Earth as the brightest point of light in the night sky. Earth is a little left of center in the image, and our moon is just below Earth. (Photo: NASA)
Jillian Page 
well we are destroying this planet and well over populated so maybe we should have a nose around out there
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So, would you consider going?
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I watched the Apollo 11 landing on TV in July 1969 when I was 11 years old. I was a science fiction fan through out my teenage years. But there is no way I would want to leave our bountiful Earth for somewhere as arid and lifeless as the Moon or Mars.
We complain that we are destroying this planet, and that this planet is over-populated, but it is still possible to find unspoiled places and occasional solitude. One of England’s best nature reserves, Attenborough Nature Reserve, is a couple of miles from my home, and I love walking there and taking photos of the flora and fauna when I get the opportunity. If you are fortunate enough to be able to go mid-week rather than at the weekend you may find some solitude there, too, and not have the fauna scared off by joggers and cyclists before you can get your shot.
I was somewhat bemused by the excitement at finding possible Earth-like exoplanets in orbit around Trappist 1, a mere 39 light years away. With current technology it would take something like 317,000 years for a spacecraft of ours to get there, and we would not be entirely sure what would be there when we arrived. We would need to develop the means of keeping a self-sufficient community travelling through interstellar space for about 1.5 times the time there have been modern humans on this planet (according to http://www.universetoday.com/38125/how-long-have-humans-been-on-earth/). As that web site puts it “Civilisation as we know it is only about 6,000 years old.”
So maybe establishing colonies on the Moon and Mars may be preliminary steps to interstellar colonisation. And should we on the home planet be stupid enough to wipe ourselves out maybe those colonists would have the wherewithal to come back and start again.
However, I am personally of the opinion that our galaxy would be better off if we mad apes did not spread off our blue ball.
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