Editor's Blog
Hexavalent chromium, oxidizing perchlorates, and cosmic radiation all contribute to a hostile environment that could make the planet Mars uninhabitable… but in the 21st century, "uninhabitable" ain’t what it used to be.
In his paper, "Advanced to Revolutionary Technology Options for Humans on Mars," NASA Chief Scientist Dennis Bushnell tackles the challenge of overcoming obstacles to Martian colonization through a combination of information technology, nanotechnology, and genetic engineering solutions to colonize the planet first with machines and later by mankind.
Sound far-fetched? The first part’s already in place: networked machine intelligence is finding practical use on Mars since the deployment of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which not only performs detailed analysis of the Martian terrain using cameras, spectrometers, and radar, but also functions as the communications relay for a network of probes planned for future missions.
As for us, Bushnell advocates a combination of genetic engineering to harden future colonists against radiation and bone-density loss from Mars’ lower gravity in addition to using nanotechnology to repair the radiation-damage from incoming cosmic rays. The result? Better humans living longer lives on a mission to another world that’s already started.
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2 Comments
Why on earth would we want to retain our human bodies in a hostile environment like the one Mars has to offer.
Doesn’t even remotely make sense to colonize Mars with human bodies. It’s gonna be either a new, designed biological body adapted to the harsh environment or -I think more likely- a technological one.
I doubt that we should send humans to Mars at all, that is to say not in their human form. Let’s bridge the time until we can design sophisticated new bodies that are up for the challenge by sticking to remote or autonomous robotic drones.
It’s not gonna take that long.
PS: It always bugs me out that aliens are usually portrayed as entirely biological beings. That’s ridiculous if aliens ever come to visit they will have technological bodies with probably no or very few biological parts.
If you can travel around the universe then you are surely not going to stick with your lame-ass naturally evolved body.
Personally I would like to keep my body but have it housed in some sort of technological suit. Our biological bodies are well designed for Earth, but outside our little oasis we have it hard with all that radiation and lack of breathable gases.