“Fly me to the moon”

Is the future settlement and colonization of planets a possibility and will our grandchildren ever see the day when this is an option for housing? While humans have long thought of gods and other life living in the sky, the idea of space travel or humans living in space dates back to at least the 1600s, after the invention of the telescope, when many of our famous forefathers were consumed with the atmosphere.

The idea of colonizing Mars and beyond is a goal of the rich and famous—the likes of Elon Musk and others that are trying to spend their wealth on these personal projects. With private companies like SpaceX and Mars One planning on permanently settling people on the Red Planet within our lifetime, colonization of other planets has become a pressing issue. There are many individuals and companies who feel that the colonization of other planets should be a priority for a variety of reasons.

While colonization of other planets may not be front page news most of the time, the choices we make regarding this issue will likely have profound effects on things that are—like climate change, public health, the economy, and technology. Our governments aren’t investing much time or energy into it yet, but private companies, led by motivated individuals with big dreams certainly are.

The issue of space colonization revolves around several compelling questions: Will it help or hurt the survival of the species? Do we currently possess the technology to successfully colonize other planets? What is the financial viability of space colonization when compared to other long-term solutions to planet level crisis? What are the societal and political implications of settling extraterrestrial bodies? These are all questions, when taking these issues seriously, that need to be pondered. Humanity undoubtedly feels the need to explore and discover. On the metaphysical side, there are no boundaries to knowledge and the scientific endeavour is thus endless.

On the physical side, however, there are few places on earth that cannot be reached, and humanity has naturally set its eyes to the ultimate boundary…. space…infinite, mostly unknown, utterly challenging, has fascinated humanity since its very beginnings. Space travel, just like we have seen in our cartoons and other documentaries, the fascination with space and beyond is something that challenges some. When l say some, this topic is of no interest to others, as many are just trying to make ends meats on this planet and keep their families out of the brink of poverty. This topic does not resonate with a fast majority of the population because it is not important.
However, as a global community, and wondering many moons in advance as this planet becomes overpopulated and cannot handle the burden of overpopulation, unless we kill them off (and many have wondered with COVID-19), we need to explore and harvest for future generations. Many experts in this field are predicting that Mars as a settlement could be likely by 2050, but not at levels predicted by Elon Musk.

Robotic mining that can provide water and fuel is the key to developing a colony on the red planet within the next 30 years. Mars will be colonized by humans by the year 2050, as long as autonomous mining processes quickly become more commercially viable. In my opinion and it is just my shout in the dark…. the robotic and AI parts of our world will all be at the forefront of these challenges. The one catch as mentioned….is water…and we humans need water to continue to survive unless something else is discovered. Without water we are done and have no place to continue this exploration at a long shot. The process for having humans on Mars will be set to operations, go there and produce water with robots first, and then be able to extract the hydrogen to make the energy before people arrive.

There have been numerous songs and movies, publications and god knows what else about space travel and all that comes with that dream. Should all these dreams and thoughts be kept in our psyche or should we strive ahead whether through private or public funds on exploring the future space options and all that it brings. Well, in my opinion, if we don’t get our population growth under control and start to preserve our resources, l do envision a disastrous future for generations to come. We as the human race have tenancies to destroy one another and stop progress from happening and for all the wrong reasons.

“Fly me to the moon” and beyond should maybe stay in my musical mindset and not tease me with a better tune of SpaceX and beyond.
The sky’s the limit…and beyond

Vince Nigro/MS