• Question: Will we ever live anywhere else other than Earth?

    Asked by Man in cute silly wellys to Ashley, Bernard, Carsten, MariaMagdalena, Monique on 16 Nov 2015.
    • Photo: Monique Henson

      Monique Henson answered on 16 Nov 2015:

      I think people will reach Mars within our lifetime, but I’m not sure whether we’ll live there long term. I know the Mars One programme aims to have humans colonising Mars by 2025. I think this is exciting and very ambitious. Even if it’s not successful, I’m sure we’ll learn lots about how we can do it in the future.

      I think we’ll have the capability to live on Mars within our lifetime, but I’m not sure whether we will. Creating a settlement on Mars that’s not just for scientific purposes has huge political effects – would it be governed by any country on Earth? Who would fund it? Who owns the land? I’m not sure we’ve figured out the answers to those questions yet. At that point, it’s not about whether it’s scientifically doable, it’s about how humanity will deal with the consequences.

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