Alex Kim

Professor Presnell
English 1104
12 November, 2015

Mars, Exploration to the Great Unknown

We spend billions of time, resources and money on scientific research of the unknown.
Mars is a neighboring planet that is closest to us that could be habitable for humans in the near
future. Mars is the fourth planet from the sun and we are the third planet. Before I took apart this
research, I knew nothing about it other than knowing that its a planet near us. I took interest in
it, because science fascinates me, and its speechless to know we will colonize Mars soon. Just
thinking about going to a different planet, and living there is unbelievable beyond imagination!
So the main question is whats the point? Why go there and spend countless resources to do so?
Is there even water? How can we grow food? I am not just focusing on that alone about Mars but
also the astronauts who will be traveling there, and how going to Mars could affect their
psychological well-being. How does going to the vast unknown can affect us psychologically? I
believe in the near future, we will sooner or later land on Mars and inhabit life and a new
civilization there.
Human Tendencies and the Main Mission
I first asked to myself, why do we want to go to another planet? Is there a specific reason
why? Throughout the research, I have discovered that humans have a tendency to discover and/or

colonize new territory that is the unknown to them. For example, Apollo 11, that marked a
historical stamp within our history of mankind, which was the first spaceflight that landed
humans on the Moon. To this day, we have the I.S.S. (International Space Station) that conducts
scientific research of the environment of the moon, space, and the universe. We intend to
colonize Mars in the near future, because it would lead to one of the greatest discovery we intend
to make. We can make a new society and civilization in the near future where people of Mars can
live off of what they have without trips between Earth and Mars for supplies. It would be means
of ample amounts of untouched resources like magnesium, aluminum, titanium, iron, and many
more that they can use than to transporting Earths resources. Resources that are valuable here,
are ample, and abundant in supplies there, and it is ready to mine once we have the right
technology for it.
Water on Mars, is it True?
One of the main questions that is roaming around the scientific community is, is there
water or even evidence of water? Just recently, NASAs Orbiter recently discovered that water
recently did exist on Mars, and there is salt residue where water once was (Anderson). Anderson
is a reporter from NASA, who is a creditable source to research, specifically in this topic. He
stated that there are other evidence shows that researchers detected signatures of hydrated
materials on slopes that showed mysterious red steaks indicating that water flowed down slopes
during warm seasons. Mars seasons is very similar like Earths but lasts two times longer
because the amount it takes Mars orbit the sun is two Earth years. The axis that the planet is set
on is very similar, so season are very similar, and since one year on mars last for two Earth years,
the seasons are two times longer. The reason why there isnt water on Mars today because mainly
the atmosphere, and the temperature. The atmosphere is 100 times less than Earths due to the

size of the planet, so the water is vaporized, or evaporated, or frozen due to the temperature
(James). James stated that there is water on mars, but not in its liquid form and how water is
condensed in frozen caps throughout the
planet. One weird questions that no one has
yet to answer is that if there is water, doesnt
mean there is life? Scientist cannot collect
that sort of data unless done on the planet
The slope is flowing downhill on Mars, assuming
that they have been formed by contemporary
flowing water.

itself, because usually it would be micro-

organisms, and the only chance of evidence is in the frozen ice caps.
Is it True that People can Grow Plants on Mars Soil, like the Movie?

Recently a very famous movie came out

talking about mars, The Martian. In the movie, Matt
Damon took Mars soil and human waste as fertilizer
and created a farm to grow potatoes, which is a
resource to collect food for survival (Jordan). Jordan
realized the movie had many factual correlation
between the real experience and structure of Mars and
the movie. The movie was about a scientist who was
stuck in Mars and forced to live off what he had. In the
movie, the main character created a system of having a
biosphere to grow plants, by using excess hydrogen
and using the oxygen inside the base to create water. Hydrogen and oxygen creates water for
plants to grow. He grew potatoes, which can grow in harsh and barely any sunlight
circumstances, just needs water. The movie has a lot of true facts about Mars. NASA took on the
question, if plants can really grow with Mars soil. I found out that Mars soil does have essential
plant nutrients to grow, but not have the right amounts of minerals, hence needing fertilizer. The
mineral also holds perchlorates that turns into water in a specific environment and create oxygen.
(Dunbar)
Psychological Test and Effects
Even if we do get to Mars, how would the new, changed, different environment effect an
astronaut psychologically? There were experiments to test how it would effect a person. There
was a research conducted where six men spent 520 days locked in a room to actually test if we
can live on Mars (Oberhaus). Oberhaus is a researcher who writes articles, mostly on space and

human tendencies. He created this article to see if people can survive in a contained space for a
long period of time, and how it would affect the human brain, psychologically. It was basically a
long simulation. Since the change of the environment where you dont see people you usually
see really affected the test subjects. Changing the lifestyle of civilian jobs to running diagnostics,
and doing a simulations of being on the red planet, and others. One person said I missed the
world in general. Seeing things move, seeing cars, dog the sun. Being away can cause people to
become lonely, and cause psychological issues for astronauts if they do go to Mars (Kanas). He
is a professor of Psychiatry at University of California. The space crew going to Mars will
compose of less than 8 people max, and being with the same people for a long amount of time
and no one else but them will create tension and loneliness. The lack of communication between
the astronauts who will be going to Mars, and Earth will be so often, due to communication
delays, limited social contact, and possible medical and psychiatric illness due to time away from
home.
Whats the Point?
The point of all of this is to see if we can actually go to Mars. Humans have the urge to
colonize to the unknown where we can create a new society of a new colonization. The space
program intends to go to Mars soon, but the question we want to ask is when. Going there isnt a
cheap process. Itll cost countless time, money, resources and research to fully grasp the
knowledge so no problems will occur once getting there. We are predicting going to Mars
approximately at the year of 2030, due to the creation of the rocket and technology to get to
space.

Work Cited
Anderson, Gina. "NASA Confirms Evidence That Liquid Water Flows on Todays Mars." NASA.
NASA, 28 Sept. 2015. Web. 12 Nov. 2015.
Dunbar, Brian. "NASA Mars Rover Finds Mineral Vein Deposited by Water."NASA. NASA, 07
Dec. 2011. Web. 30 Nov. 2015.
James, Donald. ":: NASA Quest Aerospace ::." :: NASA Quest Aerospace ::. NASA, n.d. Web. 16
Nov. 2015.
Jordan, Gary. "Can Plants Grow with Mars Soil?" NASA. NASA, 7 Oct. 2015. Web. 12 Nov.
2015.
Kanas, Nick. "Journal of Cosmology." Journal of Cosmology. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.
Oberhaus, Daniel. "Six Men Spent 520 Days Locked in a Room to See If We Could Live on
Mars." Motherboard. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.