Not Ready for Mars

Humans have now started with space exploration, companies like Spacex and Nasa believe that we should be moving to mars and begin to inhabit and take control over mars. I believe we still have things to worry about here on earth. How can we know we are ready to inhabit mars and take over when we ourselves are incapable of taking care of earth? Our home planet. Given the overwhelming depravity on earth, space exploration will prove to be a fruitless endeavor, exacerbating the environmental problems on earth and creating unprecedented ones in the galaxy.

Firstly we shouldn’t start space exploration yet as we are incapable of looking after our first planet. Problems on earth are severe, immediate and need urgent funding. For instance, millions of children worldwide do not have access to food, shelter, medical aid and education. Instead of putting the funds towards space exploration, wouldn’t it be more meaningful to help out the needy and vulnerable first? Space exploration will require extensive investment, time and effort. Although addressing issues like equality are equally if not more challenging, reducing the suffering of humanity should remain as a top international priority.  In order to move everyone to Mars, it was estimated in 2010 to be 500 billion dollars. This funding could have been put towards creating brighter futures for children, cleaner water for families and renewable technologies to combat climate change. 

Secondly, there are ethical and environmental concerns of moving to Mars as humans pose a threat to this planet. We have burnt, polluted and tossed around earth like garbage till it has almost become one. We brim the lands with trash and puff exorbitant amounts of smoke into the ozone layer. Given the myriad climate issues we are facing, this may make you think we should move to avoid extinction. However, if we just move to mars when we have not learned from our mistakes, history shall repeat itself, transforming another planet into a wasteland. we won’t have another planet to go to except proxima B which is not only uninhabitable but also millions of light years away. This situation is similar to Mars but we need to move and create a habitable environment in an even shorter period of time which will inevitably lead to our demise. 

Lastly, not only will a space mission require gargantuan funding, the materials required for preparation and construction will be hard to access. Furthermore, despite the use of such precious and finite resources, space exploration is innately a risky process. In the case of failure, we risk leaving defunct satellites and machinery on a foreign planet, adding to our pollution within the universe. 

In conclusion, we should not begin our exploration on Mars. We have problems on earth we urgently need to address, such as environmental pollution and biodiversity loss. Before we can return Earth to its clean, peaceful state, we cannot waste precious resources and heavy investments on space exploration to Mars. Doing so means that we risk another planet filled with defunct satellites and lose another opportunity to return Mother Earth to its original healthy state.