Now that the analysis of the importance of putting resources into space programs has been made evident by its impact on technology as well as society as a whole, there must be a suitable body for the space programs to aim for. Among extraterrestrial bodies in our solar system, Mars is unique in that it possesses all the raw materials required to support not only life, but a new branch of human civilization. Of the extraterrestrial bodies in our solar system, Mars is unique when compared to the others because of the natural resources it holds that are required to support life. Mars contains the potential to not only support human life, but to support a new branch of civilization. In human history, those who first establish themselves in the …show more content…
And Mars has a substantial amount, consisting completely of Ice and permafrost, which according to Robert Zubrin of Lockheed Martin Astronautics, “Permafrost is a thick subsurface layer of soil that remains frozen throughout the year, occurring chiefly in Polar Regions (Zubrin n.d.)”. Mars actually has so much water that if the planet was smooth and all its water melted, it would cover the entire planet in 100 meter deep water (Zubrin n.d.). The other reason Mars is able to sustain human life is due to the elements it contains, such as carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen. All these are available in biologically readily accessible forms such as Carbon Dioxide, and nitrogen gas, as well as water (Zubrin n.d.). This means that Mars’ soil contains the necessary components to grow plants without having to import bio-nutrients, like the moon would have to. Another reason why Mars succeeds over other extraterrestrial bodies is because of its ability to protect its agriculture from raw sunlight. Mars has a dense enough atmosphere to protect crops during solar flares. For example, Robert Zubrin states that “ Mars, on the other hand, has an atmosphere of sufficient density to protect crops grown on the surface against solar flares…large inflatable greenhouses made of transparent plastic protected by thin hard-plastic ultra-violet and abrasion resistant geodesic domes could be readily deployed, rapidly creating large domains for crop growth (Zubrin n.d.).” This means that colonists on Mars wouldn’t be forced to live underground in order to survive, allowing for Mars to become an above ground colony that can have a sufficient crop yield in order to