Colonizing Mars: Practicing Other Worlds on Earth

By

Lisa Ruth Rand

Return to Article

A 2014 publicity poster for NASA’s plans to send humans to an asteroid.

Journey to Mars

A 2014 publicity poster for NASA’s plans to send humans to an asteroid by 2025 and to Mars in the 2030s.

A global mosaic of Mars.

Mars Mosaic

A global mosaic of Mars compiled from 102 Viking 1 images of the planet in 1980.

A fictional Mars tourism poster.

Valles Marineris

A fictional Mars tourism poster commissioned by SpaceX in 2015.

NASA’s Mariner 2 spacecraft data.

Mariner 2 Data

In 1962, NASA’s Mariner 2 spacecraft passed by Venus and transmitted data back to Earth.

Viking landers were sterilized with heat.

Viking Sterilization

In order to avoid contaminating Mars with microorganisms from Earth, Viking landers were sterilized with heat.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk giving President Barack Obama a tour of the SpaceX facility.

President Barack Obama and Elon Musk

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk giving President Barack Obama a tour of the SpaceX facility in Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in 2010.

Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov.

Alexei Leonov

Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, the first human to conduct a spacewalk, on a USSR postage stamp in 1965.

Curiosity, a Mars rover.

Curiosity

Curiosity, a Mars rover, drilling into a rock in 2015.

Concept art for a SpaceX spacecraft.

Dragon on Mars

Concept art for a SpaceX spacecraft on Mars.

Elon Musk unveiled the Dragon V2.

Dragon V2

Elon Musk unveiled the Dragon V2, a spacecraft designed to carry people into Earth’s orbit and developed through a SpaceX and NASA partnership, in 2014.

Concept art for the Mars Excursion Module.

Mars Excursion Module

Concept art for the Mars Excursion Module in a 1964 NASA proposal.

Astronaut Eugene A. Cernan.

Last Man on the Moon

Astronaut Eugene A. Cernan on the moon in 1972.

Mars in 2003.

Mars

Mars in 2003, when it was only 34,647,420 miles from Earth—the closest the two planets have been in 60,000 years.

A panoramic image of the Mars Pathfinder mission.

Mars Pathfinder

A panoramic image of the Mars Pathfinder mission taken from its landing site in 1997.

OSIRIS-REx Logo

The 2015 mission logo for the OSIRIS-REx mission.

Concept art for the OSIRIS-REx Capsule.

OSIRIS-REx Capsule

Concept art for the OSIRIS-REx Capsule returning to Earth.

Jeff Bezos (third from left) and and Lori Garver (fourth from left).

Jeff Bezos at Blue Origin

Jeff Bezos (third from left), the Founder of Blue Origin, and Lori Garver (fourth from left), NASA Deputy Administrator, in front of a composite pressure vehicle at the Blue Origin headquarters in 2011.

Elon Musk speaking at a Mars Society Conference.

Elon Musk and the Mars Society

Elon Musk speaking at a Mars Society Conference in 2006 about the Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon manned spacecraft.

Apollo 11 Astronaut Buzz Aldrin in 2016.

Buzz Aldrin

Apollo 11 Astronaut Buzz Aldrin in 2016 at a preview of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex exhibit on Mars.

Concept art for a Mars settlement.

Mars Settlement

Concept art for a Mars settlement with a cutaway view of an underground habitat area for growing food.

A fictional Mars tourism poster.

Olympus Mons

A fictional Mars tourism poster commissioned by SpaceX in 2015.

Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles (1950).

The Martian Chronicles

Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles (1950) is collection of science fiction short stories about the colonization of Mars by humans fleeing an environmentally devastated Earth and coming into conflict with aboriginal Martians.

The Jetsons, an animated science fiction sitcom.

The Jetsons

The Jetsons was an animated science fiction sitcom that ran 1962-1963 and again 1985-1987. The show portrayed the possible wonders of a future age in space with numerous labor-saving devices.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.

Charles Bolden

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden speaking to students in 2016.

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin.

Buzz Aldrin

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin during a lunar landing mission in 1969.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden congratulating SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

Elon Musk and Charles Bolden

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden congratulating SpaceX CEO Elon Musk after the first successful mission by a private company to carry supplies to the International Space Station in 2012.

Astronauts practicing microgravity techniques.

Neutral Buoyancy Lab

Astronauts practicing microgravity techniques in NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Lab at Johnson Space Center.

Members of the Mars Research Society.

Mars Arctic Research Station

Members of the Mars Research Society practice near the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station in 2001.

The Human Exploration Research Analog at the Johnson Space Center.

Human Exploration Research Analog

The Human Exploration Research Analog at the Johnson Space Center in Texas is a modular, three-story habitat designed to simulate the isolation, confinement, and remote conditions of mission exploration scenarios.

The Mars Desert Research Station in Utah.

Mars Desert Research Station

Run by the Mars Research Society, the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah simulates Mars surface exploration habitats.

Astronomer Percival Lowell.

Percival Lowell

Astronomer Percival Lowell at his Flagstaff, AZ observatory in 1914.

A photograph of craters on Mars.

Mariner 4

A photograph of craters on Mars taken by Mariner 4 in 1965.

The first 'clear' image transmitted from the surface of Mars.

Viking 1

The first “clear” image transmitted from the surface of Mars by Viking 1 in 1976.

Members of the Apollo-14 team.

Craters of the Moon National Monument

Members of the Apollo-14 team at the Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho in 1969.

Equipment testing in Nevada in 1972.

U.S. Geological Survey and NASA Test

NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey Astrology Research Program testing equipment in Nevada in 1972.

Astronomer, cosmologist, and astrophysicist Carl Sagan.

Carl Sagan

Astronomer, cosmologist, and astrophysicist Carl Sagan posing in Death Valley, CA with a model of the Viking lander for his television series, “Cosmos.”

A mission patch for the Soviet Vostok 3.

Vostok 3

A mission patch for the Soviet Vostok 3 program in 1962.

First American female astronaut, Sally Ride.

Sally Ride

The first American female astronaut, Sally Ride, aboard the Challenger Space Shuttle in 1983.

President George H. W. Bush announcing his Space Exploration Initiative.

Space Exploration Initiative

In 1989, President George H. W. Bush announced his Space Exploration Initiative in front of the National Air and Space Museum at the 20^th anniversary celebration of the Apollo 11 Moon landing.

Biosphere 2 in 1998.

Biosphere 2

Biosphere 2 in 1998 near Tucson, AZ.

The Savanna (foreground) and Ocean (background).

Savanna and Ocean

The Savanna (foreground) and Ocean (background) of Biosphere 2 in 2003.

The living quarters for Biosphere 2.

Crew Quarters

The living quarters for the inhabitants of Biosphere 2.

The Coastal Fog Desert.

Costal Fog Desert

The Coastal Fog Desert section of Biosphere 2 in 2005.

The airlock of Biosphere 2.

Airlock

The airlock of Biosphere 2.

An area for cultivating crops in Biosphere 2.

Biosphere 2 Farm

An area for cultivating crops in Biosphere 2 in 1998.

The 1996 comedy, Bio-Dome.

Bio-Dome

The 1996 comedy, Bio-Dome, depicts two dim-witted slackers who accidently trap themselves in a Biosphere 2-like dome.

The Ocean area of Biosphere 2.

Biosphere 2 Ocean

The Ocean area of Biosphere 2 in 2014.

The Biosphere 2 facility offers regular tours.

Tourist Attraction

Now a popular tourist attraction as well as research station, the Biosphere 2 facility offers regular tours.

The Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station crew.

Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station Surveying

The Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station crew practice surveying with low frequency electromagnetic equipment on Devon Island in Canada in 2009.

The Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station with two crew members.

Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station Habitat and Rover

The Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station with two crew members, the habitat, and rover in 2009.

NASA and researchers from the Mars Institute and SETI Institute.

Mojave Field Test

NASA and researchers from the Mars Institute and SETI Institute conducting field tests in the Mojave Desert in 2011.

The Mars-500 mission simulated a 520-day mission.

Mars-500

Between 2007 and 2011, Russia, the European Space Agency, and China conducted a psychosocial isolation experiment—the Mars-500 mission—in preparation for an unspecified future trip to Mars. Three different crews lived and worked in a mock-spacecraft to simulate a 520-day mission.

Crew members performing operations outside the NASA NEEMO Station.

NEEMO Station

Crew members performing operations outside the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) underwater laboratory.

Crew members of NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations.

Extreme Environment Mission Operations

Crew members of NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) pose inside and outside their underwater habitat.

The poster for the 2015 film The Martian.

The Martian

The poster for the 2015 film The Martian.

The poster for the 2013 film Gravity.

Gravity

The poster for the 2013 film Gravity.

An astronaut and geologist in Arizona testing a lunar rover.

Desert Research and Technology Studies

An astronaut and geologist in Arizona testing a lunar rover in 2008 as part of the Desert Research and Technology Studies program.

The Mars 3 was the first spacecraft to land on Mars.

Mars 3 Lander

In 1971, the Mars 3—a space probe with the Soviet Mars program—became the first spacecraft to land on Mars.

The film poster for Sun Ra's Space is the Place.

Space is the Place

The film poster for Sun Ra's Afrofuturist science fiction film, Space is the Place (1974).

Share: