A company in Netherlands called ‘Mars-one’ has undertaken a very ambitious project. It plans to send 4 astronauts in its first batch to Mars in 2023 with an intention to start human colony on Mars. It is inviting applications from interested people all over the world and they have already received more than 10,000 applications.
What is most interesting is the fact that there is a unique condition for this travel. And that condition is that - whoever goes there should not expect to come back. They will have to spend their remaining lives on Mars. Because, for a return journey, they would require the rocket fuel in huge quantity to escape from Mars’ atmosphere and travel all the distance and then land safely on earth, which is simply not available on Mars.
Then there are many questions unanswered. Let us discuss some of them here.
What about the food supply on Mars? The people are going there with limited food. They need to make some ‘local’ arrangements before their stock gets exhausted, otherwise they will starve to death. Also, no one is sure about the climatic condition over there and the different seasons. Obviously, there shall be no electricity to switch on lights or fans in night times. The people shall be forced to spend their nights looking at the stars above, fancily pointing at one star saying that it is earth, their home planet...!
No one knows whether life, in any form, exists over there as of now. There could be dangerous creatures, or aliens, but very unlikely human beings like us. How will these people cope with them, when confronted? It is said that the gravity on Mars is 38% of that on earth. That means, people can jump 3 – 4 times higher with same force. Would it make some kind of difficulty in walking or running normally?
After the initial excitement of having landed successfully on Mars, would not these people get terribly bored over there? There are no other people to talk around, except these four, no markets to do shopping, no movies etc. No doctor to treat illness, no rule of land. These people will set the rules for the people landing there in next batches. In that sense, they would have a big responsibility of ‘shaping the culture’ of a planet. Thankfully, all the following people would also come from earth, so the experiences and aspirations are similar for everyone. But what would happen, if simultaneously, some aliens from other planet also venture in sending some of their people on Mars? Would they gel with each other or fight?
What would be the psyche of people applying for going there? Are they excited to experience a thrilling experience at the cost of their remaining lives on earth? Won’t they feel sad for leaving their near and dear ones forever, without dying? Or they are fed up with their lives on earth? It is a strange feeling to bid permanent goodbye to a person knowing that he is going to live elsewhere for some more time.
What about heaven and hell? Would they be same as the ones for people on earth? But how would the soul navigate its way from Mars to the heaven, wherever it is? It has never travelled the way from Earth to Mars by itself. And the exact location of Heaven is still unknown to mankind. And would there be a separate section in heaven for people arriving from Mars?
Year 2050
There would be a competition among the builders to start selling plots on Mars. And after the humans start settling down on Mars, the technology would gear up to provide telephone facility for communication between the two planets. And then, the TV channels would also spread their wings to accommodate Mars in its area of coverage. The High society people would be heard saying, ‘our daughter is getting married… the boy is from Mars.’ The businessmen would proudly include Mars in their list of branches.
. . . . . .
Somewhere, the god would be smiling, wondering in his mind, ‘These humans are very surprising… give them a little and they look for more…They have damaged the beautiful earth I gave them… now they are out to destroy other planes as well…!
No comments:
Post a Comment