Preparatory Assignment #1: Research Question and Rationale

What is the science needed to establish a sustainable colony on Mars?

The thought of humans living in a planet apart from Earth has always seemed to be an idea taken out from a sci-fi book, movie, or even video game. Today, however, it is considered a possible reality for the future of mankind. Organizations like NASA, and companies like SpaceX, after years of research and experiments; have the developed the technologies necessary to consider the colonization of Mars as a feasible plan. It is estimated that the first humans can arrive to Mars in the 2030s. This projects results really exciting to me as an astronomy student, and it motivates me and people from my community to reach for the stars. However, we need serious advancements in technology, science, and engineering, since there are certainly many obstacles in the way.

I became interested on this topic after watching YouTube videos and reading articles about the colonization of Mars. This topic is extremely interesting for me, since I’ve always been fascinated by the mysteries of our universe. I have always been captivated by the mysteries in our universe, and now that making humans reach Mars seems more possible, I feel more excited than ever before. I think this topic is important because the colonization of another planet would be a turning point for the humankind, we would become an multi planetary species. It is the future. For my research I plan to investigate what is needed to complete such a task, and what effect it has on me and my community.

I am missing important details on how would humans reach Mars, and how would it be colonized. I also need to address all the issues that humankind on Mars would cause. I need to provide enough information to make the reader have an informed opinion of whether if humans should ever live on Mars.