Should We Send Astronauts to Mars?

Astronauts have orbited Earth and walked on the moon, and now they live on the International Space Station (ISS). Many people think visiting another planet should be the next major step in human space exploration.

Jim Rice is a scientist at the Planetary Science Institute who worked on past Mars rover missions. He says these robots have been extremely helpful in studying Mars. But he argues that two astronauts could’ve done the same amount of work in only a month!

“People are much better explorers,” Rice explains. “Robots are just tools. They depend on human beings to tell them what to do.” 

Living on Mars wouldn’t be easy, but NASA has spent years testing different technologies that would help astronauts survive there. For example, the ISS has a system that produces oxygen for astronauts to breathe. Also, before sending astronauts to Mars, NASA plans to set up a base on the moon where astronauts could better prepare for a Martian mission. 

Many people think sending astronauts on a mission to Mars is too dangerous. The farthest humans have traveled is to the moon. On average, Mars is more than 100 times farther from Earth. That means astronauts couldn’t rely on deliveries of food and supplies, as they do on the ISS—and there would be no hope of being rescued if anything went wrong. 

In addition to the lack of breathable air, astronauts on Mars would have to worry about deadly radiation from the sun and deep space. On Earth, the thick atmosphere protects us from these harmful rays, which can cause cancer or brain damage. But the Martian atmosphere is much thinner. 

Though humans are better explorers, many people argue that rovers like Perseverance are better-equipped to deal with the harsh environment on Mars. 

“A robot doesn’t mind that there is lots of radiation or no oxygen,” says Anders Sandberg, a researcher at the Future of Humanity Institute. “It works much better under those circumstances.”