Greetings from Mars

Since plans for conquering the Red Planet are becoming more serious, we should get acquainted with the possible view from up there. The distance between Mars and the Earth is about 50 milion miles. One martian year lasts approximately 687 terrestrial days, but one day is just 37 minutes longer than our 24h standard. Don't let it fool you: Mars is not a pleasant environment at all. There are numerous aspects that make us think twice before we decide to move there.

Chris McKay, senior scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center involved in planning future Mars missions, listed the possible reasons to be killed on Mars. First and greatest danger is something not visible at all: gravity. It is only about 0.38 the strength of Earth, which means that bones and muscles will get weaker and eyesight can seriously deteriorate. Not to mention Martian air and the lack of liquid water, both of them should be brought by humans from Earth. The soil is too toxic to plant anything and we are pretty sure there's no life on Mars now.

To sum up: no view, no food, bad weather, no air to breathe. Doesn't sound like a nice place to live. Yet we still consider a postcard from Mars a very nice idea.

Source: NASA, Vox. Image by NASA via Greenpeace