The first colony on the land named America was founded at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. The first people to arrive in America were the adventurers who discovered this land. Then came the armies of the European powers to harvest the land. Then came the criminals who were cast off to America and the people who were persecuted by the religious order of that time. The criminals were made to work to chop down trees and mine for precious metals and the people who were escaping persecution and famine were just hoping to settle quietly. Then came the adventurers who wished to make a fortune in this new land. Slowly, more and more people arrived to this continent, all looking for a better life.
Now in the 21st century, this period of volatility has been quite romanticized. There are numerous books about this period and most of them are fictional, painting this period in a rosy light. But if we think about it, the life of those people was quite scary and nothing like the peaceful lives we live now. They had left the safety of their known environment and headed out into the unknown in the hopes of finding a better life. There were wild animals, diseases, wars and criminals to contend with. Sometimes after reading the books, we feel that I could have survived, or if only I had been there during that period, I would have struck gold and would have become rich. But these are all imaginings and cannot become true unless we build a time machine and bend the law of nature.
Unless…
Well, we live in a time when affordable space travel is going to be a reality within the next 5-10 years. We as a species are almost ready to move on to the next challenge. I can feel history repeating itself. The next challenge: Space. People like Elon Musk with his SpaceX and Jeff Bezos just to not get left behind started Blue Origin. These private companies could just make space travel affordable. Even if their goals are capitalistic, the end result is going to be colonies on the moon, mars and so many other planets that were just specks in our telescopes.
Currently, the slowest and cheapest travel to Mars takes about 9 months. Which I would guess is the same time it took for people to reach America from Europe in the 15th Century. If we decide to use a costlier way to travel to Mars, we would take about 6 months to reach our neighboring planet. I recently watched a Kurzgesagt video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqwpQarrDwk&t=428s explaining how a skyhook can reduce the travel time between the 2 planets to just 3 months in a cost effective manner. I believe that using human ingenuity, we can (after a long research process) bring that down to even 1 or 2 days within my lifespan. At that time, travel between the 2 planets will be quite commonplace and due to the huge expansion of economy brought about from Mars, there will be people who could afford it.
So who will be the first people travelling to mars? First there will be trained engineers ready to build the infrastructure required the sustain human life. Most of the things will be modular but expertise will be required. Then, we will need masses of people who will help harvest the newly staked land. This could be supplemented by robots and due to their cost efficiency, robots will be the best options to travel to mars. People will obviously be required, because most robots need to be assembled and people weigh less than robots and can perform more tasks. But due to maintenance costs, people will be outnumbered by robots on Mars during the initial phase. When Mars has been made a little more hospitable for humans, people will start start building homes and selling the new dream to the masses. Then the people of Mars could revolt and say why are we paying taxes to Earth companies/ governments, and like USA was set up, so will the planet of Mars be established with its own ruling party and its own agenda.
This is how I imagine Mars will be colonized. Is there an alternative where it is a hellhole from where only resources are extracted and everything is dark like a science fiction movie about a dystopian future? Yes but I only hope that we have learnt something from our history and we can expand throughout the universe without wars after the settlement period.
I was just thinking the other day, that I could go to Mars within my lifetime. I wonder still whether I will risk the perils of space in search of the elusive riches each gold rush promises. Will I be smart enough to outwit the other hundreds of people also looking for their own treasures on this new Frontier?
I recently read a quote in a book: “It was men of desperate fortunes on one hand, or of aspiring superior fortunes on the other, who went abroad upon adventures, to rise by enterprise, and make themselves famous in undertakings of a nature out of the common road.” I do not know with certainty whether I am a man belonging to such a category, but I sometimes like to think I am.
Anyways, Bye for Now, I will write another post soon, I hope.
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