Is space travel to the planet Mars too dangerous?
Before answering this question, the most important issue here is to define “too dangerous”. What do we mean by “too dangerous”? Do we mean that it will result in severe bodily damage to the astronaut? If so, to what extent should the damage be considered too dangerous?
In my personal opinion, “too dangerous” should be defined as the posing of high risks to the astronauts’ lives when they are sent to Mars, due to the fact that “too dangerous” is commonly understood by the layman as fatal rather than simply bodily damage.
And as such, I do not feel that a space travel to the planet Mars will be too dangerous. Assuming a proper take-off, and a proper landing back on a Earth, I do not see any reasons for scenarios that will result in a life threatening situation for the astronauts. It is fair to make this assumption because if we were not to include the assumption of a proper take-off and a proper landing, any space trip wil be dangerous regardless of the destination.
I have two main reasons why I believe that space travel to the planet Mars is too dangerous.
Firstly, Mars, as we all know, has no life forms discovered on it yet. With sufficient precautions taken by the astronauts, there is a very low risk or in fact negligible chances of an astronaut ending up in a life-threatening situation on Mars. Any space travel without sufficient precautions taken will be dangerous regardless of the distance, be it moon or Mars. Hence, there is no reason for fear that the astronauts will be affected by any externalities present which are beyond the scope of modern scientists.
Secondly, I would like to bring your attention to technological advances. Yes, there are people who will argue about the distance from Earth to Mars, and how the landing might not be successful due to the distance. However, take a look at NASA’s phoenix space lander which landed on Mars successfully just a couple of months ago. The precision and the accuracy of today’s supercomputer has empowered modern astronomists to predict and accurately target the location of the landing. Given the power of today’s technological advances, there is no reason why we should remain pessismistic towards sending man onto Mars.
Do remember that the first man reached moon on 1969 and if we were to compare the technological advances between 1969 to the near future, we will realise that technological advances increases exponentially over time and given our present technology, there is no reason why it is going to pose any danger to astronauts going to Mars.
And on this note, I believe that space travel to the planet Mars is not too dangerous.
