article | Popular science Xiaozhujun
The earth we rely on for human beings is the source of life and a land we cannot leave. But in the solar system, the earth is just an ordinary planet. Even though a wise civilization was born here, making the earth look a little different, in the vast starry sky, life on the earth may be just a miracle or an accident.
Living on the earth is a blessing for us, but also a misfortune. Fortunately, we have our own consciousness, our own insights, and the possibility of exploring the universe. Unfortunately, today's Earth is suffering from ruthless destruction by humans, and its lifespan is greatly reduced.
For this reason, many scientists on the earth have been committed to finding the second hometown of mankind in the vast starry sky. So is this kind of exploration valuable? Is it possible to achieve it?
First of all, the first question is, such exploration is definitely valuable, and civilizations born on different planets are likely to have unique living organisms due to their local ecological environment. Exploring the second hometown of mankind is not only to find a way out for mankind, but also to allow us to better understand the entire universe.
So is it possible for such exploration to become a reality?
If you want to answer this question, we need to understand the necessary conditions for the birth of life on a planet, or whether a planet is suitable for human habitation. There are three aspects that a planet must be guaranteed if it wants to give birth to life. The first is temperature, the second is oxygen , and the third is water.
In addition, the appropriate distance is reached with the star, which can allow a planet to receive the appropriate radiation energy, thereby ensuring the temperature in the planet. With the right temperature, water resources can be stabilized, and with water, there will be oxygen. But this is just some basic conditions. As for whether life can be produced, other accidents are needed.
In the solar system, if humans want to colonize space, many scientists first think of Mars . Mars is relatively close to Earth compared to other planets, and it is only between 50 million and 400 million kilometers from Earth. Moreover, the distance between Mars and the Sun is not much different from the distance between the Earth and the Sun. This condition makes Mars also in the habitable zone, but it is slightly on the edge of the habitable zone in the solar system.
Unfortunately, the current environment on Mars is not suitable for life. First of all, the temperature on Mars is very low, and it is often several hundred degrees Celsius below zero. Under the current conditions of human beings, there is only a dead end to enter Mars. But for space colonization, the biggest problem is not temperature but oxygen.
Scientists found that the carbon dioxide content on Mars is very high, but the oxygen content is very small. If you want to establish a base on Mars, you must first solve the problem of oxygen.
Unfortunately, so far, humans have various solutions for producing oxygen on Mars, but none of them can have very effective results in a short period of time. Therefore, it seems that space colonization is still a very distant thing for humans, and I hope our descendants can realize this wish.
