For a lot of reasons, Mars, the planet, qualifies. Its soil is rich in oxygen for life support and rocket propulsion. Ditto for materials of construction: iron, to make steel, and gypsum, the stuff of concrete. Carbon, another essential, is available from the atmosphere, which is mainly carbon dioxide. There is water on Mars. Recent scientific findings tell us that Mars was once the abode of life. Deep beneath the surface, it may still be. Ever since the National Aeronautics and Space Administration withdrew from crewed missions, except for the space shuttle, scientists and engineers at universities and government laboratories have been studying the feasibility of establishing self-sufficient human colonies on Mars, on the moon and, using lunar materials, in space itself.
There are no show-stoppers for the human colonization of space, just engineering problems. Even transportation to low earth orbit, though prohibitively expensive today, can be brought within the grasp of ordinary men and women at, say, $10 a pound, about the same as an airline ticket from the U.S. to Australia. From low earth orbit, you're half way to anywhere in the solar system.
After the first permanent human colonies exist, free of dependence on earth's resources, the destruction of our human heritage by war and eco-terrorism becomes far less likely. But is there time? Will religious differences spark holy wars with weapons of mass destruction, bringing the human experience to a close? Will desperate immigrants, fleeing poverty and despair, overwhelm the social systems of the space-faring nations? Will armed despots hold the world's resources hostage, break the economies of the industrialized countries, and, in doing so, doom themselves?
Only one thing is certain. Mars waits.
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