• Question: is there a planet where we can move if ever the world was to be out of resources?

    Asked by NovajoyMI to Laurence, Colin on 7 Mar 2016.
    • Photo: Laurence O'Rourke

      Laurence O'Rourke answered on 7 Mar 2016:

      Good question – in our own solar system there is no planet that we from earth could move to and freely live like we live now (walking around with normal clothes, breathing the air in the atmosphere). Mars is always suggested to be a candidate planet but we would never be in a live free situation there. Maybe someday we might actually be able to colonize it so it does become the alternative Earth but I think that’ll be 50 or more years from now – between now and then we will have landed there for sure.

      Someday in the future though we will discover a planet around another star that will be EarthLike and a good one to move to. But there’s major problem and that is how to get to it. If our nearest star to the sun is trillions of km away then we need to develop something that travels at light speed to get there or to the future planet – which in itself would be a long voyage. But if we can indeed enjoy fresh air, water and have a normal life there then it’s a voyage worth making.

    • Photo: Colin Shirran

      Colin Shirran answered on 10 Mar 2016:

      Unfortunately we are yet to discover another planet which has all of the same resources as here on earth. Maybe some day it would be possible to terraform mars and turn it into an earth like planet, but until then we will be forced to live within habitats on other planets which keep the environment suitable so that we can live.

      However, that’s not to say that we can’t use the resources found on Mars or other planets to help us survive there. It’s just that they are not nearly as accessible to us there as they are here on earth.

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