4.8 Space Exploration & Travel

Terraforming

Development of new technologies is one of the possible benefits of space tourism. Terraforming is the idea that an environment can be altered in order to imitate the environment present on Earth. Basically this involves creating an atmosphere and ecosystems similar to those on Earth, on another planet.

The Martian is a 2015 American science fiction film based on Andy Weir's 2011 novel 'The Martian'. Matt Damon stars as an astronaut who is mistakenly presumed dead and left behind on Mars. The film depicts his struggle to survive and others' efforts to rescue him. When Weir wrote the novel 'The Martian', he strove to present the science correctly and used reader feedback to get it right. The film received help from James L. Green, the Director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA's Science Mission Directorate.  Ed Finn, director of the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University, said, "What this story does really well is imagine a near-future scenario that doesn't push too far of where we are today technically. "British physicist Brian Cox said, "The Martian is the best advert for a career in engineering I've ever seen."

There are many arguments for and against the development and implementation of terraforming.

For:

• Expanding to another planet could relieve the increased overcrowding of Earth. Also, some people believe it would be a good idea to have a backup plan in case resources are depleted on Earth.

Against:

• Creating an Earth-like biosphere on another planet would be an extremely costly project, and may not be sustainable in the long-term. It is possible that altering the environment of another planet could result in long-term damage to that planet. In fact, the results of such an experiment are not known because it has never been done.