"Will we possibly live on Mars in the next 20ish years? Or maybe the Moon? I need to know this..and prepare." - Ashleigh Cropper

The River Otter: 
Yes. Definitely. No question. I commend your gusto for emergency preparedness, Ashleigh. Some things you will need to know as you pack for the big move: in the future we will all wear asymmetrical zipped jackets, like this:

or maybe like this: 

 If you're especially cool. All of our clothing will be silver or iridescent.

Oooh, pretty. 

Stock up now. Our skin will have the capacity to change patterns. Because of this I will look like a mermaid butterfly. It will be awesome. You'll want to bring a camera so you can take pictures with me. We will all wear those floaty shoes that Leonardo Da Vinci invented to walk on water...but we will wear them all the time.

We will use a lot of his other inventions, like plastic and armored tanks. Most importantly, things on Mars will perfectly follow the writings of Ray Bradbury in "The Martian Chronicles."

So reading this is going to be your best bet for survival...and paranoia. Good luck!


The Silver Fox:

Twenty years.  It is definitely crazy to think about what is going to happen 20 years from now!  20 years before I was born we landed on the moon.  This year we received close-up images of Pluto.  20 years from now? I bet it will be possible to live on Mars or the moon.  

But, there is a lot to prepare for.  Although Mars is more like Earth than any other planet, I learned that there are some extreme differences when it comes to supporting life forms.  Because Mars is farther away from the sun than Earth, it has extremely cold temperatures (colder than Antarctica.) It also has way too much carbon dioxide and the air would be toxic to us.  The atmosphere on Mars is thinner than that on earth, and so the ultraviolet rays reaching the surface would be a rather large dilemma for us as well.  Also, the surface gravity on Mars is 38% of what it is on earth.  This could pose future problems as populations spend extended times on Mars, because the lessened gravitational pull will likely cause weaker muscles and lower bone density.  

So what is the solution? Bundle up in your parka (or maybe 10-20 of them), put bricks in your boots, get ready to live underground, and make sure you’ve studied up on how to make water since there doesn’t seem to be a lot of it there…  Then buckle your seat belt because it’s going to be a 6-7 month ride to our red neighbor!

(Also, in researching this question I found some great quotes on Mars and I'd like to share a personal favorite. This is from Elon Musk: I'd like to die on Mars. Just not on impact.)