In another hundred years, that is, in 2117, the United Arab Emirates will have a colony on Mars. The ruler of UAE Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum announced the project named ‘Mars 2117’ at the World Government Summit attended by representatives of 138 governments recently.
The Emirates have been happy hunting grounds for ambitious persons of all hues — a place where dreaming small is a sin. This union of nations has fostered some of the most astounding engineering marvels, unmindful of the costs involved, and is greedy for more.
It was, therefore, not a surprise that a representative at the World Government Summit declared that the proposed colony on Mars would be roughly the size of Chicago and would have a population of 6,00,000.
In another century, the way resources on Earth are being exploited and depleted, habitable colonies will need to be set up on Earth itself before planets thousands of miles away can be colonised and exploited.
It appears each nation is chasing warped dreams. India recently achieved an indisputable and significant milestone for a spacefaring nation by launching 104 satellites into space at one go.
China termed the launch a wake-up call for it to become more competitive in the market for commercial space missions. Each nation that is working on the commercial potential of space missions is but a fresh threat to the survival of the blue planet we call home.
In 2009, a researcher who had studied the possible impact of space missions on the environment, particularly the possibility of depletion of the ozone layer, had stated that by 2050, rocket launches, if they are allowed to happen in an unregulated manner, could result in more ozone destruction than ever caused by chlorofluorocarbons.
Although the current numbers of space missions may still be under the alarming level, an uncontrolled stream of exploratory missions would do more damage to the Earth’s atmosphere than other means.
Great economic benefits wait to be gained from launching satellites and probes into outer space. The funds that come through launches could help further develop science and technology.
Their benefits can cascade down and seep into multiple levels. But every benefit hinges on the most basic requirement, which is the existence of Earth. No amount of commercial benefit could and should outweigh the underlying and primary requirement, that is, the preservation of the planet.
In packaging a large number of satellites into one mission, India has shown one possible means of reducing the number of missions required to launch satellites into space. Efforts are required at different levels to make missions not only commercially but also environmentally viable.
The race for the final frontier between the US and erstwhile USSR offers lessons that must be kept in mind so that damage to the environment can be minimised in pursuit of science. The cost advantage that India’s space missions offer foreign countries must also extend to the environment.
India has established itself as a nation capable of handling missions successfully. It must now focus on cleaning its dirty footprints on the environment even if it means raising mission costs.
