The race is on for humans to enter the new age in history; the Interplanetary Age. Recent decades have shown that humans have achieved the bare minimum potential required to go interplanetary, and Mars is our best bet. In fact, existence of Mars in its known attributes is so vital that if it wasn’t there, dream of humans to become an interplanetary specie would have remained a fantasy at best. Mars is the only planet beyond Earth that meets the minimum criteria for a permanent colonization and sustenance of human civilization.
Many sceptics try to argue as to why we need to try reaching other worlds when we should be spending the same resources here on Earth to make it a better place to live. In my view, this is quite an absurd argument. Humans haven’t been to Mars yet and the Earth is already in a deep mess if this is something they foresee that we can fix. But this has never happened by not going to Mars, and chances are we cannot make it any better by not going to Mars ever more!
Secondly, this 'argument' only holds if we consider Mars as an entity separate from the realm of humanity. Indeed, it is a separate planet, but is it a separate world too? Why can’t we simply consider it as an unexplored corner of the human world that now encompasses nearly the entire solar system. Take the example of Antarctica, an uninhabitable continent separate from the inhabited world by vast stretches of ocean, where the only similarity with the habitable world are in atmospheric pressure and composition, and the amount of gravity. There are almost no other similarities. Mars, despite having much lower atmospheric pressure as compared to that of Earth, and exposed to more radiation, is likely to be more habitable for humans than Antarctica was, at the time of its first exploration, which costed more resources and human lives than exploration of Mars would, in current technology. Dr Robert Zubrin believes human colonization of Mars will have a positive impact on the mindset of humans on Earth itself. He argues that most of human conflicts stem from our perception of limited resources on Earth and this fear leads humans to fight over these. Exploration of Mars will bring this understanding that the resources in the Universe are not only unlimited but are also accessible.

A human settlement on Mars would require much lesser modifications and adaptations than settling anywhere else in the solar system. With the engineering solutions offered by Mareekh Dynamics' Craterhab technology, it will be possible to create micro-biomes where humans can live and carry out essential activities of everyday living such as farming and plantation, habitation, mining, industry, recreation, business, and any other life activities inside huge sheltered volumes with desired internal atmospheric pressures, temperatures, natural light and protection from radiation.
Until a conceivable solution for terraforming whole Mars into a more Earth-like world in current or future technology can be figured out, the human population on Mars will remain limited to a few million individuals. But this will be enough to create a minimum critical mass for the creation of a parallel human civilization on a different world. Elon Musk’s plan to create a one million strong human settlement on Mars is a viable idea. In International Mars City State Design Competition, we have concluded that this is perfectly achievable in current technology and Mareekh Dynamics aims to achieve exactly that.
Mars is not an alien world. Mars is home. Mars is the next stepping stone in humanity’s transition from space age to interplanetary age. Mars is the gateway to the future and survival of humans as a specie and flagbearer of only life that we know of.
Dr Muhammad Akbar Hussain Co-founder and CEO, Mareekh Dynamics
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