As global warming continues and space technology improves, there is more and more talk about the growing possibility of a sci-fi future in which humans become a multiplanetary species. Specifically, that we could live on Mars. Biologist Kelly Weinersmith and cartoonist Zach Weinersmith have spent the last four years researching what this would look like if we did this anytime soon. In their new book A City On Mars, they get into all sorts of questions: How would we have babies in space? How would we have enough food? They join host Regina G. Barber and explain why it might be best to stay on Earth. Kelly and Zach Weinersmith's book A City On Mars is out now.Have another space story you want us to cover on a future episode? Email us at [email protected] — we'd love to hear from you! Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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You're listening to Shortwave from NPR. So there's a sci-fi fantasy that, as an astrophysicist and a Trekkie, I've been watching percolate all my life. And in the last decade, it feels like it's become more than fantasy.
Strap yourselves in. We're going to Mars. Not just a few astronauts. Thousands of people are going to colonize Mars. And I am telling you that they're going to do this soon. I would love to see, you know, a trillion people.
humans living in the solar system. Now the next Mars launch window opens in 2026. At the rate we're going here, you wouldn't rule out seeing some sort of mission there in a couple of years' time. Some of you will end up working on projects on Mars, and I guarantee that some of your children will end up living there.
One path is we stay on Earth forever, and then there will be some eventual extinction event. The alternative is to become a space-faring civilization and a multi-planet species.
But I've always wondered, what would a space colony actually look like?
For a successful space settlement would require that you have essentially families living on the surface of Mars and that those people are able to have careers that, you know, give them the money that they need to sustain themselves and that they're also able to have children. And those children can successfully grow up and have their own children. That's Kelly Wienersmith.
She's a biologist and science writer. And she and her partner, Zach Wienersmith, spent four years researching space settlement for a book called City on Mars. And in it, they get into everything it would take to do this. They talk about the key real estate.
The moon, Mars, we're creating an orbital space station. And among those, Mars is overwhelmingly the best option.
How we might do all the nitty gritty of daily living. Can human adult bodies survive on the surface of Mars? Can we safely have babies on the surface of Mars?
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