Argumentative Essay on Why We Should Wait To Go To Mars Until 2030

So SpaceX wants to send a manned rocket to Mars in 2026, do you think that is a good idea?  Think of how much we could learn about rockets and space travel if we just waited until 2030.  If we waited, NASA or SpaceX could find a way to make oxygen or UV ray protectors to help live on Mars.  If we went in 2026 with what we have, the astronauts would die.  I say the risks outweigh the benefits if we went in 2026.  I’ll be explaining why the risks outweigh the benefits and why we should wait to go until 2030.

The first reason we should wait to go to Mars until 2030, is because the atmosphere is made of mostly carbon dioxide. If you wanted to walk outside, you would have to wear a space suit with an oxygen recycler.  The reason for the space suit is because the atmosphere is one hundred times thinner than Earth’s meaning there is one hundred times less UV protection. This causes skin cancer. “UV can damage your DNA. If the body is unable to repair this damage the cell can begin to divide and grow in an uncontrolled way”.- Cancer Council. 

The reason you would need an oxygen recycler is so you can breathe.  “The atmosphere of Mars consists of about 95% carbon dioxide, 3% nitrogen, 1.6% argon and contains traces of oxygen and water.”- Planetary Sciences Inc.  You can’t breathe carbon dioxide or argon so you would need a way to breathe and an oxygen recycler would be the only thing that would keep you from suffocating.

People that say we will have everything we need to live on Mars in 2024 might be right but, what would we build our houses out of?  “Try building a house without any of the materials mere Earthlings use to build houses.  That’s the challenge facing astronauts as they move forward with colonizing Mars. They’ll either need to bring materials with them, which will be wildly expensive and generally unreliable (what if you need a spare part?), or make use of the Red Planet’s rugged, inhospitable terrain.”- “How to Build a House on Mars” by Julian Spector and CityLab.  So if we can’t take materials with us and we can’t use the terrain then what? That is why we need to wait.

Astronauts could die going to Mars and if they don’t what happens if they land but they run out of food or water?  Scientists calculate what they need but if one calculation is off then the whole mission could fall apart. “Mars is an unforgiving environment where a small mistake or accident can result in large failure, injury, and death” - Mars One  The terrain might not have enough nutrients to support plant life so if they have to plant to eat then they might not grow.  Even if the plants did grow then they might be poisonous.  “Mars is an unforgiving environment where a small mistake or accident can result in large failure, injury, and death” - Mars One  Water is trapped in glaciers under the surface and there is no precipitation on Mars.  Meaning there is no easy access to water on Mars.  Astronauts may be exposed to a deadly Martian virus that could kill them, it could also change them like in “Dark They Were and Golden-Eyed'' by Ray Bradbury.

As a result, we should wait until 2030 to go to Mars.  If astronauts go in 2024 then they won’t make it. In 2030 we could find a way to grow plants safely on Mars.  We could figure out how to protect ourselves from the harmful UV rays.  So if we wait until 2030 how much would the survivability rate go up for our astronauts?