Quote:
Originally Posted by kleindoofy
When a group of astronauts lands on Mars, its members will have lots of work to do in a very short time. How are they supposed to do anything at all if they can barely crawl around?
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The surface gravity of Mars is only about 0.38 of Earth (
Mars Fact Sheet). I don't think they will have such a hard time at Mars if they work at keeping in shape on the voyage. But once they return to Earth, and a full gravity, after a few years at zero or small gravity, that is likely to be a big deal.
But the really big deal is that people will go to Mars and people will
stay on Mars. Just as people crossed the seas to find a new place and a new life, they will do the same with Mars. They will go there and they will stay there. They will be hard pressed ever to return to Earth, and they will have offspring who will be literally unable ever to return to Earth. I think the eventual inevitable colonization of Mars will be a speciation event. By going to Mars we will eventually create a new species of human who can never return to the home world.
I don't think people will be going to Mars in any organized fashion for a long time. But when they do, it will be the beginning of a new human species.