I do believe that the Earth would do fine in supporting its entire population if it hadn't been for us messing it up so badly (and you must tell me about Mathus some time). The reason I mentioned the problems we face on Earth was not to say they cannot be solved but to point out that technology, economy and willpower may need to refocus in a major way - and very soon - in order to save the only planet available where members of the human race can survive without advanced technological support.

Colonization of the Moon and Mars will certainly be good for science and therefore also for our species but for a period much longer than the next 50 crucial years that I mentioned, it will not support more than a few hundred people compared to the soon to be 9 billion that have to share the Earth.

As for the human factor slowly becoming the dominant factor, bear with me if I return once again to suck the last drops of insight from my high jump example. If new, fantastic techniques and training methods will finally add a few more centimetres to the world record, it can be compared to Columbus’ ship being developed not only into the Saturn 5 but also into whatever device we will create to take us to Mars (and beyond?) within say the next 100 years.

But when legs are as long and as strong as they can be, we cease to produce records – the human factor dominates entirely. That can be compared to the fact that the descendants of Columbus some 600 years down the line who have not developed all that much, are now relying more and more heavily on advanced technology each second of their life, even to take a simple breath or to protect against constant life-threatening radiation.

Building a breathable atmosphere on Mars will most probably take thousands of years and when done, it will leave us with an extra planet much smaller than Earth while already today we would need FIVE Earths to sustain the present world population on a level the western civilisation calls normal.

Any astronaut can tell us that living on the ISS for 6 months and returning from there is not an easy thing for any human body to endure. And when considering the 2-3 years needed for a return trip to Mars, it is not so much the lack of proper technology that we discuss as the psychological and medical limitations of a human being. Add the extra years needed to go to a Jupiter moon and you multiply the strains subjected to the same old body and mind.

The sad fact is that while technology rushes ahead and puts Mars within Columbus’ reach, Columbus stays essentially the same!