Human beings have successfully mapped most
of planet Earth, but there are still some
areas that remain unexplored - like most of
the ocean, Antarctica, and parts of the Amazon
rainforest.
While we continue to chart our own world,
however, we’re also setting our gaze outwards
and aiming much further afield.
This is Unveiled, and today we’re answering
the extraordinary question; Will humans conquer
the solar system?
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When we talk about conquering an entire star
system, there’s a lot more to know and do
than simply mastering our own planet.
Life as we know it has only occurred on Earth,
so in order to succeed across the rest of
the solar system, we’d first have to learn
to live elsewhere.
To even explore the furthest reaches of the
Kuiper Belt and beyond would take some time,
though… with Neptune, the most distant solar
system planet from us, being twelve years
of continuous travel away at current, achievable
speeds.
To truly “conquer” our local region of
space, we’d have to journey to and discover
each and every planet and moon in person,
setting up strategic bases at various points
to expedite the process.
At first, we’d no doubt have to make regular
trips back to Earth to refuel, reset and to
recount what we’d seen… but before long
those return trips to Earth would be a rare
thing.
Instead, we’d have to have human outposts
at various points in the solar system, filled
with explorers who are stationed there permanently
- people who dedicate their lives to living
off-Earth.
Naturally, it would seem to make most sense
to conquer the celestial bodies closest to
us first.
The journey times would be shorter and the
risks, arguably, lower… so the first port
of cosmic call would be the moon.
Earth has already planted its flags here,
of course, but if we truly wished to expand
into the rest of the solar system then learning
to live on the lunar surface would be priority
number one.
Establishing a permanent residence on the
moon is reportedly what NASA’s Artemis Program
intends to achieve by the 2030s - so we might
not even need to wait too long for the first
step to be made!
Being only three days’ journey time from
Earth, the moon is often billed as the perfect
place to train and develop methods for extraterrestrial
living.
But there are other economic and scientific
reasons for targeting the moon first, as well.
Simply put, it’s much cheaper to launch
rockets from the lunar surface, which means
- were Earth to run a lunar base - we’d
be able to launch larger payloads into the
rest of the solar system, and we’d require
less fuel to do so.
It works so well thanks largely to the moon’s
lack of atmosphere which, incidentally, also
makes it a better place to study the cosmos
from - given the clearer view of the sky that
we’d enjoy from the surface.
For these reasons, it’s already widely thought
that Earth’s future space missions will
all launch from the moon; we wouldn’t even
need to compensate for weather up there!
Say we succeeded in setting up a lunar base
to launch from, then; all indications are
that it’s “next stop: Mars”.
Prospective missions to Mars (many of which
are already well in the pipeline) will most
likely mark our first attempts at living on
a foreign planet and contending with a foreign
atmosphere.
The Red Planet could be “make or break”.
Future trips to Mars will tell us whether
or not we can even hope to survive off-Earth
conditions or if we’ll ever be able to terraform
another planet into something as Earth-like
as possible.
If we ever were to conquer the solar system,
then our arrival on Mars will’ve been critical.
Right now, NASA already has a “Moon to Mars
Program”, anticipating the significance
of humanity’s growth from a one-planet species
to a two-planet force.
Conquering the Martian surface (or the surface
of any planet) is more than just building
a physical base, however.
It’s learning how to grow food in foreign
soil, how to find water, and how to quickly
and safely react to unpredictable conditions.
It’s really impossible to calculate how
long achieving all of that would take us,
but it could well be centuries at a minimum.
Spreading out across a star system is long
and laborious work!
In the event that we did ever tame Mars into
something that’s not only reachable but
also survivable for human beings, then we’ll
have proven our credentials as a planet-hopping
people.
The next moves would still bring their own
significant problems, but we would now have
the knowledge that living somewhere other
than Earth was possible.
Mastering the rest of the inner planets would
mean overcoming the extreme temperatures and
pressure on Venus - a planet which currently
crushes even our toughest rovers into dust
- and surviving a close approach to the sun
in order to reach Mercury.
Earth’s arrival on Mercury would arguably
constitute the most significant step toward
total solar system domination since the earliest
days of our quest, back when we built bases
and launch pads on the moon…
And that’s because, as lunar launches will’ve
enabled us to venture further than we ever
had before, a presence on Mercury would mean
taking the first steps toward harnessing the
power of the sun; toward building a Dyson
Sphere.
In an ideal scenario, we’d find a way of
harvesting the materials needed for the structure
from Mercury itself, negating the need to
send anything backwards and forwards from
Earth.
By the time we arrive on Mercury, it’s probably
safe to assume that we’d be significantly
more technologically advanced in general,
so we might even be able to remotely manage
a Dyson Sphere project by employing an AI
crew.
Suddenly, with the first steps now achieved,
the spread of humanity would entail much less
risk to the humans themselves.
Getting to Jupiter means first passing through
the Asteroid Belt - which would certainly
be a lot easier in reality than it’s made
to seem in the movies.
Despite the sheer number of asteroids in the
belt, they’re spread out over such an enormously
large area that safe passage is very likely.
But that doesn’t mean that the belt should
be skipped.
In fact, those asteroids could offer plenty
of priceless materials and elements in our
bid for cosmic expansion.
So, while various projects to tackle various
planets were underway, humanity would also
have asteroid mining missions combing the
belt for anything of use.
Even here we’d need a constant human presence.
As for bases close to the gas giants of Jupiter
and Saturn, we’d most likely turn to their
moons; like Europa and Titan.
While neither is a perfect candidate for off-Earth
living, both are already thought to have a
higher potential for harbouring life.
Even in an advanced age where we’re technologically
proficient enough for long-distance space
travel to be achievable, however, the worlds
these moons are drawn too could still pose
problems.
The gas giants do grow gradually denser but
neither has a well-defined surface to plant
roots on.
With Jupiter and Saturn it would be much more
the case that we’d need to permanently suspend
ourselves in their atmospheres - perhaps in
slow-moving orbiter ships - to try to understand
how the planets work, and whether they could
teach us anything about what lies ahead…
Because, in time, we’d proceed on to Uranus
and Neptune, before turning our sights even
further out.
By the time of our arrival on Neptune, we
should’ve already mastered everything else
between it and the sun.
While we’d be foolish to underestimate the
ice giants, we’d also by then have accumulated
a wealth of knowledge to make approaching
them and surviving them a lot easier.
But, as part of this momentous journey to
the furthest solar system planets from us,
we might also have learnt more about what
lies beyond them.
The “edge of the solar system” is something
that’s forever up for debate, but to truly
“conquer” we’d need to travel to and
past it.
In so doing, we could wind up solving the
Planet Nine mystery; we could discover even
more far-flung worlds after that; and we should
finally be able to confirm beyond doubt the
existence of the Oort cloud.
With a first-hand grip on exactly how our
particular star system is structured, we’d
finally be able to realistically consider
interstellar travel.
Were humans, after probably thousands of years
of voyaging, ever to find themselves situated
on the outer edge of the Oort Cloud, staring
into the abyss… then the next step would
be to leave the solar system altogether; to
head toward different, distant stars.
There’s a long, long journey ahead of us,
and countless advances to be made - some of
them almost unimaginable for us today.
But that’s how humans could conquer the
solar system.
What do you think?
Is there anything we missed?
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