What it costs us to live on mars ?

The curiosity : A thought that crossed my mind.

Lying on bed, scrolling Instagram, a space reel came out on my feed, a random morning like many others, i found myself wondering what if earth doesn’t remain livable forever? Is there another planet we could call home?

What if earth doesn’t stay habitable forever?

Oh ! okay, i am not a genius from a sci-fi movie that will change something extraordinary inside the universe still i am going to share some of my views on this topic.

We’ve all heard the stories- climate change, rising temperatures, pollution, explosions, wars, pandemics… everything piling up. And i thought:

Can humans really live somewhere else? Is there another Earth out there waiting for us?

I wasn’t thinking like a scientist or a billionare - I was just someone wondering, what would it take to start life again? Is it even possible?

So I started searching, planet after planet, i read about moons. exoplanets, space stations and so on and so forth. Most of them were too far. Too hot. Too cold. Gas giants. No surface. No atmosphere. No chance.

And then…. Mars appeared. Again and again, videos, headlines, documentaries, articles - The next earth, Our second home, SpaceX’s big dream.

Suddenly, the red planet wasn’t just a dusty rock anymore - it was a project. A vision and a mission.

And what i found myself pulled in. Could it really work ? What does it take to make another world livable? Can we carry humanity across space?

At this point, I wasn’t doubting anything - I was genuinely fascinated. It felt like chasing a mystery. A mission that might be crazy… or might just be possible.

I had no idea where this curiosity would lead me next.

The Discovery : Mars.

So, there it was. Mars. The most talked-about neighbour in our solar system. The only planet, apparently, that’s even slightly within reach.

I started looking at it not as a concept, but as a place. What’s there? What’s missing? Why this planet?

Mars is about 225 million km from Earth depending on where both planets are in orbit. It’s cold, dry, and painted in endless shades of rust-red. Temperatures can drop to minus 60 to 100 degrees Celsius, and its thin atmosphere? Mostly carbon dioxide. No breathable air. No oceans. No forests. No cities. Just rocks, dust, and silence.

But it’s not all hopeless.

Mars does have polar ice caps. It has seasons. It even had water a long, long time ago. Some signs of ancient rivers and lakes are still etched on its surface, like scars from a forgotten time.

It’s about half the size of Earth, with a day that’s just a little over 24 hours. It has two tiny moons Phobos and Deimos. It experiences dust storms that can cover the entire planet, and it has the biggest volcano in the solar system: Olympus Mons.

I couldn’t help but imagine what it would feel like to stand there. To see a sunrise on Mars. To watch Earth as a small star in the sky.

And the biggest reason people talk about Mars?

It’s the most “Earth-like” place we’ve got nearby.

It’s not like Earth at all, really. But compared to the other planets? It’s the only one that gives a tiny sliver of hope that maybe just maybe we could build something there.

That’s what drew me in deeper. Not the beauty. Not the comfort. But the challenge.

The raw, terrifying, impossible idea that we might take this dead, dry world… and bring it to life.

The Mars Mission : Tech and Vision.

Once I started reading about Mars as a possible destination, I realised it’s not just a dream. It’s a mission. And leading that mission? Elon Musk.

Musk’s vision isn’t small. It never is. His goal isn’t to just visit Mars—it’s to build a city there. A full-fledged, self-sustaining civilisation that can house a million people. And for that? He created SpaceX.

The Spaceship: Starship

At the centre of it all is Starship SpaceX’s colossal spacecraft. It’s designed to be reusable, powerful enough to carry 100+ tons of cargo, and transport up to 100 people per trip. The rocket is built to launch, land, refuel, and launch again from Earth and Mars.

It’s not theory anymore. Prototypes have already been tested. Explosions, yes. But also progress. Musk wants Starship to become the interplanetary bus of the future.

Timeline & Milestones

• 2022: First uncrewed cargo missions were initially aimed.

• Mid-2020s: Crewed missions (still delayed).

• By 2050: Musk envisions a functioning city on Mars.

It’s ambitious. Unrealistic to some. But amazing.

NASA’s Role

It’s not just SpaceX. NASA is investing too with the Artemis program aimed at returning humans to the Moon and building a stepping-stone for Mars. They’re partnering with SpaceX for lunar landers, which could later adapt for Martian use.

NASA provides the experience. SpaceX provides the daring.

Technology Stack

The mission isn’t just about getting there. It’s about surviving and thriving. That requires:

• Radiation shielding (Mars has no protective magnetic field like Earth)

• Life support systems (oxygen from CO₂ via MOXIE-like tech)

• Martian habitats (inflatable, underground, or 3D-printed with Martian soil)

• Water extraction from underground ice

• Food production via hydroponics or Martian greenhouses

• Energy from solar panels and maybe nuclear

They’re even discussing terraforming a word that sounds like sci-fi, but isn’t off the table.

The idea? Warm the planet, thicken the atmosphere, maybe even someday create rain.

The Cost

It’s hard to pin an exact figure, but estimates range in hundreds of billions to trillions of dollars. SpaceX is funding part of it privately, while government agencies cover other portions.

This isn’t a “let’s see what happens” mission. It’s a colossal operation. Musk has said

We don’t want to be one of those single-planet species. We want to be a multi-planetary civilisation.

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And with that, the dream of Mars begins to take real form. Not just science fiction. But actual, the ground human settlement on another planet. Impressive.

The Good Stuff : People believe on it.

As I dug deeper into the Mars mission, I realised something it’s not just about technology or even survival.

It’s about hope.

Ask around, and you’ll hear a thousand reasons why this mission matters. And to be fair, many of them are deeply compelling.

1. A Backup Plan for Humanity

This is probably the most echoed reason: What if Earth becomes unlivable?

Nuclear war. Global pandemics. Asteroid impact.

To many, Mars represents a plan B, a way to protect our species. A safety net in case the worst happens. Elon Musk famously said:

We want to be a spacefaring civilisation and a multi-planet species… It’s life insurance for humanity.

To believers, Mars isn’t abandoning Earth. It’s ensuring that life somewhere goes on.

2. The Spirit of Exploration

There’s something timeless about humans looking up at the stars and asking, “What’s out there?”

From sailing across oceans to landing on the Moon, exploration has always been a part of us. And Mars? It’s the next frontier.

People see this mission as part of a legacy, a chapter in the story of humankind’s never-ending journey to the unknown. It’s about dreaming big, reaching far, and doing what no one’s done before.

3. Innovations with Earth Benefits

It’s easy to overlook this part, but space tech often trickles down to help life right here on Earth.

Think:

• Advanced water recycling

• Renewable energy systems

• Robotics and AI

• Emergency shelters

• Medical devices born from space research

Mars colonisation requires radical innovation. And those innovations could be applied to solve problems down here too.

So, some argue, it’s not either/or. The Mars mission could actually drive solutions we desperately need on Earth.

4. Jobs, Inspiration, and a New Economy

The space industry is exploding. Jobs in aerospace, robotics, software, sustainable farming, and more are booming. A Martian economy even a hypothetical one, excites investors, engineers, and students.

And let’s not forget inspiration.

Kids watching rockets take off and rovers land are dreaming of becoming scientists, astronauts, thinkers. People are feeling that same spark they felt during the Apollo era.

It brings a sense of purpose a unifying dream in a divided world.

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And so, the Mars mission keeps gaining momentum, not just because it’s possible, but because it’s poetic and charming.

Because it feels like the future. Because it lets people believe in something bigger than themselves.

The Shift : The question begins.

The more I explored, the more I understood why so many people believe in Mars.

It’s exciting. It’s daring. It’s full of vision.

But somewhere in between those interviews, YouTube videos, research papers, and headlines I paused.

A quiet voice in the back of my mind whispered:

What if we’re not going to Mars because we dream bigger, but because we gave up here?

And I couldn’t ignore it anymore.

I started to wonder…

• Are we trying to escape problems we created, instead of solving them?

• Are we investing in a new world because we’ve already accepted the slow destruction of this one?

• Are we building a lifeboat while the ship is still afloat—and still fixable?

The deeper I looked, the more the questions began to multiply.

Everyone kept saying: “Mars is our future.”

But no one was asking: “Why are we so willing to leave Earth behind?”

And then I thought:

If we’re bringing the same humans to Mars…..

won’t we bring the same problems, too?

The wars. The greed. The inequality. The pollution. The politics.

We want to colonise another planet, but what if it’s not about the planet at all? What if the real problem… is us?

Earth vs. Mars – The Raw Comparison.

I had seen so many digital renders of what Mars could one day become. Domed cities. Thriving bio habitats. Rovers gliding over red plains under terraformed skies. It looked bold. Futuristic. Hopeful.

But then I’d look up… at the real sky. From my own window. At the sunset streaked with orange and gold. At trees, The wind. At birds returning home in formation.

Another many things came in my mind how beautiful earth is like the scent of soil after rain. The beauty of nature. The peace. And something inside me just… snapped.

We are dreaming of turning a lifeless, toxic, hostile desert into a home… while neglecting the only planet in the universe that already is one.

Mars is:

• -63°C average temperature.

• No breathable atmosphere.

• No running water.

• No forests.

• No animals.

• No natural food.

No sky as we know it.

It’s a blank canvas, yes. But Earth is a masterpiece.

Even if Earth loses its beauty a thousand times, Mars will still take a million years to compare.

We dream of growing potatoes in Martian dust, …while we destroy fertile soil here. We talk about melting ice caps there, …while we’re melting them here. We fantasise about one day hearing birdsong on Mars, …while we silence it more each day on Earth.

I wonder:

Why are we trying so hard to become gods on Mars… when we’re failing to be good guests on Earth?

The Real Problem – Humans Themselves.

As I kept digging into the Mars mission its goals, its tech, its promise I began to see the bigger picture.

The problem isn’t Mars. The problem isn’t even Earth. The problem… is us.

It’s not that we’re incapable of great things we clearly are. We’ve sent rovers across millions of kilometers. We’ve decoded DNA, landed on the Moon, cured diseases, built wonders. But for every step forward… we leave a mess behind.

Climate change wasn’t an accident. Plastic in the oceans, deforestation, species extinction all man-made.

War. Racism. Greed. Inequality. No asteroid brought those. We did.

And I couldn’t help but ask:

If we can't fix ourselves here, what makes us think we’ll magically become better people… there?

We say we want to build a new world. But we’ve barely learned how to live in this one.

We’re not escaping a dying planet. We’re escaping accountability.

The same politics, the same power games, the same hierarchies, they’ll come packed with us on that rocket.

We’ll build cities on Mars, yes and maybe fences too. Maybe borders. Maybe wealth gaps. Maybe weapons. Maybe another Earth… but colder, lonelier, and just as divided.

Because it doesn’t matter where we go, if we carry the same broken mindset with us.

A new world doesn’t fix the old soul.

The Money & Misplaced Priorities.

When I first looked into the Mars mission, I was amazed by the ambition. SpaceX’s Starship program alone has had billions of dollars funds into it. NASA’s Mars programs span decades and countless missions. Private and public sectors combined have poured tens of billions, and will need hundreds of billions more for full colonisation dreams.

But somewhere in all that awe, another question hit me:

What if… even a fraction of that money was spent here, on Earth?

We say we want to terraform Mars. But what if we just reform Earth instead?

What if the energy spent dreaming of Martian colonies was redirected into building sustainable cities here, reviving dying ecosystems, or innovating food and water systems for the poorest regions?

We say we want to build greenhouses on Mars. Meanwhile, our rainforests, the real green lungs are being burned for profit.

We’re designing advanced life support systems… while hospitals in developing nations struggle for oxygen cylinders.

We’re building domes to protect humans from radiation… but can’t protect our own children from pollution, hunger, or homelessness.

The imbalance feels surreal.

And here’s the deepest contradiction: The technology being developed to survive on Mars water recycling, clean energy, vertical farming, AI efficiency is exactly what Earth needs right now.

We are investing billions to survive on a lifeless rock… when that very same investment could help save the paradise we were gifted.

Yes, space innovation helps Earth too in indirect ways. But what’s troubling is the intent. We’re not dreaming to elevate life, we’re preparing to escape it.

We’re treating Mars like a lifeboat… instead of fixing the ship we’re still sailing on.

It’s not about hating science. It’s about realigning vision. Not escape, accountability. Not another planet, another chance here.

The Emotional Unfolding – The truth hits.

I won’t lie, when I first started learning about Mars, I was excited. The videos. The possibilities. The incredible engineering. A part of me even cheered for it.

But somewhere in the middle of all those documentaries and articles, when I saw a picture of the Martian surface dry, red, cold, and silent, something inside me broke.

That was supposed to be our future?

Exactly on earth. There was light on leaves. There were birds. Wind. A child’s laugh in the distance. Humans without any mask, smiling.

And it hit me: How did we come to believe we could replace this?

We’re so used to Earth’s magic, we’ve forgotten it’s magic at all. The colors of a sunset, the sound of rain on rooftops, the feel of grass, the water flowing in the river, the whisper of forests.

Earth gives us everything for free. And we treat it like a disposable backup drive.

Earth loves us like a mother. It heals us even as we hurt it. Mars will not gonna do this for us even if we care it like a kid.

And that’s what crushed me the most:

We’re not leaving Earth because she failed us. We’re trying to leave because we failed her.

It’s not about science fiction anymore. It’s about heart. It’s about accountability. It’s about knowing we don’t deserve another world not until we honor the one we already have.

Honestly. For real. Not because Mars is lifeless. But because we’ve become numb to how alive Earth is.

And the saddest part?

If we do go to Mars…

it’ll take people going that far away just to realise what they left behind, take their billions of dollars just to realise nothing can be earth.

The Conclusion: A Wake-Up Call.

I’m not against dreams.

I’m not against exploration. I’m not even against building for the future.

But somewhere along the way, we forgot something:

Earth is not the past. Earth is the miracle we still have.

Mars missions aren’t evil. But our priorities might be.

Because while we look at the stars, the forests burn. While we plan for another planet, children go hungry on this one. While we engineer spaceships, we ignore the cries of oceans and skies and species that vanish every day.

So no, this isn’t a blog to say, “Stop going to Mars.” It’s a blog that says:

Don’t go to Mars thinking it’ll fix what we broke here. Don’t call it a plan B when we never gave plan A the love it deserved.

Imagine if even a fraction of the billions spent to leave Earth was spent to heal Earth.

Imagine what this world could become, if we stopped looking for a new one and finally started seeing the one we already have.

So, dream big. Look up. But first, look around.

Because this planet isn’t just dirt and water.

It’s our only home. It’s our history, our art, our soul. It’s sunsets and rivers and roots and songs. It’s the place where you first opened your eyes. And maybe, if we choose right, it can be the place where we finally open our hearts.

We don’t need to build another Earth.

We just need to remember how breathtaking this one still is. And choose to deserve it.

We need to love our earth<3