Argumentative Essay: The Mars One Mission

“Is this for real?” asked Alison Rigby, a 33-year-old prospective candidate of the interplanetary mission to colonize Mars, known as the Mars One mission. What can anyone possibly reply other than this if one is acquainted with such a controversial project? It is indeed thrilling, or perhaps alarming, that there are genuine intentions and even concrete plans to send people to the red planet. The good old curiosity might have prompted mankind, but with the level of technology, the amount of funding, and the degree of knowledge and experience these Earthlings, who are operating the Mars One mission, currently possess about Mars, the Mars One space rocket for the manned space voyage in 2026 might just become an enormous metallic flying tomb carrying

According to a poster released by NASA, a day in Mars lasts 24 hours and 40 minutes, which is relatively similar with the 24-hour day in Earth. Additionally, the tilt of Mars’ axis is 25 degrees which is indeed close to Earth’s 23.5 degrees (National, “Mars”). Though these may seem agreeable conditions that give a slight hint that Mars could be a probable habitat for humans, there is one more thing that strengthens the confidence of many scientists that Mars may indeed harbor

Realizing that landing a 20-ton spaceship running at a tremendous speed through the thin Martian atmosphere would be highly problematic, the Mars One team proposes that when they are near Mars, the astronauts from the main area of the spaceship will transfer to the Lander, which would eventually land on Mars (“Mass Transit Vehicle”). It does look seemingly easy, but it may be wise to consider what had happened during the landing of NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars and the reason why NASA branded the process as “Seven Minutes of