Flash Story
Aragosta
Quando l’aragosta era cibo per detenuti
Domiziano, da “dominus et deus” alla damnatio memoriae
World Press Photo 2023, il mondo raccontato per immagini
PerCorti di Vita a Torino
Lucia Annunziata racconta gli “inquilini” degli ultimi 10 anni
Hybris di Rezza e Mastrella a teatro, i due lati della porta
Eminem, 50 anni del bianco che ha segnato il rap
Rachel Carson, agli albori dell’ambientalismo moderno
Il Pride di Bologna e il suo orgoglio
Sheila Ribeiro, arte che invita al “non-dominio sulle cose”
World Press Photo, il fotogiornalismo del 2021
Dario Argento al Museo del Cinema di Torino
Non mi lascio commuovere dalle fotografie – la mostra per i 100 anni di Pasolini
Anni Interessanti, l’Italia 1960-1975
Armi biologiche: da Wuhan alla guerra in Ucraina
Romics, dai Millennials alla Generazione Z
Sport e politica, l’arma del boicottaggio
Se i proverbi se la prendono (solo) con le donne
Il dispotico smartphone
biancaneve
La “dittatura” del politicamente corretto (nun se po’ più dì)
Perché ci sentiamo in obbligo di giustificare il violento?
0 like prateek katyal
Il giornalismo sui social e la gestione del conflitto
logo mundialito 1980
Uruguay 1980, the P2 Lodge, football and the Gold Cup (on TV)
“Definire è limitare”
Bambine-streghe, quando le “catene del pregiudizio” sono reali
Inferno a Roma, quando il Diavolo non ci faceva paura
Trascrittori forensi, “chiediamo giustizia alla Giustizia”
“Duel” a Palazzo Merulana, Amici miei vs Compagni di scuola
new york skyline 11 settembre torri gemelle
11 settembre 2001, i 20 anni dall’attentato
rambaldi profondo rosso
Horror movies, the fine line between trash and cult
Europei di calcio, dalla Guerra Fredda all’edizione condivisa
Trap, giovani e società

Life on Mars

One of the biggest dreams of humanity, space colonization, specifically of Mars, could be reality soon. Well, maybe not really, but it’s years now that scientists are finding answers to overcome those obstacles, starting from lack of water and oxygen, that seemed to make life on the “red planet” a pure utopia. According optimistic predictions, everything will be technically possibile in 20 years. Not that much!

Human nature is explorative, no doubt. During millenniums, many pioneers risked their lives or died to reach every spot of the Earth. At the same time it was tried to solve the mysteries of the universe. There’se not much unknown left on our planet, except for the abyss of the oceans. Curiosity and scientific progress made the space race start. At the beginning in the frame of the Cold war, movies such as Star Wars are more political than what they look like. In the meantime there was Ronald Reagan project of the space shield, as a defens from the Soviets.

But of course there are also the unselfish look of dreamers who gaze above and fantasize on parallel worlds or the catastrophic one – popular more than ever with all the enviroment issue – who is looking for a way out from our doomed planet. Mars could be the best option. The Moon is too small for 7 billions people, Kepler, Trappist and all the “new” planets like Earth discovered recently are just too far. No living being has (yet) a longevity to face a trip of hundreds of years.

Movies and tv series like The Martian and Mars – a mix of real interviews and fiction – took that seriously, wondering how inhospitality could be fixed. First, the travel. The absence of gravity and the return to it cause pain to the spinal cord, which would stretch and then shrink. So, immediate need for physiotherapy. Of course you couldn’t go out to patrol, without suits. The almost total absance of atmosphere brings the temperature down to -150°C and exposes to carcinogenic magnetic radiations.

How we pictured martians and aliens during decades

Second: how to breath. Necessarily, there will have to be plants and organisms able to produce oxygen. Plantations would be possible only after eliminating toxic elements of martian ground. Water is considered a minor problem. In some areas was found some ice, maybe a proof that there was some forms of life.

Another technical aspect is the distance from Earth. Communications would slow down of 20 minutes from the immediacy we’re used to. Plus, each segment would last six months. Better check everything before leaving. And we can’t underestimate the psychological effects. Nobody could go on Mars without a specific training, because life would be the shadow of the usual one (that sometimes isn’t exciting as well).

How much can we resist without going outside? And to do what, on Mars? At the beginning there won’t be theatres, shops, bars, discos, stadiums. You should stay put in the station, 24/7 with the same people, never changing scenary. No sea, mountain, city, lake, country, forest. Without a proper preparation, how many would try to kill everyone, like Jack Nicholson/Jack Torrance in Shining? Different expertise will be required? Or just engineers and gardners (and few others)?

It’s impossibile not to think of migrants when we talk about going to live on Mars. Is this going to be their welcome?

Will we be able to superate terrestrial mentality? For instance, we’re used to a certain kind of administration, from local to national to supranational organizations (Onu, Nato, Eu, Nafta ecc). Will be recreating borders and walls or will be start fresh, a new community life based on solidarity and support by each other, far from ethnical and religious differences? Will be everyone allowed or only people who can afford astronomic expenses will leave?

We don’t have answers yet, also because this don’t look so imminent. But something is sure. Just thinking about all the unnecessary structures we build in our minds makes the idea of exploring Mars or the space less appealing. We shouldn’t lose the authenticity of the first humans who started asking questions on the infinite while staring at the sky, otherwise extinction would be a better option. The one chosen by 90% of the species who ever lived out here.


Back To Top