Visions of a Martian Future
Konrad Szocik, Steven Abood, Chris Impey, Mark Shelhamer, Jacob Haqq-Misra, Erik Persson, Lluis Oviedo, Klara Anna Capova, Martin Braddock, Margaret Boone Rappaport & Christopher Corbally
Futures 117 (2020)
Abstract
As we look beyond our terrestrial boundary to a multi-planetary future for humankind, it becomes
paramount to anticipate the challenges of various human factors on the most likely scenario
for this future: permanent human settlement of Mars. Even if technical hurdles are circumvented
to provide adequate resources for basic physiological and psychological needs, Homo
sapiens will not survive on an alien planet if a dysfunctional psyche prohibits the utilization of
these resources. No matter how far we soar into the stars, our psychologies for future generations
will be forever tethered to the totality of our surroundings. By shaping our environment toward
survival and welfare during the voyage to Mars and in a Martian colony, we indirectly shape our
psyches and prepare them for a mission of unprecedented alienation and duration. Once on Mars,
human factors such as leadership structure, social organization and code of conduct, group size,
gender balance, developmental cycle, mobility, length of stay and the ecological settings and type
and manner of subsistence, will create a novel Martian culture. The degree that settlers are
severed from the Earth will affect how radically foreign this culture will be when compared with
cultures on Earth.
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