Greetings,
My name is Fernando Mestre, 25, I'm portuguese and I currently live in Portugal. Space exploration and Mars colonization always fascinated me since my 5 years old and because of that, that dream and desire stayed with me until today and probably will stay with me until ...
Greetings,
My name is Fernando Mestre, 25, I'm portuguese and I currently live in Portugal. Space exploration and Mars colonization always fascinated me since my 5 years old and because of that, that dream and desire stayed with me until today and probably will stay with me until I die. However, recently this desire took ownership of me. I'm on my last year of college, my Degree is Anthropology, but, Biological Anthropology fascinated me on a whole new level, and why? It's because Biological Anthropology studies human evolution (in a broad sence) since the separation of our common ancestor (Sahelanthropus Tchadensis, Circa 7 million years ago) with the chimpanzees (our closest relatives). Now you must be asking, ''What that has to do with Mars?'' Well, that's very simple, once the colony is established in Mars, evolution will do his job and probably more faster than we think, and why? If humans start to reproduce themselves (a few decades later) in a hostile planet, selective pressures on a extreme level of adaptation will occur in order for the survival of the species. The less gravity, the more UV exposure, the lack of oxygen and specially our immune system, it will change our body because it was adapted to Earth's climate, bacterias ans viruses (and so at some point, trips between the two planets will have to be more restricted to prevent an epidemic disease). This will have a huge impact in our DNA, and because of that more mutations will happen in our genome. As result, this process also know as, Allopatric; a specialization on the geographical isolation between members of a species (on this case, Interplanetary isolation), even after a barrier disappears (trips between Earth and Mars) the species do not cross again because of the differences and to prevent an epidemic disease. Just look in our history, once the europeans arrived in the New World, they also brought with them ChickenPox, Measles, and other diseases, the consequences of that cost were thousands of lives, specially the natives, because they were not immune to those new diseases. Still, this was the Allopatric, but there is another one, Peripaterial speciation. It means a separation of a small population (from Earth to Mars) and the main mechanism here is genetic drift or the Founding effect in which natural selection will create a new species because of the limited gene pool, and this is why evolution probably will be more faster than we think. In the case of a Space Station, evolution will be more slowly compared to Mars but, it will do his job too, space has already enough challenges for the human body. So, after reading this, what happens to the small human population in Mars? The answer is, a new branch in our lineage, and it will be Homo Martiensis and no longer Homo sapiens sapiens. The reason why I'm sending you this, I'm willing to left, my family, my country, to join your cause, be an Astronaut and die on Mars or a Space Station, gladly. I don't know if I will get an answer from the human resource guy, another person from the staff or Igor Ashurbeyli, but I would like to be selected and become an Strategic Astronaut for the greater good.
Earth's population at moment is 7.500.000.000 people, at this rate, in 2050 we will reach to the 10.000.000.000 people, there is no space or food enough for this amount of people, it's suicide staying on Earth and if we do so, we will face our exctinction. Sacrifices are needed for the greater good. Remember, exploration is in our DNA.
Vote for me to represent you, our future is at stake!
Best Regards,
Fernando Mestre.
