This Mars is not my Home

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People have wanted to visit and even colonize Mars for a very long time. Science fiction is filled with stories of doing so, and people continue to have high hopes. For that matter, secular scientists keep trying to find evidence for some kind of life there.

There are science fiction stories that explore some of the problems that were known during the times they were written, but more trouble has been recently discovered. These include making the journey itself, visiting, and especially trying to stay on Mars.

Mars, NASA / JPL-Caltech (usage does not imply endorsement of site contents)
Mayhaps I should say "spoiler alert," but people are not likely to be bothered if I tell them that the very first episode of The Twilight Zone in 1959, "Where Is Everybody?" was about the problem of loneliness in space travel. Indeed, those who take such a long trip would be expecting a one-way trip that lasts quite a spell. Then they have to get along on the red planet — if they get there.

A serious problem is radiation. While the sun is much more even-tempered than most other stars, it still has storms, flares, and all that good stuff blasting plasma and radiation into space. The Creator gave Earth a magnetic field to protect us from most of it, but some still gets through. Occasional large-scale problems with satellites and other electronic devices are traced to solar activity. Radiation goes right through to the surface of Mars. It is also dangerous for space travelers out yonder.

There is a host of problems with the idea of living on Mars, and they add up to make the idea untenable. In addition, the difficulties help reinforce the fact that Earth was designed to support life. Christians know that this is all just temporary. It's a beautiful planet he gave us to live on and care for, but it will go away in God's time. He will take us to our forever home.
Mars is fascinating—from a distance. You wouldn’t want to go there. You could not live there. Our fascination with Mars ends at Earth’s magnetic field. From there on out, it’s a shooting gallery with biology as the target.

To learn more, blast off to "Don’t Add Mars to Your Bucket List."