2 minute read
READING 3 Human Colony on Mars?
Human Colony on Mars?
Read the following article. Pay special attention to the words in bold. 6.5
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The U.S. space agency, NASA, wants to find out about Mars. Will humans be able to live on Mars in the future? If they go to Mars, what will they need? First, they’ll need water and food. They’ll also need energy. The sun is far away, so Mars is a very cold planet. They will need to find energy somewhere else on the planet or bring it with them. NASA will need to solve all of these problems before humans go to Mars.
Another group, Mars One, also wants to go to Mars. The people at Mars One believe that humans can live there. Their goal is to create a permanent1 human colony2 there. Mars One interviews people who want to go to Mars. From more than 200,000 applications, Mars One now has a group of 100 people. From those 100 people, Mars One will choose 24.
These 24 people will train in the Arctic region, where the land and weather are similar to the land and weather of Mars. Mars One will build a colony in the Arctic called “Outpost Alpha.” When the 24 people do their training, they will learn to grow food, repair computers, and perform simple medical procedures3 . If they don’t learn these things, they will die when they are on Mars.
When the training is over, Mars One will choose four people for the first mission. When will the training begin? No one is sure. Mars One wants to send the first group of people to Mars in 2022, but they are not ready. Mars One doesn’t have the technology that they need for Outpost Alpha.
Some people believe that Mars One has too many problems. For example, if Mars One sends people to Mars, those people won’t come back. Mars One doesn’t have the technology for a round trip. Also, if the people in the Mars One colony have a problem, it will take a long time to reach them. They will die before help arrives. Will Mars One succeed? We’ll have to wait and see.
1 permanent: continuing forever 2 colony: a group of people who move to a new place but are still under the government of their home country 3 procedure: a series of actions
An artist’s vision of the future Mars One colony
