Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX recently unveiled his starship that is designated to take humans from the earth to Mars. Musk who is an open advocate of Mars colonization had previously claimed that future government that will be set up on the Red Planet will be based on direct democracy, and he had also expressed his wish to lead a life on Mars.
As Musk and his SpaceX are busy developing plans to build a Martian colony, a top expert has warned that the South African billionaire's plans to set up a colony on the Red Planet may turn lethal.
Astrobiologist Samantha Rolfe from the University of Hertfordshire wrote an article in The Conversation, and claimed that Elon Musk's starship designated to carry humans to Mars could turn out to be a moral catastrophe than a bold step in human space exploration.
Rolfe argued that humans could introduce microorganisms on the Red Planet that may kill alien life that may be harboring on Mars. The remarks from Rolfe came at such a crucial time when NASA revealed the possibility of disclosing alien life harboring on Mars within the next two years.
"There is a risk that microbe-ridden humans walking on the red planet could contaminate it with bugs from Earth. And contamination may threaten alien organisms if they exist. It may also make it impossible to figure out whether any microbes found on Mars, later on, are martian or terrestrial in origin," wrote Rolfe.
The astrobiologist also added that humans who walk on the Red Planet will be exposed to deep space radiations that are very harmful. As per Rolfe, Mars doesn't have its own magnetic field, and as a result, its atmosphere provides very little shelter to space radiation.
Rolfe claims that it is not ethical to expose astronauts to lethal radiation that could cause very serious health problems.
Elon Musk is apparently planning to take up to 100 crew members to Mars in 2024. He believes that interplanetary colonization is very much essential to protect humankind, especially at a time when a doomsday scenario that includes an asteroid collision affects the earth.
