Scientists in 2015 predicted that we would be living on Mars by 2030. We are making a lot of choices to make that come to life. Elon Musk might be the guy who is trying the hardest, but many of us also think that for humans to survive, we need to be able to live on other planets.
What if we lived on Mars?
So it’s clear that we want to go to Mars and live there, but there are a lot of questions about it that we need to have answers to and understand before we can think of living on another planet like Mars. Beyond “How?” there are everyday life questions that we need to address. If we do start to live on Mars, then we would be literally beginning society all over again on a new planet. There will be questions like whose laws Martian colonists will follow, what kind of watches, clocks, and calendars they will use, and what will be lost if we as a species gain Mars.
What will the Mars flag look like?
In 1998, Pascal Lee designed a flag for Mars that was flown at the Haughton Mars project research station, where humans studied how humans might live and work on other planets. The flag was made from three famous books by Kim Stanley Robinson: “Red Mars,” “Green Mars,” and “Blue Mars.” This flag represents that with enough technological power, we would be able to transform the red Mars into a green and blue Earth-like planet. Since the flag was made, it has been used in a number of Mars exploration societies and was even flown into space aboard the space shuttle Discovery by astronaut John Grunsfeld in 1999. That might be enough to make it an official flag for Mars, to be honest. But the Outer Space Treaty prohibits national appropriation of celestial bodies. That doesn’t stop people from doing so, though, and you can find many flags of Mars that were made by individuals or companies.
How and who would enforce laws on Mars?
At best, it takes over a month to actually go between Earth and Mars. Even to communicate, it takes days and minutes if done so at the speed of light. How can we ever enforce any laws on Mars, and who will the people of Mars follow? If someone on Mars does something wrong, then what can we do to pressure them otherwise or punish them for being criminals?
There is a simple solution to that: all we have to do is give up the power. The idea is called Extraterrestrial Liberty. It’s an idea where we give up all the power and release those headed to Mars from all current Earth-based laws and their nationalities. Let them decide everything for themselves and allow them to become Martians. They will be able to make laws, elect leaders, and live and die the way they want, free from any currently existing state.
What is the time on Mars now?
We always need to know the time. Without knowing the time, we can’t live a fully functional day. To know the time, we can give them a watch, but for the people living on Mars, an Earth watch won’t be much of a help. If we calculate, then a day on Mars is almost 2.7% longer than on Earth. It means it takes the planet to turn around once from sunrise to sunrise is about 2.7 percent longer than on Earth. This might seem like not much, but it actually is; over time, it adds up gradually. An Earth watch on Mars would drift, and the time it will say would tell you very little about night and day on the Red Planet.
Scientists on Earth who work with robotic rovers on Mars use Mars time. This might be the answer for that. They can live by Mars time, and for us, we can do so too. You can already download a program to see what time it is on Mars right now. It calculates the solar time of Mars and Earth and shows you what time it is exactly. Or, a more straightforward option that a lot of scientists have already done is just to take a watch that runs 2.7% slower than usual. If the clock itself runs 2.7% slower every second, you will have the exact time of Mars as it will be perfect for matching Mars’s rotation.
This works great for us, but people who would live on Mars will have a lot of problems matching the time with Earth to maybe watch football or NBA games. They will find it really hard to tune in to live events on Earth like sports and award shows. But again, given the immense travel time between the two, Earthlings and Martians may find that having similar timekeeping systems just isn’t necessary in their everyday lives.
