Hundred years after migrating to Mars, will humans 'evolve' into a new species?

The possibility of humans evolving into a new species on Mars is possible, but cannot be confirmed with certainty.

Since the birth of human civilization, we have looked up at the stars and wondered if there was another intelligent civilization on a planet in the far reaches of deep space.

At the same time, with the development of modern human civilization, people increasingly wish to migrate to the stars as well as settle on other planets, and Mars is considered the most promising planet. at now.

Humans increasingly wish to migrate to the stars as well as settle on other planets. (Illustration).

Regarding space migration, people not only have dreams but also begin to realize them, for example, NASA has long planned for a manned landing on Mars, once the landing successfully on Mars, it will mean that humanity has taken the first step of migrating to Mars and creating a stepping stone for bigger plans in the future.

However, a manned landing on Mars is a very large project and the entire process is more complicated and dangerous than a manned landing on the Moon.

A one-way trip from Earth to Mars takes at least 6 months, and every 26 months there is a time that is considered the best time to travel from Earth to Mars, because Earth and Mars will come closest to each other every 26 months - when the distance is only about 55 million km, while the farthest distance is up to 400 million km.

Accordingly, astronauts must stay on Mars for 26 months and wait until the next launch before returning to Earth. The entire manned Mars landing project will last about three years in total!

Therefore, sending humans to Mars is extremely difficult, it is necessary to ensure that astronauts have enough food and safety for about three years. If all goes well, humans will next consider how to terraform Mars and establish settlements on Mars to be able to build a self-sufficient Martian colony.

Humans will consider how to terraform and establish settlements on Mars. (Illustration).

To terraform Mars, the first thing to do is make the planet hotter. The average temperature of Mars is only minus 55 degrees, such an environment makes it difficult for humans to settle permanently on Mars. In theory, warming Mars is not difficult, humans are very good at heating a planet, we have been warming Earth for the past 100 years.

Construction of factories on Mars will continuously emit greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and form a sufficient greenhouse effect. The "carbon dioxide" we hate on Earth will become a useful gas on Mars.

As the temperature of Mars increases, it means that humans can participate in short-term outdoor activities, but they still need to wear oxygen masks because the oxygen content in the atmosphere on Mars is very low. short. How to increase the oxygen content in the Martian atmosphere? Algae, moss, etc. on Earth would probably be beneficial because they reproduce rapidly and release large amounts of oxygen.

But no matter what, the pace of terraforming Mars will be very long and may take hundreds, even thousands of years to complete. But what if humans evolved to better adapt to the Martian environment?

 We can speed up human evolution by manipulating human genes.

In fact, this is entirely possible, Mars has a different environment than Earth with lower gravity, thinner atmosphere, colder temperatures and higher radiation. These changes could put pressure on natural selection, making people with genetic traits that help them adapt better more likely to survive and pass on their genes to the next generation.

If the Martian population were isolated from Earth for long periods of time, there would be less genetic mixing . This can lead to genetic divergence, as new mutations and adaptive traits spread rapidly through the population.

Higher radiation levels on Mars could increase the rate of genetic mutation , leading to the emergence of more new genetic changes. Some of these mutations may bring advantages to humans in new environments, contributing to promoting evolution.

And perhaps we can speed up human evolution by manipulating human genes. The natural evolutionary process is very long, but through genetic engineering, improving human genes can allow humans to complete the evolutionary process as quickly as possible. For example, by genetically modifying human skin to make it more resistant to cosmic rays and tolerating low air pressure, humans will eventually no longer need to breathe through oxygen tanks and directly. Continue using skin areas to get energy and oxygen.

At that point, the Martian settlers could be completely different from traditional humans and they would evolve into an entirely new type of human: Martians . Due to their completely different living environments, Martians may have developed completely different languages, economies, and moral concepts than those living on Earth.