Humans on Mars: possible, or pipe dream? A live debate.

Planète Mars — On February 18, the American rover Perseverance landed on Mars. But getting humans there will be a different matter altogether. Keystone

Is human exploration of Mars worth the cost and the risk? Will we ever see the first man or woman on the surface of the Red Planet?

This content was published on April 28, 2021 - 09:03

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After some years in the regional print and broadcast media in French Switzerland, in 2000 I joined Radio Swiss International, which then became swissinfo.ch. Since then I have been writing (and producing short videos) on a variety of subjects, from politics to business, and including culture and science.

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Des humains sur Mars? On en a parlé ensemble – et avec des experts Original

Following the launch of recent Mars missions with Swiss and international involvement, including the landing of the Perseverance rover, we put those questions to Sylvia Ekström of the University of Geneva and Pierre Brisson of the Swiss Mars Society in a live online discussion. You can see the highlights in the video below.

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For Ekström and her research partner Javier G. Nombela, the case is clear. At the end of last year, they published the paper We won’t live on Mars, or anywhere else, a paving stone in the form of a list of obstacles to a manned mission to Mars. Ekström also lays out her main arguments on the question of humans on Mars here:

Opinion

We will never live on Mars, or anywhere else besides Earth

This content was published on Apr 7, 2021 Following a groundbreaking year for Mars exploration, Sylvia Ekström and Javier Nombela argue that our trips there should and will remain robots’ job.

Yet for the past 50 years, many very capable people have done more than dream about getting to the Red Planet. Could they all be wrong? We asked Pierre Brisson, president of the Mars Society Switzerland, to respond to Ekström and Nombela’s arguments:

Opinion

The humans of tomorrow will live on Mars

This content was published on Apr 7, 2021 We should accept the challenge of putting humans on Mars because our technology is very close to making it possible, argues Pierre Brisson.

What do you think? And what questions do you have for our experts about Mars exploration ahead of the April 15 debate? Join the discussion here, and we’ll raise your questions during the event. (There will also be time for you to ask more questions during the debate).