Part 3/9:
In stark contrast to the romanticized perceptions of colonizing Mars, the reality is that survival there would be anything but glamorous.
The Illusion of a "Planet B"
Despite the utopian aspirations tied to Mars, historical context reveals a pattern of over-optimistic predictions in space exploration. Past promises, such as long-term lunar bases by the 1980s and human missions to Mars by the year 2000, have consistently fallen short or been abandoned altogether. Compounding these failures are the daunting logistical challenges posed by interplanetary travel, with a journey to Mars taking approximately 6 to 9 months.