What will be the children born on Mars?

At the moment, the surface of Mars is carefullyexplored with the help of robots so that people can go to a distant planet in the future. SpaceX plans to do so in 2024 and is building the Starship spacecraft to carry out this mission. If mankind manages to make a step onto the Martian surface, a research station will most likely be built there in the future. And for sure at this station will appear the first child in history, born outside the Earth. Conditions on the surface of Mars are very different from those on Earth, so the children born there will obviously develop differently. Within the framework of this article, I propose to find out exactly what features of a distant planet can affect the appearance of "Martian" babies. To begin with, the force of gravity on Mars is very weak, so children will be much taller than their earthly peers.

Children born on Mars will be very different from their earthly peers. But how much is not yet clear

The growth of children born on Mars

Interesting fact:if you measure your height after a few hours of sleep, chances are you will be taller than usual. This is due to the fact that during wakefulness we spend a lot of time in an upright position, as a result of which gravity acts on our body and the distance between our vertebrae decreases. And when we sleep, we are in a horizontal position and the distance between our vertebrae increases. Therefore, in the morning and in the evening a person has different heights.

During sleep, the distance between the vertebrae changes and we become slightly higher, but not for long

The same phenomenon can be observed in memberscrew of the International Space Station. When they are in zero gravity, their bodies stretch noticeably in length. When astronauts return to Earth, they are about 5 centimeters taller than they were before they went into space. Over time, within about one week, the body length becomes the same.

ISS crew members grow taller during flight

Based on all this, scientists believe thatMartian children will also be taller than their earthly peers. From the moment they are born on Mars, their spines will not be subjected to the great compressive force they do on the surface of the Earth. That is why they will obviously be several centimeters taller, but how much, scientists do not yet know. Indeed, at the moment, this is no more than an assumption made on the basis of existing knowledge about the Red Planet.

See also: Why Elon Musk's Starship could be a disaster for Mars?

Diseases of children on Mars

According to evolutionary biologist Scott Solomon(Scott Solomon), future inhabitants of Mars will be exposed to a number of serious diseases. It is quite logical to assume that these diseases will also occur in Martian children. How exactly houses on Mars will look like is still unknown, but there are several interesting options - we wrote about them in this article. Most likely, the living conditions of the colonists will be very cramped, which can cause the development of myopia, also known as myopia. Children will spend most of their time inside the station, because the environment is full of dangers such as increased radiation.

Mars colonizers will be forced to live in cramped conditions

Due to the large radiation radiation, residentsMars may at first be affected by cancer. But if they stay there for a long time, subsequent generations can develop mechanisms for protection against radioactive radiation. In the course of gaining protection, their skin color can also acquire a different shade. But what it will be is not yet clear either. It is possible that the skin will turn blue or green and the inhabitants of a distant planet will look like typical Martians from old science fiction films.

Maybe the future inhabitants of Mars will be similar to the characters in the movie "Mars Attacks"?

Also Mars can change human organsbreathing. As we know, there is much less oxygen on a distant planet than on Earth. Because of this, the bodies of adults and children can change so that they use up oxygen stores more slowly. Some inhabitants of the Earth have already developed this ability. For example, people living in mountainous areas like Tibet have dilated blood vessels to supply oxygen to muscles more easily. And all because in mountainous areas the oxygen content in the air is 40% lower than at sea level.

Do you know how often earthquakes occur on Mars? If not, the answer can be found at this link.

A new generation of people

It goes without saying that those born on Marschildren will have a special worldview. They will know about life on Earth only from the stories of adults, and many will clearly dream of flying to their homeland. Some scientists have even thought about how human it is to give birth to a child on an alien planet. After all, by doing so, they put children at risk - not the fact that life on Mars will be easy. Perhaps some children will never see the blooming Earth, because they will be forced to do research. But many opinions agree that humanity has already done something similar. After all, once upon a time, primitive people settled in regions far from their homeland and also had children. And for their descendants it was also a kind of risk.

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If you are interested in this topic, I recommendwatch the popular science film "The Space Between Us". It tells about a certain Gardner Elliott, who was born on Mars and grew up in completely unusual conditions for us. You should not look for scientific reliability in this film, because no changes in his body occur and he is the same as earthly children. But it may be interesting for someone to follow his life. If you know other films on this topic - share in the comments.