Setting up a “colony”, or establishing a constant human presence on Mars and inhabiting the red planet would require many things.
Here are some things or points to take into consideration, and some requirements that come to mind.
Having or getting access to water (frozen or otherwise) on Mars through drilling.
Building or creating artificial Mars habitats with complex life-support systems.
Equipment for energy production and energy storage, and equipment for moving over the Martian surface.
Equipement necessary to produce food, propellant, water, energy, and breathable oxygen.
Basic utilities to deal or cope with the inhospitable Martian environment.
Establishing the necessary means of communication with Earth.
The following facts have to be taken into account:
Mars has a weaker global magnetosphere than Earth does. Combined with a thin atmosphere, this allows a significant amount of ionizing radiation to reach the Martian surface.
Mars has a surface gravity 0.38 times that of Earth. The density of its atmosphere is about 0.6% of that on Earth. Moreover, landing piloted missions on Mars would require braking and landing systems different from those used to land crewed spacecraft on the Moon or robotic missions on Mars.
That being said, we are getting ahead of ourselves.
The first human mission to planet Mars will not and should not be a one-way trip or a suicide mission. As a result of meticulous preparation and global cooperation, a crew or “team” of thoroughly trained, qualified and prepared astronauts will go to Mars, most likely in the first years of the third decade of this century. They will land on Mars, stay there and explore for a limited period of time (possibly a few weeks), and then come back safely to Earth.
At this time, few people are prepared or ready to go to Mars. Sending many or lots of humans to Mars around 2050 is an unrealistic project. Such ill-considered, incautious, precipitate ideas or plans will very likely end or result in failure, tragedy, disaster, and people getting killed.
A number of years or a few decades after the first human mission to Mars, when the time is right, there will be a second exploratory mission, and a third one if necessary. These successive missions could gradually and properly pave the way for a more permanent human presence on Mars.
It is also to be noted that the existing formal educational system (which needs to be reformed) with its structure and requirements doesn’t prepare people or make them better candidates to travel to Mars or to another planet. If a person for example entered the university at the age of 18 or higher and obtained a higher education diploma or degree, such as a master’s degree or a science PhD, this might be useful for going to the Moon or traveling in the vicinity of planet Earth, but it does not qualify the aforesaid person to be able or be ready to go or to travel to Mars.
I will add some remarks on using the words colony and colonize.
According to the Shorter OED, a colony is “ A settlement in a new country; a body of settlers forming a community fully or partly subject to the mother state; the territory of such settlers”.
Another dictionary definition of the word colony is “A group of people living in colony, comprising the original settlers and their descendants and successors”.
Yet another definition is “a group of people of a particular nationality, race or ethnicity living in a foreign place“.
The word or verb (to) colonize means “to establish a colony”, or “send settlers to a place and establish control over it”, or “settle and establish control over the indigenous people of a place”.
There are no humans or indigenous people present or living on planet Mars.
I often prefer to use the expression “human exploration” instead of the word “colonize” or “colonization” in relation to Mars, as the term “colonize” includes meanings or historical connotations involving aggressiveness, brutality, and the subjugation of others. But since there are no existing humans or intelligent life forms on Mars, I guess the word “colonize” could be used as well.
At any rate, the first one or two human missions to Mars ought to be dedicated to exploration instead of “colonization”, in the sense that it is early and premature for the first humans who will set foot on Mars to start building habitations or “colonies” and to stay for a long time on the red planet.
Knowledge mix 