[Music]
hey Vsauce Michael here no rocks from
Mars have ever been brought back to
earth and no human has ever touched
anything on Mars but that's about to
change National Geographic has asked me
and Jake and Kevin to talk about Mars
because they have a show coming out soon
all about how we are planning to turn
Mars into a home a place where humans
will soon be living and working it's a
plan set to become a reality in the
2030s that's cool but beyond just how
there are everyday life questions raised
we would be literally beginning society
all over again on a new planet whose
laws will Martian colonists follow what
kind of watches clocks and calendars
will they use and what will be lost if
we as a species gain Mars is it okay to
touch Mars what will its flag look like
in 1998 Pascal Lee designed a flag for
Mars that was flown at the hotend Mars
project research station where how
humans might live and work on other
planets was studied the flag is a nod to
Kim Stanley Robinson's famous red Mars
free Mars and blue Mars trilogy should
we have the technological and political
ability to do so at some point in the
future we could terraform Mars from a
red planet into a green with life and
then blue watery earth-like one this
flag has since been used by a number of
Mars exploration societies and was even
flown into space aboard space shuttle
Discovery by astronaut John Grunsfeld
in 1999 that all makes it a pretty good
contender to be the first official flag
of Mars the Outer Space Treaty of course
prohibits national appropriation of
celestial bodies
it doesn't necessarily stop private
individuals or companies from doing so
but since it takes months at best to
actually go between Earth and Mars and
minutes to even communicate at
Lightspeed
how would and who would enforce laws on
Mars
if Martian colonists did things that we
here on earth disagreed with what can we
do to pressure them otherwise or punish
them for being criminals one idea
extraterrestrial Liberty is to just give
up control and release those headed to
Mars from all current earth-based laws
their nationalities hold them to to
allow them to become Mars citizens able
to make laws elect live and die the way
they want free from any currently
existing state that might be reasonable
but it raises another question when when
is Mars now what time is it there for
colonists on Mars an earth watch would
be of very little help a day on Mars the
time it takes the planet to turn around
once sunrise to sunrise is about 2.7
percent longer than on earth I mean
that's pretty close but over time it
adds up gradually an earth watch on Mars
would drift and the time it said would
tell you very little about night and day
on the Red Planet to combat this
scientists on earth who work with
robotic Rovers on Mars use Mars time
they actually live by it you can
download a program that tells you solar
times on Mars or do what many scientists
have done get yourself a watch that runs
2.7 percent slower than usual if every
second every minute is 2.7 percent
slower than it should be it'll be
perfect for matching Mars's rotation
that could spell trouble for Martian
colonists though who wish to tune into
live events on earth like sports sort
award shows but again given the immense
travel time between the two Earthlings
and Martians may find that having
similar timekeeping systems just
really that necessary in their everyday
lives okay right now on earth it is 2016
as we know one trip through all the
seasons from now will have been a year
but in that same time Mars will have
only traveled part of the way through
its seasons
if Martian colonists continue to use
earth years that's okay but it would
mean that for them years would feel a
bit arbitrary they wouldn't contain
environmental cycles like ours do
perhaps if they feel disconnected and
emancipated from earth calendars they'll
just use their own Martian year system
as well a few such calendars have been
proposed some divided into familiar week
and month lengths but with about twice
as many of each per year the thing
however that fascinates me most about
putting humans living things on Mars is
a more touching topic literally humans
will likely touch the red planet in our
lifetimes and the first to do so will be
famous but jokes on them I mean we me
you we're all already touching Mars let
me ask you this where did you get that
body that one you're in right now it's
made of atoms and molecules but they
come and go you eat and breathe and
absorb things use them for a while but
eventually shed or exhale or otherwise
pass them through a month from now your
skin will be completely different skin
all new cells the red blood cells you've
got now we'll only be with you for about
another four months like a water wave
you're a temporary arrangement of stuff
a really neat thing that dirt does but
not all of this dirt that you are the
dust in from dust to dust is earth dirt
new stuff is always falling to earth
anywhere from five thousand to three
hundred thousand kilograms of space rock
dust debris asteroid fragments that
a some of which inevitably winds up
being you part of your body for a while
now that may sound like a lot of
material but compared to the mass of
earth it's small some of these et rocks
are debris that's been floating around
our solar system since the planets
formed some has come from asteroid
collisions some has even come from
interstellar space beyond our solar
system what's neat is that because atoms
and molecules are so small even the tiny
amount of interstellar material landing
here adds up to a lot at the atomic
scale ask a physicist estimated that if
only 0.01% of all the extra-terrestrial
material falling to earth comes from
beyond our solar system and even if only
10% of that stuff is water that would
still mean that 50 billion 5 0 billion
with a beam of the water molecules in
your body right now as you watch this
video we're in interstellar space fewer
than 1,000 years ago
some of the space material falling to
earth comes from planets like Mars when
powerful enough impacts occur on its
surface
Martian material can reach escape
velocity and begin an interplanetary
journey rarely but occasionally this
journey terminates on earth it's been
estimated that Martian meteorites only
fall to earth about once every 50 years
or so that's a long time in human years
but in Planet years that's nothing your
physical body right now
likely contains billions of atoms that
used to be on Mars and arrived here on
earth in the last 1,000 years if you
consider stuff from Mars that's been
here on earth for less than a millennium
as being Martian well it's tenable to
say that you are point zero zero zero
zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero
zero zero zero zero one percent Martian
but before you get too excited there's a
difference between Martian debris that
was roasted and exploded in our
atmosphere centuries ago and actual
still on Mars material
the difference might be small or it
might be big when Apollo 11 astronauts
returned from the moon they didn't
splashdown and then run into the arms of
family members instead they were locked
away in quarantine for three weeks
just in case the moon harbored any kind
of previously unknown or unthinkable
life-form an organism or virus that
could have come back to earth with them
one that earth life had never
encountered and thus never been
naturally selected to resist the threat
of a moonbug pandemic wiping out life on
Earth was just large enough that NASA
took precautions though later Buzz
Aldrin admitted on Twitter that their
quarantine facility wasn't perfectly
sealed luckily no moon germs escaped and
infected all earth life probably because
there weren't any to begin with after
Apollo 14 the moon quarantine
requirement was lifted because it had
become
sufficiently clear that the moon was
devoid of life but Mars well we still
don't know exactly
we haven't found macroscopic life on
Mars but the possibility of tiny things
hasn't yet been ruled out and the
incredible consequences contamination
could have means it remains a serious
concern there's even an advocacy group
of scientists from all over the world
called the International Committee
Against Mars sample return but it's not
just bat contamination that matters the
transfer of extraterrestrial organisms
to earth
there's also forward contamination the
transfer of earth organisms to things in
space any light that might currently
exist on Mars could be incredibly
vulnerable to things we here on earth
barely notice but accidentally bring
there how sad would it be to one day
find life on Mars
only to realize that it's all dead
everything it had to teach us about
itself about Mars about the solar system
about life wiped out just a few years
ago by a virus stowed away unbeknownst
to us on one of our robotic missions
extremophiles organisms have been found
that may be able to survive such a trip
life here on earth may have even arrived
from space in that way a concept called
panspermia so should we be scared of
monsters beyond our atmosphere I'm
reminded of the glowworm in their larval
stage the glowworms stick to the tops of
caves and leaves usually above water
sources their glow resembles the night
sky the tempting expanse of other worlds
beyond our own like us bugs are
attracted to this Vista believing it's a
way out of the cave of course it's not
the glow worms dangle sticky mucus
strings from their perches snares that
capture
their prey are the real stars no
different a clever trap that keeps alien
predators fed probably not but that
hasn't stopped space agencies like NASA
from forming divisions like their office
for planetary protection a group that
oversees plans for missions that might
bring earth and alien life into contact
currently all missions to Mars must
satisfy the Coleman Sagan equation this
sterilization restriction works to
ensure that the probability of us
contaminating places like Mars with
foreign earthly organisms is not zero
but at most one in 10,000 that was
considered acceptable given the number
of Mars missions we probably do before
fully understanding its exobiology so
far we have no evidence that anything is
alive on Mars right now or has ever been
but that brings us to Anne's met the
Antarctic search for meteorites an
effort that since 1976 has found more
than 20,000 extraterrestrial rocks in
Antarctica the first one they found in
Allen Hills in 1984 was special for one
thing it's believed to have originated
on Mars it's estimated that about 17
million years ago this piece of rock was
blasted off the surface of Mars by a
meteor and reached terminal velocity
about 5 kilometers per second fast
enough to leave Mars entirely after
flying through space for a very long
time 13,000 years ago it got captured by
Earth's gravity and fell to our planet's
surface 12 years after its discovery the
presence of what looked like microscopic
fossils were discovered on the rock
could they be evidence of Martian life
the claim didn't convince everyone but
to this day the structures exact origins
haven't been explained how exactly to
tell whether they're caused by living
things isn't agreed on either but the
finding was a major event in the field
of astrobiology and the public's
understanding of it
the discovery was possibly so momentous
that US President Bill Clinton gave
remarks about it saying today Rock 84001
speaks to us across all those billions
of years and millions of miles it speaks
of the possibility of life if this
discovery is confirmed it will surely be
one of the most stunning insights into
our universe that science has ever
uncovered after his statement these are
the two questions he was asked by the
press did he believe abortion rights
were under attack and where did he get
his tie the thing is alien nano bacteria
don't wear ties they don't legislate or
govern us or control our lives or look
anything like us if they exist will most
likely be in control of them and
probably actually not even notice them
under our boots
so does protecting or preserving them
not matter I mean should should we just
not let them get in the way of our
progress as a species well that's a
fundamental question that touches upon
what we want our purpose to be in this
universe labeling parts of Mars
don't touch as parks would be a great
way to preserve it as it was before we
came so that our grandchildren and their
children can see what Mars was like for
well most of human history others have
argued that we shouldn't go at all that
Mars is best left to itself
humans ruin things and what right do we
have to alter Mars if we can help
ourselves still others say why stop at
natural parks if we find viable life on
Mars that may be struggling to survive a
rare relic perhaps from a time when Mars
was more hospitable to life they argue
that we should help change Mars so that
those remaining Martian organisms can
thrive and multiply and be their best
selves with our technology intelligence
and sapiens we perhaps alone in the
solar system have the power to help them
and we should help ourselves to Mars
second these aren't just hypothetical
philosophical problems by the way with
plans for manned missions to Mars just a
bit under two decades away their
questions we will actually need to
answer quite soon should humans go to
Mars it would be a great way to spread
out to diversify our habitats so we're
still around should anything happen to
earth and of course it does give us more
space for more people but for what
ultimately Jupiter doesn't care if there
are seven billion humans or seven
trillion the volcanoes of Io
will continue erupting whether or not we
write anymore poems about love if humans
were wiped out today the fundamental
forces of the universe wouldn't change
and distant galaxies would continue
their journeys into the abyss beyond the
observable universe just as they already
are and always will what good is life to
the universe perhaps it has none
but we are possibly its greatest and
only hope to find out we may not treat
life as well as we could but whatever
this darn life thing is keeping it
around might very well be up to us we
owe it at least that much and as always
thanks for watching
for more on how we plan to make Mars
home check out national Geographics new
global event series Mars premiering
Monday November 14th at 9/8 central