Monday, September 23, 2013

Earth's Days are Numbered - HW 9/20

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=earths-days-are-numbered&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ScientificAmerican-News+%28Content%3A+News%29

The article I read was an observation of how the amount of time the earth will be able to hold life is numbered, and that number equates to about 1.75 billion years. Researchers came up with this number by calculating our sun's habitable zone based on the age of the sun. As the sun ages and the composition and chemical reactions evolve, the sun's luminosity increases. The rate at which this is happening has been found to be at a rate of about 1 meter per year.

Given the fact that the habitable zone is moving outward, humans may end up moving to mars, should mars become terraformed and habitable for humans.

Question: Given our current rate of technological progress, will we be able to develop technologies that will allow us to pack up and move to mars?