China, NASA and private space firms such as SpaceX are all striving to get people to Mars. NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin said a Mars colonisation is achievable by 2040, while tech billionaire Elon Musk is more ambitious and says he hopes to get people to the Red Planet by the 2030s. Last year, the SpaceX CEO said the mission can be accomplished in about 10 years, maybe sooner, maybe nine years”.
However, Bill Nye, who rose to fame as Bill Nye The Science Guy, a popular American children’s show in the 90s, and is also an accomplished scientist, has squashed suggestions humans will ever live there.
Not only will humans not live on the Red Planet, Mr Nye says there is no chance it will be terraformed into a more habitable place, like Earth.
Speaking to USA Today, Mr Nye, 62, said: “This whole idea of terraforming Mars, as respectful as I can be, are you guys high?
“We can’t even take care of this planet where we live, and we’re perfectly suited for it, let alone another planet.
“People disagree with me on this, and the reason they disagree is because they’re wrong.
“It’s not reasonable because it’s so cold. And there is hardly any water.
“There’s absolutely no food, and the big thing, I just remind these guys, there’s nothing to breathe.”
However, Mr Nye is a huge fan of sending people to the Red Planet, but only as a temporary visit.
By putting man on Mars, they would be able to properly explore the Red Planet and massively increase the chances of finding life.
He continued: “We would send people there to make discoveries. To explore, that’s the big idea.
“If we were to find evidence of life on Mars, it would change the course of human history.”
However, SpaceX CEO Mr Musk does believe Mars can be terraformed so it is one day suitable for humans.
He said earlier this year one way to do it is to drop thermonuclear bombs at the planet’s poles – where most of the planet’s CO2 is which would subsequently be released into the atmosphere, which would thicken it, keeping Mars warm enough to sustain liquid water, in exactly the same way greenhouse gasses build up on Earth.