Mars, this little rocky red marble in the space, has become quite popular recently. Elon Musk, the significant figure of our era, talked a lot about immigration to Mars. What’s so good about it? If you are curious about this potential new home for us, today is a lucky day for you. Because I’ve been there before and I do have a lot to share!
I visited Mars in the summer of 2018 for a road trip. I must say that I’ve never been to any place like this before. INSANE!!! Ugh, sorry about that. I mean, exotic, that’s the word that I’m going to use. It is an exotic experience that I will never forget in my life.
The first thing that I noticed once I stepped out of the spaceport was the crazy heat. Due to the high level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, it is hot as hell on Mars. Can you imagine that 40 °C at midnight is extremely comfortable on Mars? Well it IS, since it is already the coolest time of the day. If you read the tourist guide, you’ll also see: WARNING - do NOT go outdoors under direct sunlight from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm to avoid getting sun burnt, or just literally burnt. Because of that sunscreen (pssssssst) and bottled water (domdomdomdomdom) were my best friends through the entire journey.
Though the weather is not very comfortable, it is super fun to drive on Mars (vhwww vhwwwww). When I was driving on those dusty roads through the flat plain all the way up to the horizon, I could go really fast, maybe 300 km/h. I kinda worried that my tires would catch fire at this speed. (And maybe they did!) Winds were my companions on the road, and I never got bored watching them. Sometimes the wind stirred up sandy flurries beside my vehicle, sometimes tiny tornados circled around in the short distance, and sometimes I had a sandstorm chasing right after me, swallowing everything behind.
Driving through mountains is a different story with an iconic rocky landscape. I saw red arches, yellow hills, brown spiky peaks, purple valleys, greenish domes, and blue smoky canyons. All colors come from stones themselves with no plant at all. They are so massive in amount and variety, that all I can say is: WTF is this place?!
But I still have my sanity, because here comes my favorite site, a remnant of a salt lake. It has been dried out completely ages ago, left alone a basin full of special structures. I can see a huge array of short pillars all around me, occupying the entire ground space in my sight! What’s even better, when the wind flows through them, I can hear a magical humming sound in the air far from the sky. Like, HMMMM~~~
Although Mars is extremely dry, there is a place where I found water. Surprise! It is under a humongous artificial dam, a true miracle built by human beings. When I stood at a closer spot, I saw its solid white body right in front of me, casting a long and dark shadow into the canyon, where an artificial lake swells beneath. It provides the daily water supply to the human settlement.
I don’t have much to say about the settlement. There’s a boulevard in the center of the place they call “strip”, where you can find numerous casinos with all-you-can-eat buffets. Eat, play, entertain, I guess human beings never change, even on Mars.
That’s pretty much about it! Mars, a place worth visiting once for sure! Twice? hmm, let me think about it. Immigration? Probably not in this life. :)