Space travel has been portrayed countless times in our world throughout the media. We have had television programs (Firefly, Doctor Who, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, etc). We have had movies (2001: A Space Odyssey, Guardians of the Galaxy, Apollo 13, Interstellar, Prometheus, etc). We have been shown time and time again how a majority the heroes we idolize on the big screen can travel through space to save their families, save themselves, save their significant other, or just to steal relatively worthless space treasure from evil space pirates. Although, just because your favorite heroes travel through space, does that mean you would? If you were actually given the chance to leave your planet behind, would you? Armageddon aside, I would choose to not leave my home planet behind, and that is because of the actual travel, what is still unknown about Mars, and the idea of leaving everything behind.

First off, there is the actual travel. Fairly recently, news from an independent company Mars One has come out regarding the recruitment of select individuals to travel to the red planet to settle and colonize the surface for humans for a future that isn’t yet guaranteed. If chosen by the “grand committee,” you will be guaranteed food, water, and supplies necessary for at least the first year. While that is all great news for these individuals, some might be overlooking how the actual technology taking them works in terms of relative speed and capacity. A large amount of technology (and money) is needed to get humans even slightly out of our atmospheric barrier, and that same amount has invisible limitations set upon it that it can only carry those people to Mars ONE WAY. If more clarification is needed, once there, you’re never leaving! Earth is good for what is worth right now, and there is a chance to make it better. If I wanted to take the chance to leave this great planet for another that I can’t come back from, I would’ve become an astronaut at NASA or signed up for this program by now. Because of this, I would choose to not leave my home planet behind.

Secondly, there is what is still unknown about Mars. While the point of extensive space travel for large companies like NASA or independent companies like Mars One, neither of these companies understand a great deal of what Mars holds for them. While the rover Curiosity had collected extensive data that proves what we didn’t know about Mars, Curiosity can’t record everything. Mars is just like Earth in the way that it is an entire planet, and that it took scientists a long time to figure out everything that is on Earth land. Even then, there are still new islands being discovered every day, and more than half of our oceans haven’t even been recorded with scientific evidence then. If scientists don’t know every little thing about Earth, then how can they predict what they could find on Mars? There is still a giant portion of Mars still undiscovered, and how do we know if what lies there can’t harm us? What if there are horrible dust storms that we have yet to see? What if there are organisms of life that are trying to stay hidden? These may be some of the questions that excite scientists and make them go back to work everyday, but it doesn't settle well with me. It may be because I like staying in my comfort zone, or that I am not familiar with the field of work these astronauts experience, but because of these feelings and the unknown still lurking, I would choose to not leave my home planet behind.

Finally, there is the idea of leaving everything behind. The whole idea of this program is to leave Earth behind in order to start a new colony and press the reset button on civilization. This goal is plausible, but it also difficult for many reasons. The primary difficulty is leaving everything behind. Imagine everything you love about your life on Earth right now. It could be your family, your friends, your music, your movies, your favorite restaurants, etc. Now, imagine getting into a tight space capsule, saying goodbye to all that you know for the rest of your days, and traveling into the darkness that is space. If you are feeling any amount of emotional pain, then that would be the normal reaction. The people selected for this program only applied because they have a yearning to leave everything behind and start over, or they have no family or friends to leave behind, which spares them any sort of heartbreak. For example, I was watching various videos that described how the applicants felt towards the idea of taking control of this amazing idea. While some were still mixed on their feelings, a particular amount described how while they felt bad about leaving their family and friends behind, their love and passion for science is even greater and that this isn’t something to pass up (and, if they weren’t picked, they still had back-up plans on Earth to support them). I am not, and never will be one of those people, and because of this, I would choose not leave my home planet behind.

So, while I realize that the idea of entering into uncharted territory and experiencing your life outside of the planet you were born on sound absolutely amazing when you are watching it on a movie screen, but would you have that same feeling bubbling in your mind if a credible space program selected you? I don’t know about you, but I would choose to not leave my home planet behind, and that is because of the actual travel, what is still unknown about Mars, and the idea of leaving everything behind.