The Anthropocene on Mars

The impact of human activities on Earth has served to propose that we are initiating a new geological time: the Age of Humans or Anthropocene.

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The Anthropocene is not yet a formally defined geological unit, but the term has become widespread in popular and scientific literature since it was popularized in the year 2000. During this period, a large number of processes and geological conditions of the Earth would have been profoundly altered by human activities.

For a few decades, and for the first time in history, the impact of human activities can begin to be quantified in other bodies of the Solar System, as is the case of Mars.

So far, the exploration of the Red Planet h it has been the exclusive task of robots, which have left a barely perceptible impact on their surface. But a fundamental change is already underway: the arrival of humans to Mars, which is expected for less than two decades. The presence of astronauts could inaugurate a time of lasting human effects on Mars.

Figure: artistic recreation of two astronauts on Mars. © NASA Langely Advanced Concepts Lab / Analytical Mechanics Associates


Fuente: Alberto G. Fairén (CAB) / El País


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