Well, at six billion, actually we'd need 4.5 earth sized planets to support everyone at a first-world standard of living - we should have capped our population at 1.5 billion - which means at nine billion people, we'd need seven earth sized worlds...

But of course, there's no way we'd have enough energy or material to transport 7.5 billion people away, even if the other planets were there... it takes a *lot* of energy and material to boost mass out of earth's gravity well... much more than we've got to spare...

And then of course there's global climate change, which, according to last week's report, is not going faster again than they thought (what they were saying wouldn't happen until 2130 got bumped to 2100, then 2150, and now 2013, that's three years, when the temperature breaks the 2 degrees celcius mark, at which point its out of control so get ready for some serious global famines and population movements in your lifetime), so..

... If there's any reason to get at least *some* people to another world, it's simply for the sake of survival of the species.

To make Mars inhabitable, you'd basically have to move the surplus atmosphere of Venus to Mars, and then the much heavier-and-thicker atmosphere from Venus would compensate for the much lower gravity of Mars, such that the weight of the atmosphere on itself might actually be enough to hold itself in, instead of getting blown away by solar winds like what happened to Mars' original atmosphere...

So... if a series of giant gas scoops could be made that would swing close to Venus and scoop up some atmosphere, then swing past Mars and drop it off, and then swing back to Venus... all powered by gravitational slingshot energy, then maybe in a few centuries enough atmosphere could be dumped on Mars to start some transforming capable of supporting multi-cellular eukaryotic life, then if we still have enough political stability to organize a colonization effort of at least a few thousand people to Mars (ideally it would be at least 50,000) then the species will have another point to grow from.

But then there are some adaptations that will have to be made, i.e. Mars does not have a magnetic liquid-metal core, so that means no magnetic shield against solar winds...

And besides... the whole point of colonizing another planet would be to have a survival outpost in case we destroy ourselves here, but we're going to hit that wall of climate change long before we've got anything set up on a terraformed Mars that will be able to survive indefinitely without support from earth, so it's too little too late.

You wanna terraform something?

Start with Antarctica. At least there you've got the water, and you've got the atmosphere, and you don't have to push through a gravity well to get supplies there, and even in it's harshest, driest, coldest parts, it's a million times more inhabitable than Mars, plus you can always retreat if your colonization efforts fail the first time.

It's amazing to me that people are making claims to the surface of the ocean floor under the arctic ocean, but nobody's making land claims on Antarctica yet (that I know of).

I don't think people get it... the last time the planet was as warm as it's about to get (16 million years ago) there were *no* ice caps... Antarctica would have six months of darkness with a winter where everything went into hibernation, but in the spring everything would thaw and it would have six months of very warm 24 hr/day sunshine summer.

Instead of making plans to colonize Mars (which would be nice if we had the time... and ultimately we're going to want to spread out and start colonizing the solar system) right now people should be making plans for staking land claims to Antarctica and for moving their house and home to the northern parts of the Canadian shield.

The problem is that the cost of training and sending a crew of 3 to Mars will likely exceed $50 billion. Colonizing other worlds, though it would be a grand adventure and a worthwhile effort is not likely to be feasible in any numbers that would even slightly reduce the size of Earth-bound population. We could probably not send even 1/100 of the number of people born in a day to another planet anytime in the next century or more, even if we had a means to terraform another planet in our own solar system. Outside our solar system the feasibility drops to the infinitesimal.

earth is becoming overpopulated. in about 500yrs., there will be too many people to live comfortably. it feels like that right now.

I don't think we should colonize other planets.

We s**t in our stream and now we don't want to drink the water, so we just move on? I don't support us going to another planet so we can destroy it the same way we did this one. What gives us the right?

I think step one should be to fix this planet, and learn to live in a manner that does not destroy the environment so much that we need to colonize in the first place.

Then and only then do I feel humanity has earned the right to a new home. At this point the purpose would be knowledge. Space holds infinite secrets for us, however we have no business learning them until we have unlocked those of our own world.

Simply because we've already abused this beautiful planet of ours and the energy and life resources are being consumed so rapidly. But if we do find another planet to live in, it's going to take a lot of work before we can truly live there.

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Yes,of course human should try to create a new earth,because we are always living under the fear of dinosaur's sudden disapperance.Human has very short history relatively to the history of earth.So I have no reason not to worry about in the future human will become disappearance like dinosaur.Human is more clever than dinosaur,so we may change our fate by creating a new earth.

Greetings, Beast...

Your questions is quite simple for me, anyway. I think that when our technology arrives at the point where this is possible, even crudely possible, we must try to do so.

Humanity is now, and has always been, driven by a frontier hunger which is built into our genetic makeup. We are born to explore and occupy new territory. We should build lunar habitats as soon as possible, and build pod-based systems to occupy Mars next. This should be done in the next 30 years or less.

The best reason beside the inborn trait to explore, is that such an endeavor can be a unifying force between the nations of our planet who are on the verge of one of two destinies: 1) all out self-destruction and planetary ravaging, or 2) uniting for a greater purpose. If we can get some unity on slowing the abuse of the ecology of our own planet, then perhaps we can unite to devise a plan to explore and inhabit other worlds. Better to rocket into space than to rocket into destruction.

Finally, looking back to Earth from the outside, either from a space station, moon habitat, or even Mars changes perspectives on things. We humans are too self-indulgent, myopic, and insensitive to the needs of others around us. We can employ billions of dollars to send a military expedition to accomplish very little, but we can't educate our children well enough to lead us into the next generation. We spend billions to prop up corrupt excesses of capitalism while the poor become poorer, etc. Rocketing off to build a lunar habitat or Martian one could give us the precious perspective we need to make a change in the dynamics of our world view and the actions of our governments. The technological growth alone here on Earth to build and send these expeditions into space could employ hundreds of thousands and inspire great minds to press the envelope of change for the betterment of humanity around the world.

And, besides, It Will Be Fun.

Elocutus55

Better to figure out how to colonize other planets now rather than wait until we need another planet to live on. There are many possible scenarios where leaving this planet tpo colonize another might save our species. Massive nuclear war or perhaps an inevitable hit with a huge asteroid that will destroy the earth. I jave heard of programs that have already begun exploring what it would take. There is a whole field of science called terraforming, where they study what it would take to convert the Mars atmosphere into a habitable atmosphere for humans, no biodome needed. There are real scientists looking into the possibility of being able to convert mars into a livable place naturally in only 50 years. There are many possible theories on the ways that this could realistically be done. we would need to find microbes that survive on earth in extre conditions called extremophiles. These microbes would produce oxygen over the course of time, we would slowly begin adding more and more plants until the atmosphere started warming and turning the frozen water into liquid. once we have lots of usable water it would be very quick to get it to the point of an earth like atmosphere.

http://www.galaxyexplorers.org/newsletter/images/Terraformed_mars_3_stage-We.jpg

"should we?"

When I fist saw this question my immediate thoughts were
Should we climb Mt Everest?
Should we circumnavigate the globe?
Should we train our telescopes out not in?

And the answer is yes! of course we should. We should try to do anything that's humanly possible. Our human curiosity is part of our survival mechanism - we invent and discover to solve our problems and we always have.

Yes we should colonize other planets - we might learn something!

Yes we should colonize other planets - we might discover something new

We might discover the human species is resilient and adaptable and ingenious.

Will we colonize?? Probably not in my lifetime or my childrens but soon after that...it depends on world wealth and cooperation - two things that are uncertain and in short supply....and many others have mentioned the cost.

"So much for so little" some would say - not I !
Unimaginable wealth and development awaits a human species capable of pushing differences aside and rising above petty conflict and war and paper money with pretty pictures on it.....

http://jp.senescence.info/thoughts/space_colony.jpg

http://features.cgsociety.org/newgallerycrits/g56/60256/60256_1108529659_medium.jpg

http://www.futureconverged.com/Portals/3/ArticleImages/mars_colony_1.jpg

http://www.1000planets.com/img/colony0.jpg

http://blog.loxosceles.org/files/lox-STORUS1.jpg

Yes. If the human race is to continue it is our only option.

I support that we should colonize other planets, for following reasons;

1. With the growing population and exhausting resources, there will be a bitter & severe crisis soon. It may be the possible cause of World Wars. So, we should look for alternative sources when there is still time. It is particularly important from the point of view of searching new deposits of petroleum, coal, natural gas and nuclear fuel.

2. Colonizing other planets will also show new dimensions in scientific and technological developments and researches. Who knows, what other planets have in store for us?

3. Finally, although it may sound childish and strange, but if we can join hands with some more or equally intelligent creatures or civilizations, it may benefit us in the long run.

We must give a try. Thanks

The way that we are reproducing on our planet, odds are Earth will not be able to sustain all of these people.

Like any new venture, it will have to be cost effective before there will be any success. Can't wait till we have "Beam me up, Scotty!" technology.

Simple so that we can get away from these ****. And proudly call them Aliens.

We don't have enough space in Earth to put our garbage. So we will use the Earth as a dumping ground and will live in other planets. We will have all the goodness of the other planet. We don't have to care for the carbon prints in Earth and the melting ice and the vanishing polar bears.
There are reports that the oceans have floating plastic junk. It is affecting the life in the oceans.
All these problems will be solved when people live comfortably in another planet and continue using the Earth as a dumping ground.