The case against Mars colonisation

Plans are being made to colonise Mars. Zahaan Bharmal unpicks the arguments against the idea

Earlier this month, a group of 60 prominent scientists and engineers met behind closed doors at the University of Boulder Colorado. Their agenda: Mars colonisation.

Organised by Elon Musk's SpaceX and attended by members of Nasa's Mars exploration programme, the goal of this inaugural "Mars workshop" was to begin formulating concrete plans for landing, building and sustaining a human colony on Mars within the next 40 to 100 years.