Could We Live on Other Planets in the Future?

We’ve seen it over and over in popular media: some version of an advanced society that travels from planet to planet in spaceships much like we travel the skies in aircraft. They might live on other planets in our solar system, like Matt Damon’s character in The Martian, who attempts to live on Mars after he is left behind. Others inhabit completely imagined worlds, like Paul Atreides in Frank Herbert’s novel Dune, who hails from the fictional planet Caladan.   

Could these imagined futures become reality? Could humans one day live on other planets? Many efforts are underway to answer questions just like these.  

Earth: Our Oasis in Space

As far as scientists know, Earth is the only planet in our solar system that has all the ingredients for life as we know it. Earth is located inside the “goldilocks zone.” This term refers to the habitable zone around a star (in our case, the Sun) that is not too hot and not too cold for liquid water to exist, a key ingredient of life. Mars and Venus are also in this zone, but other conditions specific to these planets make them hostile to Earth life (before it lost its magnetic field, Mars once had liquid water on its surface). As scientists search outside of our solar system for life on other planets, they look for similar “goldilocks zones.”  

In general, planetary exploration is dangerous. Outside of the protection of Earth’s atmosphere and magnetic field, humans encounter various hostile conditions in space. Just getting to a new planet comes at great risk—a task we have only accomplished with robotic spacecraft. So far, humans have only made it as far as our Moon.

Living in Space

Learning how to live in space for long periods of time is a first step toward a human mission to another planet. Humans have already been living in space for extended periods since the 1970s. In 1971, the Soviet Union launched the first space station Salyut. Six additional versions of Salyut followed—all designed to make the human presence in space safe, routine, and continuous.  

More recently, astronauts have been living aboard the International Space Station (ISS), which is run by multiple governments. Their stays aboard the ISS regularly last for months at a time. Peggy Whitson holds the U.S. record for the longest time living and working in space: 665 days aboard the ISS.

Today, more governments and even private companies are building space stations. In 2020, Axiom Space announced plans to build the first commercial module on the ISS. The company plans to create a privately run successor to the ISS.  

After the first module is in place, Axiom plans to add others. The completed station will then detach from the ISS. Axiom proposes to rent research space as well as luxury cabins for space travelers. 

Living in space is one thing, but inhabiting another planet poses many more challenges. Humans might be able to inhabit a planet similar to, but not exactly like, Earth, but it will take innovation and ingenuity to get there and make it livable. 

We’ll Need a Home

To live in space, scientists and engineers have developed orbital homes—space stations—to allow astronauts to live and work in Earth’s orbit for extended periods of time. To live on another planet, one of the first things needed would be shelter—a home.

What kind of shelters would we need to thrive on other worlds? Architects, engineers, artists, and psychologists are pondering how to create livable structures and communities. Some of their ideas are inspired by what we already have here on Earth.  

There are many potential approaches to creating a home on another planet. Inflatable homes, 3D printed homes, and homes constructed from locally sourced materials are all potential solutions to the challenges of living off Earth.  

Inflatable Homes

Bringing an entire habitat from Earth would require something lightweight, yet strong and easily moveable—like something inflatable.  

Like spacesuits, inflatable habitats would be made of durable materials to protect against punctures from tiny space rocks and radiation. Inflated modules could be joined together and used as living and work spaces. Companies are developing prototypes for such homes. 

3D Printed Homes

Another approach would be to build the home once you get to your destination. If humans are going to live on other worlds, we’ll need to find ways to build there. People have already used 3D printers to build homes on Earth. Why not on other worlds? A 3D printer could construct a habitat one layer at a time following a preprogrammed design. The raw material could come from Earth or be found locally. 

Sourcing Materials for a Home on a New Planet

Engineers are also exploring the concept of using local materials to build habitats on other worlds. This process is called “in-situ resource utilization,” or ISRU. Resources on other worlds could be used to make building components like bricks or as the raw material for 3D printing. 

This approach would reduce what needed to be launched from Earth and the overall weight of the spacecraft. Bricks could be constructed by humans or assembled robotically.  

Researchers at the Pacific Space Center for Exploration Systems (PISCES) began experimenting with Hawaiian basalt in 2017. Basalt rocks are also found on the surface of the Moon and Mars. The researchers ground the Hawaiian basalt into a fine powder, similar to Moon dust. Then they added a binding agent, heated the mixture, and shaped it into bricks. This research could one day lead the way to making bricks on the Moon or Mars.

Solving for the Human Element

Beyond building habitats in space, how do we make it home? Survival is one thing. How will we meet our social, emotional, and biological needs?

To explore these questions, researchers conduct simulated missions to Mars, known as analog missions. The goal is to mimic the environment and experiences astronauts would have trying to inhabit Mars, back here on Earth.  

One recent analog mission was NASA’s Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA). CHAPEA aimed to simulate a yearlong mission to Mars with a crew of four analog astronauts. The astronauts lived in an isolated 1,700 square foot 3D printed habitat. They conducted simulated spacewalks, grew crops, and conducted scientific research, among other things. Crews communicated with ground support through a time-delayed chat, simulating how long it would take to transmit messages between Earth and Mars. Their sole form of communication with loved ones was via time-delayed emails. 

The first CHAPEA mission ran from June 2023 to July 2024. Anca Selariu served as a science officer during the mission. In an interview towards the end of the mission, she expressed surprise at how much she missed nature.  

“I enjoy it [nature] as much as anyone who spends most of their life in cities. So to feel the absence of nature as if I was missing a limb, that I never expected. I miss the smell of moss on wet river stones, of grass drying in the sun, of misty cold mornings. I miss bugs and dirt and bird songs and hearing the wind, everything that had to do with nature. Being separated from the natural environment felt sterile, odd. All smells became distorted and unfamiliar. When we had crops, the habitat came to life for a while. They brought a sort of comfort that was more psychological than culinary, though it was nice to have fresh veggies to eat too.” 

Analog missions provide vital information about the effects that living on other worlds will have on the human mind and body. They also give researchers a chance to test potential habitat structures, like the 3D printed habitat used for the CHAPEA mission.

So, could we live on other planets in the future? It's becoming more and more likely that the answer is “yes.” Every experiment humans conduct about living on another world gets us one step closer. Perhaps most importantly, the future of inhabiting another world is not fixed. There are many possible futures—from what type of habitats we choose to the food we decide to grow. The answers to many of these questions will depend on why we go to Mars and what we want to accomplish there. These conversations are all happening now. The future is yet to be determined.