---
title: "Reality Check: It Would Take Thousands Of Years To Colonize Mars"
description: "There's no short supply of aspirational, bold claims about how we'll colonize Mars. Unfortunately, none of them are realistic."
date: "2019-07-30"
modified: "2019-07-30"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/thousands-years-colonize-mars"
categories:
  - "Astronomy"
  - "Mars"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "elon musk"
  - "mars"
  - "space"
  - "the digest"
---

# Reality Check: It Would Take Thousands Of Years To Colonize Mars

![There's no short supply of aspirational, bold claims about how we'll colonize Mars. Unfortunately, none of them are realistic.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/thousands-years-colonize-mars.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: NASA Ames Research Center/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Ghost Town

In spite of lofty dreams, settling Mars will likely take thousands of years.

The sobering reality is that no matter how much SpaceX CEO Elon Musk touts Martian colonies as an inevitable development that could happen within his lifetime, there are so many technical, medical, and logistical challenges to sort out before colonizing the Red planet that [experts told *Gizmodo*](<https://gizmodo.com/humans-will-never-colonize-mars-1836316222?>) it will likely take millennia to figure it all out.

## Science Friction

Right now, we have no idea how to protect astronauts from the [dangerous levels of space radiation](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/space-radiation-mars-mission-deadly>) to which they would be exposed during a brief Mars vacation, let alone a permanent stay there. And microgravity can [cause dangerous changes](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/nasa-astronauts-brains-liquid>) to the human body, especially when it's faced with the [challenges of reproduction](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/biologist-space-birth-babies-not-human>).

"People like to be optimistic about the idea of colonizing Mars,” Rachel Seidler, a University of Florida neuroscientist who's studied microgravity, told *Gizmodo*. "But it also sounds a bit pie-in-the-sky."

**READ MORE:** [Humans Will Never Colonize Mars](<https://gizmodo.com/humans-will-never-colonize-mars-1836316222?>) \[*Gizmodo*\]

**More on attempts to colonize Mars:** *[7 Ways to Die in the Future](<https://futurism.com/7-ways-die-future>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)