It is anticipated that moving from Earth to Mars will prove to be one way, primarily due to the human body’s inability to adapt quickly. After two or three years of residing on Mars, it could take the body the same number of years to reacclimatize to Earth’s gravity and atmospheric pressure. Any children born on Mars would begin exhibiting alterations to their physical structure, within one or two generations. The most obvious change would be in height. It is believed that, under the reduced gravity, heights of seven feet or more will be quite common. However, bone density would decrease and muscle formation would change due to the same reduction of gravity. It could take years of increased gravity exposure, in small increments, to build someone’s musculature up to a sufficient strength, able to support his own body mass when arriving on Earth. In addition, the function of the lungs may be impaired due to the differing gravitational loads, atmospheric pressures, and weakened muscles and require assistance from a breathing apparatus to survive in a thicker and more humid atmosphere. In the end, children born on Mars would be just that: Martians.
