The concept of space remains an anomaly to many people in the 21st century, especially in the thoughts of the youth. Stories of legends such as Neil Armstrong, Sally Ride and John Glenn traveling into a great abyss shrouded in mystery leaves some with the question: Will I be able to go to space someday?

Fortunately, the advancements of technology are making that dream a reality. The privatization of space has allowed for companies such as SpaceX to experiment with different approaches to space travel, resulting in the opportunity to find cheaper and easier routes to new projects such as the mass colonization of Mars and other planets in our solar system.

The idea of sending humans to Mars appears a distant fantasy for most of society today, but some look beyond current issues to look into the potential future. Multiple threats to our society, from war to environmental negligence, pushes the thoughts of some to think outside our world and escape to another. Successful tycoons in the industry such as Elon Musk think of terraforming Mars, which primes the planet’s atmosphere into a suitable condition for people to live and vegetation to grow.

These ideas may appear out of context with the concerns of the world at the moment, but when the issues arrive as a serious consideration for the betterment of humanity, world organizations should pay close attention to the activities of such space programs and how they execute their projects. With large amounts of money pouring into this sector of the global economy, no doubt will there be an attempt from elitist groups to capitalize on the profits and dominate the markets.

Should humanity make the effort now to venture out to the stars in mass quantities? Not at the moment. In order for society to fully grasp the weight of space travel as a normal part of human life, there should be an international understanding of the situation to create regulations for future events of mass colonization and public access to space.