I was reading an article about a Mars rover finding carbon atoms on Mars and I came to think about life on other planets and also colonization. We are all made of carbon on some level. So is our plant life, insects, and every other organic being. Whenever something dies and decomposes it releases its carbon into the soil, which is absorbed by plants, which is eaten by herbivores, which is consumed by carnivores.
The issue with colonizing, say, the moon is that there is a limited amount of carbon that can be used to support life. Of course we could take life from earth and bring it there for farming and the likes, but that would be reducing the amount of carbon on earth. If we want to colonize other planets, those planets need carbon on them already, otherwise we're just spreading out Earth's capacity for life across Space without increasing it.
Who would have thought that something as simple as C is so important?
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