Szocik, Konrad. (2016). Unseen challenges in a Mars colony. Spaceflight. 58.

The article raised many questions on the differences between Mars evolution and Earth
evolution in addition to questions about the crew’s ability to cope with the environment
psychologically and physically. The author inquired about the possibilities of a deceased crew
member and the notion of education of future generations born on Mars. The author included
speculation on the role of religion as a tool to maintain group-thinking and cooperation. The
author concludes by questioning those who want to go into space for long periods because they
will effectively be going against human nature.

The author has a Ph.D. in Philosophy with a concentration in social sciences, and he is
qualified to write about psychology because he often studies the subject and cites other reliable
sources such as NASA. The author has written about Mars colonization, neuroplasticity in
spaceflight, political and legal challenges on Mars, and many others on the subject. The
philosophical nature of the article contributes to minimal bias, but the ideas are still relevant
because the author has done previous research on the topic and cites multiple sources. Even
though this is an opinion, the author still presents claims and reasoning to show why that
opinion is valid and credible. For example, Szocik wrote that each member of the MarsOne
crew would have specialized skills; the MarsOne website details that at least two crew
members at a time will train in specialized skills. The article is quite narrowly focused on
religion, evolution, and possible future Mars generations, and does not touch on the possible
foremost psychological effects of the MarsOne crew. Although the subject of the article is
somewhat narrow, the author goes into depth on each talking point going on to discuss the
evolutionary effects of the psychology of astronauts. The author wrote the article in 2016;
however, some of its references are somewhat outdated. Most other sources focus on the
known facts of the subject due to their scientific focus. This article is philosophically focused
and cannot necessarily be corroborated by other sources; however, the article is based on
information from accurate sources.