How Much You Would Age After Spending Fifty Years On Mars
Humans have dreamed of colonizing the Red Planet for decades as the next logical step in space exploration. We often imagine what life might look like on a dusty world with two moons and a pink sky. Science fiction writers and filmmakers have spent years visualizing the habitats and vehicles we might use there. However, there is a strange physical phenomenon that would occur if you actually moved there. Albert Einstein predicted this outcome long ago with his general theory of relativity.
The passage of time is not consistent throughout the universe because it is linked directly to gravity. Large objects with massive gravitational fields actually curve the fabric of space and time around them. This curvature causes clocks closer to the massive object to tick slower than clocks that are further away. Earth is a relatively heavy planet with a strong gravitational pull that keeps our feet on the ground. This mass drags on time itself and slows it down relative to empty space.
Mars is significantly smaller than Earth and possesses a much weaker gravitational field. The Red Planet has only about ten percent of the mass that our home world contains. James Chin-Webb is a planetary scientist at University College London who has analyzed how this difference affects astronauts. He explains that the weaker gravity on Mars means time experiences less drag than it does on Earth. This results in time moving just a tiny bit faster for anyone living on the Martian surface.
Pop culture has explored these time distortions in films such as ‘Interstellar’ which features extreme time dilation. In that movie the characters land on a planet orbiting a supermassive black hole where gravity is immense. The pull is so strong that one hour on the surface equals seven years back on Earth. The astronauts in the film return to their vessel to find their friend has aged decades in their absence. Mars presents a real but far less dramatic version of this relativistic effect.
The scenario is effectively the opposite of what happened to the characters in the movie. Since gravity is weaker on Mars you would technically age faster there than you would here. James Chin-Webb suggests we look at a hypothetical scenario where an astronaut spends fifty years on Mars. The scientist calculated the difference to see exactly how much time the traveler would lose or gain. The results show that the astronaut would be older by a tiny fraction of a second.
The total difference over five decades amounts to roughly six milliseconds. This means that if you left a twin on Earth they would be six milliseconds younger than you when you returned. It is a scientifically measurable amount but it is completely negligible in terms of human biology. You would not notice any extra wrinkles or gray hairs resulting from this specific shift in time. The physical toll of radiation and low gravity would impact your body far more than relativity.
It is fascinating to realize that our location in the universe dictates the speed at which we travel through time. We are constantly aging slightly slower than people who are floating in the weightlessness of deep space. Mars offers a middle ground where the clock runs slightly freer than it does on our heavy home planet. These calculations serve as a wonderful reminder of the complexity of physics.
Please tell us in the comments if you would be willing to lose a few milliseconds of your life to explore a new planet.
