Saahil Patel How does aesthetic emotion influence the perception of beauty? Philosophy

Saahil Patel (9M1) Aesthetic emotions are emotions that have been associated with and felt during aesthetic experience: one’s encounter of beauty and processing of it (Lyas, C., 2002). They arise in response to aesthetic objects: for example, paintings, dances, music, and literature or anything that has the capacity to be recognised after being sensorially experienced aesthetically (Munroe, T., & Scruton, R., 2020). Notable examples of aesthetic emotions that tend to be almost always exclusive to aesthetic experience are sublimity, kitsch, and ‘being moved’. Menninghaus et al., (2019), in particular, who argued, “aesthetic emotions are the intermediary through which art does its work”, investigated aesthetic experience and have remained steadfast in arguing that they are a key factor in aesthetic evaluation and how we perceive beauty. However, there is still debate on whether they truly are worthy of recognition, irrelevant, or even a hindrance to experiencing beauty altogether. For an object to be recognised as beautiful, it has been identified that medium to high levels of pleasure need to be elicited as a reaction to it and the experience of the object must match internal models of what beauty should be like, highlighting the subjective qualities of beauty (Perlovsky, L., 2014; Skov, M. & Nadal, M., 2020). As a result of these unique internal models, influenced by significant events, self-view, and the environments one spends their time in, beauty is experienced differently in accordance with the unique tastes and preferences of a person that constitute a significant amount their perceived identity. The object itself may not affect the response, but simply the associations resulting in unpleasant aesthetic emotions that may be preconsciously drawn upon from the object of appraisal or any of its characteristic features. Considering the scenario of judging a painting of the sea, Subject A may find the piece to be beautiful, entranced by the harmonious shades of blue and the atmosphere it brings about; however, Subject B, who had a near-death drowning experience many years ago may find the piece disturbing and even traumatic. Whilst this supports the theory that beauty is subjective, Subject B may still have the ability to find the painting beautiful by removing themself from their experiences with the sea and appreciating the scene from a ‘psychically distanced’ perspective, hindering the negative affect1 of their memories and the traumatic emotions they arouse (Lyas, C., 2002). The theory of psychical distancing was proposed by Edward Bullough, where one steps away from reality when considering the aesthetic object and judges it objectively by putting metaphorical ‘distance’ between the object and themselves, thereby allowing their aesthetic experienced to not be hindered by reality and the memories, emotions and context that comes with it. In the previous scenario, Subject B may understandably not be able to completely detach themselves from their experiences, but viewing the aesthetic object even in the most basic form possible (for example, looking at the painting’s individual lines and colours to see a harmonious, smooth assortment of forms and colours, as opposed to appreciating that the painting depicts the sea and drawing this association to what is being represented), if necessary, significantly increases the way one perceives beauty. While recognition of beauty certainly is affected by personal taste, many objects have the potential to be considered beautiful more objectively than they have been given credit for, setting in motion the idea that beauty may not necessarily be in the eye of the beholder if unpleasant responsive aesthetic emotions, arisen through association, can be accounted for.

Aside from appreciating beauty from a psychical distance, alternative sources of experiencing beauty are fascination and a similar emotion: interest. The most common reaction being simply experiencing the pure novelty of an object or feeling curious about unfamiliar features in it that hold attention, both occurring as one tries to process the information presented before them (Cupchik, G, C., & Gebotys, R. J., 1990). By investigating

1 In psychology, ‘affect’ (used as a noun) refers to (often underlying) emotions or desires that influence behaviour.

sources of interest or fascination, pleasure can be induced through the satisfaction produced through exploration of the source and the eventual understanding of, or realisation drawn, from the object, on the condition that the aesthetic experience of the object meets the expectations of the ‘reward’ (in this case, the overall experience, usually expected to include a profound sense of wonderment or awe) pre-set by oneself, consciously or unconsciously, to incentivise the appraisal and to continue to look deeply into the aesthetic object. In the same paper, Cupchik and Gebotys (1990), also believed that pleasure was found in the “meaningful interpretation” of aesthetic objects during the period of contemplation, where the observer deems the experience of the aesthetic object as personally valuable or worthy of appreciation to them or not. At first, this may involve considering the individual elements of a piece, and eventually, mentally integrating the information into an interpretive whole, where the relationship between each element comes into play, layering the affective responses and interlinking the different meanings2 found in the individual aspects of the piece or stepping back and experiencing a spontaneous response to the aesthetic object and contemplating its immediate effect on you. In this scenario, aesthetic emotions are often elicited during the contemplation, or processing, of the aesthetic object and experiencing ‘the big picture’ of different “narratives” that come about during the experience (Brady, E., & Haapala, A., 2003). The harmony of the relationships between the different elements contributes to a more powerful overall affective response in appreciating the object as a whole, playing a significant part in understanding the depth and full form of its beauty. When perceiving beauty, aesthetic emotions add more intensity and meaning to the experience in order to help one “connect” to the aesthetic object, as opposed to simply considering, for the sake of example, a drawing, with a glance, simply taking in the forms and colours without realising the message trying to be conveyed (Marković, S., 2012). While what is physically presenting is important in aesthetic evaluation, the inherently rewarding sensation is rooted in what we feel by experiencing the elements of an aesthetic object, be it a dynamic one, like a dance, or stationary, like a sculpture. When aesthetic emotions come into play, rather than being mundane emotions, like Figure 1: Results from an investigation into the affective nature the anger or sadness experienced in of being “moved” in 3 ontologically different scenarios. everyday life, they are usually more (Retrieved from Menninghaus, W., Wagner, V., Hanich, J., intense, often interlaced with each other, Wassiliwizky, E., Kuehnast, M., & Jacobsen, T. (2015). and both result and are resulted by high cognitive engagement3 with the object to get the most out of the experience. Aesthetic emotions like melancholy, being ‘moved’, and sublimity are quite difficult to explain, though their common features often include a complex, “dual nature”, a degree of reflection or contemplation involved, and shades of other emotions like joy, sadness or longing blended in the ‘base’ emotion to produce a “refined”, characterful experience (Brady, E., & Haapala, A., 2003). Research into this phenomenon revealed that the most “moving” aesthetic objects

2 The meanings found in aesthetic objects are not necessarily identifying symbols (for example, like Vanitas artwork) or a clear definition of what is being conveyed, but the personal significance of the object or one of its features and the way we perceive it. 3 Cognitive engagement refers to the focus and level of attention that is given to the object and is not to be confused with arousal. For instance, when listening to ‘Clair De Lune’ by Claude Debussy, the expressive melody, and gentle dynamics of the composition may lull one into a peaceful, relaxed state but still induce high cognitive engagement with the piece, but with low levels of arousal. The arousal is the energy expenditure linked to an emotion, not the cognitive engagement (American Psychological Association, n.d.).

produced a mixed affective response of both positive and negative4 emotions infused together (see Figure 1) (DebateFilms, 2015). The black and white whisker plots denote the levels of negative and positive affect, respectively, for each of their corresponding bars: the overall emotions are determined by the affect of higher influence (a higher negative affect resulted in an overall sadly moving event and a higher positive affect resulted in an overall joyfully moving event). The results show that in fictional events, which aesthetic experience is often a response to, there is a very high percentage of being sadly moved by beauty in comparison to being moved with joy (the reason why will be discussed later in the essay). What is fascinating about the results is the relationship between the positive and negative valences in the sadly moving fictional event bar – the high negative affect contributed to the overall sad ‘colouring’ of being moved, yet the positive affect was unusually high when considering the pattern shown in the other bars. The fact that the highly moving fiction bar had very close levels of both affects is a reason that the experience was so prevalent in aesthetic experience – the power of aesthetic emotions like the ones mentioned in the introduction stems from the blends of emotions they have. The remaining question is why sad aesthetic emotions seem to be more memorable, impactful, and attention-grabbing. Baumeister et al. (2001) found evidence to suggest that negative emotions indeed leave stronger marks on our memory and hold deeper, and sustained attention so people spend more time trying to escape bad moods than producing good ones. A study into the nature of sad (but beautiful experiences) managed to theorise that art that has lower levels of mixed emotions can seem shallow and uninteresting in comparison to artworks that evoke great emotion.

These aesthetic emotions can allow one to find beauty even in seemingly simple objects if the right conditions are met. For instance, when Subject C is browsing through a confectionary store, they might find themselves attracted to some Ferrero Rochers: the soft glint of light on the foil wrapper and warm brown and golden colour scheme might attract their eye. However, if the aesthetic object was personal, the emotions rooted in the memories and experiences may arise when appraising the object. If Subject C has a fond memory, like sharing some of those sweets with their mother, as a child, the joy of that love felt could be reinspired in them during the aesthetic experience before the emotions of the ‘narrative’ are tinged by sadness and longing, bringing to light how much Subject C misses those times and values them. This type of beauty is perceived almost solely through aesthetic emotions and would still be regarded as an aesthetic experience as, though not fully sensorially induced, the perception of beauty was induced by recognising the aesthetic object which itself produced its own story. Expressing sad aesthetic emotions is a means of catharsis, a release5 of repressed feelings or emotions, leaving one with relief from having expressed them. During sad aesthetic experience, it is argued that catharsis plays a significant in experiencing positive affective response directly after a negative one. To conclude, aesthetic emotions are affective responses to objects of aesthetic appraisal. They vary depending on the unique internal models of each person that determine how they recognise beauty and respond to it and come from deep within. They can both intensify and hinder perceived beauty as well as affect the personal significance of the aesthetic object through drawing upon associated experiences and memories of the aesthetic object or ones triggered by it. Such aesthetic require one to emotionally detach from the object, so they do not experience associated feelings in response to the object of representation. While sad aesthetic emotions (affective responses with negative hedonic tone) have higher access to memory and attention, experiences of both positive and negative affects have been shown to have the highest impact in perceiving beauty, with one dominant emotion and an underlying one to give the beauty depth and meaning.

4 The use of the words ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ refer to the hedonic tone of the emotion (also known as ‘valence’) – whether it produces a favourable affect or disagreeable affect, respectively. 5 The concept of catharsis was originally introduced in Aristotle’s Poetics. While the ‘release’ of emotion can be physiological, like crying, or even wailing, in response to an emotional event, the episode of catharsis could also release repressed emotions through facing them head-on by reflecting upon them during or after experiencing a sadly moving event. The acceptance of these emotions allows them to be released and unburdens one from them. 40

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Arousal. Retrieved January 20, 2022, from https://dictionary.apa.org/arousal Bain, A. (1859). The emotions and the will. Parker. Baumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Finkenauer, C., & Vohs, K. D. (2001). Bad is stronger than good. Review of general psychology, 5(4), 323-370. Brady, E., & Haapala, A. (2003). Melancholy as an aesthetic emotion. Contemporary Aesthetics, 1(1), 6.

Brielmann, A. A. & D.G. Pelli. 2019. Intense beauty requires intense pleasure. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 2420. Cupchik, G. C., & Gebotys, R. J. (1990). Interest and pleasure as dimensions of aesthetic response. Empirical Studies of the Arts, 8(1), 1-14. DebateFilms. (2015). Winfried Menninghaus - What does it mean to be moved by an artwork?

[Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7762R1_FOnM. Fingerhut, J., Gomez-Lavin, J., Winklmayr, C., & Prinz, J. J. (2021). The Aesthetic Self. The Importance of Aesthetic Taste in Music and Art for Our Perceived Identity. Frontiers in psychology, 11, 4079. King, A. Aesthetic Attitude. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from https://iep.utm.edu/aesth-at/. (Accessed on 5 January 2022). Kraxenberger, M., & Menninghaus, W. (2017). Affinity for poetry and aesthetic appreciation of joyful and sad poems. Frontiers in psychology, 7, 2051. Kul-Want, C. (2014). Introducing aesthetics: A graphic guide. Icon Books Ltd. Latest Thinking. (2019). The Different Types and Values of Beauty [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaJO4tEZ05U. Lyas, C. (2002). Aesthetics. Routledge. Marković, S. (2012). Components of aesthetic experience: aesthetic fascination, aesthetic appraisal, and aesthetic emotion. i-Perception, 3(1), 1-17. Martín, E. S. R. (2020). Can everything be beautiful? Pan-aestheticism and the Kantian puzzle of the free play of the faculties. Con-textos Kantianos: International Journal of Philosophy, (12), 292-313.

Menninghaus, W., Schindler, I., Wagner, V., Wassiliwizky, E., Hanich, J., Jacobsen, T., & Koelsch, S. (2020). Aesthetic emotions are a key factor in aesthetic evaluation: Reply to Skov and Nadal (2020). Menninghaus, W., Wagner, V., Hanich, J., Wassiliwizky, E., Kuehnast, M., & Jacobsen, T. (2015). Towards a psychological construct of being moved. PloS one, 10(6), e0128451. Menninghaus, W., Wagner, V., Wassiliwizky, E., Schindler, I., Hanich, J., Jacobsen, T., & Koelsch, S. (2019). What are aesthetic emotions? Psychological review, 126(2), 171. Moran, R. (2012). Kant, Proust, and the appeal of beauty. Critical Inquiry, 38(2), 298-329. Munroe, T., Scruton, R. Aesthetics. Britannica. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/aesthetics. (Accessed on 7 January 2022) Muth, C., Briesen, J., & Carbon, C. C. (2020). “I like how it looks but it is not beautiful”: Sensory appeal beyond beauty. Poetics, 79, 101376. Perlovsky, L. (2014). Aesthetic emotions, what are their cognitive functions? Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 98. Skov, M., & Nadal, M. (2020). The nature of beauty: behavior, cognition, and neurobiology. Solomon, R. C. Emotion. Britannica. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/science/emotion. (Accessed 6 January 2022). Stamatopoulou, D. (2004). Integrating the philosophy and psychology of aesthetic experience: Development of the Aesthetic Experience Scale. Psychological Reports, 95(2), 673-695.

Reuben Smith

Whether it’s a classical opera such as the Marriage of Figaro or modern musicals such as Hamilton or Heathers, musical theatre is a diverse art form that can be appreciated by all walks of life, but how far can they shape modern culture or even culture in the future especially as a significant part of culture itself? In this essay, I will reflect on how musical theatre has affected culture as opposed to how it is a part of it throughout history as well as how the modern musical has affected culture in the 21st century to determine whether they still have the potential to change millions of people – even in an age of entertainment able to fit in the palm of a hand. One of musical theatre’s oldest art forms is opera with the first work viewed as a modern opera dating around the end of the 16th century6 , which is reminiscent of the modern musical since it uses musical theatre’s properties of dance, drama, and vocals to create a narrative that is followed throughout the piece, with one of the most influential being Puccini’s La Bohème. The opera tackles themes of bad health conditions surrounding tuberculosis in poverty in women as demonstrated by the main female lead Mimi. The problem of tuberculosis was prevalent in both the time that the play is (the 1830s) as well as the time that Puccini wrote the play (the mid 1890s) although the opera was prefaced by multiple operas about female tuberculosis deaths, a theme frequently depicted in other operas such as La Traviata and the Tales of Hoffman7. The trend became so common that the term Tuberculosis Heroine was made to describe the helpless woman that became the victim of the tragedy. However, the link between tuberculosis and poor living conditions was only first shown in opera in La Bohème even though Robert Koch, a pathologist, had proved his renowned postulates regarding the tubercle bacillus fourteen years beforehand8 . The opera goes beyond a simple point of romantic tragedy about a couple falling in love, taking time apart then coming back together just before the woman dies. It is a romance full of tropes that still withstands the test of time staying relevant for over a century. The opera combined tropes of its setting, art and poverty to stay heard of and spoken about. The text, origins and musical content had been continuously and consistently been written about for astoundingly long9 even if the earlier time period it was written poses a difference in its relevance. This link shows the strong connection between musical theatre and culture with musical theatre in some ways reflecting culture and in other ways musical theatre can change the minds of the people that watch it with its influential content which in turn affects culture.

Another past piece of musical theatre that shows the trends of musical theatre reflecting the problems prevalent at the time of release is the musical West Side Story, a musical that has recently been revamped into a modern film to solidify its part in history. The musical followed two rivalling gangs in 1950s New York since the narrative was written to be a modern Romeo & Juliet. Following the iconic tragedy’s storyline, two lovers – one from each of the rivalling groups – find each other at a party and follow the trope of falling in love at first sight. They then result in a loss of their love through death and the tragedy ends with a truce between both

6 Sonneck, Otto G. ““Dafne”, the First Opera. A Chronological Study.” Sammelbände der Internationalen Musikgesellschaft 15.H. 1 (1913): 102-110 7 L Arosio, L Pellegrini, G Cesana, MA Riva “The death of Mimì in Puccini’s La Bohème: not an ordinary tubercular heroine.” The Lancet Respiratory Medicine 5.8 (2017): 617-618 https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2600(17)30257-6/fulltext 8 Greenhalgh, Trisha. "La Bohème." (2008). https://www.bmj.com/content/337/bmj.a2282.full 9 Wilson, Alexandra. Puccini's la Bohème. Chapter 2 Oxford University Press, 2020. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=MeMJEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=la+boheme+affectin g+culture&ots=DQlmrNcNJ5&sig=Q8FJBWszN-5KJN7O2wseFyX4oig

sides of the quarrel. The main difference in West Side Story is that the rivalling gangs are more culturally relevant as they reflect the fights between white Americans and Puerto Ricans that happened in New York at the time. The musical is one of the most influential modern musicals since it is still spoken about for its significance with racism, sexism, and teen violence that can be seen throughout the piece, even with the musical brining to light the racism towards Puerto Ricans that had been prevalent at the time. Despite this, it still provided a racial prejudice as the play was written by Robbins – a white man – with no latinx representation on the producing team. However, in the 2021 movie remake, Spielberg made sure to make the portrayal and representation was authentic and respectful. He changed the actor of Maria, the female love interest of the Puerto Rican gang, to the actor Rachel Zegler, who was originally played by Natalie Wood and voice by Marni Nixon neither of which were latinx as were many of the movie’s cast. Spielberg also made sure that all Puerto Rican characters were played by latinx characters too10. This need to make the remake so respectful shows that there is a high demand for content relating to it even 70 years later as well as that the themes in it still held up over time and it was still able to influence modern day culture. Musical theatre stays timeless in this way, even in musicals where the topic is inspired by the setting and events of the time and the same can be said about La Bohème where the musical continues to be written and spoken about. The parallels between the two pieces of musical theatre don’t stop there. However, as both are affected by big problems in culture and late aid the effort to eradicate the problem in the first place. The musical was originally meant to be named East Side Story between Catholics and Jewish groups on the East coast of USA but was changed to West Side Story after Robbins looked through headlines of the day and found an increase in teen gangs and changed it to what it is known as today11. This quick change really brings to light how much culture can affect musicals; the simple rise in teen gangs made the whole premise of the musical different (even if the story line stayed mostly the same). This type of big change from a small thing is a phenomenon that greatly changes how we predict the future so it could be hard to even make a solid prediction; there is such a high chance of something seemingly insignificant starting even the writing of a whole musical something that will be explored later with a more modern piece. This piece also provides a way to think about possible futures. Whilst we cannot predict the future, there are aspects of our current life that will no-doubt be used and kept throughout history, namely the internet. The internet has been ever growing and improving over the years and with somewhat complete confidence it can be said it will continue to do so. This means that a future in which technology dominates all forms of socialisation is quite probable. Furthermore, this may seem like a threat to the integrity of musical theatre since it requires a stage space which could prove challenging without accessibility to physical communication. However, this may not be the case when looking at past events. The COVID-19 pandemic forced a large majority of the population to isolate for large periods of time with musical workers being a part of this group, so whilst it is not perfect, as we have no way of knowing what restrictions or advantages modern technology will provide, the COVID-19 pandemic is an interesting time that allows for a prediction of to a future where socializing is purely digital –regardless of how advanced digital technology becomes. Moreover, musicals were made and shown over the pandemic, but one stands out as interesting: Ratatouille the Tiktok musical. Over the autumn months and early winter of 2020, Ratatouille: The Tiktok musical was created after a single 15 second video was posted on the 11th of August 2020 simply comically proposing a song written for the finale of an imaginary musical12 – an event that would seem unremarkable – and quickly grew into an online live stream broadcasted on New Year’s Day on the Tiktok app. The musical featured music and lyrics created by a wide variety of Tiktok users, choreography by Ellenore Scott, set designs by Blake Rouse, and key art by Jessica

10 https://edition.cnn.com/2021/12/11/entertainment/west-side-story-puerto-ricans-cec/index.html 11 https://artsandculture.google.com/story/10-things-you-might-not-know-about-west-sidestory/FgKCnpKSh0WDIA 12 https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMLdqFA7X/

Siswick13On the first day of 2021, the stream was aired and gained 350,000 viewers in total –raising 2 million dollars for the Actor’s Fund14. Such a large sum of money was shocking from a project created and shown on a social media app. This shows just how much musical theatre can affect culture even when no-one is able to get together in a physical theatre. In this case, it was able to show how it could provide charity to support the creation of more musical theatre. Moreover, this showcases the idea of a butterfly effect – in a time where there was a substantial lack of musical theatre content being produced – that kick-started something so much larger than its first event.

The design of the app allowed for amateur songwriters to submit their own original songs and all the work towards the musical was done online which yet again showed how the community still found advantages with working without a physical theatre that would affect more with it cultivating the creativity of young people by encouraging them to perform. This also allowed for so many more advantages that would not be present in a face-to-face producing process since artists that would normally get the spotlight could have that opportunity if the algorithm pushed it forward. To expand on this, audition processes could be cut down to near nothing since most songwriters performed their own songs. Furthermore, the entire musical was made in under 4 months, a time that would have not been possible without it being produced digitally. This point gives hope that technology is greatly aiding musical theatre rather than hindering its growth. However, the fact that the algorithm will sometimes not show quality videos and the struggle to find videos under tags15 proves some aspects challenging (although Tiktok is not the only social media app). Musical theatre has and continues to affect culture. To expand, musical theatre picks up on problems that are prevalent when they are written and are on multiple occasions shaped by them in a way that in-turn produces solutions to the problems albeit without much success that inspire the content of musical theatre pieces. With what we know now, these trends seem like they will continue to flourish even if socialization becomes digital as seen by the success and effects of Ratatouille: The Tiktok Musical. The inspirations that affect the musicals can also be a result of very small events that turn into big changes in the source material and creative output of people that was seen in the past in La Bohème and Ratatouille: The Tiktok Musical This also means that a future where technology means that we cannot communicate face-toface would still have the possibility of musical theatre making the effect on culture it has done so well in the past. If we are going into a world of digital socialisation, musical theatre will still make the impact it has done so significantly in the past.

13 Cuskey, Lusie. “Not Writing New Rules, Merely Rat-ifying”: Musical Theatre Goes Digital in Ratatouille: The Musical” PARtake: The Journal of Performance as Research 4.1 (2021) https://partakejournal.org/index.php/partake/article/view/989 14 https://www.playbill.com/article/ratatouille-the-tiktok-musical-raises-2-million-for-the-actors-fund. 15 Cuskey, Lusie. “Not Writing New Rules, Merely Rat-ifying”: Musical Theatre Goes Digital in Ratatouille: The Musical PARtake: The Journal of Performance as Research 4.1 (2021) https://partakejournal.org/index.php/partake/article/view/989

Laksh Verma

The script below is what I wrote to speak in the project, not the actual project. The actual project is a video which is linked here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKCRC4sHNOY

LAKSH (V.O)

So, can we live on Mars? It has been asked multiple times before, and I’m here to give you some answers. Let’s start off with the basics.

LAKSH (V.O)

Mars, the ‘Red Planet’ is a 4220-mile-long planet, whereas earth is 7,917 miles wide. Mars has a rocky surface. According to the official NASA website, (nasa.gov) Mars’ surface consists of ‘canyons, volcanoes, dry lake beds and craters all over it’, and red dust covers most of the surface, hence the name, Red Planet. Mars has 2 moons, Phobos and Deimos.

LAKSH (V.O)

Mars’ average temperature is around -45 degrees centigrade, or -50 degrees Fahrenheit. (Information from universetoday.com)

LAKSH (V.O) Mars’ atmosphere consists of a high proportion of Carbon Dioxide (95.32%), as you can see on screen here, followed by nitrogen, argon, and then oxygen, which only has a 0.13% abundance on Mars. Earth has a 21% abundance of oxygen, and only a 0.04% abundance of Carbon Dioxide. Now, you may ask, how will we get breathable oxygen if there is hardly any existent on Mars? Well, that will be explained later. So, now we know the basic compositions of Mars’ atmosphere and some other useful facts. But this still leaves the question unanswered: Can we live on Mars?

LAKSH (V.O) Firstly, how will we get to Mars? The Jet Propulsion Laboratory from NASA explains this. In the past, we have used powerful rockets holding lots of fuel to escape Earth’s gravity, therefore it should be easy to escape the atmosphere now. The rocket must also launch at the right time, as Mars and Earth orbit the sun at different speeds and distances. Sometimes they are far apart, and other times they are at a much closer distance, so that is theoretically when we should launch. Every two years, Mars and Earth are closest together to get to Mars using a minimal amount of rocket fuel. The journey is 300 million miles through space. The aim is also a key factor. You cannot aim at Mars directly, because you will miss it by the time you reach. You must aim to where Mars will be when you reach.

LAKSH (V.O) So, now that we know how to get there, what do we need to live there? This question is put on screen

LAKSH (V.O) Of course, this only consists of the basic needs, not wants.

LAKSH (V.O)

So firstly, we need oxygen, to carry out respiration, and keep ourselves alive. We will also need food, water, and shelter. A temperature which is suitable for our bodies will be required as well.

LAKSH (V.O) But Mars does not have many of these things. Mars, as we said earlier only has 0.13% oxygen on its planet, and there has been no discovered edible food items on Mars. As well as the temperature being well below -40 degrees, a place where humans would suffer in its cold climates.

But we can tackle these problems. Here is how we will solve the oxygen problem:

LAKSH (V.O) According to mars.nasa.gov, the official NASA website for Mars, they stated this: “The Mars

Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment is better known as MOXIE. NASA is preparing for human exploration of Mars, and MOXIE will demonstrate a way that future explorers might produce oxygen from the Martian atmosphere for propellant and for breathing.” LAKSH (V.O) So, what is this MOXIE that they are talking about? MOXIE is a device that produces oxygen from Mars’ high carbon dioxide consistent environment, which as we know from earlier, was 95.32%.

LAKSH (V.O)

MOXIE is currently on Mars right now, inside the Perseverance Rover, (image will be on screen during this.) which landed on Mars on 18th February 2021. The oxygen production rate is 10 grams per hour, according to NASA, which seems extraordinarily little, but in the future, this could be improved with the right equipment. So, how exactly does Moxie work?

LAKSH (V.O) According to wired.com, MOXIE produces oxygen by running it through a current, a process called electrolysis. Electrolysis is the process by which ionic substances are decomposed (broken down) into simpler substances when an electric current is passed through them. (BBC Bitesize) As Carbon Dioxide is made of 1 carbon atom and 2 oxygen atoms, it is broken down into oxygen, therefore allowing oxygen to be produced. Now onto our second problem, water.

So, how will we get water on mars? According to space.com, water appears to flow from some steep, warm slopes on the Martian surface.

LAKSH (V.O)

An article from space.com referred to features known as recurring slope lineae (seasonal flows of water on Martian Slopes) were first identified in 2011. The High-Resolution Imaging

Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera took pictures of dark streaks, which appear in a seasonal pattern. These were later established to be salty water. Ice caps were also discovered in the north and south poles.

Scientists found an area of ice as large as California and Texas together in a region between Mars’ equator and its northern pole. This all confirms that water, in the form of ice, exists on Mars. Even though this is saltwater, this can be treated or filtered to create drinkable freshwater. But, what about food? We could just carry food from Earth, and just resupply from Earth, but that would waste many resources, and if the trip goes wrong, then there is no hope. So, we need to have a sustainable food source. In a video from the Houston Museum of Natural

Science, they take part in an experiment to see how plants would grow in Mars soil compared to normal Earth soil. Mars soil consists of perchlorates, which would normally kill plants, but this can be drained with water. Pre-grown tomatoes were shown to be grown well in Martian soil and were edible. However, there was significantly more yellowing in the

Martian soil, which means that Martian soil requires more fertilizer. Carrot seeds were also growing slowly in Martian soil, showing with the right temperatures, we can sustainably grow plants on Mars.

Now, we need to figure out shelter, and temperature. These two needs can actually be solved with one answer. Underground caves. Natural Geographic interviewed scientists of the Mars Society in a video posted on YouTube (link will be displayed on page), which said that the underground caves in Mars are the perfect shelter for our human bodies to live in. Stephen Petranek, author of the book: “How we’ll live on Mars”

LAKSH (V.O) Mentions that you cannot live on your ship for exceedingly long, as the cosmic radiation and the solar radiation will penetrate the ship after a couple days. Jim Green, from the planetary

science department of NASA states that there are “regions of Mars that have an extensive network of underground lava tubes”. These tubes were home to Mars’ volcanoes once, but now have been drained from the lava and created a rune type structure. Andy Weir, author of The Martian, then explains that these underground lava tubes will protect you from radiation through their structure and protect you from temperature extremes. Robert Zubrin, the president of the Mars Society mentions that we will need to move onto the surface eventually, and explains his theory of inflatable transparent domes, for plants to grow from natural sunlight. Inside the base, we can also make devices that control gravity and temperature, but would still need to invent such a thing, in the future. Pictures of the theory put on screen, credit: Natural Geographic

The scientists also mention that these would have to be built and tested by robots before humans eventually land on mars, so technology would have to be developed. So, now that we have covered all the points, it is time to finally reveal the answer. Looking at the information I have collected, it is not possible to live on Mars yet. We are close, and in the not-so-distant future we will be able to live on Mars, but in order to do that, we should have prebuilt bases as we cannot build the bases ourselves. This would require teams of robots, which would need time to build and program.

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https://www.pexels.com/video/view-of-mars-856359/ https://www.pexels.com/video/planet-856857/ (Published May 29th, 2017) 13. Video| Author – Mattia (Creative Commons 3.0 Unported) https://www.videvo.net/video/mars-and-sun/2990/ (Publish date: Unknown) 14. Pictures of Phobos and Deimos| Author – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phobos_(moon) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deimos_(moon)

15. Videos| RODNAE Productions https://www.pexels.com/video/a-person-planting-a-plant-8474870/ https://www.pexels.com/video/an-astronaut-sitting-and-looking-around-8474590/

(Published June 25th, 2021) 16. Video |RODNAE Productions https://www.pexels.com/video/a-plant-beside-a-space-helmet-8475060/ (Published June 25th, 2021) 17. Video| NASA-Imagery https://pixabay.com/videos/rocket-launch-thrusters-nasa-236/ (Published August 10th, 2015)

18. Why 3 Spacecrafts for Mars must leave within Days or Miss their Chance| Jamie

Carter https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2020/07/08/mars-alert-why-threespacecraft-must-leave-for-the-red-planet-within-days-or-miss-their-chance/

Picture by Mohammed Bin Rashed Space Center (MBRSC) (Published July 8th, 2020) 19. Image Time Out https://www.google.com/search?q=oxygen&rlz=1C1CHZN_enGB936GB936&sxsrf=A

Pq-WBtsApja9-AN6nO6_TDTfy4YP1oMg:1644922250688&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=2 ahUKEwjmq73zxIH2AhX4knIEHb0mDYMQ_AUoAXoECAMQAw&biw=1366&bih=625 &dpr=1#imgrc=1-RqQNxtH15_lM (Published: Unknown Date) 20. Image|Trout55, Getty Images https://www.google.com/search?q=water&rlz=1C1CHZN_enGB936GB936&sxsrf=AP

q-

WBsDxxqoErI8reNOyTpJA6_rs_5NJQ:1644922327497&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=

X&ved=2ahUKEwjevY2YxYH2AhVRiFwKHfJsBoMQ_AUoAXoECAIQAw&biw=1366& bih=625&dpr=1#imgrc=F41SpWW6c4ZSFM (Publish Date Unknown) 21. Image| Eugenegurkov, Shutterstock https://blog.frontiersin.org/2021/07/20/tomato-fruits-send-electrical-warnings-to-therest-of-the-plant-when-attacked-by-insects/ (Publish Date Unknown) 22. How to survive on Mars: Building Shelter| NATGEO https://www.natgeotv.com/za/shows/natgeo/mars/videos/bigthinker-buildingsheltermars (Publish Date Unknown) 23. Video | mdherren, Pixabay https://pixabay.com/videos/space-mars-planet-sky-science-39663/ (Published May 27th, 2020)

24. Amazon Thermometer |Amazon https://pixabay.com/videos/space-mars-planet-sky-science-39663/

25. Nasa Logo| NASA

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-selects-developer-for-rocket-to-retrievefirst-samples-from-mars 26. MOXIE Diagram |NASA https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/6490/mars-oxygen-isru-experiment-instrument-formars-2020-rover-is-moxie/?site=msl (Published July 21st, 2014) 27. 360 Degree View of Perseverance Rover | David Tully, Pexels https://www.pexels.com/video/360-degree-view-of-perseverance-rover-6156511/ (Published December 11th, 2020) 28. Moxie on Mars| MIT https://news.mit.edu/2021/aboard-nasa-perseverance-mars-rover-moxie-createsoxygen-0421 (Published April 21st, 2021) 29. Video| RPX Studios, Pixabay https://pixabay.com/videos/mars-running-space-sun-solar-system-15298/ (Published April 3rd, 2018) 30. Recurring Slope Linae| Eos https://eos.org/editor-highlights/after-the-dust-cleared-new-clue-on-mars-recurringslope-lineae (Published 8th April 2021) 31. Mars Ice Caps| NASA https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/multimedia/pia13163.html 32. Mars Video | Nick Animations, Pixabay https://pixabay.com/videos/mars-planet-3d-red-planet-82990/ (Published July 21st, 2021) 33. Plant on Mars| Samuel Van Der Hoeven https://www.humanmars.net/2018/04/first-plant-on-mars-by-samuel-van-der.html (Published 2nd April 2018) 34. Humans Should Become Cave Dwellers on Mars| Forbes, Author – Ethan Seigal https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2020/08/24/yes-the-first-humans-onmars-should-consider-becoming-cave-dwellers/?sh=6bd59c2d5505 35. Mars Underground Caves| Live Science https://www.livescience.com/64318-mars-life-deep-biosphere.html (Published 16th December 2018)