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Sorry, Elon Musk. Bill Nye claims that the idea of ​​colonization and terraforming on Mars – making a planet more Earth-like by altering its atmosphere – is "science fiction."

"This whole idea of ​​terraforming Mars, as respectful as I can be, are you raised?" Nye said in an interview with USA TODAY. "We can not even take care of this planet where we live and we are perfectly adapted to it, not to mention another planet."

As for living on Mars permanently: Sorry, Nye says it does not happen either. "People disagree with me about it and the reason they are not, it's because they're wrong," he joked.

The famous science educator and CEO of The Planetary Society appears in the "MARS" series of National Geographic Channel. Although the series explores human beings living on the red planet and even exploits it, it does not mean that Nye adheres to the idea.

For starters, it points to Antarctica, where scientists are stationed even during the harsh winter months, but where no one lives permanently. "Nobody goes to Antarctica to raise a family, we do not go there to build a park, there is nothing like it."

"No one is going to settle on Mars to raise a family and have generations of Martians," said Nye. "It's not reasonable because it's so cold, and there's almost no water, there's absolutely no food, and the big thing is problem, I just remind those guys that there is nothing to breathe. "

Plus, living in a dome, then putting on a space suit to go outside will be tiring – fast.

"When you leave your dome, you will put another, and I think it will age very quickly," he said. "Especially the smell in the spacesuit – all the Febreze you can carry, I think it's really going to help up there."

But Nye remains favorable to astronauts traveling to the red planet.

More: I trained to be an astronaut on a Mars mission at Space Camp. Here is what it looks like.

More: How to become an astronaut: the stories of Mae Jemison and Leland Melvin on training in space

More: On Mars, overflowing lakes have dug canyons in just a few weeks

"I want to find evidence of life in another world in my lifetime, so Mars is the next logical place to look," he said. "People say what are you going to find there? We do not know, and that is why we are going to explore the unknown horizon."

The reason the red planet captivates us so much is because it's like Earth in various ways, Nye said. Although it is a little smaller and of lesser gravity, it also has ice caps, seasons and days like here on Earth.

"You can see it in the night sky, it's romantic." You mean: "Just let us drive there, take a trip, look around you," he said. .

But sending astronauts has a very practical goal: what our best rovers on the planet can do in a week, a human can do in about 5 minutes, said Nye.

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"We would send people out there to make discoveries, to explore, that's the big idea," he said. "So when we go to Mars, you do not know what you are going to find, it will be new, I guarantee you it will be amazing."

It would be particularly amazing to find life on the red planet.

"If we had to find evidence of life on Mars … it would change the course of human history," he said. "Everyone would feel differently about being a living being in the cosmos."

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