[ot] Mars colonization

[Ralts Bloodthorne]

OK, let's see, how about some replies to points brought up thus far.
Commo: Always gonna be problem. "I canna change the laws of physics, Cap'n!" Nuff said.
Shipping: From the moon to earth is actually pretty easy. It's called magnetically fired shipping containers with parachutes. Real tough. The moon has a substancially lower speed requirement for breaking of it's gravity.
Earth to other places: That's where we are going to have to expand technology, or do some good thinking. It can be done, and many people far smarter than I ahve theorized ways to do this.
Budget: Oh yes. Slash the Defense Budget. Why is that always the first answer to everything? How about slashing other budgets instead of slashing a budget on something that is [edited to remove politics] What about cutting politicians pay? Big savings there. I can think of plenty of places to cut, and the Defense Department would be last. Why? Simple. We'll still need American soldiers and military technology advancements here on Earth.
Going there: I'll go. I'll take my kids and wife. You sit on earth and suffocate from the over-population. Give me a base gene pool of 150 couples (That's 300 people) and as far as I'm concerned, we'll never allow anyone else to show up! But I'm greedy! A lot of us would go there, thrive off of the hardship and conditions, and rise to the challenge.

Here's one problem though: If some dummy dies, when we're trying to colonize Mars, how quick do you think the program would be shut down in America?
Can you say: Lightspeed?

 

[tleilaxu]

I command more mars talk. I will keep this thread up till we get to mars

a new article

http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/space/12/08/mars.odyssey.ap/index.html

 

[Zappo]

*applauds Tlelaxu*
It looks like you have more wastable time than me.

Here's one problem though: If some dummy dies, when we're trying to colonize Mars, how quick do you think the program would be shut down in America?
Can you say: Lightspeed?

Less than 8 minutes?

 

[tleilaxu]

http://www.theonion.com/onion3628/fun_toy_banned.html

 

[Wil]

I got one word

Beanstalk

All this talk about cost of getting things out the gravity well, economics, etc. can be solved with a freaking beanstalk.

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/space_elevator_020327-1.html

 

[Zappo]

The space elevator has already been heavily discussed in this thread. The danger in case it is targeted by well-organized terrorists is too high; the potential damage is enormous. There aren't any big-money entities willing to take the risk, especially in the current political situation. I suspect security would end up costing more than the elevator itself. Wandering meteorites and space debris are pretty dangerous too.

 

[Fast Learner]

If, however, though nanotechnology we get the ability to build nanotubes as long as we want (hundreds of miles), we could easily build an elevator the thickness of a common rope that was strong enough to survive an atomic attack, with an end-point weight simply consisting of the rope being really long, you'd be pretty safe, I'd thnk. Worst-case scenario is the rope is somehow disconnected at the bottom (since there's nothing to disconnect at the top), at which point it simply goes flying out into space.

(OK, and wraps itself around a space station or two. Hey, stuff happens in space.)

 

[Wil]

Sorry, I wasn't willing to plow through 7 pages of responses.

Reference Jovian Chronicles and the fall of the Martian Space Elevator. Terrorists took it down by blowing up the orbital station - there was little they could do to the cable itself because of its enormous tensile strength.

Even given the possibility of someone taking the elevator itself down, skyhooks may also be an option. Not as cheap as the orbital elevator (you still have to use air transport to get to the lower station) but certainly safer wrt to being attacked.

 

[Storminator]

Sorry, I wasn't willing to plow through 7 pages of responses.

Reference Jovian Chronicles and the fall of the Martian Space Elevator. Terrorists took it down by blowing up the orbital station - there was little they could do to the cable itself because of its enormous tensile strength.

Even given the possibility of someone taking the elevator itself down, skyhooks may also be an option. Not as cheap as the orbital elevator (you still have to use air transport to get to the lower station) but certainly safer wrt to being attacked.

Science fiction aside, no one is every going to invent an indestructible material. Reality intrudes.

PS

 

[Wil]

Not indestructible - hard to destroy. Running an airplane into the cable won't sever it. Can you imagine what the tensile strength of a 20-ton cable stretched over a hundred miles is? It would cut the plane in half. A nuke would bring the cable down, or taking down the orbital station. However, "terrorist target" is a poor excuse for not building it - if you need enough terrorists to take over the ground station, hold it for a few days while enough of them make the climb to the orbital station to take it over so they can destroy it or detonate a nuke in the middle of the cable (BTW, I'd have doubts as to what destroying the ground station would actually do. One plan for an orbital cable doesn't even call for it to be anchored to the ground - it's actually suspended right off the surface of the Earth) then there isn't much that *is* safe from these uberterrorists. In fact, they might as well be a "let's destroy the world cult" because any concerted attempt to bring the cable down would most certainly result in widespread destruction as the cable slams into the equator. Or...well...as it slams into the Pacific Ocean. Hrm...not much out there to destroy, really. Even then, against these uberterrorists we might as well give up right now.