[ot] Mars colonization

[Zappo]

The pressure on top of Himalaya is so low? I didn't know that. Well, if we can survive with one fourth, one fifth of sea level pressure, then the biggest problem seems to be finding nitrogen.

 

[Storminator]

You can mine Mars without terraforming it. You can set up a manufacturing base and use Mars to send out all the other space ships you want. Mars has 38% of Earth's gravity, so escape velocity is less than half of Earth's.

If you want to say, mine the astroid belt, you should do it from Mars. Why not the moon? It has an even lower gravity! The moon has no steel. Mars, with a little work, can. Mars has enough CO2 and H2O to make rocket fuel. If you can get plants to grow (and there's no reason to think you couldn't), you can make plastic from organic material. In short, Mars has everything you need. The moon only has rocks and what you bring with you.

Getting to the moon was a great achievement, and one I'm glad we made. But Mars is a planet.

PS

 

[Xeriar]

It was brought up that on the moon harsh temperatures would be a risk true but such is the case with the space stations, EVA's, and the orriginal Moon Missions. We have ways to fix the problems caused by extreme heat/ and cold.

For the moon landings we timed them to take place during the moon's early morning and night.

The problem is that the whole moon heats up and cools down, causing temperature problems by convection that simply aren't a concern for a space station.

Burying stuff would be one thing, but the equipment still has to be sent there to do it. It might be possible to establish a base on each of the poles, though.

 

[Tharkun]

Well, I think you're all dreaming because it won't happen for at least 35 years. Unless the Chinese are actually truthfully planning on sending a man to the moon.

I mean we were what 85% done with the research to make the X-33? God forbid something should take more than 6 months to get done! I just don't see it happening with someone like bush as Pres. (he's way more focused on a missle defense system).

 

[Zappo]

Well, I think you're all dreaming because it won't happen for at least 35 years. Unless the Chinese are actually truthfully planning on sending a man to the moon.

I mean we were what 85% done with the research to make the X-33? God forbid something should take more than 6 months to get done! I just don't see it happening with someone like bush as Pres. (he's way more focused on a missle defense system).

Don't bring politics in. In any case, governments in general have short attention spans, not only Bush. Why doing something that won't be ready for the next elections, for which your opposition could very well end up taking credit for? Then again, this sort of tasks are too costly and risky for the private industry. I think an international project is the only way to go.

 

[Storminator]

I find it ironic that the one guy who thinks we aren't going lists his location as Terra Firma...

PS

 

[Berk]

You want cost effective transportation into and through space? We have the technology and resources. Iondrives and magrails. As for the rest of terraforming, I'm not planning on seeing it and not planning on having my great great grand children seeing it either in their life times.

 

[Fenris]

Well, we will need to terraform Mars, or terraform Earth. One way or the other one of the planets needs to support human life. We can't go to the outer moons. Even bacterial proteins will not function at those temps. We can't ruin the ecology of Mars, it has none. What we can do is try to create one that is more Earth like. It may not be able to sustain human life with out protective equipment, but the more extremes it normalizes the less costly it would be to sustain a colony.

 

[Zappo]

You want cost effective transportation into and through space? We have the technology and resources. Iondrives and magrails. As for the rest of terraforming, I'm not planning on seeing it and not planning on having my great great grand children seeing it either in their life times.

Easy there. AFAIK, ion engines are currently much, much slower than rockets, and they can't even get close to generate enough force to leave the Earth. They are supposed to be used for moving things around in space after they're out of the gravity field. Very patient things. Their upside is that they run for very long. As for magnetic rails, whoa, I have no idea if making one that powerful is technically possible - and if it is, I doubt it'll be cost efficient. Better superconductors could help, though.

 

[Mistwell]

There are probably many steps to a mars colony. First, in my opinion, is a cheap method of obtaining sub-orbital flight, which can launch from that sub-oribital height into orbit. Then you need a big docking station (bigger than the current station I believe). Then you need a cheap, fast method to get from the station to mars orbit. And then you need a cheap and reliable landing vehicle.

Xcor is working on step 1. See xcor.com . The international space station could be step 2, if they keep it going. We don't have a good step 3 yet. The baloons used during the rover missions to mars may be step four, though nobody is sure if it will work with a human occupant. You may need to use the same xcor vehicle for step 4.

We don't have it all yet. It's many years off, in my opinion. And you need more of an economic incentive to do it. Those who think that thinking with your pockets means not thinking with your head are, in my opinion, not thinking with their head. Thinking with your pockets should often be the same as thinking with your head.