11–20 of 113 posts
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Mars has water and more “acceptable” temperatures, I believe. This doesn’t have to be a mutually exclusive endeavor. We can put a base on Luna and colonize Mars. Maybe the Moon is the stepping stone to Mars?
This doesn't answer the question of why you'd want to put people on Mars in the first place.
Sure let's continue unmanned exploration of Mars but manned exploration let alone colonization makes absolutely zero sense. mars is nothing more than a further, more annoying version of the Moon. Similar gravity, less sunlight (ie further from the Sun), communication latency (~10 minutes vs 1.5 seconds), no magnetosphere (just like the Moon so you'll probably need to live underground) and just enough atmosphere to pr…
If terraforming is in the cards, stands to reason it would be first tried in our own backyard. Mars is the best contender for it. Actually it might be useful in other respects than being livable. The vision is far less romantic if you consider it a distant future project.
Sure let's continue unmanned exploration of Mars but manned exploration let alone colonization makes absolutely zero sense. mars is nothing more than a further, more annoying version of the Moon. Similar gravity, less sunlight (ie further from the Sun), communication latency (~10 minutes vs 1.5 seconds), no magnetosphere (just like the Moon so you'll probably need to live underground) and just enough atmosphere to pr…
Mars has water and more “acceptable” temperatures, I believe. This doesn’t have to be a mutually exclusive endeavor. We can put a base on Luna and colonize Mars. Maybe the Moon is the stepping stone to Mars?
> Temperatures on Mars average about -81 degrees F. However, temperatures range from around -220 degrees F. in the wintertime at the poles, to +70 degrees F. over the lower latitudes in the summer.
Bear in mind the atmosphere is It's unclear where the water on Mars is. It's definitely on the poles, which means you're at the lower end of that range, but there may also be water ice in more equatorial latitudes.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This doesn't answer the question of why you'd want to put people on Mars in the first place.
Disaster recovery, the penultimate in off-site backups of humanity itself.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Disaster recovery, the penultimate in off-site backups of humanity itself.
If that really is your goal then build a colony at the bottom of the ocean or deep under ground here on Earth - at sufficient depth there is literally nothing that could endanger such colony, it's functionally equivalent to being on mars without the idiotic travel cost.
Sure let's continue unmanned exploration of Mars but manned exploration let alone colonization makes absolutely zero sense. mars is nothing more than a further, more annoying version of the Moon. Similar gravity, less sunlight (ie further from the Sun), communication latency (~10 minutes vs 1.5 seconds), no magnetosphere (just like the Moon so you'll probably need to live underground) and just enough atmosphere to pr…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Disaster recovery, the penultimate in off-site backups of humanity itself.
If that really is your goal then build a colony at the bottom of the ocean or deep under ground here on Earth - at sufficient depth there is literally nothing that could endanger such colony, it's functionally equivalent to being on mars without the idiotic travel cost.
Sure let's continue unmanned exploration of Mars but manned exploration let alone colonization makes absolutely zero sense. mars is nothing more than a further, more annoying version of the Moon. Similar gravity, less sunlight (ie further from the Sun), communication latency (~10 minutes vs 1.5 seconds), no magnetosphere (just like the Moon so you'll probably need to live underground) and just enough atmosphere to pr…
The Moon has very little hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen, which Mars has in abundance. These are very important elements both for biology and chemistry. E.g. if you want to have a self-sufficient colony outside Earth, you could do it on Mars but not on the Moon. Mars could be terraformed (in theory); the Moon never could.
Sure let's continue unmanned exploration of Mars but manned exploration let alone colonization makes absolutely zero sense. mars is nothing more than a further, more annoying version of the Moon. Similar gravity, less sunlight (ie further from the Sun), communication latency (~10 minutes vs 1.5 seconds), no magnetosphere (just like the Moon so you'll probably need to live underground) and just enough atmosphere to pr…
Sure let's continue unmanned exploration of Mars but manned exploration let alone colonization makes absolutely zero sense. mars is nothing more than a further, more annoying version of the Moon. Similar gravity, less sunlight (ie further from the Sun), communication latency (~10 minutes vs 1.5 seconds), no magnetosphere (just like the Moon so you'll probably need to live underground) and just enough atmosphere to pr…
Pushing forward to living on Mars will unlock tons of technological and scientific advances that will only help us better live here on Earth, and Mars. The mother of invention will always been necessity. We simply don't need a lot of the tech that will be created, until we try to live off-world.
So much technology and scientific know-how, came out of the Apollo program when we pushed towards visiting the Moon.
This will be even greater when we move towards colonizing and living off-world rather than just visiting.