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China prepares to grow vegetables on Mars

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Re: China prepares to grow vegetables on Mars

#51

Post by kibwen »

vidarh wrote: post #7
anthonyb wrote: post #2

As Bruce Sterling says: "I'll believe that people will colonise Mars when they start colonising the Gobi desert."

The incentives for colonising the Gobi desert are vastly smaller than for a (small) colony on Mars or the moon, even just in perceived prestige.

But the costs are also vastly larger, and the payoffs likely smaller.

And prestige? 1/3 of the Earth's land surface is covered by desert. If you could suddenly transform that from a life-hostile to a life-flourishing environment, you'd win as many Nobel Peace Prizes as they can possibly stamp out.

Re: China prepares to grow vegetables on Mars

#52

Post by xyzzy123 »

takluyver wrote: post #43
jcarreiro wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I guess you'd fill the capsule with 'locally sourced' air There is no air on the moon, so this doesn't seem likely.

OK, I was still focussing on the Martian case. I wonder if that actually makes a base on Mars an easier proposition.

Hmmm, I think the moon might still be easier.

On the moon, you'd have to run pretty much ecological "closed system", perhaps with oxygen and water supplemented by industrial processes. However, rapid resupply is possible, and non-fatal mistakes correctable.

On mars you could get away with a lossier system (seems to me, easier access to outside air, water, nutrients), but resupply is so much harder...

Re: China prepares to grow vegetables on Mars

#54

Post by takluyver »

mogrim wrote: post #49
takluyver wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK, I was still focussing on the Martian case. I wonder if that actually makes a base on Mars an easier proposition.

Although if you've got water (and there is water on the moon) and a nuclear powerplant generating loads of electricity, getting oxygen's not a problem.

It appears that you don't have much carbon, though (see 'Lunar regolith' on Wikipedia). So once you've got your oxygen generator set up, you may have to fly coal up there to burn for CO2. Once you're set up, though, you should be able to keep the carbon in a closed loop between humans, the encapsulated air and the plants.

Re: China prepares to grow vegetables on Mars

#58

Post by takluyver »

xyzzy123 wrote: post #52
takluyver wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK, I was still focussing on the Martian case. I wonder if that actually makes a base on Mars an easier proposition.

Hmmm, I think the moon might still be easier. On the moon, you'd have to run pretty much ecological "closed system", perhaps with oxygen and water supplemented by industrial processes. However, rapid resupply is possible, and non-fatal mistakes correctable. On mars you could get away with a lossier system (seems to me, easier access to outside air, water, nutrients), but resupply is so much harder...

I suspect you're right, but I think the biggest factor is simply getting the humans there in the first place. The journey to Mars would take much longer - meaning the ship has to carry much more food, and more capacity to produce heat and regenerate oxygen. Crews do stay a few months on the ISS, but they can be resupplied from Earth.

Re: China prepares to grow vegetables on Mars

#60

Post by blhack »

Synthetase wrote: post #9

It's odd that any mention of Elon Musk colonizing Mars results in rapturous worship. Other efforts, China in particular, seem to attract scorn. Especially in light of the fact that Elon Musk's original plan was to send a greenhouse with plants to Mars. Perhaps I over-estimate the HN crowd.

>Perhaps I over-estimate the HN crowd.

Perhaps this has something to do with China's absolutely atrocious record regarding:

1) The environment

2) The rest of the world

3) Human rights

--

Is it really that difficult to understand that some of us have the foresight to realize that China's method of interfacing with its environment is not something that we want to see tarnishing a yet-untarnished planet?

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