11–20 of 32 posts
Since the gravity is so different on Mars, I assume eventually born-Martians will evolve differently from earthlings. They'll be taller and thinner and require less oxygen. One day, when earthlings and Martians mate, there's going to be a new species. How cool is that?
It's like moving to a desert.
Since the gravity is so different on Mars, I assume eventually born-Martians will evolve differently from earthlings. They'll be taller and thinner and require less oxygen. One day, when earthlings and Martians mate, there's going to be a new species. How cool is that?
They talk about "living at the bottom of the well" within our solar system (gravity well, that is). Mars effectively "divorces" from Earth (no kings / 1776, plus they need to be 100% self-sufficient), casually called "Dusters" presumably due to the Martian dust.
People working on the asteroid-based bases (in our "Asteroid Belt") are called "Belters".
Then also read: "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" by Heinlein, where humanity colonizes "Luna" and have "Loonies" for relatively obvious reasons.
Both books delve a bit into the physiological changes but also the socio-political ramifications of humanity in space, and both are _excellent_ reads!
Reading idlewords' blog (specifically https://idlewords.com/2025/02/the_shape_of_a_mars_mission.ht... ) has convinced me that human exploration of Mars is infeasible without drastic advances in space propulsion. If the journey takes over a month it's not happening.
On the other hand, uninterrupted (orbital) spaceflight record now stands at 437 days, so we know humans can do it.
Fascinating. I first heard of this terraform idea a few years ago. Question - how do we get the ice to melt enough to have something similar to oceans?
The question in my mind in 2026 is how astronauts will walk on two legs. Look at astronauts who exited the Gemini capsules or even the Space Shuttle orbiter, and see how they could, more or less, walk around and deal with Earth gravity. Now, compare the ISS expedition astronauts. They are carefully extracted by a team of strong people. They are immediately placed on medical gurneys for transport. Nobody from ISS stan…
Well, Mars has 1/3 of earth gravity so that helps. So for spinning the capsule, you only need say 1/5 earth gravity to be reasonably capable of walking on Mars. Does that help?
However, you can connect two parts of your space craft with long cables and then spin the resulting contraption around its now center of rotation & the rotation period will be manageable.
This concept has been nicely demonstrated & quite well popularized by the recent Project Hail Mary movie.
Since the gravity is so different on Mars, I assume eventually born-Martians will evolve differently from earthlings. They'll be taller and thinner and require less oxygen. One day, when earthlings and Martians mate, there's going to be a new species. How cool is that?
Why would anyone want to move to Mars? It's like moving to a desert.
Since the gravity is so different on Mars, I assume eventually born-Martians will evolve differently from earthlings. They'll be taller and thinner and require less oxygen. One day, when earthlings and Martians mate, there's going to be a new species. How cool is that?
In evolutionary theory is there a term for plateaus of differentiation?
Reading idlewords' blog (specifically https://idlewords.com/2025/02/the_shape_of_a_mars_mission.ht... ) has convinced me that human exploration of Mars is infeasible without drastic advances in space propulsion. If the journey takes over a month it's not happening.
Why is a flight longer than a month problem ? It will be much longer, more like half a year one way. On the other hand, uninterrupted (orbital) spaceflight record now stands at 437 days, so we know humans can do it.
A Mars mission with current technology will require supporting humans for 600-1000 days with no resupply or rescue possible. The current record is well short of that and they also had regular resupplies.
The communications round trip delay makes a big difference. Ground crews are able to handle a lot of routine system monitoring and maintenance for orbital and lunar spacecraft, freeing up astronauts' time and mental energy for critical tasks. A Mars mission takes away most of this useful help from the ground.
You might say "AI will do it" and this may be true 10 years from now. But software is notoriously hard to get perfect and on this mission there are no second chances.
I do wish Elon would focus more on getting to Mars.