Sincere question: Anyone know what would be involved in igniting Jupiter, and what kind of heating that would provide to it's moons?
Saturn's largest moon may be the only place beyond Earth where humans could live
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Re: Saturn's largest moon may be the only place beyond Earth where humans could live
#12Let’s colonize Mercury. It’s not actually hot at the poles - it’s shaded enough from the consistent low angle to the sun that there’s even water ice. And the planet is full of useful metals (more than earth), and as much solar energy as you can handle. The article dismisses Mercury out of hand as “too hot” but I think it’s our best bet. https://www.universetoday.com/130109/how-do-we-colonize-merc...
I think it was in Kim Stanley Robinson's "Mars" universe that they colonize Mercury by making an equatorial train, that's pushed along by the thermal expansion of the tracks. Always struck me as nifty, if kinda silly, when you could do the polar thing like you're suggesting.
Re: Saturn's largest moon may be the only place beyond Earth where humans could live
#13Let’s colonize Mercury. It’s not actually hot at the poles - it’s shaded enough from the consistent low angle to the sun that there’s even water ice. And the planet is full of useful metals (more than earth), and as much solar energy as you can handle. The article dismisses Mercury out of hand as “too hot” but I think it’s our best bet. https://www.universetoday.com/130109/how-do-we-colonize-merc...
It's devoid of volatiles though? And in a deep gravity well. I may be very expensive to leave. So it would feel a little lonely, and psychologically I think it would be scary to be so close to the Sun.
Re: Saturn's largest moon may be the only place beyond Earth where humans could live
#14terraform venus. it's much closer, has a nice .9g and maybe a viable long-term project https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terraforming_of_Venus
Impractical, but Venus Cloud Cities would work maybe. 1 Earth atmosphere at 20 degrees Celcius if I recall correctly.
Re: Saturn's largest moon may be the only place beyond Earth where humans could live
#15Sincere question: Anyone know what would be involved in igniting Jupiter, and what kind of heating that would provide to it's moons?
Throw in more mass, than it will ignite itself and be the second sun.
Actually, when you think about it, Jupiter is a good candidate for a dyson sphere.
Re: Saturn's largest moon may be the only place beyond Earth where humans could live
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why not do both?
If there is one thing I’ve learned, from many posters on HN in many different topic, it’s that human civilisation is apparently incapable of achieving more than one goal at a time.
That's very cynical and definitely not true at all. Human civilization constantly achieves multiple goals at the same time on a daily basis. If you are not seeing that, you are probably reading the wrong newspaper.
Re: Saturn's largest moon may be the only place beyond Earth where humans could live
#17Sincere question: Anyone know what would be involved in igniting Jupiter, and what kind of heating that would provide to it's moons?
Combustion requires wholesale access to oxygen.
Re: Saturn's largest moon may be the only place beyond Earth where humans could live
#18Sincere question: Anyone know what would be involved in igniting Jupiter, and what kind of heating that would provide to it's moons?
I thought this was interesting so did a quick search: it does not look feasible [0].
Note: even if it were possible, the small relative increase in radiation received by Earth may have a butterfly effect similar to greenhouse gases and make global warming even more difficult to manage than it already is.
[0] https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/776/can-jupiter-...
Re: Saturn's largest moon may be the only place beyond Earth where humans could live
#19Sincere question: Anyone know what would be involved in igniting Jupiter, and what kind of heating that would provide to it's moons?
By igniting I assume you mean nuclear fusion. Jupiter does not have enough mass. So what would it take? Transfering mass from the sun to Jupiter I guess.
Not sure how much heating it would provide to its moons. It already provides an unhealthy amount of radiation.
Re: Saturn's largest moon may be the only place beyond Earth where humans could live
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
If there is one thing I’ve learned, from many posters on HN in many different topic, it’s that human civilisation is apparently incapable of achieving more than one goal at a time.
That's very cynical and definitely not true at all. Human civilization constantly achieves multiple goals at the same time on a daily basis. If you are not seeing that, you are probably reading the wrong newspaper.
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