The Economic Viability of Mars Colonization (1995) [pdf] • Hacker News Board

Re: The Economic Viability of Mars Colonization (1995) [pdf]

#21

Post by stephancoral » Wed, Jan 28, 2015, 4:47 PM UTC

superobserver wrote: post #18

Isn't the main issue with Mars not it's atmosphere or landscape but rather the fact that it has no magnetic field to speak of? That poses an issue for electronics as well as any living beings that aren't tardigrades. Edit: the only solution to this that I can think of would be to have any and all housing underground, since I don't think it will be possible to restore Mars' magnetosphere.

Forgive my ignorance but what are the implications of no magnetic field on humans, mammals etc? Does it regulate some crucial biological function(s)?

Re: The Economic Viability of Mars Colonization (1995) [pdf]

#22

Post by 27182818284 » Wed, Jan 28, 2015, 4:54 PM UTC

CapitalistCartr wrote: post #13

I do not understand the obsession for focusing on colonizing only planets. We won't be viably "in" space until we produce mass quantities of raw materials from The Moon and asteroids. Lifting from Earth is always more expensive in energy. Once we build space stations, why would people who grew up in them want to live "dirtside"? Why would people who grew up on Earth want to live on Mars instead of a nice climate cont…

It isn't an either or.

Colonizing planets and producing space stations would only help enhance the technology, provide refueling and repair places, and much, much more. People will have preferences on where they want to live (dirtside or not) in the same way people have preferences on where they live now. I think it would be safe to assume there would be a little of both (spaceside and dirtside) living out there. (I think that resource-wise, there will be more on planets because of its benefits)

Re: The Economic Viability of Mars Colonization (1995) [pdf]

#23

Post by moridin » Wed, Jan 28, 2015, 5:20 PM UTC

stephancoral wrote: post #21

superobserver wrote: post #18

Isn't the main issue with Mars not it's atmosphere or landscape but rather the fact that it has no magnetic field to speak of? That poses an issue for electronics as well as any living beings that aren't tardigrades. Edit: the only solution to this that I can think of would be to have any and all housing underground, since I don't think it will be possible to restore Mars' magnetosphere.

Forgive my ignorance but what are the implications of no magnetic field on humans, mammals etc? Does it regulate some crucial biological function(s)?

A planetary magnetic field acts as a shield for space-based radiation that may otherwise interfere with biological processes. There's some really nasty stuff out there that the earth's field deflects for us : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%27s_magnetic_field#Magnet...