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Judging by the preview image for the live stream (yeah, I wish I had more to go on, too), this looks to be a long-haul plan for terraforming mars. I wouldn't ho

Judging by the preview image for the live stream (yeah, I wish I had more to go on, too), this looks to be a long-haul plan for terraforming mars. I wouldn't hold my breath for the first actual settlements up there. That being said: Yes. Oh yes. Fuck yes. All my yesses.

tsaprailis 10y ago
Well I think this will be more along the lines, Yes we want to be a multiplanetary species, and this is the rocket that will achieve this. Go Elon!
tomp 10y ago
This image has actually been a backgroud of SpaceX's Twitter account for quite a while... I too was ecstatic when I realized what it is!
espadrine 10y ago
I love the idea BUT… If we can't terraform Earth's deserts, do we really stand a chance with Mars? I might be mistaken in my analysis. Still, the only way a colony might survive seems to be by sending tremendous amounts of resources to Mars yearly. They can never hope to be self-sustaining until either astronomically large amounts of time or astronomically large amounts of energy are spent.
- arethuza 10y ago
  "They can never hope to be self-sustaining until either astronomically large amounts of time or astronomically large amounts of energy are spent." That might be true, but if we could divert even a small part of the global arms industry to something as constructive as colonizing a new world then I suspect we might help things here as well as achieving something wonderful. Edit: "Oh yes. Fuck yes. All my yesses" Can I second this. I remember reading Zubrin's "The Case for Mars" and getting quite enthusiastic about actually being a Martian colonist :-) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Case_for_Mars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Case_for_Mars
  - fractal618 10y ago
    We could do the impossible if we stopped fighting each other.
    - robryk 10y ago
      Pesky Nash equilibria.
- sillysaurus3 10y ago
  Not a high chance. Earth has a molten core, which generates a magnetic field that shields us from harmful cosmic rays. It's been like this for so long that we've evolved to require this shielding. Mars has less of a molten core, and a very weak magnetosphere. Therefore outdoor terraforming seems unlikely. We may have to walk around on Mars inside shielded colonies only, along with whatever other life we bring: plants, animals, everything. More on this: https://www.quora.com/Why-does-Earth-have-an-active-core-while-Venus-and-Mars-do-not https://www.quora.com/Why-does-Earth-have-an-active-core-whi... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_threat_from_cosmic_rays#Human_health_effects https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_threat_from_cosmic_rays... http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031891439900698 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031891439... Water seems to be a fairly decent shield, so it's tempting to imagine a human-made aquatic ecosystem. Fish would probably survive without any extra shielding besides water, so that's one natural resource we could start generating, assuming we could transport massive quantities of water to Mars. Unfortunately, the water would just evaporate or freeze, so we'd need shielding for that too.
  - harperlee 10y ago
    So could we engineer ourselves to be able to withstand more radiation? Perhaps with advances in cancer treatment and CRISPR-style modifications on the most fragile parts of the genome we can make us more resilient so we can become a multiplanetary species... On the other hand, sending life to Mars, due to that radiation, would make it evolve much faster, right? Perhaps we can start terraforming it and study the evolutions of plants and animals there to gain insight in how to overcome our frailties.
    - DanielBMarkham 10y ago
      I'm not sure of the exact amount, but water can be used for shielding. So maybe we end up with huge domes made of tanks with 20' of water in them. Also, since Mars has CO2, I'm guessing once a dome is up, we simply pressurize it with the surrounding atmosphere? Once pressurized we could use O2 tanks and cannulas, or add plants? I fear that there is going to be a huge political debate first -- a lot of folks are going to say that man isn't worthy/able/competent/etc to colonize another planet.
- lmm 10y ago
  > If we can't terraform Earth's deserts, do we really stand a chance with Mars? It's not that we couldn't, it's that we don't care to - partly because the reward isn't there, and partly because there are opposing interests. Humans absolutely have had (and are having) large-scale impact on the Earth's climate, and that's while mostly trying not to.
  - espadrine 10y ago
    It is easy to have an effect on something, and much harder to have a positive one. Building a house takes months, but in a day, it can be burnt. Fighting entropy 101.
    - TeMPOraL 10y ago
      Now imagine building that house together with 20 people who all try to scream at, sue or shoot each other over trivial and irrelevant details. That's generally how all international affairs look like. In terms of lowering entropy, we're not even trying.
      - namaemuta 10y ago
        That's why I want SpaceX to success. If they manage to get some profits or find something interesting out there, the race for the colonization would be even bigger than the space race during the cold war.
- grondilu 10y ago
  > If we can't terraform Earth's deserts, do we really stand a chance with Mars? To be fair, it can be done and it is slowly being done in some countries. It's still very difficult and expensive, though. That being said, indeed doing it on mars would be orders of magnitude more difficult.
apatters 10y ago
I'm just as impressed by SpaceX's achievements as the next guy but the Musk fanboyism is really getting out of control here. He's not going to terraform Mars, because we have no idea how to do it, the cost would likely be measurable in "percentage of all human GDP" terms, and it would take longer than a single human life, it'd probably have to be the longest-haul plan humanity had ever undertaken. If the announcement actually broaches the subject of terraforming it'll be the definition of vaporware.
- Pica_soO 10y ago
  Generation Nay, that is what they will call us.
- zacharycohn 10y ago
  The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is today.

tsaprailis 10y ago

Well I think this will be more along the lines, Yes we want to be a multiplanetary species, and this is the rocket that will achieve this. Go Elon!

tomp 10y ago

This image has actually been a backgroud of SpaceX's Twitter account for quite a while... I too was ecstatic when I realized what it is!

espadrine 10y ago

I love the idea BUT… If we can't terraform Earth's deserts, do we really stand a chance with Mars? I might be mistaken in my analysis. Still, the only way a colony might survive seems to be by sending tremendous amounts of resources to Mars yearly. They can never hope to be self-sustaining until either astronomically large amounts of time or astronomically large amounts of energy are spent.

arethuza 10y ago
"They can never hope to be self-sustaining until either astronomically large amounts of time or astronomically large amounts of energy are spent." That might be true, but if we could divert even a small part of the global arms industry to something as constructive as colonizing a new world then I suspect we might help things here as well as achieving something wonderful. Edit: "Oh yes. Fuck yes. All my yesses" Can I second this. I remember reading Zubrin's "The Case for Mars" and getting quite enthusiastic about actually being a Martian colonist :-) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Case_for_Mars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Case_for_Mars
- fractal618 10y ago
  We could do the impossible if we stopped fighting each other.
  - robryk 10y ago
    Pesky Nash equilibria.
sillysaurus3 10y ago
Not a high chance. Earth has a molten core, which generates a magnetic field that shields us from harmful cosmic rays. It's been like this for so long that we've evolved to require this shielding. Mars has less of a molten core, and a very weak magnetosphere. Therefore outdoor terraforming seems unlikely. We may have to walk around on Mars inside shielded colonies only, along with whatever other life we bring: plants, animals, everything. More on this: https://www.quora.com/Why-does-Earth-have-an-active-core-while-Venus-and-Mars-do-not https://www.quora.com/Why-does-Earth-have-an-active-core-whi... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_threat_from_cosmic_rays#Human_health_effects https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_threat_from_cosmic_rays... http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031891439900698 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031891439... Water seems to be a fairly decent shield, so it's tempting to imagine a human-made aquatic ecosystem. Fish would probably survive without any extra shielding besides water, so that's one natural resource we could start generating, assuming we could transport massive quantities of water to Mars. Unfortunately, the water would just evaporate or freeze, so we'd need shielding for that too.
- harperlee 10y ago
  So could we engineer ourselves to be able to withstand more radiation? Perhaps with advances in cancer treatment and CRISPR-style modifications on the most fragile parts of the genome we can make us more resilient so we can become a multiplanetary species... On the other hand, sending life to Mars, due to that radiation, would make it evolve much faster, right? Perhaps we can start terraforming it and study the evolutions of plants and animals there to gain insight in how to overcome our frailties.
  - DanielBMarkham 10y ago
    I'm not sure of the exact amount, but water can be used for shielding. So maybe we end up with huge domes made of tanks with 20' of water in them. Also, since Mars has CO2, I'm guessing once a dome is up, we simply pressurize it with the surrounding atmosphere? Once pressurized we could use O2 tanks and cannulas, or add plants? I fear that there is going to be a huge political debate first -- a lot of folks are going to say that man isn't worthy/able/competent/etc to colonize another planet.
lmm 10y ago
> If we can't terraform Earth's deserts, do we really stand a chance with Mars? It's not that we couldn't, it's that we don't care to - partly because the reward isn't there, and partly because there are opposing interests. Humans absolutely have had (and are having) large-scale impact on the Earth's climate, and that's while mostly trying not to.
- espadrine 10y ago
  It is easy to have an effect on something, and much harder to have a positive one. Building a house takes months, but in a day, it can be burnt. Fighting entropy 101.
  - TeMPOraL 10y ago
    Now imagine building that house together with 20 people who all try to scream at, sue or shoot each other over trivial and irrelevant details. That's generally how all international affairs look like. In terms of lowering entropy, we're not even trying.
    - namaemuta 10y ago
      That's why I want SpaceX to success. If they manage to get some profits or find something interesting out there, the race for the colonization would be even bigger than the space race during the cold war.
grondilu 10y ago
> If we can't terraform Earth's deserts, do we really stand a chance with Mars? To be fair, it can be done and it is slowly being done in some countries. It's still very difficult and expensive, though. That being said, indeed doing it on mars would be orders of magnitude more difficult.

apatters 10y ago

I'm just as impressed by SpaceX's achievements as the next guy but the Musk fanboyism is really getting out of control here. He's not going to terraform Mars, because we have no idea how to do it, the cost would likely be measurable in "percentage of all human GDP" terms, and it would take longer than a single human life, it'd probably have to be the longest-haul plan humanity had ever undertaken. If the announcement actually broaches the subject of terraforming it'll be the definition of vaporware.

Pica_soO 10y ago
Generation Nay, that is what they will call us.
zacharycohn 10y ago
The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is today.