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> Similarly, feet, flags and colonization on Mars is a straight engineering problem. I agree with this and the rest of what you said, but the engineering isn't
by hood_syntax 10y ago
> Similarly, feet, flags and colonization on Mars is a straight engineering problem.
I agree with this and the rest of what you said, but the engineering isn't everything. We'd have to get fully sustainable food supplies on Mars, and as far as I know that's not a solved problem (and, if it is not, it's one that might require knowledge we don't have yet). Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, this is not my area of expertise.
- prewett 10y agoI think the point was that thing like sustainable food supplies on Mars is an engineering problem, not a basic science problem. We already know how to grow food given water, atmosphere, temperature, and light, no basic science needed. However, since Mars is lacking all those things, the engineering problem is figuring out a way to get them. It's possible to do that with what he have today (e.g. hydroponics with artificial lights), just not easy or cost-effective.
- oldmanjay 10y agoWhat this misses is that it provides selection pressure for scientific research that can solve these problems in a better way than our current ability. Not all engineering problems end up solved in a way that could be envisioned at the start.
- vacri 10y agoWe know how to grow food on Earth. We don't yet know if there is something on Mars that would change things. Until we actually do it, all we have are educated guesses.