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The leaders of the most powerful nations on Earth are barely starting to talk about some small human missions to Mars and then there is Elon, casually discussin
by 0majors 10y ago
The leaders of the most powerful nations on Earth are barely starting to talk about some small human missions to Mars and then there is Elon, casually discussing glass domes and tunneling drones creating underground networks on Mars. Truly incredible.
- guelo 10y agoAre you suggesting that the scientists and engineers at NASA have never drawn up detailed plans for these kind of ideas?
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- marcofloriano 10y agoRight!? Like, i have tons of respect for the guy, but the amount of press and attention that they get just by saying "we are going to mars" are crazy! Nothing practical to show, i would be more interested in a mission to build up a base at moon first. But hey! This is show business, what we losers can possible know!?
- ranman 10y ago"Nothing practical to show" ... I think you may be misinformed. There are a great deal of practical advancements (raptor engine, carbon fiber tanks, software and sensor suites that enable autonomous landing). There's tons of room for discussion around the mars architecture but to discount it because there's "nothing practical to show" is incorrect. If you're not an expert in the field it might be worth it to do some research before immediately discounting an idea.
- thelambentonion 10y agoI would say that the leaders of the most powerful nations on Earth are a little more grounded in reality than Musk in this regard. Glass domes and underground Martian tunnels make for some very interesting science fiction, but I'm concerned about the engineering challenges that he seems to be ignoring in favor of his grand statements of intent. To pick a specific example, he seems to have very little concern for radiation shielding both during the trip to Mars or on the Martian surface. Both of these present incredibly harsh radiation environments for humans, and we need to develop solutions before we even consider sending explorers, let alone colonists.
- icebraining 10y agoYeah, the Mars One project talks about burying their habitat five meters underground to get the same protection as the Earth's atmosphere; glass domes seem downright reckless in comparison.
- ceejayoz 10y agoYou'd still need places to grow plants. The easiest way to do that is still glass domes, as you don't really care as much if plants get cancer.
- icebraining 10y agoYes, but Elon Musk mentioned them as living spaces.
- Neeek 10y agoPlants are living?
- icebraining 10y agoSo you're saying that beyond everything else Musk is also making contributions to the marketing of greenhouses? Because "living space" is always related to humans, as far as I can tell.
- to3m 10y agoNASA have also managed to put nobody on Mars, while saying a lot less. Who says government is inefficient? ;)
- nickik 10y agoThat is totally false. NASA has a huge amounts of marketing pushing for Humans to Mars, they call it #journytomars.
- to3m 10y agoWell, TIL. Musk wins again, then. NASA with this huge budget, and I hear nothing. Then Dear Elon does ONE reddit AMA and I doubt I'll hear the end of it before 2023 ;)
- overcast 10y agoScience Fiction writers have been discussing it for decades. Elon I think is A BIT out of touch when it comes to realistically coming up with timescales for this stuff. Obviously some day it will happen, but in the next ten years I think is ridiculous. I hope I'm wrong.