9 ms·

Yup. Frankly, if you can solve the cosmic ray problem for the journey to Titan, you also just solved it for colonizing Mars. Martian gravity is also closer to

by eganist 10y ago

Yup. Frankly, if you can solve the cosmic ray problem for the journey to Titan, you also just solved it for colonizing Mars. Martian gravity is also closer to Earth's, so Mars still seems like the better fit in the immediate term.

IndianAstronaut 10y ago
A penny sized hole in a space suit on Mars could mean a quick death. The lack of an atmosphere on Mars would make it exceedingly difficult to set up a colony there.
- Eerie 10y ago
  >A penny sized hole in a space suit on Mars could mean a quick death. Also true for Titan (surface temperature -179 degrees Celsius).
  - jonahrd 10y ago
    thermodynamics isn't instant like that, and you'd be dressing in layers. It's much different than a hole in a pressurized suit
- rocky1138 10y ago
  Mars has an atmosphere, it's just not breathable by any life form from Earth.
sliken 10y ago
Mars has way more sunlight (much closer to the sun and a much thinner atmosphere), which makes solar much easier. So equipment, supplies, and solar could be on the surface, and the radiation sensitive humans could be a few meters underground. As you mine for water you could dump the useless stuff on the surface and use the emptied space for living quarters. Question is why live somewhere that's tougher than the top of MT Everest or either pole? Guess a population big enough to repopulate earth in case of an extinction level event would be a reasonable safeguard.
- iskander 10y ago
  >Mars has way more sunlight (much closer to the sun and a much thinner atmosphere) Mercury, Venus, Earth, then Mars. (Mars is further from the sun and gets ~60% of our sunlight)
  - maxerickson 10y ago
    Mars vs Titan.
    - iskander 10y ago
      Ah, sorry, misunderstood.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
- c22 10y ago
  But if you're only doing it to safeguard against extinction level events why not just set up multiple contingency populations underground here on this planet? They won't have to travel as far after the event.
  - samstave 10y ago
    I think the idea is to seed the extra planets BEFORE the ELE... If an ELE hits, few would be around to make even that short trip to the bunker.
    - vacri 10y ago
      What kind of event is in your mind that gives people less than, say, an hour's notice?
      - flukus 10y ago
        Full scale nuclear war maybe? Much of the population would only have a few minutes notice at best.
falcolas 10y ago
> if you can solve the cosmic ray problem for the journey to Titan, you also just solved it for colonizing Mars. Not necessarily, if the solution involves "go faster to reduce exposure". Going faster seems a lot more feasible than creating the appropriate protection.
- eganist 10y ago
  Even if we find a way to go faster by a decent multiple, your looking at over a year of radiation exposure known to cause substantial brain damage. The shielding tech will still need to be researched... so might as well just stick to Mars
kobeya 10y ago
Here's how you solve the cosmic ray problem on Mars: put sandbags on the roof. Done.

by eganist 10y ago

IndianAstronaut 10y ago

A penny sized hole in a space suit on Mars could mean a quick death. The lack of an atmosphere on Mars would make it exceedingly difficult to set up a colony there.

Eerie 10y ago
>A penny sized hole in a space suit on Mars could mean a quick death. Also true for Titan (surface temperature -179 degrees Celsius).
- jonahrd 10y ago
  thermodynamics isn't instant like that, and you'd be dressing in layers. It's much different than a hole in a pressurized suit
rocky1138 10y ago
Mars has an atmosphere, it's just not breathable by any life form from Earth.

sliken 10y ago

Mars has way more sunlight (much closer to the sun and a much thinner atmosphere), which makes solar much easier. So equipment, supplies, and solar could be on the surface, and the radiation sensitive humans could be a few meters underground. As you mine for water you could dump the useless stuff on the surface and use the emptied space for living quarters. Question is why live somewhere that's tougher than the top of MT Everest or either pole? Guess a population big enough to repopulate earth in case of an extinction level event would be a reasonable safeguard.

iskander 10y ago
>Mars has way more sunlight (much closer to the sun and a much thinner atmosphere) Mercury, Venus, Earth, then Mars. (Mars is further from the sun and gets ~60% of our sunlight)
- maxerickson 10y ago
  Mars vs Titan.
  - iskander 10y ago
    Ah, sorry, misunderstood.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
c22 10y ago
But if you're only doing it to safeguard against extinction level events why not just set up multiple contingency populations underground here on this planet? They won't have to travel as far after the event.
- samstave 10y ago
  I think the idea is to seed the extra planets BEFORE the ELE... If an ELE hits, few would be around to make even that short trip to the bunker.
  - vacri 10y ago
    What kind of event is in your mind that gives people less than, say, an hour's notice?
    - flukus 10y ago
      Full scale nuclear war maybe? Much of the population would only have a few minutes notice at best.

falcolas 10y ago

> if you can solve the cosmic ray problem for the journey to Titan, you also just solved it for colonizing Mars. Not necessarily, if the solution involves "go faster to reduce exposure". Going faster seems a lot more feasible than creating the appropriate protection.

eganist 10y ago
Even if we find a way to go faster by a decent multiple, your looking at over a year of radiation exposure known to cause substantial brain damage. The shielding tech will still need to be researched... so might as well just stick to Mars

kobeya 10y ago

Here's how you solve the cosmic ray problem on Mars: put sandbags on the roof. Done.