4 ms·
I have to wonder if the recently discovered ice deposits on mars would do the job https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/mars-ice-deposit-holds-as-much-water-as-lake
by bazzargh 10y ago
I have to wonder if the recently discovered ice deposits on mars would do the job
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/mars-ice-deposit-holds-as-much-water-as-lake-superior https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/mars-ice-deposit-holds-as-m...
If this really is just a metre down and 80% water it's got to be an attractive target - relatively easy to mine (once surface is cleared, just use heat) and a hollowed out underground structure with 1m of ice above would be an effective radiation shield:
http://space.stackexchange.com/a/1826 http://space.stackexchange.com/a/1826
... and once you're there, water is water, plus water can be used to make fuel.
- some1else 10y agoI'm wondering how contaminated are raw materials on planets without a solid magnetosphere. Could it be that most of the water out there is too radio-active for consumption?
- dreistdreist 10y agoThings get contaminated by radioactive material, not by radiation exposure [0]. And of course obligatory xkcd [1]. [0] https://www.mirion.com/introduction-to-radiation-safety/radiation-vs-contamination/ https://www.mirion.com/introduction-to-radiation-safety/radi... [1] https://what-if.xkcd.com/29/ https://what-if.xkcd.com/29/
- Roboprog 10y agoSo, your biggest problem in a reactor cooling pool is "lead poisoning", eh? :-) Anyway, worth pointing out that cosmic rays are little groups of neutrons (and adjoining protons). I don't know about the half life of the resulting products, though, or how often a heavy nucleus collides with another nucleus, vs simply bashing through electron bonds.