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The Antarctic is a poor analogue, since it has abundant water and food. The Atacama desert might be a better one. There's no earthly reason to make people live

The Antarctic is a poor analogue, since it has abundant water and food. The Atacama desert might be a better one. There's no earthly reason to make people live in the Atacama, but then again, there's no reason to send people to Mars, either.

maxxxxx 9y ago
I think that was his point. Antarctic is easier but I don't think we could make it work when you are not allowed to hunt for animals. Atacama is probably more realistic.
hugs 9y ago
From my brief trip to Atacama a few years ago, I noticed that the big reasons people are there are for mining, tourism, or astronomy.
bluGill 9y ago
Actually that makes Antartic a better place to try. If there is a problem they use the food, water, and air available for survival. Then you learn whatever lessons needed and try again until you get to the point where you can live for an arbitrary amount of time there. Once you solve that problem you can move to the Atacama desert. Of course since we are on earth either way a rescue plan is at most a few days away (generally hours but bad weather might stop your efforts for days).
jcranmer 9y ago
The continental margin and ice shelves are where all the wildlife is. On the interior ice sheet plateau, there are pretty much no animals or plants. Water is, of course, plentiful, albeit in the wrong phase of matter. Another "advantage" of interior Antarctica is that, in winter time, it is difficult-to-impossible to actually get in or out of it. The Amundsen-Scott research base is isolated for three months of the year, although two medevac flights have been done in winter.
- kbenson 9y ago
  > Water is, of course, plentiful, albeit in the wrong phase of matter. Well, since they mention that water as ice is actually abundant[1], it's probably good for testing out strategies for harvesting and purifying water effectively and reliably at the same time they are dealing with the other problems. 1: From the article: Water is a mix of hydrogen and oxygen and is abundant in the form of ice mixed into the top meter of the Martian regolith. Around the equator and up to 60° latitude it varies in concentration from 2-18% but further north and south it’s in even higher concentrations, reaching 100% at the north pole.
- dangom 9y ago
  Interesting. I didn't know that it was that hard. Just read that the biggest problem is that fuel freezes and so planes cannot fly. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/02/how-to-survive-winter-in-antarctica/385509/ https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/02/how-to-su...

maxxxxx 9y ago

I think that was his point. Antarctic is easier but I don't think we could make it work when you are not allowed to hunt for animals. Atacama is probably more realistic.

hugs 9y ago

From my brief trip to Atacama a few years ago, I noticed that the big reasons people are there are for mining, tourism, or astronomy.

bluGill 9y ago

Actually that makes Antartic a better place to try. If there is a problem they use the food, water, and air available for survival. Then you learn whatever lessons needed and try again until you get to the point where you can live for an arbitrary amount of time there. Once you solve that problem you can move to the Atacama desert. Of course since we are on earth either way a rescue plan is at most a few days away (generally hours but bad weather might stop your efforts for days).

jcranmer 9y ago

The continental margin and ice shelves are where all the wildlife is. On the interior ice sheet plateau, there are pretty much no animals or plants. Water is, of course, plentiful, albeit in the wrong phase of matter. Another "advantage" of interior Antarctica is that, in winter time, it is difficult-to-impossible to actually get in or out of it. The Amundsen-Scott research base is isolated for three months of the year, although two medevac flights have been done in winter.

kbenson 9y ago
> Water is, of course, plentiful, albeit in the wrong phase of matter. Well, since they mention that water as ice is actually abundant[1], it's probably good for testing out strategies for harvesting and purifying water effectively and reliably at the same time they are dealing with the other problems. 1: From the article: Water is a mix of hydrogen and oxygen and is abundant in the form of ice mixed into the top meter of the Martian regolith. Around the equator and up to 60° latitude it varies in concentration from 2-18% but further north and south it’s in even higher concentrations, reaching 100% at the north pole.
dangom 9y ago
Interesting. I didn't know that it was that hard. Just read that the biggest problem is that fuel freezes and so planes cannot fly. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/02/how-to-survive-winter-in-antarctica/385509/ https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/02/how-to-su...