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A couple points: First off, in the 'backup' argument Mars isn't meant as a bomb shelter for the human species. It's a shelter for human civilization, which is

A couple points: First off, in the 'backup' argument Mars isn't meant as a bomb shelter for the human species. It's a shelter for human civilization, which is a higher level and much more fragile thing. Think about the libraries of the Arab world, not "The Arabs have to exist or humanity could die out when Rome falls!" The other argument is as a launchpad. Mars is halfway to anywhere in the same way low earth orbit is, but Mars comes with exploitable resources. In the future, we can debate whether those resources are better exploited by enormous robotic fleets and autonomous systems or with humans on site, but with current tech readiness levels nothing beats in-situ humans for adaptability. A strong Martian industrial base will produce huge returns for terrestrial society. From dense high-throughput communication networks to massive orbital manufacturing depots to idyllic ring-world habitats, everything we want to put in orbit is cheaper starting from Mars. They're only just proving this out, but one of the theses behind Made in Space [0] is that there are all sorts of microscopic manufacturing processes - optical components and chips being the most obvious - which would benefit from manufacturing in an ambient gravity between 0-1g. Which you simply can't get on Earth. [0]: http://madeinspace.us/ http://madeinspace.us/

SubiculumCode 9y ago
It would be kind of ideal to have dirty manufacturing processes occur on a moon or asteroid where they would not pollute our water and air.
- ItsDeathball 9y ago
  As much as I like the idea of space-based industry, it's likely that the level of self-contained precision required in a vacuum would also render Earth-based industry entirely non-polluting, though probably unprofitable as well. The argument for space-based industry has to start with economics, where it's cheaper because it's closer to the raw materials (asteroids) or closer to the consumers (Mars, lunar, and orbital habitats). The elimination of dirty industry from Earth would only come about as a far-downstream side effect of a well-developed space economy that makes it cheaper for Amazon to drop a Kindle on your house from orbit that it would be to manufacture it in China.

SubiculumCode 9y ago

It would be kind of ideal to have dirty manufacturing processes occur on a moon or asteroid where they would not pollute our water and air.

ItsDeathball 9y ago
As much as I like the idea of space-based industry, it's likely that the level of self-contained precision required in a vacuum would also render Earth-based industry entirely non-polluting, though probably unprofitable as well. The argument for space-based industry has to start with economics, where it's cheaper because it's closer to the raw materials (asteroids) or closer to the consumers (Mars, lunar, and orbital habitats). The elimination of dirty industry from Earth would only come about as a far-downstream side effect of a well-developed space economy that makes it cheaper for Amazon to drop a Kindle on your house from orbit that it would be to manufacture it in China.