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Earth has too much baggage (humanity, politics) to suggest that it's self-evidently prudent to develop something on earth first.

• aaron-lebo 9y ago
  Those won't be going away when we send humans to Mars. If that stuff is really a problem, start a colony in Antarctica. It'd be much easier to achieve livable conditions there than Mars, and your life support won't be tens of millions of miles away.
  • dsr_ 9y ago
    This. If you can't support a colony in Antarctica, or in the middle of the ocean, or on Emi Kousi in the Sahara, you can't do well on Mars. Run those as a test. Antarctica: breathable air, much warmer than Mars, more insolation, low light-speed lag, water. Mid-ocean: much much warmer than Mars, high pressure, low light-speed lag, lots of water. No breathable atmosphere but some oxygen can be extracted. Emi Koussi: hugely warmer than Mars, breathable atmosphere (at 10K feet), no significant water, low light-speed lag. Build your domes in each of those locations, run them for ten years: then you have real data, plus emergency evac.
    • s0rce 9y ago
      Cool, I'd never heard of Emi Koisi, I'll add that to the bucket list.
    • fjsolwmv 9y ago
      We do have colonies in Antartica and in the open ocean (surface). But people don't want to live there for a long time. They won't want to live on Mars for a long time either.