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I'd like to see a breakdown of the kind of equipment and labor resources needed to dig out underground habitats. To get to the point where a Mars colony is sel
by CryptoPunk 8y ago
I'd like to see a breakdown of the kind of equipment and labor resources needed to dig out underground habitats.
To get to the point where a Mars colony is self-sufficient in producing things like heavy-duty construction equipment and solar panels could require obscene capital expenditures.
Not saying that it wouldn't be worth doing - imagine just all the technological spin-offs that would come from overcoming the challenges of creating a self-sustaining settlement on another planet, not to mention making an entire planet's worth of resources accessible to us - just that the scope of what it would require to pull off should be appreciated.
>>The BFR isn't just meant to enable transport of people - it also aims at being able to move a lot of mass to Mars for cheap.
I agree. The BFR will be a game-changer.
- TeMPOraL 8y agoI suppose I shouldn't have written "dig in", where I meant less actual digging, and more of adapting existing caves and lava tunnels. Also, solar panels I place in the list of high-tech components that would need to be imported. Curiously though, I recall reading that wind power could be used on Mars. A wind plant could be mostly fabricated from local material, with only electrical components sourced from Earth, and apparently wind power is competitive with solar on Mars - the atmosphere is less dense, but solar panels also provide less due to R^2 drop in power per unit of area with distance. I agree it won't be easy - or cheap - but both the prospect of a colony and all the potential spin-offs make it worth it.
- CryptoPunk 8y agoInteresting, thanks for the reply.