4 ms·
OK, but why? It makes zero sense to go to Mars if we have enough uninhabited land available.
by verinus 8y ago
OK, but why?
It makes zero sense to go to Mars if we have enough uninhabited land available.
- nkrisc 8y agoWell if your interest is Martian geologic history (or biology), Nevada won't quite cut it.
- fouc 8y agoThe word is "colonization", it's about the hundreds of years of development and growth to transform Mars into a place that supports humans. Why? It's a way to reduce risk of extinction. Put our eggs in more than one basket.
- Retric 8y agoColonizing Mars is a poor choice for that, much better to focus on the Asteroid then Kepler belt. It’s got both up and downsides. For example, you actually get more solar energy in the Astroid belt becase you can always face the sun and don’t need to worry about Mars’s dust storms. But, if we can colonize the Kepler belt the rest of the galaxy is open ‘for free’.
- cheeko1234 8y agoYou're forgetting radiation and gravity.
- dylan604 8y agoHow is mars better as a radiation shield? It has no magnetic protection like earth’s van allen belts. Until that exists, Mars will be a desolate place.
- Retric 8y agoStaying on the other side of a X km wide object is a great radiation shield from the sun. But, distance also helps. If your in a space suit on the surface of Mars you have very little radiation protection. Using buried structures and going out at night seems to be the best option. But, overall it’s likely fairly close between the two. Gravity might be a larger issue on Mars than outer space as it’s harder to keep something spinning at 1g in a weak atmosphere. It really depends on how well humans adapt to 38% earths gravity. That might be fine over a lifetime, or low enough to be a significant issue.