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But there is little to gain living on the bottom of the ocean. Space expansion offers us more than just survival, it bring orbital mining, Low G manufacturing,

But there is little to gain living on the bottom of the ocean. Space expansion offers us more than just survival, it bring orbital mining, Low G manufacturing, scientific projects and so on. It's much harder if not impossible to create something self-sufficient underwater than on Mars, since due to huge pressure any mechanical failure of your equipment is much more catastrophic. There are virtually no light or any good energy sources for growing food, you can't mine underwater effectively, and so on. It's a glorified bunker and nothing more. Compare it to mars - structures can be erected from much lighter spacious materials and expand outwards, there is sunlight, a lot of minerals to mine and since everything is pressurised from the inside the repairability is higher.

heavyset_go 7y ago
> But there is little to gain living on the bottom of the ocean. What? You're surrounded by water, you can produce oxygen through electrolysis and generate hydrogen fuel, there's food living all around you, there are plenty of seamounts to mine. > It's much harder if not impossible to create something self-sufficient underwater than on Mars All of you supplies need to live on Mars need to come from elsewhere. All of your necessities from life need to come from elsewhere. If you want to live on Mars for any appreciable amount of time, you need a robust supply chain that'll supply resources to you from Earth. On the seafloor, you are surrounded by water, sources of oxygen, and food. > you can't mine underwater effectively, We've yet to mine anything that isn't on Earth. We may never be able to mine effectively anywhere other than Earth. > there is sunlight There is barely an atmosphere on Mars, and it lacks oxygen.
- foxrider 7y ago
  Most of the ocean is just dead water with nothing in it. Life blooms near geothermal sources or near surface. But even there getting the resources that you theoretically have is not easy - electrolysis is like charging a battery - you don't get ANY energy from it, because you would need the oxygen, and hydrogen needs oxygen to react with. And even in that reaction it would release less energy than you've spent separating it from water, it's a thermodynamic dead end. If you don't have sunlight for power (if you are deep enough) the only source apart from nuclear is gas/oil that you would extract from the seabed if you'll be very lucky to get where you'll establish. The food is around you, this is true - microshrimp, jellyfish, algae - non of this is consumable by a human. We tried that already - soviets experimented with algae and krill consumption for astronauts on the space stations - out digestive systems would not be able to handle it. Compare it to Mars - you get sunlight for crops, you get it for solar panels, etc. There is water on Mars as we know now, so you can use it while also having easier time building. The only downside is how hard it is to get to the Mars compared to the bottom of the ocean. But once we would figure out hurling cargo it's going to be easier. I fully agree that you need supply chain to exist for some time, a long time even, but after a while you would be able to grow food on Mars. We have places on Earth where you can get close-to-Mars experience, near the poles. There are some entirely lifeless patches of just ice cold land where some of the Martian tech gets tested.
  - heavyset_go 7y ago
    > Most of the ocean is just dead water with nothing in it. You're closer to life than you would be when you're on any other planet than Earth. > But even there getting the resources that you theoretically have is not easy - electrolysis is like charging a battery - you don't get ANY energy from it, because you would need the oxygen, and hydrogen needs oxygen to react with I'm aware of how thermodynamics work, and I bring it up because our nuclear submarines rely on electrolysis to generate oxygen so that they don't have to resurface for long periods of time. They just release their hydrogen as waste gas, though. > Compare it to Mars - you get sunlight for crops There is barely an atmosphere on Mars. > you get it for solar panels You can capture wind, solar, tidal or geothermal energy while sitting at the bottom of the ocean. > There is water on Mars as we know now, so you can use it while also having easier time building There is a incredibly small amount of water on Mars. Meanwhile in the ocean, you're surrounded by it. I don't think the bottom of the ocean would be a good place to survive an extinction event, because there are plenty of places on the surface or beneath the surface that are better suited. I use the bottom of the ocean as an example because it is Earth, our home, yet we still have an extremely difficult time surviving in it. Despite that, it is infinitely more livable than any other planet in our solar system.

heavyset_go 7y ago

> But there is little to gain living on the bottom of the ocean. What? You're surrounded by water, you can produce oxygen through electrolysis and generate hydrogen fuel, there's food living all around you, there are plenty of seamounts to mine. > It's much harder if not impossible to create something self-sufficient underwater than on Mars All of you supplies need to live on Mars need to come from elsewhere. All of your necessities from life need to come from elsewhere. If you want to live on Mars for any appreciable amount of time, you need a robust supply chain that'll supply resources to you from Earth. On the seafloor, you are surrounded by water, sources of oxygen, and food. > you can't mine underwater effectively, We've yet to mine anything that isn't on Earth. We may never be able to mine effectively anywhere other than Earth. > there is sunlight There is barely an atmosphere on Mars, and it lacks oxygen.

foxrider 7y ago
Most of the ocean is just dead water with nothing in it. Life blooms near geothermal sources or near surface. But even there getting the resources that you theoretically have is not easy - electrolysis is like charging a battery - you don't get ANY energy from it, because you would need the oxygen, and hydrogen needs oxygen to react with. And even in that reaction it would release less energy than you've spent separating it from water, it's a thermodynamic dead end. If you don't have sunlight for power (if you are deep enough) the only source apart from nuclear is gas/oil that you would extract from the seabed if you'll be very lucky to get where you'll establish. The food is around you, this is true - microshrimp, jellyfish, algae - non of this is consumable by a human. We tried that already - soviets experimented with algae and krill consumption for astronauts on the space stations - out digestive systems would not be able to handle it. Compare it to Mars - you get sunlight for crops, you get it for solar panels, etc. There is water on Mars as we know now, so you can use it while also having easier time building. The only downside is how hard it is to get to the Mars compared to the bottom of the ocean. But once we would figure out hurling cargo it's going to be easier. I fully agree that you need supply chain to exist for some time, a long time even, but after a while you would be able to grow food on Mars. We have places on Earth where you can get close-to-Mars experience, near the poles. There are some entirely lifeless patches of just ice cold land where some of the Martian tech gets tested.
- heavyset_go 7y ago
  > Most of the ocean is just dead water with nothing in it. You're closer to life than you would be when you're on any other planet than Earth. > But even there getting the resources that you theoretically have is not easy - electrolysis is like charging a battery - you don't get ANY energy from it, because you would need the oxygen, and hydrogen needs oxygen to react with I'm aware of how thermodynamics work, and I bring it up because our nuclear submarines rely on electrolysis to generate oxygen so that they don't have to resurface for long periods of time. They just release their hydrogen as waste gas, though. > Compare it to Mars - you get sunlight for crops There is barely an atmosphere on Mars. > you get it for solar panels You can capture wind, solar, tidal or geothermal energy while sitting at the bottom of the ocean. > There is water on Mars as we know now, so you can use it while also having easier time building There is a incredibly small amount of water on Mars. Meanwhile in the ocean, you're surrounded by it. I don't think the bottom of the ocean would be a good place to survive an extinction event, because there are plenty of places on the surface or beneath the surface that are better suited. I use the bottom of the ocean as an example because it is Earth, our home, yet we still have an extremely difficult time surviving in it. Despite that, it is infinitely more livable than any other planet in our solar system.