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And the difficulty of setting up a Martian colony may actually end up being less than setting up a lunar colony (due to the ability to heavily use local resourc
by hugh3 16y ago
And the difficulty of setting up a Martian colony may actually end up being less than setting up a lunar colony (due to the ability to heavily use local resources on Mars, such as for generating fuel).
There's a few ways in which Mars is an easier problem than the Moon, including fewer worries about micrometeorites. As far as fuel goes, though, if you can find a good supply of water on the moon then you can start fuelling your hydrogen-oxygen rockets, no worries.
edit: Others have suggested making rocket fuel out of aluminium oxide if you can't find enough water: http://www.asi.org/adb/06/09/03/02/095/al-o-propellants.html http://www.asi.org/adb/06/09/03/02/095/al-o-propellants.html
- InclinedPlane 16y agoYou can land an automated vehicle on the surface of Mars with a small stock of Hydrogen and brew Methane/O2 fuel (an excellent rocket fuel with an existing infrastructure of components that use it) out of the atmosphere, without having to dig or mine or anything of the sort. Moreover, Mars has a much larger quantity of much more widely distributed water ice supplies, making it far easier to bootstrap a mostly indigenous propellant, water, and Oxygen production infrastructure. As far as cracking rocks to make Oxygen, that's such an expensive proposition in capital equipment and energy requirements that it's not on the table in terms of resources that will help bootstrap exploration and colonization or that will sustain a mostly self-sufficient local industry.