2 ms·
"Cold, hard limitations of physics" is distinct from not yet having done all the engineering. Mars colonies are way down the list of things I think worth tryin
by abecedarius 6y ago
"Cold, hard limitations of physics" is distinct from not yet having done all the engineering.
Mars colonies are way down the list of things I think worth trying to do, but it's absurd to call them physically impossible, even on a 60-year deadline.
Radiation: interpose some matter.
Temperature: heater.
Oxygen: Mars has plenty in situ.
Gravity: current humans might actually find this a problem for long-term health, I'm not sure, but it's a bounded one, not likely to compare to long-term zero-g life. There's no barrier in physics to spinning up big centrifuges, even though it's ridiculous. Biomedical approaches are more likely for a biomedical problem.
- paulryanrogers 6y agoUnless there are significant breakthroughs you'd exhaust or pollute much of Earth's resources to build a poor substitute on a planet that cannot naturally sustain human life.
- abecedarius 6y agoIt'd be inefficient anyway to use Earth resources except for some early bootstrapping. Extraterrestrial resources (asteroids, the moon, solar power, local resources on Mars) are more accessible. And it's underappreciated that for what you do need from Earth, launch can get much cheaper/cleaner after enough development in space, just as an elevator system gets more efficient with a counterweight.