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This is hopeful negativism. - They don't need fusion. A StarShip can deposit hundreds of solar panels and put them on the ground. No, dust isn't an issue becau

This is hopeful negativism. - They don't need fusion. A StarShip can deposit hundreds of solar panels and put them on the ground. No, dust isn't an issue because they'll bring a roomba. No, this isn't a joke, NASA martian probes' solar panels were cleaned by a light Martian breeze. - They will be able to become self-sufficient rapidly. They're not going to send 1M tons of cargo to Mars without a deployment plan. SpaceX and Tesla have already demonstrated effective vertically integrated supply chains and manufacturing. They have the institutional knowledge to mine raw materials and build factories that build complex parts. - There are plenty of other Earth-bound governments and billionaires that could devote funds to zero-emission large scale energy production projects. Musk, his companies and assets amount to a very small fraction of the global economy. Your ire is misdirected: your anger about the situation is properly directed at the rule of corrupt imbeciles and their questionable resource allocation decisions (Netflix, coal, etc.) here on Earth rather than one team of folks who seem extraordinarily mission driven and effective.

samatman 5y ago
Mars has dust storms which last months or years, it has no ionosphere, and that dust contains enough perchlorates to poison anything we could eat, including us. Ok, that sentence went somewhere odd at the end but, it's true. A large asteroid has only one of these problems, by virtue of not coming with any atmosphere, ionic or otherwise. I kinda hope Elon is bluffing and actually plans to head to the Belt. I've penciled it out and and he'd have to be insane not to. Surely he has pencils as well.
- spookthesunset 5y ago
  The Martian dust storms are pretty tame. Nothing like portrayed in the movies. The atmosphere is 1% of what it is here on earth. So while it is a “storm” it isn’t like a tropical force hurricane or anything. More like a very minor annoyance that deposits a bit more Martian dust on your stuff over time.
- eternalban 5y ago
  What's the story on navigating in the belt? Approach specific target from above or reasonably safe to traverse it and explore?
- ethbr0 5y ago
  Isn't long term zero-g pretty hostile to our biology?
  - lanstin 5y ago
    Hollow out the asteroid and spin it.
    - Tepix 5y ago
      That tech is decades in the future.
      - ethbr0 5y ago
        Is it? Assuming an asteroid of appropriate structural strength, it's just a question of time + propulsion. And acceleration adds up pretty quickly when you're in a vacuum and have all the time you want.
    - edgyquant 5y ago
      This wouldn’t work, asteroids are like gravel there isn’t really anything to hollow out and even if you did when you spun it the asteroid would just shoot these rocks out in all directions.
  - kibwen 5y ago
    Mars is 0.3 G, which is just as hostile for long-term habitation. No human child conceived, born, and raised in that environment would have the ability to stand on Earth without an Aliens-style rigid exosuit. Their heart might not even be capable of pumping blood to their head.
    - ErikCorry 5y ago
      Nobody knows what 0.3 g does to the body because we've spent 20 years on the ISS doing zero-g "science" even after the most important question was answered: Q: What does zero-g do to the human body? A: It's really really unhealthy.
GoblinSlayer 5y ago
>They're not going to send 1M tons of cargo to Mars without a deployment plan. Can this happen? I imagine before we can settle on Mars we first should be comfortable flying there, and the latter should be sufficient for asteroid mining. But, right, our technology is just not at a comfortable level yet.
- politician 5y ago
  Comfortable comes much later than possible. When it's possible to go, that's the time to go. The early Atlantic crossings weren't comfortable, just possible.
  - GoblinSlayer 5y ago
    Unlike Atlantic, Mars isn't habitable, you can't settle there with merely possible crossing. Maybe first establish a colony at 1km depth in the ocean; we are relatively comfortable going there, but what it takes to run a colony there and would it be possible with only possible crossing?

samatman 5y ago

Mars has dust storms which last months or years, it has no ionosphere, and that dust contains enough perchlorates to poison anything we could eat, including us. Ok, that sentence went somewhere odd at the end but, it's true. A large asteroid has only one of these problems, by virtue of not coming with any atmosphere, ionic or otherwise. I kinda hope Elon is bluffing and actually plans to head to the Belt. I've penciled it out and and he'd have to be insane not to. Surely he has pencils as well.

spookthesunset 5y ago
The Martian dust storms are pretty tame. Nothing like portrayed in the movies. The atmosphere is 1% of what it is here on earth. So while it is a “storm” it isn’t like a tropical force hurricane or anything. More like a very minor annoyance that deposits a bit more Martian dust on your stuff over time.
eternalban 5y ago
What's the story on navigating in the belt? Approach specific target from above or reasonably safe to traverse it and explore?
ethbr0 5y ago
Isn't long term zero-g pretty hostile to our biology?
- lanstin 5y ago
  Hollow out the asteroid and spin it.
  - Tepix 5y ago
    That tech is decades in the future.
    - ethbr0 5y ago
      Is it? Assuming an asteroid of appropriate structural strength, it's just a question of time + propulsion. And acceleration adds up pretty quickly when you're in a vacuum and have all the time you want.
  - edgyquant 5y ago
    This wouldn’t work, asteroids are like gravel there isn’t really anything to hollow out and even if you did when you spun it the asteroid would just shoot these rocks out in all directions.
- kibwen 5y ago
  Mars is 0.3 G, which is just as hostile for long-term habitation. No human child conceived, born, and raised in that environment would have the ability to stand on Earth without an Aliens-style rigid exosuit. Their heart might not even be capable of pumping blood to their head.
  - ErikCorry 5y ago
    Nobody knows what 0.3 g does to the body because we've spent 20 years on the ISS doing zero-g "science" even after the most important question was answered: Q: What does zero-g do to the human body? A: It's really really unhealthy.

GoblinSlayer 5y ago

>They're not going to send 1M tons of cargo to Mars without a deployment plan. Can this happen? I imagine before we can settle on Mars we first should be comfortable flying there, and the latter should be sufficient for asteroid mining. But, right, our technology is just not at a comfortable level yet.

politician 5y ago
Comfortable comes much later than possible. When it's possible to go, that's the time to go. The early Atlantic crossings weren't comfortable, just possible.
- GoblinSlayer 5y ago
  Unlike Atlantic, Mars isn't habitable, you can't settle there with merely possible crossing. Maybe first establish a colony at 1km depth in the ocean; we are relatively comfortable going there, but what it takes to run a colony there and would it be possible with only possible crossing?