3 ms·
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.
by 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 agoThe 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 agoWhat's the story on navigating in the belt? Approach specific target from above or reasonably safe to traverse it and explore?
- ethbr0 5y agoIsn't long term zero-g pretty hostile to our biology?
- lanstin 5y agoHollow out the asteroid and spin it.
- Tepix 5y agoThat tech is decades in the future.
- ethbr0 5y agoIs 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 agoThis 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 agoMars 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 agoNobody 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.