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If Elon's goal of colonizing Mars leads to accelerated development of rockets and other space tech, that's gotta be a good thing. But the actual challenges of n

If Elon's goal of colonizing Mars leads to accelerated development of rockets and other space tech, that's gotta be a good thing. But the actual challenges of not only traveling to Mars but transporting enough people and supplies to set up a self-sustaining colony there, are still firmly in the realm of science fiction. Especially considering that it would take an enormous commitment of resources, more than any one company or nation could come up with, as well as the fractured and squabbling state of the human race at present, tells me that it would take a lot more than just solving a handful of technical issues.

DoreenMichele 4y ago
Thank you. I don't think of technical challenges as just being about developing better rockets. I think of technical challenges more broadly, which is perhaps me being quirky. For example, I was super excited to see a study suggesting that potatoes can be grown on Mars because potatoes are the only food I know of that is nearly nutritionally complete. So if we can successfully grow potatoes on Mars, that would be a big deal. (Though if anything went wrong, it would be the space exploration version of The Irish Potato Famine all over again. Ugh.) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13823275 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13823275