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> The habitats which would supposedly be used for Mars colonization don't exist and aren't in development, so if you think Starship is a Mars rocket you should

> The habitats which would supposedly be used for Mars colonization don't exist and aren't in development, so if you think Starship is a Mars rocket you should realize that it's a bridge to nowhere. I'm only an enthusiastic layman on the topic of spacefaring, but isn't the launch vehicle a critical variable when designing habitats for other planets? It doesn't seem practical to take anything much further than paper until the constraints of your launch vehicle are known. Habitats designed to be launched on Starship+Superheavy are going to be wildly different from those made to launch on practically anything else because of the vast difference in lift capacity and available volume. To add to that, it arguably doesn't make sense to develop habitats at all unless something similar to Starship is flying. So from that perspective, it would seem to me logical to wait and see if SpaceX can actually make Starship+Superheavy work or not before committing to anything. No point in burning money on something that'll never be practical to launch.

mcpackieh 3y ago
If they don't start serious habitat development until Starship is ready, then, Starhip will be decades old by the time anybody is ready to make a Mars colony. Besides the structure of the habitats themselves, there a ton of technology that would need to be developed first. Life support equipment and systems, space suits, vehicles, any sort of plan to produce food. Nobody is seriously developing this stuff, you have a few million dollars here and there thrown at university projects but no serious investment. It would take a Manhattan Project sized commitment, but who would pay for that? Not Elon Musk, he says that he assumes other people will. There's no money in Mars colonization, it's a pipe dream for young dreamers. > To add to that, it arguably doesn't make sense to develop habitats at all unless something similar to Starship is flying. It doesn't make sense developing Starship unless you have paying customers lined up. Launching satellite constellations is a market that actually exists, Mars colonization doesn't and won't for decades at least, by which time Starship will likely be obsolete anyway. Furthermore, you're ignoring the part where Starship isn't a Mars rocket and doesn't even resemble a Mars rocket. If Elon Musk had never spoken of Mars, there would be zero reason to suspect that Starship was meant to be a Mars rocket. His words alone are the basis for this belief. How much are his words actually worth to you?
- panick21_ 3y ago
  They are literally doing serious hab development for the moon mission right now. There is work on suits, life support systems and lots of other things. Your whole argument is basically 'its hard' and SpaceX doesnt have perfectly worked out plan to solve every single problem. Yeah no shit shirlock. And Starship is a Mars rocket. Your evidence for that non existant. SpaceX has presented Mars entery and landing profiles. Refueling makes it perfect for Mars.

mcpackieh 3y ago

If they don't start serious habitat development until Starship is ready, then, Starhip will be decades old by the time anybody is ready to make a Mars colony. Besides the structure of the habitats themselves, there a ton of technology that would need to be developed first. Life support equipment and systems, space suits, vehicles, any sort of plan to produce food. Nobody is seriously developing this stuff, you have a few million dollars here and there thrown at university projects but no serious investment. It would take a Manhattan Project sized commitment, but who would pay for that? Not Elon Musk, he says that he assumes other people will. There's no money in Mars colonization, it's a pipe dream for young dreamers. > To add to that, it arguably doesn't make sense to develop habitats at all unless something similar to Starship is flying. It doesn't make sense developing Starship unless you have paying customers lined up. Launching satellite constellations is a market that actually exists, Mars colonization doesn't and won't for decades at least, by which time Starship will likely be obsolete anyway. Furthermore, you're ignoring the part where Starship isn't a Mars rocket and doesn't even resemble a Mars rocket. If Elon Musk had never spoken of Mars, there would be zero reason to suspect that Starship was meant to be a Mars rocket. His words alone are the basis for this belief. How much are his words actually worth to you?

panick21_ 3y ago
They are literally doing serious hab development for the moon mission right now. There is work on suits, life support systems and lots of other things. Your whole argument is basically 'its hard' and SpaceX doesnt have perfectly worked out plan to solve every single problem. Yeah no shit shirlock. And Starship is a Mars rocket. Your evidence for that non existant. SpaceX has presented Mars entery and landing profiles. Refueling makes it perfect for Mars.