3 ms·
Only if you intend to stand near it while it's running. Not trying to be glib, just pointing out that at least initially, there might not be any humans near. Ad
by greenbit 2y ago
Only if you intend to stand near it while it's running. Not trying to be glib, just pointing out that at least initially, there might not be any humans near. Admittedly, radiation might be a bother for high density electronics (CPUs, RAM, etc), but maybe it'd be cheaper to shield the bot-brains. Bots could rely on the power for a few years and when the humans get there, if nothing else you could drop all the rods in and let the rad flux die down.
I know, I wouldn't want that in my back yard either, but Mars is exactly nobody's back yard at present. Bootstrapping a (necessarily!) technological civilisation on another planet is not an un-risky business.
- ceejayoz 2y agoBarring significant progress in robotics we'll still need humans to maintain the thing.
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago> we'll still need humans to maintain the thing Sure, but you're not going to need major shielding for the first few hundred reactors on the planet. Putting the stuff that requires maintenance away from the reactor will be enough for a few decades. (Put simply, the aspiring interplanetary powers who insist on heavily shielding their reactors aren't going to be releavant on the ground. You can launch a second reactor for the cost of one's shielding.)