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Honestly I think one of the possible premier uses of orbital (though not Martian) resources would actually be agriculture. Limiting biological contamination and
by XorNot 1y ago
Honestly I think one of the possible premier uses of orbital (though not Martian) resources would actually be agriculture. Limiting biological contamination and maintaining sterile environments, unlike other industries, can produce a value-added product compared to the inputs.
Also there's at least a plausible mass trade off - a space borne habitat structure doesn't need to support its own weight against gravity, so you might be able to trade favorably on the launch costs (e.g. grow crops in a big inflatable dome under hydroponic conditions). Certainly it would make enforcing quarantine easier.
- PaulHoule 1y agoLarge structures and LEO do look like the closest you could come to the LEO dream. The atmosphere for a baby Bernal sphere that has a usable area of 35 acres would take about 15 starships to send up which would be like getting 1 starship load to the moon. Building something like that which is a simulation environment for Mars might be cheaper than going to Mars.