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I do not understand why not a lunar base first. It's closer to us, will lead to much more complicated problems to solve that we can get on Mars> - dealing wit

by hazov 14y ago

I do not understand why not a lunar base first. It's closer to us, will lead to much more complicated problems to solve that we can get on Mars> - dealing with plants in greenhouses with the much reduced gravity of the Moon compared to Mars - no atmosphere, although this means no weather, which makes things more predictable compared to Mars. For me there's no way a space colony grow to be huge without addressing ways of dealing with food production and stand alone survival of the colony, if we have ways to study this without spending months travelling, reducing risk and cost, then it's better, it would sum us more knowledge.

btilly 14y ago
He addressed that in a recent interview. The Moon has far less water than Mars. No CO2. And it has a 28 day rotation cycle, which makes growing plants much more difficult. Mars has water, plentiful CO2, and a day that's only about 40 minutes longer than Earth's. This makes growing plants on Mars much, much easier.
- Lambdanaut 14y ago
  Not to mention the extra gravity. We'll need all of the gravity we can get if we want to stave off muscle and bone degeneration. It's possible that Mars' light gravity (40% of Earth's) isn't even enough to keep us healthy without excessive exercise.
  - fudged71 14y ago
    If a baby were born on mars, I am curious how their growth would be affected by the difference in gravity. Would their muscle/bone development be cause problems due to evolutionary effects, or would they grow to match the physics of this planet, and therefore be physically fine. Perhaps the only issue would be growing up on one planet and moving to another.
diminish 14y ago
Rather than a base moon or mars or any planet, why not a space colony with pluggable units using a standard plug-in architecture to exchange energy, supplies etc. (Similar to an API). There is no main unit, similar to a P2P structure, and units can be stacked together to make huge colonies. Each cluster of units may move in an upfront known trajectory in the habitable zone of the Sun. The whole idea is that space startups may create newer units based on new ideas; and that way we may explore the space quicker.

by hazov 14y ago

btilly 14y ago

He addressed that in a recent interview. The Moon has far less water than Mars. No CO2. And it has a 28 day rotation cycle, which makes growing plants much more difficult. Mars has water, plentiful CO2, and a day that's only about 40 minutes longer than Earth's. This makes growing plants on Mars much, much easier.

Lambdanaut 14y ago
Not to mention the extra gravity. We'll need all of the gravity we can get if we want to stave off muscle and bone degeneration. It's possible that Mars' light gravity (40% of Earth's) isn't even enough to keep us healthy without excessive exercise.
- fudged71 14y ago
  If a baby were born on mars, I am curious how their growth would be affected by the difference in gravity. Would their muscle/bone development be cause problems due to evolutionary effects, or would they grow to match the physics of this planet, and therefore be physically fine. Perhaps the only issue would be growing up on one planet and moving to another.

diminish 14y ago

Rather than a base moon or mars or any planet, why not a space colony with pluggable units using a standard plug-in architecture to exchange energy, supplies etc. (Similar to an API). There is no main unit, similar to a P2P structure, and units can be stacked together to make huge colonies. Each cluster of units may move in an upfront known trajectory in the habitable zone of the Sun. The whole idea is that space startups may create newer units based on new ideas; and that way we may explore the space quicker.