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The MOM craft will cary thermal infrared imaging spectrometer to map Mars’ surface composition and mineralogy. These findings — coupled with the infor
by malandrew 13y ago
The MOM craft will cary thermal infrared imaging
spectrometer to map Mars’ surface composition and
mineralogy. These findings — coupled with the information
gleaned from the NASA’s Curiosity Rover — will give us a
better understanding of Mars’ surface, in preparation for
the first human visitors to the Red Planet.
So serious question: why do we keep only planning on missions to Mars? It seems like setting up a permanent moonbase would be a very prudent goal to work on at the same time that we are looking to head to mars.
- Achshar 13y agoMars has a better atmosphere and magnetosphere. Setting up a base would be easier (in the long run) on mars and compared to moon because of the amount of upkeep required. That and marks is a lot more interesting (geologically) than moon since we now know that it once had free flowing neutral water. Plus the length and temperature of day/night cycle is more manageable and earth like for mars as compared to moon.
- danielweber 13y agoMars has basically no magnetosphere. It still has an atmosphere, and thin as it is it'll still protect you from a lot of cosmic and solar radiation. (Not as much as Earth's atmosphere does, though.) I agree it's definitely way easier to colonize Mars than the Moon.
- rgower 13y agoBelieve it or not, the Moon would be much more difficult to colonize. With absolutely not atmosphere, you're totally naked to the harsh environment of radiation from space. Mars has a thin but substantial atmosphere, and easily accessible resources. With current technologies, the only way to colonize the Moon is to do it underground - a non-trivial engineering hurdle to say the least.