Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by germinalphrase 2705 days ago
Why do we need to go to Mars?

Edit: I realize it’s an unpopular question here, but other than it being cool - why do we need a Mars colony?

3 comments

Quaid told us to.
Why do we need anything?
Off-site backup
That’s not an argument for Mars, it’s an argument for living somewhere other than just Earth. A distant, low-g, airless, wasteland seems like an odd choice for that. If we’re going to have to terraform, at least Venus has an atmosphere and some tectonic activity, and even space stations or asteroids would be more feasible than Mars.

So why Mars?

Because I'm nearly through the second book of Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy...