| I want a scientific mission to mars I hope doing so pushes science and engineering know how forward. Going to mars on a larger scale is presently nonsense because beyond the science there is no reason to go there. There just isn't anything of exploitable value there. We can't at this level of technology teraform mars nor live there without massive radiation shielding eg live like rats underground 99% of the time. Furthermore every aspect of our technological civilization is heavily dependant on a long chain of products with their own deps stretching back in a massive graph. Any such endeavor would be incredibly costly per person, yield little more than hosting a half dozen people, and require a constant input of goods from home without which everyone does. This isn't a frontier town because its too expensive and it doesn't have things that can enrich home base for less than cost on acquisition. It isn't a backup plan if Earth dies because exploding a 1000 nukes would leave the bombed out husk 1000x more livable. Its not a second earth because we can't teraform it at present level of technology. It won't create a dragon hoard of wealth because there is no reason to believe it will create any. Its just a science mission like the ISS. It does actually start with government money because nobody has multiple trillions to spend on something that won't create wealth because why would it. Please refute something of what I said. Let's start with how a large scale colony is going to be viable and earn money. Please consider the cost of constant support, how they will achieve self sufficiency and on what time scale including everything from mining to pharmacutical manufacturing how they will deal with radiation and so forth. Please cite actual sources. While you shift from trying to look cool to actual debate please leave this shit at the door. > Perhaps you haven't made your 1st million yet... |
I encourage you to implement this mission. No one is stopping you. I hope you succeed.
> Going to mars on a larger scale is presently nonsense
The history of humanity at every scale is men saying "x project is nonsense" while other men do stuff (I recall my grandfather telling me how he was told that building a 5 acre dairy farm in the middle of nowhere, with no roads and no technology was impossible and would bankrupt him. That farm eventually scaled up to a "larger scale" that he was assured was impossible).
You really are terribly boring, or terribly young, or both. Sad.
Here's the thing: you bore me. I feel no inclination to engage with your dull diatribe. I'm the wrong audience for you, and you're a waste of my time, as I am a waste of yours.
So, find someone who cares about or agrees with what you're saying and you'll have a more productive debate, I promise.
> Let's start with how a large scale colony is going to be viable and earn money.
Here's thing. If you answer the questions you raise, you win the prize at the next frontier. That's what innovation is about. You can be given infinite amounts of money anywhere in the world if you present solutions to questions that other men can't figure out. That's the game.
But you don't actually want to answer the questions: "how do we colonize Mars", "how do we build a 1M person base on the moon?" You want to moralize about your low expectations and treat your lack of imagination as a virtue. I categorically refuse to play that game. But good luck.