Mars One will establish the first human settlement on Mars in 2023. A habitable settlement will be waiting for the settlers when they land. The settlement will support them while they live and work on Mars the rest of their lives. Every two years after 2023 an additional crew will arrive, such that there is a real living, growing community on Mars. Mars One has created a technical plan for this mission that is as simple as possible. For every component of the mission we have identified at least one potential supplier. Mars One invites you to join us in this next giant leap for mankind!
Check out the video on their home page: mars-one.com
He's (Obama) the President of Hate. He has magically allowed the blue monkeys to embrace hatred, to feel proud of it, to murder, to conquer. They never would have been able to take this step without him.
**Freign**
quote:Originally posted by lucidnightmare Why not start with the moon ?
There are various reasons. First and foremost, solar collectors on Mars will receive usable amounts of energy 10-12 hours of every day, which permits fairly small battery storage systems to carry through the night, whereas solar collectors on Luna get usable energy for 14 out of every 28 days - which means an alternative power source or one hell of a battery bank is needed during the Lunar night.
Second, there is fairly readily available water, oxygen, and nitrogen on Mars. All three are much scarcer and more difficult to refine from Lunar resources
Third, the atmosphere of Mars, while thin, provides some protection from incoming radiation. Thus, less physical shielding (mass) need be incorporated in your structures as compared to Luna, with essentially no atmosphere. The same is true for incoming meteoric material.
Fourth, the atmosphere of Mars provides some partial pressure, which means the structures can be less robust to contain a workable atmospheric pressure, as compared to the vacuum on Luna. Again, less mass.
Lots more reasons could be listed. One I'm especially fond of is that the Martian atmosphere will support aircraft, either balloons or winged, permitting wide area exploration on much shorter time lines.
quote:Originally posted by Trenchant_Troll:
The good news is that it's the Dutch doing it. They are expendable.
I suspect you are enormously in error. There are one hell of a lot of space enthusiasts world-wide, as evidenced by the Mars Society, and various other organizations, some (like the British Interplanetary Society) of very long standing and great expertise regarding the problems to be faced.
This approach (commercial sponsorship with heavy use of the Internet to generate and sustain ongoing interest and support) was pioneered on paper by Ben Bova, in his novels Mars , and Return to Mars . I suspect iot will work very well.
He's (Obama) the President of Hate. He has magically allowed the blue monkeys to embrace hatred, to feel proud of it, to murder, to conquer. They never would have been able to take this step without him.
**Freign**
Last edited by SimpleSimon on 06-06-2012 at 01:30 AM
LF, they fully intend to be making more there. It's not as though these people are going to be completely dependent on earth, they have the resources of an entire planet to work with. Shame we don't know the minimum colony size for sustainability.
quote:Originally posted by lucidnightmare You must read about this sort of thing SS. Makes sense though.
I do. For the last 50 years or so.
As for SLH's point about minimum colony size for sustainability, that is dependent upon environment, and its impact on required minimum technological requirements. That topic, by itself, has generated a LOT of research and speculation. The "classic" model suggests a minimum population of 7-10,000 before true self-sufficiency is attainable. Modern approaches, taking advantage of micro-electronics and micro-materials fabrication suggests more like 1,200 to 2,500.
Everything has to start somewhere, if it is to succeed and grow. Since the intent of this effort is to establish a permanent and growing human presence on Mars, I'd bet that the personnel selection criteria will set a maximum age for volunteers of the early 30's for women, and the early 40's for men, for obvious reasons.
He's (Obama) the President of Hate. He has magically allowed the blue monkeys to embrace hatred, to feel proud of it, to murder, to conquer. They never would have been able to take this step without him.
**Freign**
as I look back at the history of "sustainable colonies" I see that most of them were horribly destroyed toot-sweet.
could the modern fully mortgaged & insured industrialized voter accept a doomed Mars colony as the stepping stone for intra-solar human expansion?
I invoke the james-cameron-alien/avatar-movie hypothesis that only large corporations would be willing to risk the certain losses necessary to travel beyond the far green country.
without the cold heartless bean counters we will never risk travel beyond what can be taken and captured by the patriotic volunteer militaries steered by our millionaire elected officials.
"I'm a human being, I exist... and if I speak one thought aloud, that thought lives..."
"Delusions... to make you think you have a strength, when you have no strength at all!!! You are nothing, but spindly limbs and a dream, and The State has no use for your kind!!!!"
quote:Originally posted by theMAC
I invoke the james-cameron-alien/avatar-movie hypothesis that only large corporations would be willing to risk the certain losses necessary to travel beyond the far green country.
without the cold heartless bean counters we will never risk travel beyond what can be taken and captured by the patriotic volunteer militaries steered by our millionaire elected officials.
Surely this depends on whether they can keep concentrating the production power in their own facilities. I predict this will be exponentially harder as we approach the technological singularity.
As seen in Prometheus, the Weyland corp is a good example of the inevitable degeneration following a production monopoly.
One or two solid organic chemistry breakthroughs would change the game significantly vis a vis colony sustainability - not counting pre-hatched chickens but the way things have been going it's my guess that whatever tech exists by the time we get there is going to lower a lot of costs in terms of food production and textiles and energy and so forth. It's a cool time to be alive in that regard.
Synthetic biology, and the enormous increase in our understanding of molecular genetics, suggests that you are absolutely correct, Freign. Somehow, I doubt that the emigrant Mars colonists will have any qualms over GMO food sources.
He's (Obama) the President of Hate. He has magically allowed the blue monkeys to embrace hatred, to feel proud of it, to murder, to conquer. They never would have been able to take this step without him.
**Freign**
He's (Obama) the President of Hate. He has magically allowed the blue monkeys to embrace hatred, to feel proud of it, to murder, to conquer. They never would have been able to take this step without him.
**Freign**
Respectfully, after some of your previous posts, I'm surprised at your naivete, considering the scientific and logistical difficulties of actually sending a manned mission to Mars.
If NASA had retained its funding at the levels of the Apollo missions after all these years, it might be possible in 10-20 years. They haven't. My best estimate now with current funding is the 2050's.
It would appear that you failed to read the linked information, or view the linked video. As put forward, Mars-One is an entirely privately funded one way trip, utilizing current technology. No return system greatly simplifies the effort.
No governmental funding or bureaucracy involved in the design or construction, and depending on launch facility chosen, there may be remarkably little governmental interference in the entire process.
He's (Obama) the President of Hate. He has magically allowed the blue monkeys to embrace hatred, to feel proud of it, to murder, to conquer. They never would have been able to take this step without him.
**Freign**
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06-05-2012 10:52 PM
