Posted on 12/22/2015 9:51:33 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
Elon Musk and his firm, SpaceX, made history yesterday after sending a reusable Falcon 9 rocket into the air and then landing it vertically back on Earth.
But this self-styled " super villain " doesn't want to stop scrawling his name onto the annals of posterity just yet.
The billionaire has claimed that one of his future projects could involve building a city on Mars - an achievement which would make him one of the most famous humans of all time.
At a press conference held after the rocket landing, Musk discussed the possibility of putting settlers on the Red Planet.
"I think it really quite dramatically improves my confidence that a city on Mars is possible," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at mirror.co.uk ...
You would need to terra-form the planet surface. Find a way to increase the air pressure to produce enough oxygen for human survival. You also need to hope to find enough water below the surface as making it requires far too much energy. This doesn’t even deal with the decreased gravity which is going to demineralize anyone’s bones.
Distance from Earth to Mars = 34,000,000 miles
So how much government money, tax breaks and grants are you going to need for that Elon?
I think we are at least 100 years away from anything more then a scientific research station like we have in Antarctica. I am 49 years old and hope to be around when we finally have scientists on mars on long term assignments.
Distance from Earth to Mars = 34,000,000 miles
...
And most of that distance would be covered in freefall.
From another article. Musk ran out of the control room to watch the rocket land. He heard the sonic boom and thought it exploded. He didn’t know it was a success until he went back into the control room.
Larger distance, more time, greater potential for problems.
Musk has already lowered the cost of space launches. With the successful landing, it’s most likely going to go down much more. Of all the people who get taxpayer money, Musk seems to pay it back as well as anyone.
Lol — I bet the old guard at the Cape got a kick out of that!!
Theyd have to have rotating section for gravity. They cant do well otherwise.
Didn’t Bezos already do this?
mine asteroids for resources... water, minerals and precious elements needed for building interplanetary space equipment.
If we were to terra form by adding a few trillion-trillion tons of “stuff” to mars’ planetary mass by importing materials from asteroids... I think its orbit would change. slower, heavier, further from the sun, and colder right?
still a below ground city should be feasible for a small initial colony, perhaps one that is military / industrial in nature...
There have been some long term stays on the ISS without artificial gravity.
I lean toward robotic exploration, so you don’t have to convince me. But some people really want to go.
If you dont want muscle loss and bone loss you will need it. It is not preventable no matter how much exercise one does in zero-g. To be in top shape and health for both long trips and on the martian surface you will have to have it.
“Falcon 9 launch yesterday = 60 miles”
“Distance from Earth to Mars = 34,000,000 miles”
The problem is not the distance. The problem is the lack of enough atmosphere and atmospheric air resistance to brake a deorbiting spacecraft to land safely on the Martian surface. The development of a spacecraft piloting control system capable of automatically using booster rockets to softly land the spacecraft on a precise target makes it feasible to land multiple unmanned spacecraft on the surface of Mars to be used as the infrastructure and habitats of an initial research outpost for humans. There have long been a number of such habitat designs available. The problem has been how to land them safely within the required target area. SpaceX has now demonstrated a spacecraft control system that may be able to accomplish such a task.
Doesn’t Mars have giant underground alien machines already for doing the terraforming? All we need to do is turn them on.
Good points - distance is a huge factor, though - there is no denying that!
You don’t need to terra-form the entire surface...just enclosed areas for sufficient for human life (as in Total Recall).
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