``Human colonies on moon and mars may be possible ''

The Hindu ^ | 01/06/07

[KevinDavis]

CHENNAI : The first step towards cheaper space travel, that of creating a reusable launch vehicle, will be taken on Wednesday with the launch of a space recovery experiment, said R. V. Perumal, Director, Liquid Propulsions Systems Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), here on Thursday.

The attempt to recover the satellite would be made on January 22, he said at the inauguration of `Kurukshetra', a national-level inter-collegiate technical festival, organised by students of College of Engineering, Anna University. Around 67 per cent of the total cost of a launch is spent on the single-use launch vehicle.

Initiating human colonies on the moon and mars would become possible at the end of this century, going by the rate at which Indian space research was proceeding, he predicted. The year 2040 would probably see tourist flights into space, production of lunar energy and inter-planetary missions, he said.

[KevinDavis]

It is possible....

[KevinDavis]

[golfisnr1]

Better duck those incoming meteorites.

[stylin19a]

prisons....

[RightWhale]

By the end of the century. 2099. Even NASA will be doing this by 2020 and could have been doing it since 1980.

[jmcenanly]

Why are all these optimistic articles coming from India? Have Americans lost their sense of optimism, or is it just those who write for a living?

[KevinDavis]

Well the media here in America is not that optimistic...

[Hawk1976]

I've thought about Mars a little bit. Greenhouses would work on the surface, I think with a little work the Air currents in that big canyon could be used to drive turbines for energy. Most of the colony would be underground to protect against dome failures. The surface could be used to create rocket fuel for use by the surface to space station fleet and later on the interplanetary ships. Water would be the limiting factor, and all available water would have to be controlled and recycled.

[SunkenCiv]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1763760/posts

[TimSkalaBim]

yes, earth-bound one, it is possible...