Posted on 05/15/2009 6:12:29 PM PDT by KevinDavis
Science fiction writers have long imagined a future for humans on Mars, and Hollywood has created several movie fantasies about what the experience could be like (with a few improbable aliens added for extra drama). NASA has addressed the possibility of creating human colonies on Mars someday, but so far, only robots have stepped foot on the red soil.
How long will we have to wait for science fiction to become a reality? According to Charles Cockell, a microbiologist at the Open University in the UK, humans could go to Mars now.
"Technically, we could go today if we wanted to," he says, and suggests the reason humans haven't made the journey yet is because of political concerns. "I think we are ready. As time goes on, we're going to be more and more ready to go as technology gets better and life support systems improve."
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
I think we need to seek out the shelter of caves in the walls of martian canyons to start with. Personally I think that may be where we find existing life as well.
...why can I just see people protesting outside a martian terraforming facility shouting “Stop Martian Global Warming!!”?
lol, just thought I’d share my warped sense of humor. - ;)
I’d prefer Venus.
You go on ahead and give me a call when you have some softball fields prepared and some beachfront property for sale.......
Key up Sammy Hagar.
Instead of finding caves, a good bet would be to send nuclear powered robot tunneling machines on a one-way trip. They wouldn’t have to be fast, only methodical.
Every few feet into the hard rock, they would insert lightweight advanced ceramic reinforcing rod into the ceiling. When the tunnel was mined, then spray the inside with sealant against micro fissures.
Then their landing craft could be cannibalized to make ceiling, wall and flooring, as well as pressure doors. Once done, it could even be pressure tested before the humans arrive.
This would give lots of space, avoid the temperature extremes and lack of atmosphere, and any cosmic or induced radiation. The nuclear reactor powering the robots would remain for the energy and communications needs of the Mars base.
The technique could be perfected on the Moon, first, again, without people.
Nope!
The remainder of the science recorders were a meterological station with anemonitor, temperature and moisture senors. In the last 30 odd years the Martian atmospheric temperature has increase 1 degree! but marivn didn't do it!
I often wonder if Mars can ever be terraformed. The main problem is that the planet’s core seems to be “dead” and can’t generate an adequate manetic field.
So I guess the next step would be to “geohex” the planet. With the help of an army or robots, simply build a small dome structure, terraform the dome, then build a connecting dome and redo the process. Rinse and repeat until you get the desired size.
Scraping a couple inches deep into soil that’s been heavily radiated for millions or even billions of years is hardly enough to make any declarations of life on an entire planet.
Here on earth we find microbes in core samples from miles deep.
“Move to Station Number 5, see you next time around!”
LOL
It would be neat to have a manned excursion to Mars, but I’m actually more excited about the Hubble upgrade that is taking place now. The technical specs of the Wide Field Camera 3 look simply amazing, and I am betting that the images it produces and the knowledge that we’ll gain in the years to come will be astonishing. Maybe even paradigm-shifting.
According to Charles Cockell, a microbiologist at the Open University in the UK, humans could go to Mars now.Couldn't survive there, and couldn't get back, but yeah, humans could go now. ;')
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