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BOOK EXCERPT -- The Case For Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must
io9 ^ | 6/28/11 | Robert Zubrin

Posted on 06/30/2011 10:46:48 AM PDT by LibWhacker

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1 posted on 06/30/2011 10:46:55 AM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: LibWhacker

Interesting


2 posted on 06/30/2011 10:52:09 AM PDT by therightliveswithus
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To: LibWhacker

Best bet for the cosmic ray issue: spend several launches shipping water into orbit. Assemble the water shield structure (and the additional propulsion) in earth orbit. Go from there.


3 posted on 06/30/2011 10:54:20 AM PDT by Flightdeck (If you hear me yell "Eject, Eject, Eject!" the last two will be echos...)
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To: therightliveswithus

We need a place to send the libs after we win in 2012, otherwise they will file a lawsuit over EVERYTHING the new President and Congress try to do...


4 posted on 06/30/2011 10:54:37 AM PDT by BigEdLB (Now there ARE 1,000,000 regrets - but it may be too late.)
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To: LibWhacker
[shrug] We've got a big budget surplus, might as well use it on something!

Oh. Wait. I got that wrong. We don't have a surplus. We have about $120T in debt.

Nevermind.

5 posted on 06/30/2011 10:55:47 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (The USSR spent itself into bankruptcy and collapsed -- and aren't we on the same path now?)
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To: LibWhacker

Dust, rocks, and old ice we have plenty of right here. Can’t we just skip it and locate the planet where those Green Orion slave girls are?


6 posted on 06/30/2011 10:58:09 AM PDT by NavyCanDo
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To: LibWhacker

A good start would be to build a dome structure that replicates Mar’s environment and atmosphere, and settle it with about 100 volunteers for one year. I wouldn’t want to participate, but would be interested in seeing the results. I’d rather move to Antarctica.


7 posted on 06/30/2011 10:59:47 AM PDT by pallis
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To: BigEdLB
Actually, a frontier environment like Mars would be a place for self-relieant conservative types. Liberals who live off of others and are content to sit and wait for the Government to bail them out ah-la NOLA during Katrina would not last long.

Sounds promising... :-)

8 posted on 06/30/2011 11:00:23 AM PDT by 5thGenTexan
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To: LibWhacker
Can we send the Muslims and progressives first to see if they get along and whoever is left standing can populate Mars and we will have our world back. Win - win situation, IMHO. As someone said we could "drain the swamp."
9 posted on 06/30/2011 11:00:55 AM PDT by Bitsy (!)
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To: BigEdLB
We need a place to send the libs after we win in 2012

The Red Planet would be a nice destination.
10 posted on 06/30/2011 11:05:19 AM PDT by Genoa (Starve the beast.)
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To: pallis

“A good start would be to build a dome structure that replicates Mars’ environment and atmosphere, and settle it with about 100 volunteers for one year.”

DONE. Next?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/07/mars-space-station-google-mars_n_872556.html


11 posted on 06/30/2011 11:07:05 AM PDT by treetopsandroofs (Had FDR been GOP, there would have been no World Wars, just "The Great War" and "Roosevelt's Wars".)
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To: LibWhacker

Since we can barely pay the energy costs of living on the Earth it is not credible that we could pay costs a hundred or thousand fold to live in a hostile environment.

What good would exporting Marxism to Mars do for anyone?


12 posted on 06/30/2011 11:25:16 AM PDT by arrogantsob (Why do They hate her so much?)
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To: arrogantsob
What good would exporting Marxism to Mars do for anyone?

Ah, but what if we exported all of it?

13 posted on 06/30/2011 11:37:43 AM PDT by agere_contra ("Debt is the foundation of destruction" : Sarah Palin.)
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To: agere_contra

THAT I will support.


14 posted on 06/30/2011 11:53:14 AM PDT by arrogantsob (Why do They hate her so much?)
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To: treetopsandroofs

“DONE. Next?”

Yeah, sure.


15 posted on 06/30/2011 12:04:07 PM PDT by pallis
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To: LibWhacker

We should settle both Mars and Venus.

Venus is more problematic. Perhaps a micro-biological approach to capturing the sulphur on the planet.

Mars two should be seeded with biologicals that would help prepare the planet.
Wouldn’t hurt to crash some comets into Mars both to Mass for atmosphere retention, increase water, and help warm up the planet.


16 posted on 06/30/2011 12:32:37 PM PDT by DannyTN
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To: pallis

“DONE. Next?”

Yeah, sure.

“You don’t actually think they spend $20,000.00 on a hammer, $30,000.00 on a toilet seat do you?”

(Judd Hirsch, Independence Day)


17 posted on 06/30/2011 1:49:07 PM PDT by treetopsandroofs (Had FDR been GOP, there would have been no World Wars, just "The Great War" and "Roosevelt's Wars".)
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To: DannyTN

First the moon.... Send our worst criminals on a one-way trip to the moon and occasionally ship them air, water, food and construction materials and see what they make of it.


18 posted on 06/30/2011 1:51:21 PM PDT by treetopsandroofs (Had FDR been GOP, there would have been no World Wars, just "The Great War" and "Roosevelt's Wars".)
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To: treetopsandroofs

“occasionally ship them air, water, food and construction materials and see what they make of it.”

I can already tell you what will happen... some of them would use the construction materials to make makeshift weapons, to rob the others of the air, water, and food.


19 posted on 06/30/2011 2:10:56 PM PDT by Boogieman
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To: LibWhacker

You guys are gonna think I have gone greenie, but....I strongly disagree with Bob Zubrin because:

1. Mars probably has indigenous life forms which need to be studied. Importing a bunch of Earth organisms will probably wipe out the indigenous ones. At the very least, it will complicate our investigations. “Hey, I discovered life! Oh, it’s E coli again.”

2. After spending enormous energy to climb out of a gravity well why are we descending back into one? Asteroids, especially Apollo-Amor (Earth crossers) are far more accessible. The low delta Vee required for mining and returning metals from asteroids makes this our first opportunity to make a profit.

3. Colonizing for the sake of colonizing is expensive. There is no conceivable Martian product that can support a colony. However, asteroids have been proven to have nickel, platinum group metals, and other valuable resources.

4. Mining and industry in free space have 24 hour per day sunshine to use for process heat and power. Mars has day/night cycles so you gotta go nuclear.

5. The Martian surface is inhospitable. What keeps eating the seals out of equipment that we land? Probably peroxides. The surface dust is corrosive.

I have met Bob, although I doubt he would remember me. I’ll give him credit for persistence. He’s been pushing Mars colonization for over 25 years.


20 posted on 06/30/2011 2:36:49 PM PDT by darth
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