[Red Badger]

Not necessarily.....................

[hal ogen]

This will be ridiculously expensive. Instead, how about spending money on developing synths. These robots could do necessary tasks, including setting up factories to produce more of them.

[DannyTN]

[robroys woman]

The song “Rocket Man” sums it up. When it’s just a job, it’s nothing special. And once enabled to see the risks and benefits, and it is just routine, you’d have to pay a person a LOT of money to do it. And that might not even be enough.

There was an old Firesign Theater skit about the government wanting families to colonize space. Their ad went something like this: Godlike voice: “We’re looking for families who want to live in tubes and press buttons.”

[Architect of Avalon]

The entire point of space exploration needs to be to find water worlds.

[marron]

Mars' atmosphere is about 1 percent as thick as Earth's, meaning the planet is hit by a lot more solar radiation than humans are currently used to.

They need to build underground.

[Mr. K]

EXPLORATION ALWAYS IS

Duh...

[marron]

Establishing a culture that values the survival of the colony over individual members would require some serious ethical changes, including more liberal practices regarding abortion of nonviable offspring and "euthanasia of terminally ill persons," the authors wrote.

OK, I don't want this guy in charge of the colony.

[dfwgator]

[bk1000]

There’s no air to breathe, but the author is worried about getting a sunburn.

[Snickering Hound]

[Mr. K]

Mars needs to be smacked with an asteroid to get the outer crust oscillation against the inner core started again, so that it develops a magnetic field.

Then, smash another asteroid with a lot of water, and start oxygen generators

They did that in a movie once. If it saves the life of one triple-breasted midget it is worth it.

[DownInFlames]

Questions needed to be answered:

1. Can mars be Tara formed from rock
2. Can humans survive while Tara forming is in progress
3. How long to Tara form
4. What is the cost to transform mars into a livable colony

[Flick Lives]

The effects of microgravity are also concerning. Mars' gravitational pull is about one-third as strong as Earth's...

Mars doesn't have a microgravity. It has gravity-lite.

[Delta 21]

Why do you think Mars has mutants in the first place?

[Buckeye McFrog]

More “we’re smarter than God” drivel from the usual sources.

[Magnum44]

conceiving kids on Mars will be even harder.

I'll say...

[pa_dweller]

NASA studies have shown that radiation exposure might damage astronauts' brain cells and increase their risk of developing cancer.

Somebody else's brain cells have been damaged, too. If pilots and flight attendants are radiation workers how's it going to be any better on a planet with no magnetic field where one is exposed to cosmic radiation 24:37/7?

[dfwgator]

Mars ain’t the kind of place to raise your kids.

[j.argese]

Truth be told, I don't think it's so hot to bring people back from space exploration or extraterrestrials anyway. God only knows what they would be bringing down or what any disease we gave them would mutate into.