Posted on 10/31/2022 4:01:00 PM PDT by BenLurkin
In a presentation earlier this month, a team of researchers from The Geological Society of America (GSA)identified nine of what they believe to be the most livable caves on the surface of Mars — spaces large enough that they could give future explorers much-needed protection from the harsh environment of the planet's surface, The New York Times reports.
The Red Planet is a hostile place: temperatures can drop to below negative 148 degrees Fahrenheit, the atmosphere is incredibly thin, and there's no ozone layer, which means solar radiation is extreme as well. And that's not to mention the very real risk of getting hit by a massive meteorite.
In short, the best place to survive is very likely underground.
The researchers narrowed down their list of hot Martian real estate by starting with the Mars Global Cave Candidate Catalog, a massive collection of over 1,000 caves identified by NASA's Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which could potentially house human astronauts.
They whittled the list down to the best options by finding those within 60 miles of a potential landing site, and below around 3,300 feet of elevation, which could give descent vehicles more time as they experience their "seven minutes of terror" during their journey down to the surface.
(Excerpt) Read more at futurism.com ...
So, all this progress - just to be cave men again?
What utter foolishness.
take me....take me....Yeh right...
What could be lurking in those caves?
HeeChee Prayer Fans.
Not my idea of a vacation spot.
Liberals keep saying they’re leaving the US. Send them.
IIRC this was a plot point in the TV series Mars a few years ago. They found a cave to live in and I believe created an oxygen atmosphere where they were living. Of course, being a TV series, they barely found the cave in time.
That’ll work
In an environment where it goes what 200+ to 200- in the same day?
(probably not everywhere)
Thank you NASA!
Thank you NASA!
Thank you NASA!
(Of course, being a TV series, they barely found the cave in time.)
Just after the last commercial in that time slot?
And then......(tune in next week)
That’s how I started binge-watching ‘Lost’ - I started in the third season
(So, all this progress - just to be cave men again?)
At least we’ll be able to buy car insurance!!
C’mon man!!
“utter foolishness”
As long as only evil people go there I am good with it.
Let us start with a Democratic Congressional delegation to inspect the sites....we want to make sure there are no alien racists with guns spreading hate and hiding out there.
;-)
I’d like to go to Mars but only for a weekend. I’d need to leave my house on Friday evening to be on the surface by Saturday morning. I’d check out the place for a day, but I need to be back home by bedtime on Sunday.
I’m in for this trip for a stunning Facebook posting.
Caves won’t save us from extra-terrestrial biological entities. We better make sure we are not viewed as invaders.
I believe you might be thinking of "Robinson Crusoe On Mars". From Wikipedia:
Robinson Crusoe on Mars is a 1964 American science fiction film directed by Byron Haskin and produced by Aubrey Schenck that stars Paul Mantee, Victor Lundin, and Adam West. It is a science fiction retelling of the classic 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe...
Commander Christopher "Kit" Draper, USN, and Colonel Dan McReady, USAF, reach the red planet in their spaceship, Mars Gravity Probe 1. They are forced to use up their remaining fuel in order to avoid an imminent collision with a large orbiting meteoroid; they descend in their one-man lifeboat pods, becoming the first humans on Mars.
Draper eventually finds a cave for shelter. He figures out how to obtain the rest of what he needs to survive: he burns some coal-like rocks for warmth and discovers that heating them also releases oxygen. This allows him to refill his air tanks with a hand pump and to move around in the thin Martian atmosphere...
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