Hawkings: Survival requires space colonies

Tracy Press ^ | June 14,2006 | Sylvia Hui

[txroadkill]

HONG KONG — The survival of the human race depends on its ability to find new homes elsewhere in the universe because there’s an increasing risk that a disaster will destroy Earth, world-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking said Tuesday.

Humans could have a permanent base on the moon in 20 years and a colony on Mars in the next 40 years, the British scientist told a news conference.

“We won’t find anywhere as nice as Earth unless we go to another star system,” added Hawking, who came to Hong Kong to a rock star’s welcome Monday. Tickets for his lecture Wednesday were sold out.

Hawking said that if humans can avoid killing themselves in the next 100 years, they should have space settlements that can continue without support from Earth.

“It is important for the human race to spread out into space for the survival of the species,” Hawking said. “Life on Earth is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers we have not yet thought of.”

[Williams]

Shows I've seen about terraforming mars said it would take about 100,000 years to build an atmosphere.

Hawking raised a lot of modern bug a boos as the reason, but reality is we are not surviving in the long run on Earth. The Sun will burn us to a crisp, and I suspect some world wide geologic disaster will occur before then. Asteroid, volcanic, CO2 from ocean depths, etc.

[Arthalion]

Sure it can...then the solar wind will blow the new multi-trillion dollar atmoshpere out into deep space along with the promised H2O swamp land these terraformers are proposing...What protects the earth from evaporation has been the protective magnetic field shielding us from solar winds.

I just have to point out that Venus has no real magnetic field either, and it has a substantial atmosphere. The gravity well and the chemical composition of the atmosphere combine to provide a stable atmospheric shell that only loses a very small percentage of its lighter elements to the solar wind (this is why there is practically no free hydrogen in the Venusian atmosphere).

You are correct in that the pipe dream of an Earthlike atmosphere can never be realized. It is quite possible, however, to create a CO2/Nitrogen atmosphere that would support plant growth and oxygen production over much of the surface. The lower surface gravity of Mars could hold an atmospheric pressure of about 8psi. This would be like living at about 12,000 feet here on Earth...high, but doable. The equatorial area would have a shirtsleeve environment with weather and plant conditions similar to those found in alpine forests and meadows. While O2 content would be substantially lower because of loss due to the solar winds, it's even probable that many animals could be adapted and allowed to roam in that environment. People would still live in bubbles, but they wouldn't need to be pressurized, only sealed to keep their internal O2 mix higher. People could venture outside for very short stints without any aid, but any kind of manual labor or extended visit outside of the bubble would require some kind of supplemental oxygen.

The real danger with the lack of a magnetic field isn't to the atmosphere, but from UV radiation emitted by the sun. Anyone actually attempting to go sleeveless would end up with a nasty case of skin cancer fairly quickly. The biodomes could integrate a UV filter into their materials easily to permit shirtsleeve outdoor environments, but anyone actually leaving the bubble would need to wear skin covering clothing with a UV layer built in.

[Old Seadog]

Hawking

[burzum]

At the equator in summer, Mars can get up to 78 degrees. Enough greenhouse gases and it would be a cooler version of Earth.

Are you proposing Global Warming? I think Al Gore has a Powerpoint presentation to show to you.

[mountainlyons]

They said that there was life "everywhere" so why the big fuss. Evolution should replace an inefficient species like humans real soon anyway.

[Arthalion]

As far as water, there are dozens of large ice bodies in the outer systems that can be dropped into Mars

The impact model for creating a wet atmosphere really doesn't work all that well. The Earth, for example, has about 1.5 billion cubic kilometers of water. Ceres, the largest known ice filled body in our solar system, is estimated to have about 200 million. The problem is that Ceres is about 500 miles across, and slamming that into Mars is going to not only destroy a bunch of that water, but rupture the surface of the planet, create an orbiting mess of ejecta that will interfere with planetary landing attempts for decades, and throw large chunks of rock into space that could potentially hit Earth (remember, we're "downhill" from Mars in the solar system...material ejected from the Mars gravity well has to cross the Earths orbit on its way into the Sun). Since creating a wet atmosphere would require MANY of these kinds of impacts, the concept becomes too cumbersome and dangerous to be seriously considered.

It's a little more sci-fi, but a better option is to mine another larger body...such as Jupiter, Saturn, or Europa, and transplant its water to Mars. The whole thing could be done with robots using off-Earth resources, and it could potentially achieve the same goals in the same time period with far less cost, technological advancement, or threat to the Earth.

[wolfcreek]

You'd think he would be trying to find a way to get out of that wheelchair.

[ASOC]

And they will need to find some extra gravity, oh, and a magnetic field dense enough to provide radiation protection, water and, and, and.....

[Irish_Thatcherite]

In the short term, the colonization of space will save Western Civilization, falling birth rates would reverse - a high birth rate would be necessary for utilizing the new frontier, and it would solve the immigration problem - immigrants would be drawn by the endless opportunities of space, rather than the limited opportunities offered by Earth.

Furthermore, the new frontier would bring about a rebirth of innovation, of pioneering spirit, and thus should restore personal responsibility and traditional values.

[Irish_Thatcherite]

Bump to #49.

[NicknamedBob]

"... someone is an actor and they think it makes them smart or something."

Very nice. I will treasure this one.

[NicknamedBob]

"...we should send them to Mars to form a "worker's paradise."

I'm okay with this expcept for wasting Mars in this way.

How about Mercury instead?

[cowdog77]

There goes our taxes....

It's all just a cover to "acclimate" the masses into coughing up more money for NASA in the near future because we're starting to realize that future funding for this particular bureaucratic mess is just more money down a rat hole. Anyone care to guess how many millions it took to get a vaccum cleaner sized lint bag of "meteor dust" back from space a few months ago???

The need to flee to space is just an excuse to fleece the taxpayer.

[cowdog77]

There goes our taxes....

It's all just a cover to "acclimate" the masses into coughing up more money for NASA in the near future because we're starting to realize that future funding for this particular bureaucratic mess is just more money down a rat hole. Anyone care to guess how many millions it took to get a vaccum cleaner sized lint bag of "meteor dust" back from space a few months ago???

The need to flee to space is just an excuse to fleece the taxpayer.

[ThomasThomas]

I saw him on The Simpson. WARNING There are TWO spaceship. Don't get on the wrong one.
Was he on that episode or the other one?

[NicknamedBob]

"It's a little more sci-fi, but a better option is to mine another larger body...such as Jupiter, Saturn, or Europa, and transplant its water to Mars. The whole thing could be done with robots using off-Earth resources, and it could potentially achieve the same goals in the same time period with far less cost, technological advancement, or threat to the Earth."

What is your opinion of using perhaps just three million cubic kilometers of the 1.5 billion cubic kilometers of Earth's water to reform the Martian oceans?

My conjecture is that removing ice from Earth, (at Antarctica), would reduce the dangers of sea-flooding due to a possible warming of Earth, allow electromagnetic catapult launches of iceload spaceships into Earth orbit and beyond, and permit the colonization of the Solar System without using a great deal of rocket fuel.

Why ice? Because one of the other ways to use an electromagnetic launcher is to send suborbital loads to desert regions on Earth, (a for-profit scheme), in order to make the deserts bloom with agriculture. Money from this project could fund space exploration and colonization.

This is all a part of my modest plan to terraform Earth, Mars, Venus, and other locations around the Solar System.

[NicknamedBob]

"There goes our taxes.... "

No taxes at all need be consumed. Simply revoke the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 and Free Enterprise will be happy to cough up the money -- for a potential profit.

Then all you need is a good business plan. See above.

[Irish_Thatcherite]

I have a siphon theory for transporting water from Earth to another planet - only trouble is the planet in question would have to weigh more than Earth.

[NicknamedBob]

"I have a siphon theory for transporting water from Earth to another planet ..."

I think that theory sucks.

Clearly we should just throw snowballs.

[Irish_Thatcherite]

I think that theory sucks.

That is the idea!!