Space Survival

Living on Earth ^ | 02/17/06

[KevinDavis]

YOUNG: The Mars rover Spirit recently reached a spot scientists hope will give clues into the planet's past, including whether water laid down it's layers of rock. Some at NASA hope a human mission to Mars will follow the rover's success. And a few scientists are already planning for ways to feed those explorers.

Tony Ganzer of member station KJZZ in Phoenix reports on breakthroughs that could provide fresh greens on the red planet.

[KevinDavis]

[beezdotcom]

It all sounds great, except that Greenpeace, the Sierra Club and a host of other organizations will do everything in their power to use the courts to prevent us from "besmirching the pristine nature of Mars" by ever attempting to grow anything on it.

[r9etb]

I remember when KJZZ was an AM jazz radio station in the Seattle area.

[KevinDavis]

F them....

[Laz711]

If people ever get there (the biggest challenge), then there is nothing at all that a terrestrial agency, government or private, that will have the means to stop the colonists from doing whatever they want to do. Unless Greenpeace sends minions that outnumber colonists, then they can do nothing at all to them.

[BenLurkin]

Very cool.

The future of space colonization requires a technology in which people can live in an entirely closed system. No need for replenishments of of air, water or food -- everything is recycled.

There's no other way, IMO.

[AFreeBird]

It all sounds great, except that Greenpeace, the Sierra Club and a host of other organizations

Well I don't know about the others, but how could GREENpeace be against turning the Red Planet green?

[KevinDavis]

That is true..

[beezdotcom]

If people ever get there (the biggest challenge), then there is nothing at all that a terrestrial agency, government or private, that will have the means to stop the colonists from doing whatever they want to do.

I expect that the first private company to offer homesteading trips to Mars (I doubt NASA will ever get that far) will have injunctions filed against them to prevent them from launching. (Or, at the rate things are going, by then the local mullah will just have the CEO beheaded).

[Zuben Elgenubi]

Hard to believe those Mars rovers are still performing. They must be a year over their expected life.

[Laz711]

It is possible, but, if some companies are able to get that far, who will stop them from preparing anyway? The most likely vessel to go to mars will have to be built in orbit anyway, they could just leave with all they need and not come back, or not tell anyone that they are going to stay there, just go and study. But I think that it will be different than that. Either way, with the technology at hand, people will go with or without government approval.

[KevinDavis]

That is true.. When it does happen, look for a brian drain to happen.. I mean why should the best the brightest should stay on this rock when they have the chance to go someplace better...

[Flyer]

Seemingly touched with a load of luck from the giddy-up, Opportunity has been galloping since she strutted off of her lander, some 670 sols ago. A mission planned for 90 days has turned into an adventure that's lasted nearly two Earth years!

Link

Amazing. With just a little effort on our part, no one will catch us in space exploration.

[Vroomfondel]

Well I don't know about the others, but how could GREENpeace be against turning the Red Planet green?

Simple. If there's so much as a microbe on Mars (like maybe, desert varnish, they'll want the whole planet declared a wilderness area.

[beezdotcom]

Either way, with the technology at hand, people will go with or without government approval.

I sincerely hope you're right. But when I look at how the envirowhackos contributed to the death of Columbia by haranguing NASA until they changed the foam to a more "environmentally friendly" (and less stable) version, I begin to wonder if there's ANYTHING they can't foul up.

[BlazingArizona]

Unless Greenpeace sends minions that outnumber colonists, then they can do nothing at all to them.

Even if Greenpeace could afford to send minions into space, it would take technology to get them there. This is why Greenpeace's space activities have been limited to waving Earthbound protest signs at NASA's nuclear probe launches.

[Semper Paratus]

I don't want NASA talking about going back to to the moon as they have. Mars would really excite me though.

[RightWhale]

That would be correct. The 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty already prohibits any use of celestial bodies as they call the planets and asteroids and the moon. Nothing like a colony would get off the ground.

[RightWhale]

NASA's first new robotic missions to the moon will commence launching in 2008.