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medea

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Aug 4, 2002
2,517
1
Madison, Wi
The Martian caves would protect humans from radiation and the severe weather, and may hold minerals, water and ice the colonists could use for life support.

`They're a safe place on a dangerous planet, an ideal refuge for research,'' said Penelope Boston, lead investigator for ``The Caves of Mars,'' a series of experiments partly funded by the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts.

`Caves can serve as the foundation to advance our civilization on Mars,'' said Boston, who also is director of cave studies at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.



Full Story:
http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/st.../ff/story/0001/20030816/200913106.htm&sc=1120
 

NavyIntel007

macrumors 65816
Nov 24, 2002
1,081
0
Tampa, FL
I'm not completely sure of this but I heard that the atmosphere of mars is mostly Carbon Dioxide. That would be perfect because eventually we could start terraforming Mars in order to sustain life. It would take a long time with just plants but it could be done.
 

Mr. Anderson

Moderator emeritus
Nov 1, 2001
22,568
6
VA
Well, its not just about the content of the atmosphere, but its presure. Its significantly less than earths - don't know the exact figures, but its like Earth at 20k feet of more.

But this does sound like a great first step, its easier than setting up a colony in constructed facilities on the surface.

But if you've ever been in a cave for any period of time, you'll know that there are some asthetic issues at work here, especially since you can't just step out of the cave and come home to Earth.....:D

It will take a lot of study, but if there are caves in some of the trenches, the atmospheric pressure would be greater and we could actually get things going on Mars much sooner than I expected.

Cool stuff :D

D
 

Mr. Anderson

Moderator emeritus
Nov 1, 2001
22,568
6
VA
Originally posted by themadchemist
so,

when can I buy my Martian cave-condo?;)

My guess would be that you're grandkids or great grandkids might get an option on this.

But you really did bring up a very interesting point in you spam - who does Mars belong to? I'm sure at first we'll still be seeing gov't sponsored trips to space, but its only a matter of time when corporations start the trips. Interplanetary real estate is going to be hot, I'd imagine. Moon crater with a view of earth rise, etc.

I wonder if it will be like the old west when the government opened up the land to anyone - as long as you could get there to claim it....;)

D
 

themadchemist

macrumors 68030
Jan 31, 2003
2,820
0
Chi Town
Originally posted by Mr. Anderson
My guess would be that you're grandkids or great grandkids might get an option on this.

But you really did bring up a very interesting point in you spam - who does Mars belong to? I'm sure at first we'll still be seeing gov't sponsored trips to space, but its only a matter of time when corporations start the trips. Interplanetary real estate is going to be hot, I'd imagine. Moon crater with a view of earth rise, etc.

I wonder if it will be like the old west when the government opened up the land to anyone - as long as you could get there to claim it....;)

D

To follow up my enlightening spam with something that is perhaps less of a spam...

Who would that "government" even be? Would the United States immediately claim the planet as a colony? Or would various countries sieze pieces for themselves. Would, then, the colonists eventually rebel.

Or would a separate authority be established to rule the planet?

Would wars be fought and blood be spilt to keep hold of terrain on the appropriately-colored Red Planet?

Before we can talk about the commercial control of other-worldly land, questions about the political control of the land will have to be answered.
 

Mr. Anderson

Moderator emeritus
Nov 1, 2001
22,568
6
VA
Ha! Well, I don't want this to go off and get tagged as a political thread, but it is going to be an issue.

I still remember the old Duck Dodgers in the 24th and 1/2 Century were Daffy Duck lands on Planet X, claiming it for the Earth and Marvin the Martian lands on Planet X, claiming it in the name of Mars. They end up destroying the whole planet.....;)

A governing body will eventually have to be set up, but my guess is that it will be quite some time before its needed. Parking space hotels in orbit is one thing, but when mining near-earth asteriods and comets for resources or setting up bases on the moon starts to become a reality, corporations and governments will be footing the bill. You won't have colonists for a while, just people working in space.

Start having babies born in space, the moon, or on Mars that won't be able to come back to the Earth because of the gravity and then things will change.

D
 

Powerbook G5

macrumors 68040
Jun 23, 2003
3,974
1
St Augustine, FL
Wow, in the future we might be able to revert back to the caveman era...only on a different planet! Actually, it is pretty interesting and I've heard quite a few convincing reports on the possibility and ability to actually pull it off in the next decade or two.
 

Thanatoast

macrumors 65816
Dec 3, 2002
1,007
177
Denver
Green Mars is an excellent (fictional) book dealing with the colonization of mars. It goes through all the political, social, and economic adventures of colonizing mars and starting a new civilization there. Very fun read.
 

Durandal7

macrumors 68040
Feb 24, 2001
3,153
0
I have always thought that Mars will mirror the history of North America. Starting off with a few inhospitable doomed colonies, eventually creating stable settlements and all leading up to a revolt when the Martians get sick of paying income tax to provide health care and education for the Earthlings.

I hope that Mars gets colonized eventually. It seems rather silly for the whole race to sit on one planet waiting for a comet or NEO to strike.
 

Jerry Spoon

macrumors 6502a
Jan 8, 2002
624
0
Historic St. Charles
Originally posted by Durandal7
I have always thought that Mars will mirror the history of North America. Starting off with a few inhospitable doomed colonies, eventually creating stable settlements and all leading up to a revolt when the Martians get sick of paying income tax to provide health care and education for the Earthlings.

I hope that Mars gets colonized eventually. It seems rather silly for the whole race to sit on one planet waiting for a comet or NEO to strike.
Actually, it would be they get sick of paying taxes to get protected by the folks back on earth....if your mirroring holds true.
 

big

macrumors 65816
Feb 20, 2002
1,074
0
tea will be spilt.

Conrtol of Mars land? Consider the poles here on earth, though several countries actually claim land at each, we can see how mars will be handled by these small examples.

largly uninhabitable, very difficult to reach, though the plus side? lots of free oxygen, plus you get to come back home. If you make it to mars, how long does it take, as well as all the fuel needed?

Caves? what sort of gases can be expected? Im all for the trip, but we have several years before we need to worry about it, eh?

its not like the shuttle fleet is up for the job.
 

Mudbug

Administrator emeritus
Jun 28, 2002
3,849
1
North Central Colorado
it's not just the rights to the land, but the rights to the air (or lack of it) above the land. Ask the folks who build highrises if they paid for land only or if they had to buy the air above and they'll tell you the air was more than the land.

Sure, it sounds like I'm off my rocker, but think - if you build up, instead of out, then your surface can be level and air can be added in without having to add major ductwork, which would require more supplies and pieces and parts from a bajillion miles away. So... I'm not so crazy, am I?

BTW - I doubt the air rights to mars will be of any interest to anyone for a LOOONG time to come, but still - gotta think of these things eventually.
 

Powerbook G5

macrumors 68040
Jun 23, 2003
3,974
1
St Augustine, FL
I'm already getting flashbacks to all the poorly acted Mars colony type sci fi movies I've seen...so far, every time a colony is established on Mars, it ends with everyone being killed in a horribly twisted way...
 

Mr. Anderson

Moderator emeritus
Nov 1, 2001
22,568
6
VA
Well, as for a colonial revolt - I think you'd have to wait till Mars was able to be self-sufficient. That's going to take a while, don't want to piss off the people supplying you with the things you need to have to survive....;)

D
 

themadchemist

macrumors 68030
Jan 31, 2003
2,820
0
Chi Town
Originally posted by Jerry Spoon
Actually, it would be they get sick of paying taxes to get protected by the folks back on earth....if your mirroring holds true.

don't forget the torture of, spread of disease to, and murder of the indigenous people of the planet!
 

OutThere

macrumors 603
Dec 19, 2002
5,730
3
NYC
I think that it would be wise to try and set up a colony on the moon to see how well a colony on another planet works, before we send people as far as Mars, because no matter how sure we are that everything will go well we will surely encounter some problems that are specifically a problem with colonies in outer space. Since it would take so long to get there if something went wrong tons of time would have been wasted waiting for them to arrive on Mars. Then NASA would perfect its system and send more people there, spending twice the money that one mission would have cost.

Think how strange it would be to be born on mars and then come visit Earth. Living on a hostile planet for all of your life and come to earth and be able to go where you want when you want. I think that it would really suck to grow up in a space colony.

Umm. Yeah. Ca c'est mes 0.02.
 

themadchemist

macrumors 68030
Jan 31, 2003
2,820
0
Chi Town
Originally posted by OutThere761
I think that it would be wise to try and set up a colony on the moon to see how well a colony on another planet works, before we send people as far as Mars, because no matter how sure we are that everything will go well we will surely encounter some problems that are specifically a problem with colonies in outer space. Since it would take so long to get there if something went wrong tons of time would have been wasted waiting for them to arrive on Mars. Then NASA would perfect its system and send more people there, spending twice the money that one mission would have cost.

Think how strange it would be to be born on mars and then come visit Earth. Living on a hostile planet for all of your life and come to earth and be able to go where you want when you want. I think that it would really suck to grow up in a space colony.

Umm. Yeah. Ca c'est mes 0.02.

The problem with this is that we're limited by the natural resources of the planet (or satellite). In the case of the moon, we are not as confident that it would be conducive to sustain a long-term colony as these caves in Mars would be.

Anyway, while some issues of space colonization would be universal (no pun intended), others would be specific to the habitat, in which case a successful colony on the moon would tell us little about the fate of a colony on Mars.
 

Mr. Anderson

Moderator emeritus
Nov 1, 2001
22,568
6
VA
Ah, but there is no dark side of the moon - just a side that points away from the earth always. The lunar day is as long as the lunar month (28 days).

The ice is at the poles......even the article you linked to mentioned that. Where'd you come up with the dark side?

D
 

Gus

macrumors 65816
Jan 1, 2002
1,078
0
Minnesota

Mr. Anderson

Moderator emeritus
Nov 1, 2001
22,568
6
VA
Originally posted by Gus
I always thought everyone referred to it that way. Sorry about the confusion. :)

Regards,
Gus

Ah, well, not a problem, its just that there have been a few threads about aliens and such being on the darkside of the moon (this was a while back) and I just wanted to make sure that wasn't going to pop up again. We had a huge discussion trying to convince some members that there really wasn't a dark side - probably over a year ago.

I just always refer to it as the far side of the moon.

D :D
 
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