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Assuming that SpaceX can refuel an orbiting spacecraft, build boosters capable of launching 1,000 times over, establish a propellant factory on another planet and of course, that you've got US$100,000 to spare, you could soon be faced with some pretty tough life choices. Earlier this week Elon Musk outlined his plan to send one million people off to colonize Mars, but there is a lot to consider when sizing up your own little patch of rock and dust. To get a handle on some of the likely settlement sites if Musk's interplanetary plans do materialize, New Atlas checked in with who we'll call realtors of the Red Planet to find out some prime locations to set up shop.
The fact of the matter is that there are tens, if not hundreds of potential Mars landing sites being bandied about by scientists concerned with such endeavors. At a NASA workshop last October, hundreds of researchers from around the world debated the strengths and weaknesses of 48 strong candidates, and the reality is these will be chopped and changed as we come to learn more about our dusty red neighbor. But hey, it's been a big week for Mars and the romantic notion of dreaming big, so we'll get into the spirit of things and let our imaginations run wild just a little.
What's your choice, the bottom of Valles Marineris, the Gale Crater, the Medusae Fossae Formation, or other?
(Score: 2) by t-3 on Thursday October 06 2016, @01:25AM
You're almost certainly right, but there's a tiny part of me that hopes Musk really did read way too much sci-fi and actually secretly believes he can make a utopian society in space. Either way I'll probably be too old to go/still want to go by the time they get anything under way unless stuff moves way faster than it looks like it is.