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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 JoeMerchant on Thursday October 06 2016, @05:51AM
The guarantees on Mars are the same as Earth:
1) you will die.
2) you will be taxed.
With any luck, the Martian colony won't be forced to recycle you when you become too weak to work, but if things get rough - that's one likely coping mechanism the million martian colony will have to employ to have a chance to prosper in the more distant future.
Remember: you're moving to a place with ZERO ready infrastructure - even the first native Americans crossing the Bearing landbridge walked into a land of plenty with readily available food to hunt, harvest and farm.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 06 2016, @12:49PM
Fortunately, you will die before you are taxed.
Just make sure you are on the right rocket [youtube.com].
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 06 2016, @02:06PM
I don't think "infrastructure" is the word you are looking for. It is "resources", as in air to breathe, water to drink, a magetic field to keep radiation away from your body, an atmosphere to provide the pressure you have evolved to exist at, food to eat (animals, plants, bacterial mats even), and so on.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday October 06 2016, @07:31PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 07 2016, @11:18PM
You wouldn't even live A FEW MINUTES on Mars without bringing your own air supply. There is practically no atmosphere (1% of Earth's pressure) and you can't even breathe it. This is no minor obstacle, it is major. Saying otherwise is like saying it's a piece of cake to live in space, all you need to do is stay inside your space station and hope nothing breaks.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday October 08 2016, @01:09AM
You wouldn't even live A FEW MINUTES on Mars without bringing your own air supply.
Or having your own air supply already there on Mars. This is what infrastructure is all about.
There is practically no atmosphere (1% of Earth's pressure) and you can't even breathe it. This is no minor obstacle, it is major.
That would be the primary purpose of said infrastructure - to overcome major obstacles like quick deaths from lack of air.
Saying otherwise is like saying it's a piece of cake to live in space, all you need to do is stay inside your space station and hope nothing breaks.
I'm not holding you back. You keep telling us how hard it is to breathe when you don't have air. Maybe we haven't heard yet.