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Humans Will Never Colonize Mars
The suggestion that humans will soon set up bustling, long-lasting colonies on Mars is something many of us take for granted. What this lofty vision fails to appreciate, however, are the monumental—if not intractable—challenges awaiting colonists who want to permanently live on Mars. Unless we radically adapt our brains and bodies to the harsh Martian environment, the Red Planet will forever remain off limits to humans.
Mars is the closest thing we have to Earth in the entire solar system, and that's not saying much.
The Red Planet is a cold, dead place, with an atmosphere about 100 times thinner than Earth's. The paltry amount of air that does exist on Mars is primarily composed of noxious carbon dioxide, which does little to protect the surface from the Sun's harmful rays. Air pressure on Mars is very low; at 600 Pascals, it's only about 0.6 percent that of Earth. You might as well be exposed to the vacuum of space, resulting in a severe form of the bends—including ruptured lungs, dangerously swollen skin and body tissue, and ultimately death. The thin atmosphere also means that heat cannot be retained at the surface. The average temperature on Mars is -81 degrees Fahrenheit (-63 degrees Celsius), with temperatures dropping as low as -195 degrees F (-126 degrees C). By contrast, the coldest temperature ever recorded on Earth was at Vostok Station in Antarctica, at -128 degrees F (-89 degrees C) on June 23, 1982. Once temperatures get below the -40 degrees F/C mark, people who aren't properly dressed for the occasion can expect hypothermia to set in within about five to seven minutes.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday August 01 2019, @09:49PM (7 children)
One man's colony is another man's science outpost. Another man's colony is a terraformed megalopolis.
Wait... colony? Man?
The Outdated Language of Space Travel [theatlantic.com]
We need to change the way we talk about space exploration [nationalgeographic.com]
Decolonizing Mars: Are We Thinking About Space Exploration All Wrong? [gizmodo.com]
O-M-F-G. We have to send all the Musky incels to Mars, and then nuke it from orbit until it's radioactive forever.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by RamiK on Thursday August 01 2019, @10:05PM (5 children)
As mentioned in an earlier discussion of a similar nature, it would be so much easier to just put the people you want to survive on the rockets, go into orbit, and eradicate the remaining undesirable humans from the surface.
compiling...
(Score: 2) by JNCF on Thursday August 01 2019, @10:18PM
They have bunkers for that, though the spaceship/ark story sounds cooler.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday August 01 2019, @10:25PM
Hey, I watched that one . . . Still, there were plenty of people that survived the first world ending scenario. So, they decided to destroy it even further, along the way. Was called 100 or something.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Funny) by JoeMerchant on Thursday August 01 2019, @10:44PM (2 children)
Hugo Drax will be contacting you regarding your theft of his intellectual property...
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Friday August 02 2019, @06:47AM (1 child)
As long as it's not Elon Musk...
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(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday August 02 2019, @11:52AM
The movie version is a striking resemblance, with more facial hair.
https://www.google.com/search?q=hugo+drax&tbm=isch [google.com]
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @12:51AM
Exactly. A planet full of incels on musky couches. The headline is correct. Rei will know what to do.