A reason to go to Mars

On Dec 8, 2008, at 11:07 AM, sraj wrote:
> If there is no water on Moon, don't you think Mars is a good pace to
> start
> the coloization adventure?
>

No, I don't. It's at the bottom of a deep gravity well. There's much
more accessible water elsewhere, even if it the Moon turns out to be
dry.

> In parallel we can put up Space habs orbitting Earth / Moon, to
> start with.
>

Yes, we'll certainly start there. And when we expand beyond that,
we'll make use of watery asteroids, comets, and moons.

> I mentioned leaving the solar system, because people may become too
> fond of
> cluttering the solar system with space habs - which eventually will
> prove
> unsustainable.
>

But not for many thousands of years. And I doubt you'll find too many
people who imaging a solar system cluttered with space habitats, who
don't also imagine colonizing the rest of the galaxy. By the time the
solar system is starting to feel crowded, hopping to the next star
won't seem like such a big deal.

Best,
- Joe