A reason to go to Mars

From: Kevin Burgess

> Some things are just easier with gravity.

Like moving a refrigerator? Have you ever seen videos of astronauts on the ISS moving those enormous experiment racks into place?

We might find that a good many things are easier to do without gravity.

Very low gravity might be the best of both worlds. That's the beauty of the spinning-for-gravity concept. For any given process or application, we can decide which is most advantageous: full gravity, partial gravity, or no gravity at all. And then we can arrange for it. On planetary bodies, we're stuck with what we've got.

> Only time will tell. I say build in space and on planets (& planetoids
> too), and let the people who do the work, economics, and nature take
> its course.

This is of course the only right answer. But my thinking is that those people will make their decisions based on the economics they face, and not on the enthusiasms of us present-day space cadets. That's why, in an attempt to make my thinking about the future more relevant, I keep coming back to economics.

Regards,

Mike Combs