New Terraforming Website

From: G. Orme [mailto:mymail@...]

> It makes me think of a famous old saying, perhaps it was Mark Twain, "what
use is a newborn
> baby?" From our viewpoint Mars is barely born to us, it is hard to foresee
how it will grow.
> In the fullness of time however I am sure it will fulfil all the faith the
Mars Society has
> in it.

I'm considerably less optimistic about Mars. I just don't see it being able
to compete economically with asteroids for materials export nor with O'Neill
habitats for desirable living conditions. It can certainly never compete
with the moon for serving near-term (which is to say, Earth-centric)
markets.

One thing which I just can't see is the human race making the many hundreds
of billions of dollars investment necessary to terraform Mars proceeding
from faith in a future-worth which was as yet beyond our vision.

I think the vision the Mars Society has invested in the red planet is
predicated on the assumption that there are many things which are "just too
difficult to do in space" which will in the final analysis turn out to be
largely incorrect. My prediction is that Mars will see unexpected,
overwhelming competition from concepts and locations which Mars advocates
are presently contemptuous and dismissive of.

Regards,

Mike Combs