Mars and Island One

--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, sraj wrote:
> Hi Mike,

>
> Read through your interesting reference. I am not against
free-floating habs. All I am saying is that putting up some kind of
hab on Moon or Mars will be easier in the *Near Future*.

Let us start by seperating the idea that the moon and Mars are
equivilent off the bat.
1) we have actually walked on the moon, we haven't even attempted that
for Mars.
2) the moon is a hop skip and jump away from us. Mars is at least a
two year journey for the automated probes, and I see no reason to
believe that the technology for human space flight is much better than
for automated probes.
3) The moon exists in a vacuum. Mars has an atmosphere with all the
problems associated with it.

My point is, arguing that something could be done on the moon does not
extend by analogy that it could be done on Mars.

>
> 1. You arrive on Moon or Mars, if the food is imported from Earth as
Andy suggests it will be for the coming 25 years, then all you have to
do is to burry your hab under the soil, you immediately solve the
radiation problem, and you are more or less comfortable.

Building a glorified igloo on the moon is possible. There is no reason
to believe that the wind will not erode such a building in less than a
year on Mars.

The moon is close enough to import all the food from Earth. Mars does
not have that luxury. Anyone on Mars needs to learn to be farmers.

>
> 2. If you have the technology and the machinery to process ores in
space, well, a fraction of that technology is sufficient to put up a
more modest hab on Moon or Mars. In the near future, before
terraforming is made possible (on Mars), a sealed environment will be
necessary for agriculture whether we have the facility in space or on
Moon and Mars. It will be simpler to set up the facility on Moon or
Mars. I think we are underestimating the difficulty inherent in
working is space. (The cumbersome way in which Astronauts do their
space walks, and the recent dropping of plans to upgrade the Space
Telescope using the Space Shuttle underscores the difficulty.)

Technology as the solution is wrong. If you have the technology to
process ore in space, then that is where you process ore, because you
don't have the technology to process ore on the moon or Mars. The
technology used in zero-G will be different than the technology to do
the same thing on the moon, which will be different than the
technology on Mars. A blast furnace works on Earth, doesn't work in
zero-G, May or may not work in 0.1667 or 0.333 G depending on the
chemistry of the ore being processed. Hell blast furnaces don't always
work depending on the ore being used on Earth.

What I believe is that a place will be chosen and the technology
designed and built for that place.

>
> 3. In any case, if the resources of the Moon are going to be used to
make a giant space hab, it makes sense to put up a settlement on the
Moon to start with.

Yes. But that settlement only has to be miners, maintenance people and
perhaps speciality farmers (someone might like strawberries, or fresh
coffee).

>
> 4. G of 0.38 on Mars seems to be good enough. If the space suit
permits good freedom of movement, jumping and running on Mars should
keep a man healthy. (Someone who has worn a space suit can comment on
this!)

No arguements with this statement. If exersices can be devised to live
extended times in zero-G than they can be devised for 0.38 G

>
> 5. With all the concerns raised regarding terrorist attacks on Earth
- with habs in Earth and Moon orbits being used as kinetic energy
weapons - will it be better to build free floating habs in Mars orbit?

This is just so much bullshit that it isn't funny. To quote a paper I
read September 12th 2001. "Welcome to the human race."

>
> 6. In the near future we have to get people interested in Space.
Apparently 40% of Americans believe in the creation theory and with
various religions and cults taking human intelligence for a ride, this
is going to be a difficult task. Putting up a modest operation on Mars
with say a hundred people will ignite the mind of the young and
eventually make large free floating space habs possible.

All this tell me is that Americans won't be the people that colonies
space. So be it. Not everyone has to do it. The Chinese didn't
colonize North America even though there ship building technology was
a century ahead of the Europeans, why should the Americans be the ones
that colonize space?

Bill