New Member

--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, "victoriatangoman"
wrote:
>
> --- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, "Richard" wrote:
>
> > I am not anti-space habitat. But I feel that Tangoman wants to
> > close an option without even examining it.
>
> Steve and Rick,
>
> Perhaps I've done you a disservice in arguing against, not your
> positions, but the accumulation of Mars Advocates positions I've
> encountered over the years and their zeal.
>
> As I wrote earlier, this is an "angel on head of pin" debate. My
> earlier invocation of worthless ideologies was meant to highlight
> indefensible positions, not to imply moral equivalence. Sorry if there
> was a misunderstanding.
>
> Now, the indefensible position I've been arguing against is the whole
> Mars terraforming bit, which I note you haven't been advocating. Hence
> the disservice to you.
>
> > But it rubs me the wrong way when he sounds so certain on very
> > insufficient data.
>
> I have no problems with gathering data about Mars. I am in support of
> the Mars probes we've had thus far and would support more.
>
> Again, much of my tone is borne from frustation arising from previous
> debates and I brought that into this one.
>
> To sum up, I've no problem with gathering data on Mars. I've no
> problem with research bases on Mars. I simply see no basis for trade
> and civilizational development there. I think it is fantasy for the
> Zubrin folks to be planning and advocating terraforming, but I was
> mistaken in attributing that vision to you. I assumed too much about
> your positions, in short, I argued against strawmen at the extreme end
> of the debate.
>
> That said, I'm still curious about the *why* of setting up on Mars
> anything beyond research bases. Do you have any insight that others
> have lacked?
>
> TangoMan

I feel that to do a decent job of researching even a small world like
Mars, we will need to have some sort of support structure to feed,
house, and clothe the researchers. Not to mention transportation.

I saw the figures somewhere that the land area of an oceanless,
lakeless Mars is close to that of Earth.

A lot of territory to cover. And by the time it has been researched,
there will probably be people who have lived there most of their life.

By the time Mars is totally checked out, it will probably have a
permenant population.

Incidentally while we cannot build a beanstalk from the Earth's
surface to geosynchonous orbit today, I've read that one could be
built on Mars using current strength of materials.

Mars being closer than most asteroids, would mean that it could supply
material (even ores) as cheaply as the asteroid belt.

Rick Brooks