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I wonder if anyone has developed ideas for automobiles, trains, and other vehicles that might be constructed on Mars some day. Vehicles launched from Earth for exploratory purposes must have a small mass, of course, due to launch constraints.
But vehicles built on Mars for domestic use could be MUCH larger. In fact, due to Mars' lower gravity (0.38 g), you could potentially have a truck or rover the size of a house! Might not explorers or colonists on Mars live in their vehicles, taking their life support system and homes with them all over the planet? Imagine gigantic two and three story wheeled vehicles lumbering over the surface, perhaps with the living quarters mounted on a floating suspension so that it stays level even while ascending slopes.
Trains on Mars could also be huge by comparison with those on Earth. Three story trains, as wide as four Earth locomotives, flying down the tracks at hundreds of kph would be quite a site to see.
Stu:
First you point out how even if we launched a human mission as soon as possible, we could not have self-sufficient colonies until decades later, and that in the meantime a killer rock could wipe out Earth life. I do not argue going to Mars to save our lives. I say we WILL continue to explore in the grand human tradition and eventually live on Mars, and the miniscule chances of asteroid impact in the next few decades has positively nothing to do with it. Certainly in the very long term becoming a multi-planetary civilization will help ensure our survival, but by the time that happens we will have the technology and ability to protect ourselves and our homes from asteroids and comets, regardless.
You then discuss how we need to learn about living IN SPACE, and broaden our focus from just looking at planetary surfaces.
I agree with you.
However, I strongly suspect that average humans will, for a very long time to come, hold a certain psychological and emotional desire to live on a World. Earth and Mars (and possibly the Moon) will likely meet that desire in 100 years. Regardless, this has little to do with Mars or its terraformation.
You also speak a great deal about governmental funding of crewed Mars missions and the accompanying expense. I think that the first humans on Mars will get there primarily with taxpayer money. But the colonists will only go if it is in their personal interest, and if they can afford it. This is why I imagine colonists being able to buy their own ticket, just as Europeans did when coming to America. The single largest factor there is bringing down the price of launch from Earth. Once that happens, and space commerce really booms, the rest may just be inevitable.
Ann Clayborne says: "We obtain water to allow us to explore, we don't explore just to obtain water!"
I say we do both. As I said, I am interested in Mars for its scientific payload, but my primary desire is to see humanity survive and embrace its potential in the larger universe. Mars is SO HISTORIC in this regard. It may be the first planet we change from nonliving to living by our own will. Viriditas! How many planets will bear the terranDNA stamp in 10,000 years? That is up to us.
I agree it will take generations if terraformation is to happen. But I disagree that the job will be too large. Look at the evolutionary curve of industrial output over the past 200 years. We will be able to harness the power to engineer a nascent planetary ecosystem within 100 years.
Regarding other civilizations: They may be out there seeding their own life 'round the galaxy. That's fine. But we should join the play if so, and if not then we do have an obligation to the universe as its sole known conciousness.
I'd love to write more, but I gotta catch a bus.
sax
I feel the same conflict within myself when I consider the future of humans on Mars. I have grown to love Mars. But my affections for our red sister planet are driven by two seperate desires. Reconciling these views is what defines my philosophy.
The first desire is to see humanity embrace a grand vision for its future in the universe. We are a species made of the same stuff as all the other millions of species that have ever lived on our planet, yet we are the most unique and singularly significant species to have ever lived on Earth. This is, of course, because we are the species who will spread Earth life far and wide, seeding our particular family of DNA throughout the universe wherever we go. We are also the only species capable of applying brand new and complex values to phenomena that had previously been pure physics and chemistry. We take math and physics and make art and love. Based on this line of thinking, I see Mars as a test for us. Will we step outside our warm, comfortable built home and begin to explore and inhabit the cold dark universe? If so, Mars is the first big step. There we will begin to teach ourselves how to spread life throughout the universe.
The second desire is to learn all we can about Mars and its own history. What a world that has lived and evolved with complete independence from us and ours for billions of years! And only a hop, skip and a jump away! Lets go, humanity. What happened there? Were there oceans? Life? Is Mars a frozen corpse of a planet that only began to live as Earth has? What processes have dominated its history? Volcanism? Impacts? Hydrology? Mars is a beautiful natural expression of the universe just as Earth is . . . but different. And when we set foot there, when our rovers cut tracks into that soil, when we begin to pump and drink water from those aquifers, to bake and build with bricks made of the red soil . . . we will have marked an END to Mars' independent history. And I feel the pain of loss that comes from it.
I reconcile this conflict by stepping back and looking at humanity from the VERY LONG term. Will we die and cease to exist relatively soon, or will we grow, evolve and expand to spread Earth life to the whole galaxy and beyond? I choose the latter. And in this context we are just another beatiful expression of the natural universe--an arm of Earth life reaching out just as it always has.
If we could have witnessed the beautiful rocky continents of Earth billions of years ago, building and eroding over eons, we may also have mourned the loss of purity when life spread up from the ocean to smear the land. But what if it hadn't?
sax
In reading Joel McKinnon's article I find that he seems to hold the viewpoint that Mars is primarily interesting because of its value to the scientific endeavor.
I say that science is such a pervasive and integral part of our modern humanity that as long as we are capable of space travel and reaching Mars, science will have no problem gleaning plenty of knowledge from the study of the red planet.
This will be true regardless of whether or not Mars is engineered on a planetary scale, or "terraformed."
I would also say that the surest way to ensure a permanent human capacity for space exploration and the study of Mars in particular is to establish a permanent independent human home on Mars. Humans can live on Mars in domed craters, tented canyons, lava tubes, and underground cities within 100 years if the technology and economy will open it up to small groups of investors and colonists. I imagine a world within 50 years where a family can invest the eqivalent of a year's income and emigrate to Mars.
Once there is an independent branch of humanity on Mars, I think it is likely they will choose to terraform the planet step by step. Firstly a magnetic field could be created by orbiting generators, making much more of the surface safe from radiation. This would have the added benefit of holding in more of the atmosphere. Additional steps might proceed from there.
The process of terraformation will take a VERY long time, however. Plenty of time to study Mars in its natural state before erosion, chemical changes, and life begin to write new chapters on the surface of Mars.
If you are red because you want science to benefit from natural Mars, then terraformation poses no threat to you. But hindering human life on Mars for fear of "changing" it too much may just prevent us from learning all we can.
sax
Here is a link to the full text of Kim Stanley Robinson's Constitution of Mars: Constitution of Mars
The link points to the web page of Professor Edward James, Department of History, University of Reading, UK. He claims to have permission of KSR to post the full text online.
Edward James' Home Page
sax
Of course I did not intend my brief summary of this theorized phonomenon to be complete. For more detailed information that you may not find "lacking" please follow the link above and read the detailed information.
If the information there is insufficient, please see these links:
James F. Woodward: Mach's Principle Weight Reduction = Propellantless Propulsion:
http://www.inetarena.com/~noetic/pls/woodward.html
The Woodward Effect:
http://www.inetarena.com/~noetic/pls/gr … l#woodward
Dr. James Woodward's home page at Cal State:
http://chaos.fullerton.edu/Woodward.html
Mach's Principle and Impulse Engines: Toward a Viable Physics of Star Trek?:
http://chaos.fullerton.edu/~jimw/nasa-pap/
Google Search for relevant Web Pages:
http://www.google.com/search?q=James+Wo … +Principle
I am a skeptic at heart. But Mr. Woodward's explanation of inertia is elegant and attractive. If he is right, then this may be a revolutionary propulsion system that will open up the Solar System to humanity.
sax
The NASA Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project (http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/bpp/) is researching a theoretical propulsion system that uses no propellant whatsoever. It is based upon what may be a previously unnoticed "loophole" in Mach's Principle.
Mach's Principle accounts for inertial reaction forces resulting from the gravitational attraction of all matter in the universe to an accelerating object. James Woodward has shown that in addition to the acceleration dependent term that provides the basis for inertia, there is a time-dependent transient term. This term predicts that an object with a time-varying energy density will have a non-negligible variation in rest mass which depends on the second time-derivative of the energy.
It would work by vibrating a charging capacitor with a piezoelectric driver, causing a mass variation. Such a mass variation, even if it is small, has interesting implications for propulsion. Acceleration appropriately phased with the mass variations might produce a net unidirectional force relative to the surrounding mass of the universe. A spacecraft engine utilizing this principle would not require propellant, thus achieving the first mission of the Breakthrough Propulsion Physics project. Even if the mass variation itself cannot lead to a propulsive effect, such a Machian mass variation is worth investigating.
sax
I'm really excited about this Translife Project. The most annoying thing about NASA is their insistance upon zero-g living. Humans simply get unhealthy when living without gravity. The solution is simple: design and build space vehicles with simulated gravity.
I'm glad that the Mars Society is heading this up, too. We have got to start learning what it will be like to live on mars. This project will show us if mammals can reproduce and grow up successfully in .38 g.
Mice today, grandchildren tomorrow!
sax
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