New Mars Forums

Why not land near a known source of water ice (or an underground deposit if Mars Express finds them), such as in that crater closer to the poles. If underground ice or liquid water deposits are found they could bring some sort of drill. I imagine said drill would be mightily hard to get to Mars.

Land near a source of water that isn't going to run out in the timeframe they are looking at. Keep an 1 year supply of backup water at all times.

With 2 nuclear power sources might as well include a 2nd backup Solar array, even if was launched on the 2nd mission or a resupply mission.

I think we have the technology to do this, obviously some R&D would be needed but on a large budget it's definatly possible.

What is holding back this technology? lack of researchers?

This isn't the Cold War, that's just not going to happen. Being born in the mid eighties and missing out on everything but the tail end of the Cold War I guess might go part way to explaining why I disagree.

China has long since abandoned hardcore communism and even today you could argue they are further distancing themselves from communism.

""Black cat or white cat: If it can catch mice, it's a good cat.""

I think that quote/proverb maybe have been applied to their economy.

In the time frame we are talking about, with the first landings taking place between 2020-2040 I doubt a country will be left on Earth that would try and claim Mars for Communism (North Korea, Cuba included). I'd be more worried about a Theocracy (Christian, Muslim, or a Cult of some sort) claiming it the name of God/Gods/Allah/Xenu.

As for Taiwan, I hope they arn't invaded, but I've never really heard a reason why they shouldn't be a part of China. Basically Chinese has to find a way to convince Taiwan to join legally and without armed conflict and even if it came to that I don't see why a World War III (also known as the apocalypse) should be started over it?

I have to hope that international leaders arn't that stupid.

Mark Friedenbach,

I think you are underestimating how much quality robotics will help with the construction of the first Mars Colony. While KSR might set the date a bit early, Robot's are definatly the wave of the future. Go take a look at Sony's robotics section on their website, it's still early but I'm sure you'll see the possibilities.

Also I think your complaint that many of the Colonist didn't have a massive interest in Mars, can be explained partly in that some of those people were probably weeded out in the selection process. The Space Agencies probably would take steps to avoid the first 100 being made up of Red's, which are sure to exist in the future.

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As for the books, I'm like many people here in that after I read the books it greatly increased my interest in Mars. Although, that interest had been building for many years previous ever since seeing Robert Zubrin talk about Terraforming Mars on a TV Show as a youngster.

It captured my imagination, and given that main characters from Red Mars' First 100 were born in the same generation as I was I think it even had more of an impact (1984, so the 80's). Even though I've had a steady job since graduating highschool not long ago, dreams of Mars are at least part of the reason I'm thinking of going to University.

In the future, if ever given the chance to go to Mars I probably would (even if chances were I would not be able to return to Earth).

The type of fish that are commonly "farmed" this way are called Tilapia. They are a fast growing (and i think fast breeding?) type of fish from Africa, although I think there are varieties that can live in colder water.

This "pond" in the First Colony would be sealed from the Martian ground/soil by a thick layer of material (I'm no engineer so I don't know what would be best), probably with piping within its structure to distribute heat throughout the lining and keep the fish pond/well at the desired warmth (The water temp must not go below 50º F). The desired tempurature would be between 82º and 86º F.

As I imagine the first Martian Colony's will run off some sort of Nuclear Power, the power to run this facility would not be a problem.

The first steps would be obtain the fastest growing, fastest breeding and easiest growing type of Tilapia, and then through genentic engineering these attributes would be further increased. Then through the advice of Tilapia aquafarmers (which currently exist in fairly large numbers) a perfect diet could be designed to feed these fish when on Mars.

Ideally some sort of cheap "fish feed" would also be shipped from Earth (when other shipments are coming) to help feed the fish at first. Another important point to remember is these type of fish can grow in Rice fields, if there is enough water and once they reach around 6 inches, can be harvested and eaten. This would further increase the amount of food available to the colonists.

According to my research so far, they eat mostly fresh water plants, so another pond would be constructed (which need not be as warm) where these plants could be grown and be used to help feed the fish.

As the Colony would grow larger and as the food supply became more established to the point where there was a surplus, then I think we would then see the introduction first land animals to use for food. I'm guessing the first type would be birds, such as a genetically engineered variety of chicken. Then probably followed by goats and sheep, but that wouldn't be possible until very large areas of land could be put under greenhouse more easily.

P.S. I only say a Genetically engineer variety of Tilapia because this "type" would NEVER be coming back to Earth and probably would never released into the Martian environment once its Terraformed.

This is what they look like:
http://www.thaifishingguide.com/images/ … ...pia.jpg

This is a Tilapia farm pond:
http://ag.arizona.edu/azaqua/aquacultur … ...ond.JPG

Some information on the Species:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilapia]ht … ki/Tilapia

What if power supply wasn't a big problem in the colony? heating pipes could be placed in the sealing layer to keep the water at the desired temperature.

I'm thinking along the lines of a nuclear reactor of some sort, ala Red Mars' Underhill.

I've read many times that there will be either a strong lack or complete shortage of Protien sources (from animals) in the first Martian Colonies.

My idea is to drill a series of very deep and fairly wide holes into the Martian ground. These holes then would be lined with a layer of material to keep them seperated from the "dirt". Then a building would be built around the holes so that early colonist could access them without space suits.
These holes would then be filled with water and be used like giant Aquariums to grow fish and other types of sea life.

I lack the scientific background to know if such a thing would work, so I'm asking if anyone here could answer such a question.

As for Europa, how about taking mass from another of Jupiters moons and dumping it onto the planet, into holes bored in the surface by giant machines. These materials would be mined by automated robots (again this is in the far far far future), at the same time once more mass was added robots would collect gasses from Jupiter itself.

Are there enough moons to provide the mass needed? something for someone to check out.

Pending first checking to see if life exists there of course.