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Assuming that 18 hour warning can be given, I would imagine that a sheet of lead/iron/whatever could be pulled over the greenhouse to shield from X-rays.
I was going by the speed of the particles in a CME. The highest we've measured is around 3200 km/s, with most speeds closer to 450 km/s(you can view the distribution in the pdf I linked). If the problem is actually electromagnetic radiation, then there won't be any warning. Speed of light and such.
The only special consideration necessary is to keep a seed bank in the habitat, protected against radiation. If a solar flare or coronal mass ejection spews intense radiation at Mars during the day, then that will be enough to kill plants. That doesn't happen often, so just maintain a protected seed bank. Replant.
Do you have to let the plants die? It looks to me like the colony would have, at worst, an 18 hour warning that the CME is coming, with the majority giving 4+ days warning.
Link: Statistical Distributions of Speeds of Coronal Mass Ejections
That's good, but that's also far from the budget needed to go to Mars.
Baby steps, Glandu. We need a self-sustaining space economy if we want more than flags and footprints on Mars.
Eh? Isn't that rather like selling ice to Eskimo's? Water's pretty abundant in the solar system - even Mercury has some, and let's not forget Luna...
Which is why I'm confused by their plan to mine asteroids for water. Surely Luna would make more sense?
Note that they're talking specifically about near-earth objects. According to some quick googling(I haven't run the numbers), these have a lower delta-v requirement than Luna does. There's also the thrust requirement, which is miniscule compared to Luna.
Also, ice may be abundant in the solar system, but it isn't where we need it. Consumable depots in Earth orbit would vastly reduce operating costs. If you don't have to tear all your fuel out of earth's gravity well, you can build considerably smaller rockets, with fewer stages and larger payloads.
Just a guess as to what they're planning.
Do we actually need rails? Once the rocks are cleared from a path, what's stopping us from using that path indefinitely with normal wheels?
Thought this was interesting.
Are you saying NASA are perpetrating a fraud on the public?
Obviously they're not going to write down the formulae for Beijing, Moscow and Tehran to copy.
You need to be less defensive.
a comprehensible explanation
Thank you, now I have some understanding of what this is about.
Not really, "surface plasmon polaritons" tells me no more than "negative antimass polaron generator."
All this argument is great and all, but how does it work?
So how does it work?
Louis, Gregori, I wasn't really talking about what to send with the colonists, but what the colonists could build in situ. Nuclear reactors and photovoltaic panels both require serious infrastructure and diverse resources. Glass and metal for a solar concentrator? Not so much. Once Mars has numerous settlements to collect various resources, then more complex options will become viable.
Louis, can you get around the problem of seals by using a sterling engine instead of a steam turbine?
Am I correct that sunlight-mirror-heat-electricity will be more efficient than sunlight-photovoltaic-electricity-heat?
How do others envision solar thermal power on Mars? It seems logical to me to place the heat radiators/condensers within the colony itself, to reduce losses. This would make the system less efficient for electricity production, due to the lower temperature gradient, but the waste heat would end up heating the colony instead of being waste.
Also, which solar design would be most efficient in labor and raw materials vs power generated? What resources can be substituted to sacrifice efficiency for labor savings?
For one obvious thing, you have to pay these 3,000 or so people. I know Lewis feels everyone on Mars will work for free, but my own view is that supporting Mars colonists will be far more expensive than supporting people in Antarctica. It's not going to work to tell doctors, lawyers, engineers, accountants, plumbers and a host of other necessary professions: "You'll have to work till you drop dead, you'd better be healthy because you're not going to get much in the way of medical care, your kids won't get much of an education or choice of occupation, and neither will you. Even the video games won't be much."
Well, he might be right that they'll work for no pay, but in that case they'd be working for the fruits of their labor(i.e. not for free). What good is Earth money on Mars, anyway?
Bobunf, do you happen to have a breakdown of the costs involved supporting an antarctic base? I'm curious why it costs so much.