New Mars Forums

The Soviets designed a manned Mars mission using nothing but solar power.  I think they called the project Mars89 or something like that.  The solar panels for the ship were MASSIVE, I believe they stretched for almost a kilometer.  In the conceptual drawings the ship was just a dot between two very massive diamond shaped solar panels.  The Soviets seemed to have had played around a lot with the idea of sending people to Mars.  If we delved more closely into their projects we might learn a thing or two.  As for the specific numbers of arrays you'd need, I wish I had the numbers.
     And I agree that if your going to have any sizable colony that is capable of doing anything your going to probably need juice from a nuclear reactor.  Solar panels might be feasible for a small manned mission but they'd probably be impracticle for anything else.  Of course there's the possibility of using windmills to and maybe even geothermal vents or some combo thereof, but those things might be long shots.  It was thinking to that maybe you could have giant solar panels in geostationary orbit above the colony and have it beam down power.

Nice website!  I like the context in which you bring up science, religion, etc.  Those DNA sequences flashing in the background are cool to.   They kinda subconsciouly remind you of the human source of all those topics.  Yeah, screw Slashdot, your website has personality, I think a Zubrin interview would fit nicely in there.  Have you figured out how to get ahold of him?

I would like to see Zubrin write a book that answers specific reasons why his critics find his plans unfeasible.  I think Zubrin can get a little optimistic at times, but I think he's generally more correct than a lot of these critics who scoff at him.  But some critics do have valid points that I would like Zubrin to answer.

Oh my god! I thought Brad was just designing blimps to fly around in the Venusian atmosphere, I didn't know he was defending the idea that there was intelligent life on Venus!  If he's right I sure as heck hope the Venusians are content just flying their blimps around and not conquering Earth!  Anything that can survive on Venus is definately going to kick our A$$es.   :0

Anyways, you gotta love how paranoid and delusional Brad is.  I can't stop laughing whenever he blasts NASA for trying
to cover up his amazing "discovery."  I copied the following directly off his website:

Yep you gotta watch out for those NASA moles.  Maybe Shaun can loan Brad his metal helmet so he can pick up on those NASA thought waves.  I almost feel sorry for Brad.  Someone as delusional and paranoid as he is really needs help.

Without creating a being that is capable of taking intellectual ideas and linking them together in such a way that it can create novel technologies, art, ect, having great intellectual power would be practically useless.  Of course you can argue
that creativity is merely a function of intelligence, but there seem to be a lot of people who aren't necessarily of above average intelligence but have great creative ability. 
And I don't think we necessarily need to jump to the conclusion that we are dooming ourselves to destruction by creating higher artificial intelligence.  Such intelligence might prove benevolent and find it lacks the vicious nature that evolution has instilled in us as a survival mechanism.

Not necessarily.  It just means the machine won't be "born" into consciousness until sometime in the future.  After all are we allowed to decide where we are going to be born?  An A.I. being that isn't activated can no more tell you where it wants to be "born" than can a fetus.  So I don't see a moral dilemna with sending unactivated A.I. to other solar systems.  Now if the A.I. had been pre-activated and then you forced it to go against its will that would be a different story.

Perhaps so, but I don't believe your analogy of the human foot necessarily applies.  Your already jumping to the conclusion that such beings will automatically work against us.  We can bring a few true A.I. into existence and give them all the rights and comforts that we afford to other sentient beings, mainly ourselves, on Earth.  They may thank us for giving them life in the first place.

Wow, that could be a sight having huge floating cities in Venus's atmosphere.  You could probably get one hel of weather show to if the high velocity of the winds don't severly destabilize the blimps.  Such a floating city might make a good tourist attraction, but I wouldn't stay for long.  Something floating around on Venus is bound to come crashing down sooner or later.   What altitude on Venus would something like that have to be at inorder to stay at a reasonable temperature?  Do you think it would be possible to bring it low enough so you could get a glimpse at the ground without the heat becoming a huge factor?

Those of us who know the truth about NASA must constantly look behind our shoulders lest we should disappear one day without a trace!  Yes Shaun they are out to get you!

Oh my god the conspiracy runs even deeper then I suspected!  I should have known NASA would try to pull the wool over our eyes with misinformation to throw us off the trail, but you prove their dastardly little tricks won't work for long!  I just had this psychic hunch that they were travelling faster than light and going back in time.  So that's why I can never find my keys in the morning, NASA sends its goons back in time to hide my keys so I can't get the truth out!!

Dam, I gotta find my Bible.  Even though I'm an athiestic infidel, I'd be fascinated in hearing a Bible study on Mars and the future it may hold in store for us.  The Bible might not be such a bad choice of books to send either, it's definately got a lot of the human condition in it.  I just can't buy some of its concepts though, things like love thy enemy and turn the other cheek.  I don't think it's healthy or even possible to be that altruistic.   Really, if an alien was to send me a single book, I'd hope they'd send me a book on their dominant religion (if they have one) since it would likely entail a lot of the philosophical and moral groundings of their society.  And of course I hope they'd send that book to me in English.

The text size seems fine to me.  Maybe you need to see an optometrist.

I think it if we're serious about setting up any kind of permanent colony, it's a must that we pretty much do what you suggested.  A colony is going to need manufacturing ability so it can replace materials and increase the habitat size of the colony on a whim should the need arise.  It could
be interesting sending engineering experiments along with the crew that would enable them to identify minerals in the regolith and try to extract and purify them on a small scale.   I agree also that we should send materials so the crew can experiment with building things like domes.  It probably wouldn't be to much of a problem to give them materials to build something like a 10x20 meter dome.  Then the next mission that arrives could bring equipment to make the dome or whatever structure the crew set up habitable.  Might be good for greenhouse experiments.

I agree wholeheartedly that a conflict based on religious fanaticism is far more irrational and dangerous than one based on mere political ideology.  And I think that's what scares me most about the Pakistani/Indian conflict, people will be a lot more willing to blow things up if they think they're fighting for God instead of just some president or prime minister.  No doubt the two countries, if they go to war, will try to fan the flames of religious zealotry in their populations to bring the war to an even more irrational and emotional level than it already is.  On the other hand, political ideology isn't always so far behind in the irrationality department.  Sometimes I get the thought that politics and political systems are based more on voodoo than any act of reason.

I'd be just as wary of government involvement as I would be of corporate involvement.  It really depends on whose pulling the strings.  I'm not sure, for instance, If I'd pick to live in a colony that's controlled by a dictatorial government on Earth or one that's merely controlled by some upstart corporation.  I think you just have to be careful of who has power over the colony.  After all, politicians can be just as rutheless and fanatical in holding power as corporate officers are of maintaining their profits.