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Aerogel just happens to be the world's lightest solid and one of the best insulators availible. I thought that aerogel insulation would be something that a Mars settlement could really use.
I like the idea of settling in craters.
Speaking of those crater settlements...
Why not insulate the interior with aerogel to prevent heat loss during the Martian Night?
Almost like a rigid tent buried in snow...
Venus is covered with lots of acids correct?
Then it would seem that the best way to terraform Venus is with MASSIVE chemical reactions (We'll need to tow asteroids for this one).
Venus has lots of volatiles. Use them.
React the acids away, and get lots of water.
A thought on cooling Venus: To cool it, we could cause the equivalent of an extreme nuclear winter.
Total Recall's scenario is plausible. I will give you that.
After all, domes are good shapes. But anyhow, I think that the first human Martians will result from those scientists and terraformers getting lonely on Mars.
It is inevitable.
Total Recall's predictions about "Mutants" is something that sounds...almost prophetic as humans born on Mars will likely be physically different.
I say that Venus is a great possibility for a planet to colonize aside from Mars.
Sure there's acid there, but I believe Venus may very well be where we write the book on terraforming.
Lots of volatiles to mess around with...
Booyah!
The Spirit has LANDED.
I am very, very happy!
The Xprize is possibly the best pro-space idea out there. Shame it isn't very prominent.
But anyhow...
Once upon a time there was a mountain. It seemed insurmountable to those who lived in the villages around it-until one day a man named Yuri climbed the mountain.
Soon, a man from another village-by the name of Glenn climbed the mountain.
And so Yuri's village and Glenn's village had a race which Glenn eventually won.
Later the villages made peace, and began to help people from other villages to climb the slops of the mountain.
At first, only the greatest heroes were allowed to climb the mountain-using equipment that was too expensive for the common man.
Until one day, a wealthy commoner by the name of Dennis climbed the mountain with the help of Yuri's village. Soon other commoners would look up at the mountain and desire to climb it. They formed myriad groups-most of which could never get more then a third of the way up the mountain.
One day, however-a rich group of people decided to go there without asking Yuri's village, or Glenn's village for help.
Instead of climbing the rocks, they would build a trail.
Years passed, and due to their efforts-even the poor were able to climb the mountain.
Mountains are always easier to scale the second time around.
But from the ground up, how many people does it take to sustain a high-tech society?
Ah yes, on the idea of hitting the ice caps of Mars with nukes. Try a fusion bomb instead of a fission bomb. From what I have read, their radioactive substances have a relatively short half-life (5 years) and the explosions are massive enough.
Though I think the best way to introduce large amounts of gasses quickly into the Martian atmosphere would be to induce vulcanism.
But what will take precedence, our plan or the desires of the colonists?
I did read those books a while back-interesting bits of Sci-fi.
Ah yes sadly. But if it was possible, do any of you guys think that the Mars society would launch it's own mission to Mars-manned, or unmanned?
Zubrin isn't vile. he might be wrong sometimes-but he has a good vision. The problem with visionaries is that sometimes they become so focused on the vision-that they forget things around them...
On the subject of timekeeping: Sure you can make whatever calender you want fit, but it'll all boil down to what the original colonists want to do.
Come to think of it, the Martian dating system could possible be decided by virtue of some fellow having a pin-up calendar.
If the original colonists are Americans primarily (Which I hope they are), then it is very likely that they will retain the idea of the weekend-which is a somewhat Christian/Jewish idea. I don't know about Islam.
But anyhow, regardless of what you believe, I for one think that having a "day of rest" or two is a bloody good idea.
Why get rid of it? It works.
Calenderwise, you might want to go by Mars-Time, but maintain Earth-time as Universal Time. Ultimately, I think there's nothing wrong with manipulating the Gregorian calendar a bit-if you need it to fit Mars. Just make up a few months.
Bah, we don't need to accomodate everyone-because resting on the weekends is entirely optional. And in my book, if you don't want to rest two days outta the week-you're nuts.
I think we need weekends. After all, wouldn't things seem to drag on and on-if you had nothing to look forward to in the short term?
I was wondering, how do you guys think substantially lower costs for getting materials into space would affect the timeframe of any future Mars Missions?
I don't know if any of you have heard of the X-prize foundation and their $10 million dollar prize to whomever can send 3 people past the threshold of space and then repeat the act within two weeks. Contestants must do this without government funding. Aside from the Mars Society, this is one of my favorite organizations.
Just think about it. I don't think industrial expansion will be the first reason humans go to space en masse. They will go there simply because of the view.
Several of the teams are looking at launching in Early/mid 2004 and several of the aspirant launch vehicles are in production. These are no half-wit dreamers with good web-sites, these folks are serious.
Uh yeah, but I was under the impression that they wanted to use this water for things like drinking, growing food, et cetera. Ah well, my worries may be a load of bahooey if there is enough water on Mars.
In real life however, capital punishment all too often relied upon as a lazy way to avoid asking hard questions about how we can all learn to live together without crime and violence.
Any Mars settlement that needs the threat of execution to deter harmful anti-social behavior will already be in big trouble. If we need to the death penalty to keep young girls safe we have already failed miserably at forming a stable healthy functional society. Thus, the widespread use of capital punishment is a confession of weakness.
We kill people like John Wayne Gacy and the Virginia snipers so we can avoid facing the harder questions about how to raise people not to act in those ways.
I shed few tears for many of the vile monsters we execute - - I shed more tears for a society that finds pride or joy in killings its criminals.
I suppose that's it really.
Will any future Martian society really be any better then we are? Will Martians be somehow immune to hate and loathing? Will they be able to resist lust & selfishness? I hope so, but something tells me they will be a product of our society, and therein lies their weakness. Ultimately, they will be as human as we are.
Bravo Bill, bravo.
What I want to know is this, will Euthenia work? Do we have enough experience with mitigating cultural clashes to make something like this work?
Although I must admit that I like the idea of nationally-sponsoring neighborhoods-or districts in a future Martian city. It really sounds like a good idea-if the colonization of Mars is going to be an international venture.
Past the first few decades though, I think we should let future Martians develop their own culture-out of what we put there in the first place.
Scott, Scott, I made the toilet paper comment in order to make a point. And that point was that your assumption about my being a hazer-simply because of my name, is flawed.
It is equally rational for me to make my assumptions about you based on YOUR NAME, as it is for you to assume that I am a hazer. I could have said G. stood for giddy, or good, or great. But enough with the petty arguing.
Scott, my name Hazer is no more inherently offensive then the name Scott. I just happen to like the sound of the syllables. Honestly, look outside. Sometimes a word may have meaning, sometimes it might not. Should I assume you are a happy manufacturer of toilet paper who lives on a beach? Scott is a brand of toilet paper, G. could stand for "Gay", and we all know what a beach is. Of course not. Scott G. Beach is a name, and not necessarily a descriptive term. So think of Hazer as a name.
Please open your eyes to the societal engineering that YOU are a product of. Please go to a community college and enroll in a cultural anthropology class. You will learn to see your own world view and that will empower you to take control of your world view and to rewrite it in ways that further empower you.
Tsk, tsk. I see my own world view, and it empowers me to reject yours. You see Scott, I rewrite my worldview whenever I decide that there is good reason to.
If we are all products of societal engineering-then that would include those cultural anthropology courses, which are merely the products of products. And why should I listen to one product over another?
Come to think of it, science itself then becomes a product of societal engineering-no longer objective.
I suppose I am not against societal engineering in and of itself, but against the notion that societal engineering should be practiced as an objective science.
Is social stability really all that it is cracked up to be? Let us remain fluid and changing as the sea, which can wear down any mountain.
is capital punishment really self defense? As a society, are we protecting ourselves, or are we really just trying to 'send a message'?
Capital punishment is self-defense in one sense, that by letting society protect itself-you are protecting yourself. It is society defending itself against those who would drag it into barbarism. Capital punishment is a just a weapon.
Clark, the whole point of capital punishment is to send a message-as far as I can tell. Sure, you can still rape and murder a young girl-but you do it in the full knowledge that you will likely lose your life for this act.
How can anyone respect the Law when they know that the Law can only go so far?
Sure, I'm all for there being extensive review before the death penalty is applied, but the important thing is that it is used.
Will future Martians resort to "spacing" Johnny Murderer? Very likely.
Hydrogen fuel cells are an excellent idea. The only foresee able problem with them is the production of hydrogen.
Thanks, I'll see what I can do.
Er, RobS, where were you planning to get this hydrogen gas? I mean, here on earth we can get it via simple electrolysis-but is there enough hydrogen on Mars for us to use?
Addendum: Our pineapple and cherry cobbler was a good source of carbon
http://users.wpi.edu/~rcaron/mars/index.shtml
This site is related to the technical aspects of a Mars Mission.
Enjoy
And unfortunately, you cannot measure crimes left uncommitted...That unfairly slants the capital punishment debate to begin with. With deterrence and capital punishment, the ultimate question is whether the potential capital offender fears death enough to go through with his crime.
If he truly does not fear death, then you have no other choice then to have capital punishment-as someone who doesn't fear death will gladly take others with them.
My family and I are walking on a city street. A madman jumps out to attack us. In my left pocket I have a .357 Magnum and in my right pocket I have a taser or stun gun or pepper spray.
If I use the gun knowing that non-lethal force would stop the assailant I am guilty of murder, IMHO.
Concerning personal defense:
You are not guilty of murder in any moral sense. You cannot know whether or not your nonlethal weapons will stop him.
I would much rather prefer to use a nonlethal weapon to stop an assailant, but when the threat of the assailant is uncertain, it is much wiser to err on the side of using a lethal weapon-as one will surely stop the assailant *hehe* dead in their tracks.
For instance, in my home State, it is not a crime to gun down-or in some way kill an intruder who breaks into your house at night. No wrong is committed, no matter what the intentions of the intruder were.
As I said, it depends on when and where the trains are implemented. Early colonists might want to go nuclear, just for the amount of power and freedom it provides. With a nuclear reactor, you don't have to worry about finding fuel on the planet-as much.