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Tahanson #35,
Thank you very much. You seem to be the one person who understands what I'm proposing here. I guess I should have been more clear as to the purpose of this thread. I didn't mean to upset anyone. I think most, maybe all(?), threads on this forum are to get help developing an idea from a basic concept. In my case I've already done the research. I have a finished product that I thought would be of interest to other Mars enthusiast. I would like to think this forum could be used for anyone to post their proposals, even if their ideas are far different from the norm. And by the way I do appreciate the hard work done by everyone to make this forum possible.
I'm using this thread as a way of getting my proposal out there, to anyone who is interested in reading it. Having my own thread gives me a URL that I can (and have) send to my friends who'd like to see the proposal. I think you mentioned a thread has its own URL, which shows we're thinking along the same lines.
When I was in high school I remember an older gentleman who used to always say "Never GO into business, always GROW into business". He was a highly successful businessman. I think the same applies to Mars. My opinion is that we need to "grow" our way onto Mars, not just "go" to Mars. A Martian base is essentially what Dr Zubrin proposed with his first Mars Direct proposal.
When Dr Zubrin presented his Mars Direct proposal, he would always start out by saying "Here is an example of what won't work." He would then show a drawing of a large number of giant ships headed to Mars. He called this the "Battlestar Galactica" approach. He then presented a much simpler approach, showing us how we could get to Mars with just two Space Shuttle launches using his Mars Direct proposal, a proposal that did not require "500 tons as a starting point".
Here is the Vision statement on the Mars Society's web-site.
Vision
We seek the permanent human settlement of Mars within the next decade. By utilizing the Mars Direct plan (or a similar one), a human mission could be accomplished cost effectively by taking a “living-off-the-land” approach.
What I've tried to do is come up with a proposal that allows us to "Live off the land", as is stated in the Mars Society's vision statement, and was stated by Dr GW Johnson as I quoted in post#2 above. I've tried to come up with a proposal that requires a minimum amount of mass sent to Mars to establish a Martian base. I believe this is along the same lines as the original Mars Direct proposal, by avoiding the "Battlestar Galactica" approach.
I'm not referring to a "settlement", as I stated in post#2 and as I quoted Dr GW Johnson in post#2. The first Mars Direct plan was not a settlement, it was a "Martian base." What a settlement will look like down the road is highly dependent on what works, and what does not work, on an early Martian base. What we learn from an early Martian base will dictate how a "settlement" will look. I think that it something often overlooked. What I'm trying to do is avoid the "Battlestar Galactica" approach, as Dr Zubrin might say.
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For Steve Steward re #37
Thank you for your guidance .... We only have a tiny number of active members, so hopefully those of us who are active and contributing can attempt to help you with your initiative.
The history of this forum shows that competition between members is often present, along with cooperation and support. There are even examples of negative posts, and the history of the forum includes banning selected individuals. Since SpaceNut became Senior Administrator, he has provided a style of leadership that seeks to keep everyone engaged and productive, but as you have seen, even he can (rarely) find himself slightly out of sync with the topic manager's objectives.
You have (hopefully) noted that I have been assigned responsibility for admission of new members, as befits a Junior Moderator. Please consider enlisting folks to assist you with development of your proposal. The mechanism for admission is pretty simple. We have completed admission for five folks since SpaceNut closed off the flood of spammers. Basically, if there is someone you'd like to bring into your project, I will accept your recommendation and show them in. What I am less than thrilled about is admission of folks who then disappear and contribute nothing.
It seems to me your proposal would mesh nicely with My Hacienda. That topic was set up to help folks organize a community on Earth capable of moving to Mars in a single operation, and able to sustain itself at a First Tier level, with minimal input from Earth.
(th)
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Just a note of encouragement Steve Stewart. I have looked though #1-#3 and I think its good. I try not to mess around with other people's topics some times because it can be best to receive someone else's notions an not poison them why my materials. I will look some more and it I think I might be up to speed on it, I may join in when things slow down on this topic, if they do.
Done
Done.
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Hey Void, thanks for coming by. I'm delighted you're willing to spend time reading this proposal (post#1 through #16). Read at your convenience, there isn't any hurry. I do stop by on your topic Worlds, and World Engine type terraform stuff from time to time. So far I've not thought of anything to comment, but I'll keep checking. Good to see you, I appreciate you stopping in.
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post content removed and wiki companion discussion for this topic set up.
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