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Netflix NASA. Somehow, that makes sense. The kraut dynasties are busy canoodling with the aliens.

Al_Sharpton_for_President says

In fairness, NASA was like this starting with the Space Shuttle.

Somehow NASA is having trouble flying around the moon in a crewed spacecraft something they did 58yrs ago and they want to live on Mars... haha

beershrine says

Somehow NASA is having trouble flying around the moon in a crewed spacecraft something they did 58yrs ago and they want to live on Mars... haha

Musk will do it, without NASA, if needed. He's got more puzzle pieces to complete:
1. Cheap reusable rockets - check
2. In-orbit refueling - should demo this year
3. Robots to help build the Mars city, mostly autonomously - in work
4. Fuel production on Mars (NASA has done proof of concept)
5. Support satellites in Mars Orbit (No biggie, sats ready now)
6. Mars Habitats - in work
7. Starship interiors for Mars Transit - in work

Mars will never be inhabited by us.

Mars lost its magnetic field, then the solar wind, or cosmic rays blew off its atmosphere. Mars once may have been like the earth, but now it's a hellscape.

Mars therefore cannot be "terraformed" with an atmosphere by nuking the polar ice (Musk likes this idea).
Anything resembling an atmosphere will be wiped away immediately by the sun.

Mars also lacks some essential chemicals for growing plants; I believe Nitrogen is one.

The same solar rays bombarding Mars makes walking around deadly; you have to live in a cave or underground to survive.

clambo says

Mars will never be inhabited by us.

Mars lost its magnetic field, then the solar wind, or cosmic rays blew off its atmosphere. Mars once may have been like the earth, but now it's a hellscape.

Mars therefore cannot be "terraformed" with an atmosphere by nuking the polar ice (Musk likes this idea).
Anything resembling an atmosphere will be wiped away immediately by the sun.

Mars also lacks some essential chemicals for growing plants; I believe Nitrogen is one.

The same solar rays bombarding Mars makes walking around deadly; you have to live in a cave or underground to survive.

If it lost, that implies there was atmosphere?

FortWayneHatesRealtors says

clambo says

Mars will never be inhabited by us.

Mars lost its magnetic field, then the solar wind, or cosmic rays blew off its atmosphere. Mars once may have been like the earth, but now it's a hellscape.

Mars therefore cannot be "terraformed" with an atmosphere by nuking the polar ice (Musk likes this idea).
Anything resembling an atmosphere will be wiped away immediately by the sun.

Mars also lacks some essential chemicals for growing plants; I believe Nitrogen is one.

The same solar rays bombarding Mars makes walking around deadly; you have to live in a cave or underground to survive.

If it lost, that implies there was atmosphere?

There was an atmosphere and substantial surface water. Mars' core was still molten and had not solidified yet, so it still had a magnetic field to shield the surface from the solar wind. That was back about 3 billion years ago.

Anything DEI coming from NASA is another signatory of their fakeness. JPL photos show large groups of caucasians and asians with neglibible black representation.

clambo says

Mars will never be inhabited by us.

Mars lost its magnetic field, then the solar wind, or cosmic rays blew off its atmosphere. Mars once may have been like the earth, but now it's a hellscape.

Mars therefore cannot be "terraformed" with an atmosphere by nuking the polar ice (Musk likes this idea).
Anything resembling an atmosphere will be wiped away immediately by the sun.

Mars also lacks some essential chemicals for growing plants; I believe Nitrogen is one.

The same solar rays bombarding Mars makes walking around deadly; you have to live in a cave or underground to survive.

https://patrick.net/post/1337881/2021-01-27-i-moved-the-the-family-from-earth-to

MolotovCocktail says

Mars once may have been like the earth, but now it's a hellscape.

Not enough gravity to hold an Earth dense atmosphere at Mars temperatures.

Mars for research and maybe minerals. But yeah, it will never have anything like a decent atmosphere again due to the lack of mass and geological activity.

We probably won't live on planets much anyway. Looks like Icy Moons and Asteroids are the best candidates.

Top priority is a spinning habitat of some kind, and having people live there for 3, 6, 12, 18, 24 months under .12, .3, .5 gravity and do biometrics. Then finding ways to deal with mold and getting them 90%+ self-sufficient in basic life support.

My hope is that 0.3G is enough to get rid of most of the long term 'space sickness' problems.

TheAntiPanicanLearingCenter says

We probably won't live on planets much anyway

Maybe Venus. We should engineer a plant that can live in the clouds of Venus and get a head start on converting that CO2 to O2.

Venus is so bad a ship would self destruct there in minutes, killing everyone aboard.

Just turn Mars into a Dyson Sphere using dilithium crystals. Easy peasy.

clambo says

Venus is so bad a ship would self destruct there in minutes, killing everyone aboard.

Aerostat colonies. At about 50km up, air pressure and temps are Earth avg. Atmo above that has a strong ozone layer.

Just don't fall off.

clambo says

Venus is so bad a ship would self destruct there in minutes, killing everyone aboard.

On the surface, yes. At altitude, no. Engineering a floating kelp like plant would be a first step to terraforming, even if that first step took some time.

Mars' soil is toxic. On Earth we would call it a superfund site. It's full of perchlorates.

Regarding Mars, try the trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson: "Red Mars", "Green Mars", "Blue Mars" - long timescale terraforming.
https://grokipedia.com/page/Mars_trilogy

TheAntiPanicanLearingCenter says

Mars for research and maybe minerals. But yeah, it will never have anything like a decent atmosphere again due to the lack of mass and geological activity.

We probably won't live on planets much anyway. Looks like Icy Moons and Asteroids are the best candidates.

Top priority is a spinning habitat of some kind, and having people live there for 3, 6, 12, 18, 24 months under .12, .3, .5 gravity and do biometrics. Then finding ways to deal with mold and getting them 90%+ self-sufficient in basic life support.

My hope is that 0.3G is enough to get rid of most of the long term 'space sickness' problems.

^^^^ This
Colonizing other planets in our own solar system is idiotic.

1) Any colonization requires some degree of terraforming - either the planet at large, or replicating Earthlike conditions in large enclosed areas.
2) These colonies would be incredibly expensive to maintain, since supplies have to go up Earth's gravity well and brave reentry to the colony world to be delivered.
3) Forget about planetary tourism - having to scale two gravity wells for a round-trip is incredibly energy intensive and dangerous to boot. Even if it's 1 in a thousand, the chance of major mishap is orders of magnitude more dangerous than anything other than playing in traffic.

On the other hand, a hollowed-out asteroid can be stuffed full of organic material and spun up to create a large enclosed biosphere, with the bonus that the miles of rock surrounding the central biosphere completely block radiation and the solar wind.

Better yet, it's mobile. Set up rocket engines or even electromagnetic launchers to throw away mass for propulsion. There are no steep gravity wells to surmount other than that of the sun. Space tourism is possible - set it up for multiplanet fly-bys.

An asteroid colony could be built today, with current technology, and would essentially be independent of Earth, since it has easy access to the riches of the solar system.

This is exactly why it will never be allowed to be built - it couldn't be controlled, not to mention that such a colony could drop rocks on the Earth if push came to shove.

stereotomy says

Colonizing other planets in our own solar system is idiotic.

True, too hard to adapt Mars to support Earthlings, but we could engineer beings designed to live on Mars.

HeadSet says

stereotomy says

Colonizing other planets in our own solar system is idiotic.

True, too hard to adapt Mars to support Earthlings, but we could engineer beings designed to live on Mars.

Then we'd create a separate sentient species to compete with us, unless they are engineered to be our slaves. Either outcome is abhorrent.

stereotomy says

Then we'd create a separate sentient species to compete with us, unless they are engineered to be our slaves. Either outcome is abhorrent.

3rd option - they would not be able to come to Earth any more than humans can settle Mars. They set up their own society and trade with Earth. Maybe even hosting temporary Earth visitors who are there for scientific research or as a stopping point to the asteroids.

As far as a sentient species to compete with humans, that is going to happen anyway here on Earth. Someone will genetically engineer a superhuman intellect or cybernetically create a AI that cascades into creating even more advanced AI.

stereotomy says

1) Any colonization requires some degree of terraforming - either the planet at large, or replicating Earthlike conditions in large enclosed areas.
2) These colonies would be incredibly expensive to maintain, since supplies have to go up Earth's gravity well and brave reentry to the colony world to be delivered.
3) Forget about planetary tourism - having to scale two gravity wells for a round-trip is incredibly energy intensive and dangerous to boot. Even if it's 1 in a thousand, the chance of major mishap is orders of magnitude more dangerous than anything other than playing in traffic.

On the other hand, a hollowed-out asteroid can be stuffed full of organic material and spun up to create a large enclosed biosphere, with the bonus that the miles of rock surrounding the central biosphere completely block radiation and the solar wind.

Better yet, it's mobile. Set up rocket engines or even electromagnetic launchers to throw away mass for propulsion. There are no steep gravity wells to surmount other than that of the sun. Space tourism is possible - set it up for multiplanet fly-bys.

An asteroid colony could be built today, with current technology, and would essentially be independent of Earth, since it has easy access to the riches of the solar system.

This is exactly why it will never be allowed to be built - it couldn't be controlled, not to mention that such a colony could drop rocks on the Earth if push came to shove.

100%. Why land on another Gravity Well just to have to surmount it again? Only worth it for very valuable materials.

And the other great advantage of many space colonies, let 1000 flowers bloom. Choose the society you want to live in. And nobody on Earth can really stop it. Given the vastness of space, anything coming exactly towards you on a Hohman Transfer from Earth unannounced isn't a good thing, so just chuck a few rocks down the same path and obliterate it. And if they did land, the same airlocks that keep out the vacuum are keeping out the UN Space Force.

HeadSet says

As far as a sentient species to compete with humans, that is going to happen anyway here on Earth. Someone will genetically engineer a superhuman intellect or cybernetically create a AI that cascades into creating even more advanced AI.

Rigjht, and Given enough time and distance, we'll eventually become our own alien subspecies, just through genetic drift alone.

It's amusing to read above the fantasies people still have.

We're going to live on earth forever and that's all she wrote.

TheAntiPanicanLearingCenter says

Hohman Transfer from Earth

Reminds me of the Homan Transfer from the US to Mexico!