Yeah, space. That’s always the solution. But if expanding into less and less hospitable environments was the next frontier of continued economic growth, why aren’t investors scrambling to build out Antarctica or the bottom of the ocean?
Yeah, space. That’s always the solution. But if expanding into less and less hospitable environments was the next frontier of continued economic growth, why aren’t investors scrambling to build out Antarctica or the bottom of the ocean?
gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 1 day ago
the thing is that Mars isn’t even that inhospitable. It only appears that way today because people have no knowledge of it behind the surface.
Like, all you really need to build a settlement is water, electricity and a source of carbon. Mars has all three in ample amounts. There is lots of water on mars (see here). It’s just that it’s buried in rock and needs to be extracted through a technical process.
That’s very unlike Antarctica and the bottom of the ocean where you don’t have energy. And that matters.
Also there’s a spiritual/mystical element to it. People would only complain about “environmental protection” if somebody started drilling for oil in antarctica large-scale to grow food, but on mars there is no such concern. In fact, it is widely recognized that spaceflight is an inevitable destiny of humanity and that humanity needs to turn into a society that routinely relies on high-tech for this, and mars seems like the perfect playground for this. At least that’s how i look at it. Ask away if you have any serious questions :-)
TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world 1 day ago
That’s not all you need. You also need breathable air and surface pressure that isn’t going to make your eyes pop out of your skull. You need protection from too high levels of radiation.
You’re not living on the surface of Mars. That environment is not survivable. If you’re going to Mars, you’re living underground or in enclosed habitats. You can do that here. Go get a little bit of land here on Earth and build a self sustaining enclosed habitat and live in it. It would be a lot easier and cheaper.