Sight
inside
changeable fractals in walls
flowing floor colors
outside
flower beds
crater
city
great red basin
Sound
soft music
Odor
freshly cut grass
Sensation
sensuously comfortable furniture
Taste
local beer
tea
small foods
Mars does not sound so bad after all - after centuries of human habitation.
12 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Of course not! Not after centuries of colonization, adaptation, terraforming, etc. And more could have been done if not for the cybercosm subtle, indirect opposition.
I expect the first colonists on Mars to be living austerely on Mars, as would be inevitable in the earliest stages of such an effort. I'm reminded of Robert Zubrin's book THE CASE FOR MARS, giving us his speculations on how the first humans on Mars would or might live.
Ad astra! Sean
The first wave of settlers in any new land usually endures severe hardship.
Eg., over 90% of the first shipload at Jamestown were dead within a year. It took fully 100 years for the English settlers there to establish a self-sustaining population that didn't require new immigrants to keep from disappearing.
Even Plymouth Rock and the Bay Colony had massive casualties in their first years.
The one exception on the East Coast was Pennsylvania, which was a) very carefully planned, drawing on three generations of experience b) well financed, and c) established late, so it could draw on older settlements nearby for supplies.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
And I agree, I expect life will be, at the very least, hard and dangerous for the first colonists on Mars for several generations. And that many will die young and quickly.
My understanding is that Elon Musk plans a two phase colonization effort. The first phase, around 2024, will be to send unmanned ships loaded with supplies and equipment to be landed on Mars. Phase two, one or two years later, will be the first colonists. These men and women will then make use of the aforementioned supplies to begin building a new home. And I agree we will have to expect setbacks and tragedies.
No matter how carefully men like Robert Zubrin and Elon Musk try to plan and prepare, we have to expect the unexpected, in both good and bad ways. There will be problems and setbacks nobody could have planned for before they OCCURRED.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: that's right. An uncrewed flight of freighters carrying the necessary cargo, and then a crewed one to set it up and get it running -- notably, a facility for producing liquid oxygen and synthetic methane so they can refuel for the return trip. The first permanent settlers may be two years after that. We should have a small settlement by 2030 that's permanent in the sense of having people who intend to live their all their lives and have children.
I find this all very hard to believe but let's see how it goes.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling and Paul!
Mr. Stirling: Something I am VERY eager to see actually happening! I only wish it could have been done 20 or 30 years sooner.
Paul: Why are such plans and hopes so hard to believe? Robert Zubrin, in books like THE CASE FOR MARS or THE CASE FOR SPACE (despite some irrelevant nonsense about Giordano Bruno), discussed such plans in DETAIL. I have recommended either of those books more than once!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Mars can be colonized. The time scale is daunting. After so little space activity for so long, a permanent colony just nine years from now? Fine if someone can do it.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Because MUCH of the spadework had already been done before Elon Musk came along. Mars could have been reached and colonized decades before SpaceX using the technology of the Apollo era. What had been lacking after 1973 was the WILL and determination to do so.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I would be happier if there were more going on in space now as a prelude to the leap all the way to Mars.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I would like to see both being done! E.g., mining asteroids relatively near Earth, founding bases/colonies on the Moon, building O'Neill habitats, constructing solar power satellites orbiting Earth, AND "leaping" to Mars.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: technically, but it would have been -extremely- costly.
The Falcon 9 currently has the lowest cost of launch to orbit -- about $2500 per pound.
The Starship is expected to reduce that to around $10 per pound -- a redutcion of about 250 times.
Launch costs in the Apollo era were much higher than $2500 (in 2020 dollars) per pound.
There's a difference between being -technically- possible and -economically practical-.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Granted, that what was technically possible was vastly more costly in 1973 than with the new space technology made possible by SpaceX, I still would like more to have been done in that period. I still would argue that politics and shortsightedness helped lead to the Great Stagnation in space after 1973.
Ad astra! Sean
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