Mountaineering on Mars, Fenn and Kinna stop to enjoy a view.
See:
I did not know that there could be ice-clouds in a deeply blue sky on Mars but then I do not know very much about conditions on Mars. Poul Anderson must have made his description as accurate as he was able to at the time of writing. James Blish tried to do likewise in Welcome To Mars. (Also here.) (Scroll down.)
Kinna, born and bred on Mars and therefore a "Martian," with nearly every atom in her body from her home planet, loves that planet as it is now but also wants it to be terraformed. It will not change enormously in her lifetime, after all.
I have not mentioned the purpose of their mountaineering but we will maybe get to that after I have dealt with some other stuff. Retirement is not just about blogging.
Ad Martem.
13 comments:
Terraforming is good.
Furthermore, Mars was warmer, had a surface that was 50% ocean, and a thicker atmosphere a long time ago.
Science enables us to master nature -- which is 'red in tooth and claw'.
That was me...
So was there life and was it multi-cellular?
Kaor, Mr. Stirling and Paul!
Mr. Stirling: I love that idea, terraforming Mars! Which I hope will someday be achieved. You reminded me of the blue or green Mars mentioned in THE WINTER OF THE WORLD, set about eight or 10,000 years in our future.
Paul: The only way to find out for sure either way is for humans to actually go to Barsoom and really start digging deeply.
Ad astra! Sean
We don't know if there was life. That will require careful investigation.. by Earthmen-become-Martians!
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Absolutely, I'm so impatient for a manned expedition going to Mars!
No more of these wretchedly unsatisfactory little rovers NASA has been sending to Barsoom!
Ad astra! Sean
I am pleased to see that a nuclear electric propelled probe is being sent to Mars.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Reactor%E2%80%911_Freedom
That technology scaled up will be a big help for any interplanetary human travel.
One thing that is essential for humanity to expand off earth is closed cycle life support. Trying variations of the Biosphere 2 idea on the surface of the earth should be done. SFAIK the billionaire space enthusiasts like Musk & Bezos are neglecting this.
Jim: closed-cycle isn't strictly necessary. You can import essential elements and replace them.
Kaor, Jim and Mr. Stirling!
Both: I think Robert Zubrin's book, THE CASE FOR MARS, goes into massive detail about these issues, including using resources found on Mars.
Ad astra! Sean
But how easy is it to import the essential elements?
For your habitation dome on Mars you can pump in as much CO2 as you need for plants to produce food. For trace elements needed for human health, then the need can be small enough that imports are not a problem even from deep in another gravity well and across interplanetary distances.
However, recycling water, carbon, nitrogen etc. will be needed to support a city on the moon or an orbiting habitat with imports only to replace relatively minor leakages.
Kaor, Jim!
We won't know till humans actually try doing these things. What Musk/SpaceX have achieved is to make it possible to even seriously think of trying. That alone is a huge achievement!
Ad astra! Sean
It will be a lot easier to experiment with minimal importation life support if we do the experimentation on the surface of the earth.
Kaor, Jim!
Some efforts were made doing that in Antarctica, I think. I think they failed because the human subjects got bored with it, unwilling to stick it out for the lengthy time required.
Ad astra! Sean
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