They have the Biosphere 2 project for reference, so some of the 'unexpected' problems have been identified. My bet is the biosphere will focus on farmland with CO2 to O2 conversion as a bonus and they will have the robots to help with the grunt work that wore down the Biosphere 2 crew.
The smart thing will be to dig down, not build gleaming domes. It's easier to stop cosmic rays with a few meters of dirt than with expensive engineering. Just digging down a few meters, then using that soil to cover a dome would be a huge improvement in radiation protection.
Agreed. Personally I’m skeptical as hell. The Mars rovers bumble and tumble as they creep along the surface. We’re going to need machines at least a thousand Tim’s more autonomous than what we’ve got now. The machines sent ahead will have to be 1000 times more dexterous than what we’ve got now have now.
In human terms… given the time lines… maybe? It would involve a massive investment of time and resources that would make the Manhattan Project look small. It would require every American to unify and be willing to make personal sacrifices for the future. The initial death tolls will be horrendous. Take everything that went into fighting WW2, multiply that by two or three… THAT’s what we’re looking at. Not trying to be a dink… I’d be just stoked to do it and see it… but I don’t know if we have the team spirit it would require. Or the leadership… Elon Musk has his merits, not denying that… but he is more a business man than a visionary. There are some massive obstacles that make his timeline unrealistic.
Mars won't be colonized without nuclear power, there are too many issues with solar to make giant battery packs feasible as backup. We don't have beamed power systems at scale anywhere so even orbital solar isn't sufficient, and there isn't AFAIK enough deep heat (or working fluids) available for geo-thermal generation. No useful wind, no hydro, no combustion-based power. Nuclear is the only baseload generation that can work.
If a dust storm lasts for days and all you have is PV+Battery eventually your batteries will go dead and soon thereafter the colony dies too.
Every technology in the video is one Musk now owns, so I'm expecting an announcement SpaceX has started working on fission-based power generation (not RTGs) for Mars.
Heck, all we need to do is locate those ancient artifacts and where those extraterrestrial visitors built all of their underground cities. Because aliens... right? (... um ...)
It is pretty obvious everything Elon as been doing is to support going to Mars.
ReplyDeleteYup.
ReplyDeleteThey are discussing the engineering challenges they have thought of. The real trouble will come from the engineering challenges they can't see coming.
ReplyDeleteThey have the Biosphere 2 project for reference, so some of the 'unexpected' problems have been identified. My bet is the biosphere will focus on farmland with CO2 to O2 conversion as a bonus and they will have the robots to help with the grunt work that wore down the Biosphere 2 crew.
DeleteThe smart thing will be to dig down, not build gleaming domes. It's easier to stop cosmic rays with a few meters of dirt than with expensive engineering. Just digging down a few meters, then using that soil to cover a dome would be a huge improvement in radiation protection.
ReplyDeleteAgreed.
DeletePersonally I’m skeptical as hell. The Mars rovers bumble and tumble as they creep along the surface. We’re going to need machines at least a thousand Tim’s more autonomous than what we’ve got now. The machines sent ahead will have to be 1000 times more dexterous than what we’ve got now have now.
In human terms… given the time lines… maybe? It would involve a massive investment of time and resources that would make the Manhattan Project look small. It would require every American to unify and be willing to make personal sacrifices for the future. The initial death tolls will be horrendous. Take everything that went into fighting WW2, multiply that by two or three… THAT’s what we’re looking at.
Not trying to be a dink… I’d be just stoked to do it and see it… but I don’t know if we have the team spirit it would require. Or the leadership… Elon Musk has his merits, not denying that… but he is more a business man than a visionary. There are some massive obstacles that make his timeline unrealistic.
Not that 'I' will ever see it, but interesting to watch the planning...
ReplyDeleteMars won't be colonized without nuclear power, there are too many issues with solar to make giant battery packs feasible as backup. We don't have beamed power systems at scale anywhere so even orbital solar isn't sufficient, and there isn't AFAIK enough deep heat (or working fluids) available for geo-thermal generation. No useful wind, no hydro, no combustion-based power. Nuclear is the only baseload generation that can work.
ReplyDeleteIf a dust storm lasts for days and all you have is PV+Battery eventually your batteries will go dead and soon thereafter the colony dies too.
Every technology in the video is one Musk now owns, so I'm expecting an announcement SpaceX has started working on fission-based power generation (not RTGs) for Mars.
Heck, all we need to do is locate those ancient artifacts and where those extraterrestrial visitors built all of their underground cities. Because aliens... right? (... um ...)
ReplyDelete