Quote:
Originally posted by johnny:
But there's a much better chance if they can launch from the moon, hence the talks about a permanent base there. People WILL walk Mars someday, you better believe it.
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Agreed.
A huge amount of fuel is used in leaving the earths atmosphere. Leaving from the moon would negate that. A moon base would be a prereqisite for a Mars mission. It would be more relable than the space stations I'd imagine too.
Also, once an object has momentum in space, it can turn off the propulsion and maintain velocity, for there is nothing to slow down it's motion. No air etc. Once it hit the required speed, a ship could turn off the propulsion until a source of gravity came into effect.
Who thought people would walk on the moon? Live in Antarctica? Fly like a bird?
The sea is another frontier. Moving cities onto the water. Hovercrafts (that the military have owned for decades) or the new boat/car could make that a reality. Who knows what that would mean for Polynesia, Micronesia etc.
In many senses the idea is exciting. It's an unknown.
Why go there? Why did Europeans leave Europe? Why did humans move from Ethiopia or Iraq in the first place?
I shudder to think what dislocational issues people born on Mars would face though. It was wierd enough growing up in Australia, with so many Euro-centric cultural things like cold, winter christmas images, all reinforcing a "stranger in a strang land" kind of sensation.
Who knows what a Mars-born person would deal with. So many Anglo-Celtic Australians go back to Ireland or Great Britian to "find their roots". What would Marsians do?
And what would happen if they were taxed without representation? Would they have a tea party?