A Mars Colony in Our Lifetimes?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

That still doesn't solve the gravity problem.

It's less of a problem than it is on the ISS. And they're solving that as we speak. So don't sweat the small stuff.

[mistermack]

That still doesn't solve the gravity problem.

It's less of a problem than it is on the ISS. And they're solving that as we speak. So don't sweat the small stuff.

It wouldn't be small stuff, if all the babies were born deformed, and never developed proper bones.
I don't see any sign of that being adressed on the space station.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

That still doesn't solve the gravity problem.

It's less of a problem than it is on the ISS. And they're solving that as we speak. So don't sweat the small stuff.

It wouldn't be small stuff, if all the babies were born deformed, and never developed proper bones.
I don't see any sign of that being adressed on the space station.

When was your last trip there?

[mistermack]

When was your last trip there?

Same as yours.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

When was your last trip there?

Same as yours.

Agreed. So you don't know.

[Blind groper]

I can think immediately of two 'solutions' to the gravity problem.

1. A regimen of exercise on centrifuges.

2. Assuming advanced genetic engineering, a modified Martian that can survive in low gravity.

Of course, we do not, at this stage, know just how serious the problem is. Mars is not zero gravity, where we have encountered real health problems. Mars has significant and substantial gravity - just a lot less than Earth (38% of Earth's.). For all we, know, people could live quite well under Mars gravity.

However, one way or another, I do not see this as a game stopper - just an inconvenience.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Roanoake.

[mistermack]

I can think immediately of two 'solutions' to the gravity problem.

1. A regimen of exercise on centrifuges.

2. Assuming advanced genetic engineering, a modified Martian that can survive in low gravity.

Of course, we do not, at this stage, know just how serious the problem is. Mars is not zero gravity, where we have encountered real health problems. Mars has significant and substantial gravity - just a lot less than Earth (38% of Earth's.). For all we, know, people could live quite well under Mars gravity.

However, one way or another, I do not see this as a game stopper - just an inconvenience.

Centrifuges make people sick. They need to be 200 metres plus diameter before that effect disappears.

Of course the gravity on Mars is not as big a problem as on the space station. So with the right measures, you could live for years on Mars, I would expect. It's the effect on a fetus, and growing children, that's the big unknown. It would take a big change in our moral values to experiment with even one baby.
You could try breeding chimps and gorillas on Mars, I suppose. But I can't see them coping with less than half gravity.
Maybe you could make weighted suits, that they had to wear at all times to equal things up a bit.

I can't imagine any parent volunteering their child for that experiment. Maybe a job for the Chinese. Human rights being lower on their priorities.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

How about for the first few decades we send only adults who are (reversibly) sterile and see how it goes. Mistermack's above is extend to the livestock that we take with us, as much for study as for food.

[Blind groper]

I can't imagine any parent volunteering their child for that experiment. Maybe a job for the Chinese. Human rights being lower on their priorities.

Wanna bet?

People are weird. If a call was put out for a young couple to go and live on Mars, and make babies, you would get hundreds of volunteers. At least.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Reminds me of the zoo that put out the ad, "Wanted, human to breed with chimpanzee, $50."

No response to the ad for several months, then this wino stumbles in and says,

"I'll do it on three conditions.
Nobody gets to watch.
The kid is raised in the church.
You give me three months to get the $50."

[mistermack]

How about for the first few decades we send only adults who are (reversibly) sterile and see how it goes. Mistermack's above is extend to the livestock that we take with us, as much for study as for food.

I would say that the sensible thing would be for kids to be brought up on a spinning space station, with a normal 1g gravity, and then go and live and work on Mars after the age of 20, or something similar.

I think that once they solve the problem of getting materials off the Moon and Mars, space stations will be gigantic, and just like living on the Earth.

Mars would be a great place to go when you get old and knackered, with it's low gravity.
A pink sky wouldn't make it very scenic though.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Until you have families there, you don't have a colony, you have an expedition. It may be that humans adapt to the planet and no long look much like us.

[mistermack]

I can't imagine any parent volunteering their child for that experiment. Maybe a job for the Chinese. Human rights being lower on their priorities.

Wanna bet?

People are weird. If a call was put out for a young couple to go and live on Mars, and make babies, you would get hundreds of volunteers. At least.

Yeh, but do you want to send weird people? Just because there are plenty of loonies about, that doesn't mean you would invest billions in them.

[mistermack]

Until you have families there, you don't have a colony, you have an expedition. It may be that humans adapt to the planet and no long look much like us.

That could happen, but not by evolution.
Evolution works by the death of millions of unsuitable individuals, leaving just the most suitable.

I don't think we would have the time or the stomach for that. You would have to do it by engineering the dna. And then they wouldn't be fully human any more.