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Conrad Thomas Young's avatar

Pressurized mag-lev high speed rail, replicating an O’Neill Cylinder, solves all three problems. I think your entire premise is wrong. We can simulate 1 g by spinning fast enough and walking on the ceiling. Also, once we figure out nuclear rockets, let’s bring in a trans-Neptunian dwarf planet, Eris perhaps, as a new moon. That should be enough gravity to use tidal forces to restart the *liquid* iron core, creating a magnetosphere, allowing for an atmosphere, and full terraforming. Then we wouldn’t need pressurized O’Neill Cylinders. But we could do my basic outline in 30 years if we had the political will. Also, Olympus Mons has lots of caves…

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Blue Belt of Rustic Reflection's avatar

The solution would be to make a weight for each colonizer that would add the missing 62% of his mass to his back.

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Pete McCutchen's avatar

O’Neill Colonies it is, then!

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Wallfacer's avatar

The only way to “fix” conditions on Mars to fix the issues you talked about is through means which may be possible at some point far in the future. I mean Kardashev Level 2 levels of development at a minimum.

We would have to be able to direct massive bombardments of Mars with hundreds of asteroids without cracking portions away which would present a danger to Earth.

We would have to restart the core. And then work on the atmosphere. Which probably wouldn’t be too difficult once you have the magnetosphere and sufficient gravity. But even in theory this would be a process taking place on geological timescales.

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Sufeitzy's avatar

No fun! Somehow we send some of the super-successful “boring” company drills to make a warren of mile-wide underground chambers, developed by self-replicating autonomous AI driven robots which finish them out onto Luxury human habitation. The hydroponic greenhouse fields grow plenty of food tended by the self-replicating AI robots, and all the other usual stuff is readied- osteoblast promoter drugs for bone health; myostatin inhibitors to prevent muscle loss. Can-D and K is supplied to the humans to trip out all day imagining they’re on the beach at Ipanema.

Fortunately we also have discovered dilithium crystals so the whole thing which takes truly mind-bending quantities of power to maintain is plentiful so air, water, light, maintenance, transportation, the robots, food, artificial industry and the Waymo cars and interplanetary taxis are well-stocked.

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Vinyasi's avatar

Total Recall, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger from 1990.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_Recall_(1990_film)

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William Davis Stark's avatar

Another ignorant screed by an anti-technology extremist.

Yawn.

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Alan Lehotsky's avatar

So refute the argument instead of ad hominem attacks- you sir appear to have no real understanding of the physics and biology of reality And his article didn’t even mention the pervasive presence of perchlorates that are poisonous

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William Davis Stark's avatar

I'd refute an argument if he made one, which he didn't.

Now go fuck yourself.

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Mojangles's avatar

He did? He says the lack of gravity, oxygen and magnetosphere render mars uninhabitable. That's his argument, it's clear and simple.

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New_Leaf's avatar

To summarise:

[16] The heavens are the Lord's heavens, but the earth he has given to the sons of men.

Psalms 115:16 RSV

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Alexey Naidyonov's avatar

There were at least two studies discussing feasibility of the artificial magnetosphere for Mars, one is 2017 from NASA suggesting a ~2 Tesla magnet at the L1, and second dated 2021 and analyzing few alternate strategies (google for "How to create an artificial magnetosphere for Mars")

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Halftrolling's avatar

We could just not give a fuck about human health and happiness and see if we can forcibly evolve for zero g and lower grav over generations.

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David Westall's avatar

He presented engineering challenges. Given our current level of technology he’s not wrong that we have no solutions to the listed challenges. Elon is also not wrong that we must get off this planet if we wish humanity to survive. Mars is just a stepping stone. Whether we should invest in trying to do that now is another question. I’ll have shuffled off this mortal coil before that question is answered but I’m rooting for humanity!

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