China Just Announced That It's Sending the First Humans to Mars

https://interestingengineering.com/china-sending-first-humans-mars-2033

by axiomdata316 • 5 years ago

9 4 5 years ago

PaulHoule2• 5 years ago

The "space ladder" could be more feasible to lift cargo off of Mars than it is to lift it off of Earth, but who wants to lift cargo off of Mars?

voakbasda• 5 years ago

but who wants to lift cargo off of Mars?

Anyone going there to set up a mine or other resource extraction operation?

PaulHoule2• 5 years ago

What resources and where to?

People living on astronomical body X will use what they can in place. It's hard to see that anything could be profitably mined on the moon and shipped to Earth (most competitive markets for anything in the Solar System) and Mars is worse.

Even the O'Neill colonies look bad because delivering something to a point in space means spending fuel to stop. (The mass driver probably fits on a Starship these days, you can buy one off the shelf today but it wouldn't last 1000 shots. A plausible catcher is still absent)

Mars is rich in stones, just like the Earth, and it is about as dry, just the water is frozen and underground.

Outer solar system bodies are (roughly) 50% water and carbonaceous asteroids are like Saudi Arabia but with the proportion of sand and "oil" reversed. (A US spacecraft got so much gas that it blew up the sample container!)

Most of what people want is not metals and stones but rather Carbon-Hydrogen-Oxygen-Nitrogen derived such as drinking water, air, wood, plastics, pharmaceuticals, food, cattle and the efficient way to enjoy those is to use in place:

https://arxiv.org/abs/2011.07487

npv789• 5 years ago

US?

China Just Announced That It's Sending the First Humans to Mars

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