Weekly Science Headlines

[chaotic neutral observer]

I can't see a whole lot of practical value in colonizing Mars, or in interstellar travel.

But I think we should try, anyway.

Why?  Because space is awesome.  To hell with profitability, and screw common sense.  What with the imminent heat death of the universe, humanity is doomed anyway, so let's go as big as we can before it all turns to ash.

If anyone wants me, I'll be playing video games.

[Doktor Howl]

I can't see a whole lot of practical value in colonizing Mars, or in interstellar travel.

But I think we should try, anyway.

Why?  Because space is awesome.  To hell with profitability, and screw common sense.  What with the imminent heat death of the universe, humanity is doomed anyway, so let's go as big as we can before it all turns to ash.

If anyone wants me, I'll be playing video games.

Space is fine.  But what we do in space should lead to new knowledge or some other form of deliverable.  Mars does not do this.

[minuspace]

In addition, the article does not address how Mars would maintain a thick atmosphere, even if one could be generated, without the existence of a planet-size magnetic field.

Because it would only take 1, maximum 2 teslas to induce a magnetosphere.

I do not believe that creating an artificial magnetosphere around an entire planet is a trivial undertaking.

Axod sometimes fails when delivering irony.

[Prelate Diogenes Shandor]

Why would we skip straight to Mars instead of colonizing the moon first? It seems like a lot of unnecessary extra distance to go for a planet that lacks breathable air and earthlike ravity regardless.

And as for the point of space, I would think that a board as liberal as this one would appreciate the issues of dwindling resources and humanity's effect on the environment. There's a finite amount of copper and iron in the earth's crust and eventually they're all going to be mined out, leaving us in need of a new source. Also, and perhaps more importantly, industry and development are destroying the natural environment on planet earth; but Mars (and the moon, and so on) doesn't have any plants or animals (etc) anyway, so we can pollute it all we want and build on it wherever we feel like

[minuspace]

[Brother Mythos]

In addition, the article does not address how Mars would maintain a thick atmosphere, even if one could be generated, without the existence of a planet-size magnetic field.

Because it would only take 1, maximum 2 teslas to induce a magnetosphere.

I do not believe that creating an artificial magnetosphere around an entire planet is a trivial undertaking.

Axod sometimes fails when delivering irony.

Sorry, I didn’t realize that was irony. My bad.

[axod]

In addition, the article does not address how Mars would maintain a thick atmosphere, even if one could be generated, without the existence of a planet-size magnetic field.

Because it would only take 1, maximum 2 teslas to induce a magnetosphere.

I do not believe that creating an artificial magnetosphere around an entire planet is a trivial undertaking.

Axod sometimes fails when delivering irony.

Sorry, I didn’t realize that was irony. My bad.

Not according to NASA:

...
due to the application of full plasma physics codes and laboratory experiments. In the future it is quite possible that an inflatable structure(s) can generate a magnetic dipole field at a level of perhaps 1 or 2 Tesla (or 10,000 to 20,000 Gauss) as an active shield against the solar wind."

https://m.phys.org/news/2017-03-nasa-magnetic-shield-mars-atmosphere.html

[Brother Mythos]

So, while creating an artificial magnetosphere around an entire planet is still not a trivial undertaking, it may actually be possible. How about that.

Nice find, axod.

(I read, a couple of months ago, about some group discussing the possibility of creating an artificial magnetosphere around Mars, but they had no idea how to pull it off.)

[Doktor Howl]

So, while creating an artificial magnetosphere around an entire planet is still not a trivial undertaking, it may actually be possible. How about that.

Nice find, axod.

(I read, a couple of months ago, about some group discussing the possibility of creating an artificial magnetosphere around Mars, but they had no idea how to pull it off.)

Possible, but why?

Mars is a sump for resources.  There's nothing there, and how fucking big would just that one structure be?  I could see using something like that in asteroid mining, but it's still cheaper and easier to use robots.

[minuspace]

So, while creating an artificial magnetosphere around an entire planet is still not a trivial undertaking, it may actually be possible. How about that.

Nice find, axod.

(I read, a couple of months ago, about some group discussing the possibility of creating an artificial magnetosphere around Mars, but they had no idea how to pull it off.)

Possible, but why?

Mars is a sump for resources.  There's nothing there, and how fucking big would just that one structure be?  I could see using something like that in asteroid mining, but it's still cheaper and easier to use robots.

Well, one roadster already escaped earth's atmosphere with a model android, so yeah.

[Prelate Diogenes Shandor]

And, in addition to resources and the environment, we also need backup civilizations out of ICBM range so everything isn't wiped out when one of the shitheads in charge of the world hits the big red button

[chaotic neutral observer]

And, in addition to resources and the environment, we also need backup civilizations out of ICBM range so everything isn't wiped out when one of the shitheads in charge of the world hits the big red button

I find it hard to conceive of a nuclear war that would make Earth less habitable than Mars (or the Moon).  Even if you take into account nuclear winter, massive fallout, large sections of geography glassed over, 99% extinction rate, it's not as if nuclear war would actually rip the atmosphere off the planet.  There's a pretty big difference between "if you leave the bunker without protection, you might die of cancer in six months" to "if you leave the base without a space suit, you'll asphyxiate in 60 seconds".

No, I don't think we should go to Mars with any practical objectives in mind.  Someone is going to need to make up some sort of plausible justification to generate the necessary political will, but I doubt the reasons will be legitimate.

I think we should go to Mars just for the lulz.  Humanity needs to get out of the house once in a while, try new things.  We can figure out if there were any tangible benefits afterward.

[Doktor Howl]

And, in addition to resources and the environment, we also need backup civilizations out of ICBM range so everything isn't wiped out when one of the shitheads in charge of the world hits the big red button

Mars is under the best of circumstances a slow death trap.  If you're going to move populations, you are still better off in the asteroid belt.

But let's face facts:  With the technology we have right now, nothing off-Earth is going to be reliable enough to call "survivable".

[Doktor Howl]

And, in addition to resources and the environment, we also need backup civilizations out of ICBM range so everything isn't wiped out when one of the shitheads in charge of the world hits the big red button

I find it hard to conceive of a nuclear war that would make Earth less habitable than Mars (or the Moon).  Even if you take into account nuclear winter, massive fallout, large sections of geography glassed over, 99% extinction rate, it's not as if nuclear war would actually rip the atmosphere off the planet.  There's a pretty big difference between "if you leave the bunker without protection, you might die of cancer in six months" to "if you leave the base without a space suit, you'll asphyxiate in 60 seconds".

No, I don't think we should go to Mars with any practical objectives in mind.  Someone is going to need to make up some sort of plausible justification to generate the necessary political will, but I doubt the reasons will be legitimate.

I think we should go to Mars just for the lulz.  Humanity needs to get out of the house once in a while, try new things.  We can figure out if there were any tangible benefits afterward.

1000 mT inside of a month kills off EVERYTHING except maybe vent worms.

And we have an ecological crash happening right now.  Wasted resources are wasted.  There's actual work to be done.

[axod]

Yeah, honestly, what 1950's science fiction movie did they get that 2030 figure from? Unless of course they didn't specify living humans; I think they could probably get an urn up there.

Sorry I missed this one: whose ruins are on mars?