• MyOpinion@lemm.ee
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    3 months ago

    Prove that you can do it on the moon first then we can talk about Mars.

    • conciselyverbose@sh.itjust.works
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      3 months ago

      Seriously. I donā€™t understand and never understood how this wasnā€™t the very obvious first step.

      People might still die. Unfortunately thereā€™s no way around that. But thereā€™s a massive difference between ā€œhelp is 7 days away with an emergency launchā€ and ā€œhelp is never comingā€. Iā€™m not sure the exact time scales they could get emergency readiness for, but I can tell you itā€™s a whole hell of a lot faster than it is for everything to align for a mars mission.

      Also, if deaths do happen, you can learn a whole hell of a lot more about means of failure investigating the issue on the moon.

      • Rhaedas@fedia.io
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        3 months ago

        Yep, figure out Moon dust solutions and Mars becomes a bit easier. But absolutely the distance is key, and the Moon isnā€™t THAT easy to get to, but at least itā€™s less than years away, one way.

      • SolarMonkey@slrpnk.net
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        3 months ago

        Plus once you get it working, you can set up retirement communities up there. Gives old people a chance to take a pioneering risk so we can sort out the kinks and grow the space with purpose, and makes them feel a lot better being in reduced gravity.

        Iā€™ve even got a slogan! Itā€™s cheesy and totally 1950s sci-fi, so perfect!

        ā€œRetire in comfort on the moon, where 1/6 gravity makes old bodies feel new again!ā€

      • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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        3 months ago

        help is 7 days away with an emergency launch

        Itā€™s more like 3, and you can talk to people on the ground with just some lag, too (although you need a satellite rebroadcast when over the dark side).

        Mars, on the other hand, is months away, may not be exitable at all at a given time with a given craft, and has latency similar to a carrier pigeon with an SD card strapped to it.

        • conciselyverbose@sh.itjust.works
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          3 months ago

          I just didnā€™t want to pretend it was an hour. Response time would definitely be dependent on your investment, the urgency of the situation, etc, but even on the longer end of the spectrum, there are a lot of failures you are able to recover from that you couldnā€™t on Mars. ā€œThis critical component we will die without is degrading 1% per weekā€ gives you plenty of time to solve the problem on the moon and no chance in hell on Mars.

    • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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      3 months ago

      The only real estate upside to Mars is a tenuous wisp of atmosphere. Other than that, the Moon is superior in every way.

      Iā€™d consider a Moon colony, a floating Venus colony, a Titan colony or a space station. You couldnā€™t pay me enough to go anywhere else, since thereā€™s nothing there to spend it on anyway.

      Edit: Or interstellar stuff, I guess.

      • PoopingCough@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Liquid water under Marsā€™ surface could be a huge upside if we can confirm itā€™s there and figure out how to get to it

        • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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          3 months ago

          The moon has water too, and melting it is NBD, so theyā€™re actually equal there for real estate purposes.

          For scientific purposes liquid water is interesting, but itā€™s much easier to send a robot than all the various amenities needed for human scientists, and probably always will be.

  • seaQueue@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Well duh. We havenā€™t even solved living on the ISS for more than a year at a time yet.

    • snooggums
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      3 months ago

      That is primarily an issue with the lack of gravityā€™s effect on the human body. It is hard to get enough exercise to maintain strength in muscles, maintaining bone density, and other bodily functions so that the astronaut can have a regular life back on Earth.

      Mars has enough gravity that bodily atrophy should not be a significant issue for people that return, and it shouldnā€™t be an issue at all for people who stay on Mars.

      There are a ton of other massive hurdles on Mars, but they are not related to the cautionary limitation on individualā€™s trips to the ISS.

      • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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        3 months ago

        Mars has enough gravity that bodily atrophy should not be a significant issue for people that return, and it shouldnā€™t be an issue at all for people who stay on Mars.

        Thatā€™s actually totally unknown. It could be, or it could be that you need almost a full G to stay healthy.

      • threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works
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        3 months ago

        Iā€™m disappointed that the ISS never got a rotating torus module. Maybe Lunar Gateway or one of the upcoming commercial stations will get one.

  • MudMan@fedia.io
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    3 months ago

    I was going to make a joke that The Vergeā€™s definition of ā€œeasyā€ seems to be different than mine, but the first sentence in the actual article is ā€œSending people to Mars wonā€™t be easyā€. I get the feeling the writer and the editor are not in speaking terms.

  • natflow@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Surprised the article doesnā€™t mention the recently published A City on Mars ā€” a book by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith, of Bea Wolf and SMBC. It talks about lots of other stuff but covers this too.