Mars is, at best, no less risky a place than Earth

Re:Mars is, at best, no less risky a place than Earth by natch on Thursday July 16, 2020 @08:56PM (#23865795)

Not everyone is doing this, but I see a lot of smart people assuming that the people going to Mars must necessarily have the current version 1.x human body plan. Sure, at the beginning, some will. But in the timeframes we are looking at, it is highly likely that we can start the process of incrementally engineering bodies to be adaptable to Mars, not just the other way around. And Mars is just the beginning.

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Re:Mars is, at best, no less risky a place than Earth by paulryanrogers on Thursday July 16, 2020 @09:08PM (#23865864)

Mars is only the beginning? Gravity wells take a lot of fuel to escape. Doubtful we'll be bouncing around the stars without some major breakthroughs in physics.

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Re:Mars is, at best, no less risky a place than Earth by gpm on Thursday July 16, 2020 @09:21PM (#23865956)

Venus? The moon? The various moons in the outer solar system?

Agreed that interstellar travel is a ways out if ever... (though it doesn't require physics breakthroughs, just massive engineering breakthroughs. There's enough hydrogen in the solar system to make fusion powered thrusters theoretically possible).

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Re:Mars is, at best, no less risky a place than Earth by natch on Wednesday July 22, 2020 @11:02AM (#23917764)

You’re ignoring the part where I suggested that the “we” you mention would be redesigned to be amenable to that sort of stuff.

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Re:Mars is, at best, no less risky a place than Earth by natch on Thursday July 16, 2020 @10:47PM (#23866460)

Some moons of Saturn are interesting. And breakthroughs in physics do happen and there’s a lot between here and “bouncing around the stars.”

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