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A comment on Design of a rapid transit to Mars mission using laser-thermal propulsion. Parent comment

Re:Design of a rapid transit to Mars mission using laser-the... by mchusma on Thursday February 17, 2022 @10:50AM (#30374353)
I also think Dyson swarms are the future. But I think the Mars effort is helpful towards getting there.

Elon's public motivation for Mars is basically a human backup plan. And for that, it probably may be the best shot of the next 100 years. It seems like a million people living and working on Mars is more likely to survive a worst case scenario that a million people in rotating space habitats.

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Re:Design of a rapid transit to Mars mission using laser-the... by jmyeet on Thursday February 17, 2022 @10:52AM (#30374387)
But how is the Moon not a sufficicent backup plan?
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Re:Design of a rapid transit to Mars mission using laser-the... by bostonsre on Thursday February 17, 2022 @12:03PM (#30375508)
The dust on the moon is extremely abrasive, the temperature fluctuations are more extreme, there is no atmosphere that provides protection against meteorites and high energy particles (not that mars has a thick atmosphere, but it is better than nothing), and the gravity of the moon would be a lot harder for humans to adjust to.
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Re:Design of a rapid transit to Mars mission using laser-the... by O5vYtytb on Thursday February 17, 2022 @11:19AM (#30374774)
How can a moon civilization support itself without the Earth?
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Re:Design of a rapid transit to Mars mission using laser-the... by jmyeet on Thursday February 17, 2022 @12:01PM (#30375478)
The Moon has abundant iron and aluminium. Carbon and hydrogen are possibly an issue but capture a comet or two and that problem goes away. I'm not sure what the state of phosphorus is but luckily we don't need all that much of it.

What would we need from Earth? What would be economical to ship from Earth?

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Re:Design of a rapid transit to Mars mission using laser-the... by O5vYtytb on Friday February 25, 2022 @12:28AM (#30464004)
> but capture a comet or two and that problem goes away.

So the moon colony needs to be capable of making the things to go and capture a comet, and more comets in the future to replenish supplies, to support itself. That's a very large civilization.

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