Re:Huge Mars Colony Eyed by SpaceX Founder Elon Musk
by stcredzero on Friday November 23, 2012 @04:31PM
(#4823745)
> No way to grow food there unless you export a whole lot of greenhouses
No, you can build the greenhouses in-situ. We have already worked out how to produce metals and polymers from martian resources.
> This is already hard to do in deserts or in the Polar regions, where we have plenty of oxygen and free moisture flowing in the atmosphere.
Sure, there will be considerable challenges. I don't see anything that will be insurmountable.
Re:Huge Mars Colony Eyed by SpaceX Founder Elon Musk
by wololo on Friday November 23, 2012 @09:48PM
(#4824382)
> We have already worked out how to produce metals and polymers from martian resources.
links?
Re:Huge Mars Colony Eyed by SpaceX Founder Elon Musk
by stcredzero on Friday November 23, 2012 @07:58PM
(#4824209)
> You know that Mars atmosphere don't capture oxygen right?
How is this relevant to growing in pressurized domes?
Re:Huge Mars Colony Eyed by SpaceX Founder Elon Musk
by hazov on Friday November 23, 2012 @09:03PM
(#4824310)
It's not, but a huge pressurized dome would be pretty much expensive, I do not think a colony on Mars would be able to produce more than subsistence level for the pioneers.
Re:Huge Mars Colony Eyed by SpaceX Founder Elon Musk
by stcredzero on Friday November 23, 2012 @09:44PM
(#4824375)
There has already been consideration of producing polymers on Mars from the atmosphere. Agricultural domes would not have to be reliable as living spaces, so these could be built cheaply as inflatable structures. So mars could build its own greenhouses.
No way to grow food there unless you export a whole lot of greenhouses and set up an artificial biosphere, but without the conditions that we take for granted on earth.
This is already hard to do in deserts or in the Polar regions, where we have plenty of oxygen and free moisture flowing in the atmosphere.
[1]: http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/ast121/lectures/lec14.html for a good explanation.