SpaceX and the prospects of Mars colonization.

[BADecker]

^^^ He wouldn't want to move offshore into international waters, right? Where the FAA doesn't have any authority, right?

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[hornetsnest]

Mars is a shithole. Why would you want to colonize a shithole dummies?

[BADecker]

Mars is a shithole. Why would you want to colonize a shithole dummies?

You answered your own question with your last word.     

[Trading]

Mars is a nightmare, but the richest and most important people alive (Musk has more votes than the others https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5353987.0) wants to create a colony there.

He is going to evaporate half of his fortune, but he is obsessed and he'll manage to create a small colony on Mars.

Forget about the million or even 5000 thousand people there, until the voyage takes less than 3 months and the radiation and low gravity is solved.

Some States will pay him billions to keep some military personnel there for political reasons.

But I can't see that having any economic sense until some resource is found on Mars.

[Trading]

It looks like Musk is already thinking about a Gigafactory to build hundreds of Starships.

No one working for him tells him that there won't be customers to those ships?

It's like creating the transcontinental railway on the XVII century with trains pushed by oxen.

Until he improves his propulsion system to make the journey to Mars on a month, solve the radiation and lack of gravity/low gravity during the voyage and on Mars, he can forget about a colony that would require this kind of number of Starships.

And he would have a problem of economic viability.

[hornetsnest]

Do the Martians know we have plans to colonize them? What about martian lives matter? I was going to hashtag MLM but that might the thread spammed by those multi level marketing scammers.

[OgNasty]

Mars is a nightmare, but the richest and most important people alive (Musk has more votes than the others https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5353987.0) wants to create a colony there.

He is going to evaporate half of his fortune, but he is obsessed and he'll manage to create a small colony on Mars.

Forget about the million or even 5000 thousand people there, until the voyage takes less than 3 months and the radiation and low gravity is solved.

Some States will pay him billions to keep some military personnel there for political reasons.

But I can't see that having any economic sense until some resource is found on Mars.

I think he said he would evaporate most of his fortune to get human beings to be a multiplanetary species if he has to.  I think once you have more than 5 billion dollars, money probably stops mattering to you for your own personal wealth.

I'm not sure they've solved the radiation issues with Mars either.  That's why Elon Musk started the Boring company.  I imagine that at least during my lifetime, the best we can hope for is people living in deep caves beneath Mars' surface.

As for economic reasons...  If they spot an asteroid "planet killer" heading on a direct course to Earth, Elon would be able to charge literally anything he wanted to get people to Mars.  Even if there's a legitimate scare, he'd be getting billion dollar offers for a seat.  So I try not to think he's too crazy.  He could end up saving mankind.  Also of note, at the rate we're burning fossil fuels, the window of opportunity for mankind to become a multiplanetary species is quickly closing (at least until we start throwing rockets into space with electric powered catapults, which is what I think will eventually happen for satellites and other unmanned craft). 

[Trading]

the best we can hope for is people living in deep caves beneath Mars' surface.

Caves can indeed solve the radiation problem. But SpaceX's Mars Colony plans show the buildings on surface.

There is also the problem of Mars low gravity (about 1/3 of Earth's). On the long run, this would be very damaging.

Only a moving colony on some kind of rotating vehicle could create gravity by acceleration.

It's not impossible to create it on a cave, but the amount of energy wasted moving it continuously would be enormous.

Only a nuclear plant can create this amount of energy on Mars.

It won't be easy for a private corporation to get the necessary licenses to ship a nuclear plant. Space X might be able do it with Nasa.

Notwithstanding, how can someone create a moving colony of one million residents? Or indeed a much smaller number.

[BADecker]

the best we can hope for is people living in deep caves beneath Mars' surface.

Caves can indeed solve the radiation problem. But SpaceX's Mars Colony plans show the buildings on surface.

There is also the problem of Mars low gravity (about 1/3 of Earth's). On the long run, this would be very damaging.

Only a moving colony on some kind of rotating vehicle could create gravity by acceleration.

It's not impossible to create it on a cave, but the amount of energy wasted moving it continuously would be enormous.

Only a nuclear plant can create this amount of energy on Mars.

It won't be easy for a private corporation to get the necessary licenses to ship a nuclear plant. Space X might be able do it with Nasa.

Notwithstanding, how can someone create a moving colony of one million residents? Or indeed a much smaller number.

It's all the same as in the 1960s and 1970s. It's just a bunch of fanciful talk, that makes more money for the talkers.

Now if Musk resurrected the "To the stars by atom bomb: The incredible tale of the top secret Orion Project" thing (https://newatlas.com/orion-project-atom-bomb-spaceship/49454/) in a practical way, his current funds could do the Mars thing, and I would be interested.

[Trading]

Our soldier of god is ready to go to Mars on a nuclear propelled ship.

I guess he intends to preach to martian stones.

So far he doesn't seem to have any luck here. He might have better luck on Mars, converting the stones.  

It won't be easy, however stones might believe that the Earth was created less than 7 thousands years ago.

[KingScorpio]

Our soldier of god is ready to go to Mars on a nuclear propelled ship.

I guess he intends to preach to martian stones.

So far he doesn't seem to have any luck here. He might have better luck on Mars, converting the stones.  

It won't be easy, however stones might believe that the Earth was created less than 7 thousands years ago.

how is he supposed to go to mars if on the ground the USA is collapsing due to fascism?

[BADecker]

Our soldier of god is ready to go to Mars on a nuclear propelled ship.

I guess he intends to preach to martian stones.

So far he doesn't seem to have any luck here. He might have better luck on Mars, converting the stones.  

It won't be easy, however stones might believe that the Earth was created less than 7 thousands years ago.

Exactly!

Getting to Mars will be a job... especially if it includes regular round trips. But doing anything useful on Mars will be thousands of times more difficult.

[istiak2277]

If you ask any people to live by the side of a volcano or in a place where you need to put external equipment to live on, will they agree? Why do we need to colonize Mars? Invest that money in finding ways to build a place where many people can live a standard life. That will be less costly and less time-consuming. The only benefit I find to Mars colonization is extracting raw minerals from that planet and bringing them to earth.

[BADecker]

If you ask any people to live by the side of a volcano or in a place where you need to put external equipment to live on, will they agree? Why do we need to colonize Mars? Invest that money in finding ways to build a place where many people can live a standard life. That will be less costly and less time-consuming. The only benefit I find to Mars colonization is extracting raw minerals from that planet and bringing them to earth.

The earth has all the minerals that we need. They can be extracted easier than getting them from Mars. There are plenty of unpopulated locations where minerals can be found.

Mars is a complete money-making scam, that plays on the emotional fantasies of people who can't think logically very well. It's all a money maker.

Formerly it was the moon. But we're not going there. Who is going there? We need a new fanciful place that might be sort-of in reach: Mars. It's all about money for other things rather than going to either one of these.

[istiak2277]

If you ask any people to live by the side of a volcano or in a place where you need to put external equipment to live on, will they agree? Why do we need to colonize Mars? Invest that money in finding ways to build a place where many people can live a standard life. That will be less costly and less time-consuming. The only benefit I find to Mars colonization is extracting raw minerals from that planet and bringing them to earth.

The earth has all the minerals that we need. They can be extracted easier than getting them from Mars. There are plenty of unpopulated locations where minerals can be found.

Yes, we could but just think within 100 years how much natural resource we have extracted and used? This demand is growing so fast that with this fast pace, increasing demands on earth's natural resources will be spent. Right now we can say we have plenty of resources for another 500 years but what humans will be after that? So why not try other alternative when we are already using money to go there.

[Trading]

Another explosion (now with the Super-heavy), but it seems it wasn't a big deal.

If you are not exploding things you are not innovating, says Musk.

We have to admire Musk. He is a force of nature: never give up, never yield.

Will NASA be able to launch its expensive dinosaur (I mean its Space Launch System) and reach orbit before SpaceX with the Starship?

NASA is pointing to August 29th, September 2nd, and September 5th:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/nasa-sets-tentative-launch-dates-for-debut-of-its-massive-new-rocket/ar-AAZN04H

It's so damn expensive and obsolete that is like launching a dead dinosaur to space, just to watch it fall back and destroy something valued on impact.

[Trading]

The biggest rocket ever to be launched by Humankind is about to be launched.

If everything goes alright with the Spaceship, it will be a major step on space exploration, that will make History, with a capital H.

Even Nasa's Artemis plans depend on it.

[BADecker]

The idea of SpaceX going to Mars sometime, is mostly a big piece of advertising. It is being spread to keep people interested, so Musk gets money.

I say this because the US had the ability to easily go to Mars back in the 1960s. Check out To the stars by atom bomb: The incredible tale of the top secret Orion Project - https://newatlas.com/orion-project-atom-bomb-spaceship/49454/.

Back then there might have been some problems regarding radiation or other things. But these could be overcome much more easily today.

Now, if Musk said that he was going to use SpaceX to re-start the original, top secret Orion Project, and that such was the reason why he wanted to go to the moon... to do it from there rather than the earth... there might be some logic to SpaceX and Mars.