Talked to a guy tonight about the steps we'll have to take before we can explore/settle Mars. It's an interesting topic, in theory. In practice I'm not expecting to see it anytime soon.
As far as moving people there, well... The thing is, it can only have as much biodiversity as we can export from Earth. At a maximum, that's if you can somehow transport breedable samples of everything. So that's something we have to maintain here, which we should be doing anyway.
As far as moving people there, well... The thing is, it can only have as much biodiversity as we can export from Earth. At a maximum, that's if you can somehow transport breedable samples of everything. So that's something we have to maintain here, which we should be doing anyway.
2 comments:
The idea of terraforming Mars is a fascinating subject. The writer who dealt with the possibilities and complications of putting such a plan into action was Kim Stanley Robinson who wrote his 'Mars Trilogy' in the mid-90s. There are still a number of scientists and engineers who find some of his hypotheses to be practical concepts - like the idea of the first settlers inhabiting pressurized lava tubes. Unsurprisingly, there are major disagreements among the new Martians about humanity's right to engineer the environment of another planet, never mind the interference of Earth's ever more powerful corporations.
I don't know if you'd be interested in reading them, but I was entirely fascinated with the development of the story when the books were published. You're right, of course, that everything begins with life on Earth and that our first priority ought to be taking care we don't lose the biodiversity we have here.
The guy I was talking to did indeed mention the Mars trilogy, although he garbled the author's name a little. They sound like something I should look at. I found The Years of Rice and Salt, also written by Robinson, to be pretty fascinating.
Other planets inside and outside our solar system are interesting. They're also very far away. This is our home for the present and the foreseeable future, and a good one if we'll appreciate it
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