Would you colonize Mars?

[Terxpahseyton]

I think most people who would be able to fund such an endeavor are already happy enough to stay on earth.

 

[El_Machinae]

Most people incapable are, too. There's also crowdfunding as a model. While I may never want to give SpaceX MarsOne $1 billion to take me to Mars, I might be willing to give them $5 to take you.

It doesn't look very likely right now, but it's a much better way of getting colonists funded. At that point, it's a marketing issue. I don't think it's likely.

I long ago realized that the mechanisms getting people to Mars make me unlikely to go. We need serious breakthroughs in both space technology and spare wealth, first.

 

[Loppan Torkel]

Would the civ's have to live in bubbles or underground for all future, or is forming a breathable atmosphere at Mars possible?

Edit: We already do 3D printing. When 3D-printers will be able to replicate themselves, you could have an army of them building spheres at Mars. Then a few gardening robots. Simple as that

 

[Terxpahseyton]

Most people incapable are, too.

Sure thing, but there are many incapable people, few capable and then IMO those few are even a lot less likely to actually want to go...

I can see crowd funding for a single mission. But colonists will need continued financial support*. And I think an on-going wave of colonists would quickly loose the necessary support for a) it would get only more expensive to provide for all of them on the long run and b) the novelty / "another-step-for-mankind" spirit would quickly get lost and people would no longer see the point in crowd-funding it.

*I realize the goal is self-sufficiency - but lets be realistic. That is not going to perfectly work out for some time. Things get used up, go wrong, the sheer complexity of the task may just take a long time to really work... etcetera Those colonist will indefinitely depend on earth to help them out.

We need serious breakthroughs in both space technology and spare wealth, first.

Yep that is how it looks to me.

 

[Kozmos]

I think most people who would be able to fund such an endeavor are already happy enough to stay on earth.

Rich people get bored. When the world bends to your will you start looking for other things that resist you.

 

[El_Machinae]

*I realize the goal is self-sufficiency - but lets be realistic. That is not going to perfectly work out for some time. Things get used up, go wrong, the sheer complexity of the task may just take a long time to really work... etcetera Those colonist will indefinitely depend on earth to help them out.

Yeah, I don't disagree. Now, ongoing support is financially indistinguishable from a sufficient buffer built into the mission. But still, I getcha. That's a ginormous number.

That said, something like a SETI hit might change everything. We've a tremendous amount of wealth in the world, and we spend it on the strangest things.

 

[Terxpahseyton]

Rich people get bored. When the world bends to your will you start looking for other things that resist you.

While giving up all their entitlement? I don't think rich people have much of a habit of doing that.

 

[El_Machinae]

They'd not give up their entitlement. Even if Planetary Resources creates trillionaires, so that the can live like billionaires on Mars, they'll still want the ability to use Earth dollars to buy, own, and earn on Earth.

 

[Terxpahseyton]

If we talk about a scenario where such people are at the frontier of mars colonization - they effectively would. The vast majority of the earthly pleasures and comforts their money makes available would no longer be there on Mars. Even their prestige would dwindle drastically, as on Mars, while financing the mission will still make you important, keeping people alive will be way more prestigious.

 

[squadbroken]

Here's my thinking. If you went first, the rest of your life you'd have to work very hard just to subsist. And so, depending on your age, you could actually work really hard to create a world where you eventually end up going. And, I betcha your time spent "working really hard" here will be massively nicer than if you were just one of the first people to go.

You've already mentally committed to living a very, very hard life just for the opportunity to go. So, it's more of a question of "How hard will you work relative to when you get to go?"

I'd work as hard as needed and go as early as possible.

 

[El_Machinae]

I'd work as hard as needed and go as early as possible.

So, start working hard now.

 

[r16]

you wouldn't go ; if you have American or French ID cards . Since some NASA committee or something once declared only those two nationalities would be "allowed" and no "religious" stuff and so on to have an "amicable" situation . Hence No Passaran unless with double citizenship stuff .

american-French ? Well , Earth is a lovely place ...

apologies for the interruption , but my city has this Air Force facility , some driver school which hosted an air fair , where the star attraction was a demo flight by an F-16 . Which seems to be capable of being as noisy as the 6 strong F-5 Demo team of the Air Force . The first(?) French astronaut was also in the area ; newspapers report that he was confident my city would produce the first Turkish Astronaut ...

he most probably has no idea what CFC is , let alone r16 and stuff , but uhmm no . No Frenchies on Mars , which does so well American-Frei .

 

[LoneRebel]

Sure I wouldn't mind going to Mars...unless the effort was being run by some shady corporation that wanted to use mining jobs as an excuse to experiment on people with nanotechnology or play around with inter-dimensional portals that allow the legions of Hell to invade.

The Union Aerospace Corporation is looking for brave men and women to colonize the final frontier. Be warned: You may need a plasma rifle.

 

[squadbroken]

So, start working hard now.

Let me clarify: if the opportunity was there, I'd take it, but I'm not going to live my life based on a very remote possibility. I doubt there will even be any permanent settlement of Mars in the foreseeable future.

 

[El_Machinae]

Let me clarify: if the opportunity was there, I'd take it, but I'm not going to live my life based on a very remote possibility. I doubt there will even be any permanent settlement of Mars in the foreseeable future.

Ah, well, that seems to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Only people who are more optimistic* than you will end up going. You might be underestimating the amount of progress that's going to happen in your remaining healthy lifespan, and your ability to contribute to that progress.

 

[Narz]

Would you go to Mars permanently? At what stage would it be acceptable to you? (I doubt the first wave will be tolerable, but there's nowhere for it to go but up.) What would you find desirable about being a settler on an empty planet?

Likewise that'll never even happen.

I would never, ever goto Mars. I understand the idea of colonizing a desolate place though, I felt like that when I spent the summer in Utah.

But not another planet. I love my mommy.