When will technology advance to the point where we can live on Mars or the Moon?
Yesterday, @zaczuo shared an idea about delivering packages from space. To me, that seems quite sci-fi and financially demanding to actually pull off. Today, I’m reading that Bezos predicts millions of people could be living in space by 2050.
How realistic is this scenario, given that the last time we set foot on the Moon was more than 50 years ago? (And above all, I feel like we still can’t solve basic problems on Earth, let alone expand into space.)
I believe several people here might be interested in this kind of topic, at the very least, @konrad_sx
190 views
Replies
Replyke
For me the real question is, who goes first?
You can assume it will be an expensive move. So the rich? But while earth is getting harder to live in, the rich still have it pretty good, so why would they?
would they be able to make Mars/Moon more interesting than Earth, as it is f the rich? I can't imagine how, unless earth becomes so much worse that whatever they'll have setup there will be more luring than staying here.
I am not saying it won't happen, just wondering how - from an incentive point of view. Logistically I'm sure we ca get there.
minimalist phone: creating folders
@tsabary I am quite suspicious about those rich. Remember what happened to the submarine (Titanic 2 case), when those rich people wanted to see the ship under the Ocean :D But I got you.
Replyke
@busmark_w_nika Yah, happy for someone else to "test the waters" first
minimalist phone: creating folders
@tsabary Yeah, rich people are laboratory rats :D
App Finder
Thanks for mentioning me, this is certainly an interesting question, but I'm clearly not an expert here.
It surely will be very challenging to establish a "human settlement" on Mars, but at least in some limited form (people living there inside buildings, and for only a few years at a time), it will certainly be possible.
Some main issues would be atmosphere, temperature, radiation, water, gravity. All problems other than gravity could probably be solved by living inside buildings, possibly terraforming to live outside (requiring major technological advancements), and other measures. Gravity is fixed by the planet's mass and just 38% that of the Earth, which would be nice (maybe we could fly there?), but may be a significant health issue (which may again be fixed by genetic engineering).
For the Moon, the considerations would be somewhat similar, but the gravity is just 17% that of earth.
I do think we should focus on solving the problems here on Earth first.
minimalist phone: creating folders
@konrad_sx Well, it sounds pretty cool, and I agree that problems should be solved on Earth, but the idea of being able to rely not only on the Earth's resources is pretty amazing. Thank you for your input! :)
Cal ID
Now that's the optimism we come to PH for! @busmark_w_nika
but I think real settlements are still far off, way more complicated than just sending rockets. Maybe we’ll see short research stays on Mars or the Moon in our lifetime, but living there feels more sci-fi for now. Fixing Earth seems like the real mission for now :D
minimalist phone: creating folders
@sanskarix That's why I asked for other "solutions" than Earth. We messed it up here to the state that even going to the Galaxy or Moon sounds more real :D
Really interesting topic.
What if the path to living better on Earth isn't about us moving to Mars, but about moving our problems there first?
We already have the rockets, the tech, and the growing private space industry. Instead of sending people, what if we start by sending our pollution, waste, harmful materials, or even relocating heavy industrial production off-planet?
Imagine offloading all that to the Moon or Mars, or even sending it toward the Sun to burn. It could drastically reduce pollution and give Earth some breathing room again.
Maybe we don't need to make Mars livable for humans right away. Maybe the first step is using space to lighten Earth's load and restore balance here.
What do you think?
minimalist phone: creating folders
@vkarampinis I was thinking about this too. But the thing is that if we keep growing (population), we need more space outside of the Earth. Yeah, many people say that the population is extincting (but only some ethnicities). In general, the population grows. There used to be 5 billion people; now it is over 8 billion.
@busmark_w_nika That's true, population keeps growing, but I'm not sure the lack of space is the real issue.
If you open a map, there's plenty of uninhabited land on Earth. The reason we don't live there is'n because we've run out of room. It's because those places are harsh, underdeveloped, or economically unattractive.
But think about it: if we're capable of sending rockets to Mars, building habitats from scratch, and creating systems to survive there... then what's really stopping us from doing the same in Earth's deserts, mountains, or other unused areas?
Maybe the challenge isn't space. It's priorities. We already have a planet full of possibilities. We just haven't learned to distribute life and opportunity beyond the cities.
minimalist phone: creating folders
@vkarampinis You are actually right. We have underdeveloped and underestimated our Earth. Time to build and ship offline :)
We need to create an artificial atmosphere. To maintain it on Mars, we need an artificial magnetosphere. And that will take at least a few more centuries.
minimalist phone: creating folders
@d_ferencha Okay, so probably the next big thing I will miss. 😅
App Finder
@d_ferencha @busmark_w_nika We don't know yet how long that would take with future technology, there are several proposed ways to protect an artificial atmosphere. In any case, we could live inside buildings (and maybe really large buildings) before that.
@konrad_sx Theoretically yes, we could probably do it now, but I believe it is neither financially justified nor humanly acceptable.
App Finder
@d_ferencha I agree wouldn't be a good idea to try this anytime soon.
IXORD
You’re right, but I doubt we’ll be living in space anytime soon :)
minimalist phone: creating folders
@ixord Maybe in hundreds years :)
minimalist phone: creating folders
@atique_bandukwala1 I think we do not have so a big incentive, it is very costly, and the main reason for investing in the rocket race was the Cold War with the Soviet Union.
I’d love to imagine we’re close to terraforming and then living on Mars, but realistically speaking we’re still decades away from that reality. I feel like the real challenge here is incentive, why would people actually want to go?
There’s already so much chaos here on Earth, maybe it’s best to focus on improving ourselves first. After that, then it might make sense to start to think about moving to Mars :)
minimalist phone: creating folders
@kevin_rocha_islas True, but maybe we will create such inhabitable conditions for the Earth, that we will be "forced" to move somewhere else :)