The John Batchelor Show

VIDEO: Colonizing Mars

April 02, 2015

Wednesday  1 April 2015  / Hour 1, Block C: Haym Benaroya, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Rutgers; in re:  Mars colony - from the surface to the subsurface.  For the soil, the water? and the microclimate to create? A lot of the elements we've found on Mars would be conducive to our building a human colony; underground would be a safe haven for humans.  Many component s of Mars and Moon are similar; Mars being farther out raises matters of sunlight.  Underground in each could be significantly different in view of the gravitational differences – Mars has 40% of Earth gravity, twice as much as Moon does.  Opportunity noodling across Mars has found Marathon Valley – seeing shiny metals consistent with aluminum, for example?  Elements estimated on Mars: O2: 40%, plus  silicon, calcium, magnesium, sulphur. First-generation base – module; second gen – surface; third gen: underground.   Our eventual base will be like an iceberg: almost all of  it underground. If we find water, Mankind can thrive. So far, 50% of the spacecraft we’ve sent to Mars haven’t arrived; for the moment, need to send a lot of robotic missions, see what’s there.  Even on Earth, we need human control of digging machines, so currently a rover or bot couldn’t run the dig. If we started today and were serious, we could be on the Moon in 15 years, then another 10 to 15 years for Mars.  Somewhere, listening now, is someone who knows how to do this.  Aim for 2075?  The people who'll do this are already in th eir teens.