From: Spike (spike66@comcast.net)
Date: Mon Sep 08 2003 - 20:31:46 MDT
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-extropians@extropy.org [mailto:owner-extropians@extropy.org]
On Behalf Of Robert J. Bradbury
... The numbers I've seen thrown around for something more simple tend
to be in the range of $50-$100 Billion...We just simply weren't designed
for space -- so one either needs redesigned humans (comfortable in zero
G, radiation tolerant, able to withstand long periods of colder
temperatures for reduced metabolic requirements, perhaps smaller as
Spike has argued) -- or one needs to forget the idea of Mars
colonization/terraforming entirely. Instead go with migrating O'Neill
colonies that can swing by Earth and pick up their passengers. Robert
The O'Neill colonies suffer from a lot of the
same limitations as the Mars missions. I have
spent most of my thinking time on the waaaaay
cheap and small end of the mission spectrum,
designing missions that everyone could afford
and no one would actually want to do.
There are underlying assumptions in every single
mission design I have ever seen, ones that are
so obvious they are not even stated, such as
the desire to return to Earth after spending
some time on Mars. I have imagined one-way trips
like the old time pioneers leaving home in a
wagon across the great plains, with no intentions
of ever returning. Throw away the return-trip
hardware and assume only two crew members:
the cost could be brought down to perhaps 5 billion.
Still a ton of dough, but less than a Gatesian fortune.
spike
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