I dunno. I heard they only brought one set of clothes, and they have to wear those clothes until February without being able to wash them.
Doesn’t sound pleasant.
Rorschach: lifts mask, scratches ear
Wonder how much willpower they have
Reminds me of the old Niven stories about asteroid belt-miners, who disdainfully referred to being on the surface of a planet as being at “the bottom of a hole.”
I’m a space nut, and people often ask me about colonizing Mars. And I always think, sure I guess you could, but why? Once you’ve made it to orbit, make the most of it, why put yourself down at the bottom of a gravity well? Just colonize orbit, asteroids, or small moons. That’s where the resources are, and that’s where it’s easy to move them.
Humans are very picky. Must have certain amount of gravity, need to see green stuff, can’t handle radiation etc. it’s is as if they were built to be on a specific planet and nowhere else.
You’re totally right, but that gravity, that green stuff, neither of those are on Mars. In orbit at least you get the gravity, rotating habitats aren’t that much more complicated than static ones.
I’m not sure if Mars’ poison and irradiated soil will ever be useful for growing plants. I’m telling you while it is a similarly sized planet, it’s still barely useful.