jiminy_cricks t1_j1w3lsg wrote on December 27, 2022 at 9:00 PM

Reply to comment by gbbloom in Why don't we plan for more "staging" at orbital platforms? by gbbloom

I think about this a lot. I love The Expanse (highly recommend) and it got me thinking about colonizing our solar system years ago. We'll never get to that level but if we get a lofty goal of something like colonizing Mars, like truly colonizing it (which may also never be truly realized) we would progress so much as a society. But think about it, if that's the goal we're going to need significant advance in most areas of life that could all be applied here on earth.

We're going to need an atmosphere or means to provide oxygen. Advances here could help us clean up our atmosphere and mitigate global warming.

We'll need lightweight but durable housing that could be used to provide affordable housing to everyone.

Means of transportation and construction will have to be battery powered until means of refining fuel is created on Mars. Guess who uses batteries on earth, everyone.

Agriculture and water systems will have to be completely redesigned. We could use a more economical means of providing food for people on earth.

The list goes on. But here we are selfish and small minded, focusing on putting out fires instead of true growth.

gbbloom OP t1_j1w8ocr wrote on December 27, 2022 at 9:34 PM

What you're saying makes a massive amount of sense. It's something I've thought about for years, actually, and feeds into the "how do we overcome the selfishness" that you referenced. It was always about "what technology could apply here" based loosely around concepts like velcro.

What items would have profitable application on Earth. Or what could we find in terms of mining capabilities out there that would be lucrative enough for people to invest in. That seems like it could be enough to entice people to invest in setting up shop on Luna. The question is, is it lucrative enough.

jiminy_cricks t1_j1wbizo wrote on December 27, 2022 at 9:53 PM

"is it lucrative enough". Isn't that the question of the ages. It could be if done correctly. Thinking about housing, if a company develops the perfect housing for Mars, modular, lightweight, cheap, recyclable, they don't need to wait until the full project is complete to make money. Maybe they just developed the perfect window, patent it and get selling. Now they are making money to find the rest of the development. Obviously it's not that simple and getting the ball rolling on this mindset is the real issue. But every small innovation along the way could be applied and sold domestically.

We've lost our collective purpose along the way, it's all me me me, our country vs yours. Keep your individually but we're one species on one planet. Let's act like it and do great things.