PhyneasPhysicsPhrog t1_ixb8r83 wrote on November 22, 2022 at 3:28 AM

Reply to comment by songsofadistantsun in Artemis is cool, but there really isn't a good reason we're going back to the Moon (or to Mars and beyond). by [deleted]

I’d argue no one lives in Antarctica due to international treaties outlawing it. Not that it has stopped people from trying to do so illegally.

songsofadistantsun t1_ixb9a6t wrote on November 22, 2022 at 3:32 AM

The question is whether or not they can do it and provision the majority of their food and resources from that landscape (or, to parallel what Elon wants to do with Mars, if they could build a city doing the same). That's the real test of any settlement project. I feel like an Inuit-style culture may have been able to set up shop there, had they been in the region, but they obviously wouldn't have been able to build any sort of large town or city.

PhyneasPhysicsPhrog t1_ixb9zi1 wrote on November 22, 2022 at 3:38 AM

Indigenous populations have been highly successful building civilization and large populations in Arctic conditions. Growing food is actually one of the easier problems for space exploration. The technology of getting there efficiently is the main hurdle