If you could emigrate to Mars, but could never come back to Earth, would you go?

[The Mad Monk]

Why, thank you.

[chequita guevara]

I wonder how land apportionament would be handled. Would it be like the early U.S., with lots of fraud and speculation, or would there be more oversight?

[mrmitchell]

Doc
Terraforming it might seem impossible now. But, as they say, "necessity is the mother of invention," and there will be a necessity of the Earth being overcrowded enough that you can't throw a rock in any direction anywhere without hitting a guy.

Starchild

Is my quality of life on Mars significantly better than I would have on Earth? I don't want one of those damn frontier communities with weirdly asymmetrical economies and no doctors. Pioneers die young. Let Mars settle down into civilised society for a few hundred years and then I'd think about it.

You'll probably be dead after a few hundred years.

Mad Monk

Think the of view from Lunar Observatories once that extra-thick atmosphere is in place.

Just keep a satellite in orbit to do that.

Then there's the whole "ecology" thing.

If you mean preserving a bunch of dead rock, well, **** it.
If you mean preserving a well-and-alive Earthlike planet after terraforming it, well, keep it good enough that humans can survive (and it's not a hellhole either).

(Actually, if anyone doesn't mind keeping together an un-touched spot of moon land, or then also an un-touched spot of terraformed moon-land, that would be okay too)

[mrmitchell]

I wonder how land apportionament would be handled.

Depends on the demand at the time, and how much land is worth on Earth. If there's not a lot of demand, hell, give everyone as much as they feel they can keep up. (OTOH though there will probably be a lot of demand, so might want to give everyone smaller places.)

[Adagio]

Emigrate to Mars?

/me starts packing his bags

When did you say we'll leave?

[Odin]

I would love to move to move to Mars and be the chief terraformer, like Sax Russel in Red Mars.

I read in a book on martian geology that the atmosphere is in a very delicate equalibrium, if we pump up the temperature near the poles by 4 degrees Celsius the planet will go into a mild runaway greenhouse effect that will melt the icecaps, putting about 50 mb of CO2 in the atmosphere, and then CO2 will start comming out of the permafrost, in about 250 years we will have a 400 mb CO2 atmosphere. Soon the water in the permafrost will begin to melt and the northern lowlands and the 2 huge impact basins will become icy seas. Lichens, Cyanobacteria, and tundra and alpine plants will thrive in the CO2-rich atmosphere, adding oxygen. the increased moisture in the atmosphere will compensate for the drop in the CO2 lost to plants, so we don't loose the greenhouse. Importing nitrogen will thicken the atmoshere more, making it even warmer. Methane released by archaebacteria will also warm things up. Then we must make a switch over from a greenhouse of CO2 to one of other gases so humans can breathe the air, more then 15 mb of CO2 is toxic for mammals to breathe.

Contruction costs will be quite low on an colonized Mars because the planet is very rich in Iron (think red ) and aluminum. It's 2 asteroid-moons are rich in carbon for plasics and carbon nanotubes and bucky-ball fullerenes.

[OliverFA]

Move to Mars? mmmmmm... Let me think. A place with a desert of red rocks and red dust that never ends, with just the company of a bunch of people, and losing the majority of the commodities we have in Earth?

There must be a good reason to go. But right now I cannot see it...

They could make "Big Brother Mars version" and show in TV how the first settlers live...

BTW: I assume you are talkig about present Mars, not some hypotethical Mars of the future.

[Odin]

Where wou you guys like to live on Mars? I would like in the badlands-like area on the eastern end of Mariner Valley. It has some very interesting geology, it has been carved by flash floods caused from when volcanic activity melted the prermfrost countless times for BILLIONS of years. the landscape is probably similar tothe channeled scablands in Washington and Oregon.

[Seeker]

Valles Marineris.

Easy to build a radiation shielded home, great view, ride the elevator to your farm, go to the bottom to check on your fish farm. And Zeppelins would be a great transportation method in the canyon system!

I'd love to open the first real restaurant on Mars and see how long it takes for a genuine local cuisine to be created.

EDIT: and not blimps I'm talking GIANT ZEPPELINS, 1000m in length.

[Ned]

Originally posted by Odin
I would love to move to move to Mars and be the chief terraformer, like Sax Russel in Red Mars.

I read in a book on martian geology that the atmosphere is in a very delicate equalibrium, if we pump up the temperature near the poles by 4 degrees Celsius the planet will go into a mild runaway greenhouse effect that will melt the icecaps, putting about 50 mb of CO2 in the atmosphere, and then CO2 will start comming out of the permafrost, in about 250 years we will have a 400 mb CO2 atmosphere. Soon the water in the permafrost will begin to melt and the northern lowlands and the 2 huge impact basins will become icy seas. Lichens, Cyanobacteria, and tundra and alpine plants will thrive in the CO2-rich atmosphere, adding oxygen. the increased moisture in the atmosphere will compensate for the drop in the CO2 lost to plants, so we don't loose the greenhouse. Importing nitrogen will thicken the atmoshere more, making it even warmer. Methane released by archaebacteria will also warm things up. Then we must make a switch over from a greenhouse of CO2 to one of other gases so humans can breathe the air, more then 15 mb of CO2 is toxic for mammals to breathe.

Contruction costs will be quite low on an colonized Mars because the planet is very rich in Iron (think red ) and aluminum. It's 2 asteroid-moons are rich in carbon for plasics and carbon nanotubes and bucky-ball fullerenes.

How does one raise the temperature of the poles four degees C?

[Seeker]

Build what is called a "statite".

Basically a film or polymer deployed from a geo (or areo) synchronous orbiting satellite to make a large lense, constantly focussing solar energy on an area.

Then make LOTS of them, and as big as possible. They are very flimsy and thin, so that they can be perforated a lot by micrometeors without curling up.

A couple hundreds of those and you'd be in business.

[The Mad Monk]

One long-term project I'd be interested in seeing is a terraforming project for Venus, using engineered microbes and perhaps solar shades to knock that atmosphere down a peg or two.

[mrmitchell]

There must be a good reason to go. But right now I cannot see it...

A new frontier! Adventure and discovery! Freedom! Oppurtunity! A new start! Do these mean nothing to you?

One long-term project I'd be interested in seeing is a terraforming project for Venus, using engineered microbes and perhaps solar shades to knock that atmosphere down a peg or two.

Mars is easier, but Venus will be the obvious second choice (well maybe third depending on the Moon).

[Seeker]

The Slogan from Bladerunner:

"A Chance to begin again in a Golden Land of Opportunity and Adventure....LET'S GO!!! ...to the Colonies!"

This is the other Blimpvert from Bladerunner.

[Odin]

Originally posted by The Mad Monk
One long-term project I'd be interested in seeing is a terraforming project for Venus, using engineered microbes and perhaps solar shades to knock that atmosphere down a peg or two.

good luck.