The Lemon Fool

On this morning's "Start the Week" on R4, the topic was about future commercialisation ideas proposed by messrs Musk and Bezos. As these unfolded I could hadly believe what I was hearing. One of musk's ideas was to set off multiple nuclear explosions on the poles of Mars in order to "warm the planet". When told it would require thousands of such explosions, his response was "No problem."

Astoundingly he has also declared Mars to be an "Open planet".

Apparently the US has already passed a bill proclaiming that while no nation or individual could make claim to a planet, any resources within that planet could be exploited one and all.

Ignoring the fact that the logistics of any such activities are beyond our present capabilities, the arrogance displayed by these men is beyond parody.

Anyone else listen?

Leothebear wrote:On this morning's "Start the Week" on R4, the topic was about future commercialisation ideas proposed by messrs Musk and Bezos. As these unfolded I could hadly believe what I was hearing. One of musk's ideas was to set off multiple nuclear explosions on the poles of Mars in order to "warm the planet". When told it would require thousands of such explosions, his response was "No problem."

Astoundingly he has also declared Mars to be an "Open planet".

Apparently the US has already passed a bill proclaiming that while no nation or individual could make claim to a planet, any resources within that planet could be exploited one and all.

Ignoring the fact that the logistics of any such activities are beyond our present capabilities, the arrogance displayed by these men is beyond parody.

Anyone else listen?

The atmosphere was once much thicker, thus allowing liquid water to flow. The problem is that the atmosphere today is extremely thin, so there isn't much to 'warm'!

I didn't listen, but I assume that the explosions would not warm the planet directly, but would release a lot of frozen CO2 and water, thus thickening the atmosphere.

Given the radiation reaching the planet, I'm sure that Mars-adapted solar panels could be used to heat the ice, albeit slowly.

Steve

Leothebear wrote:Ignoring the fact that the logistics of any such activities are beyond our present capabilities, the arrogance displayed by these men is beyond parody.

Anyone else listen?

Sadly I missed the beginning of today's Start the Week and only caught the end, which did include some of Musk and his Mars ambitions!

They went on to discuss Musk and how he is a strong believer in "Libertarianism", seeing Mars as somewhere off Earth where he and other Libertarians can start over and freely do their own thing without interference by others or government control. One speaker pointed out that Mars is hardly the place for such "freedom" as the only way you could live there is under the most severe control and limitations, due to the obviously highly controlled technical environment required simply to exist.

Returning to the Moon

AIUA the simplest way to terraform Mars is to divert ice asteroids to crash into it.

Rob

XFool wrote:

Leothebear wrote:Ignoring the fact that the logistics of any such activities are beyond our present capabilities, the arrogance displayed by these men is beyond parody.

Anyone else listen?

Sadly I missed the beginning of today's Start the Week and only caught the end, which did include some of Musk and his Mars ambitions!

Didn't hear any of it, so I can only judge by what's in this thread.

They went on to discuss Musk and how he is a strong believer in "Libertarianism", seeing Mars as somewhere off Earth where he and other Libertarians can start over and freely do their own thing without interference by others or government control. One speaker pointed out that Mars is hardly the place for such "freedom" as the only way you could live there is under the most severe control and limitations, due to the obviously highly controlled technical environment required simply to exist.

That might be eerily close to an idea explored by Ursula LeGuin in The Disposessed. How much does Musk have in common with Odonian ideas?

robbelg wrote:AIUA the simplest way to terraform Mars is to divert ice asteroids to crash into it.

Rob

Yes, that another idea I heard of years ago.

Though to start with, just about anything gaseous to help make the atmosphere much thicker, CO2 included. Then spread loads of GM moss, lichen etc to start the photosynthesis.

To help the greenhouse effect, maybe some GM farting cows?

Steve

stevensfo wrote:To help the greenhouse effect, maybe some GM farting cows?

Anyone remember Journey into Space?

Leothebear wrote:On this morning's "Start the Week" on R4, the topic was about future commercialisation ideas proposed by messrs Musk and Bezos. As these unfolded I could hadly believe what I was hearing. One of musk's ideas was to set off multiple nuclear explosions on the poles of Mars in order to "warm the planet". When told it would require thousands of such explosions, his response was "No problem."

Astoundingly he has also declared Mars to be an "Open planet".

Apparently the US has already passed a bill proclaiming that while no nation or individual could make claim to a planet, any resources within that planet could be exploited one and all.

Ignoring the fact that the logistics of any such activities are beyond our present capabilities, the arrogance displayed by these men is beyond parody.

Anyone else listen?

Listening to that, I'm just pleased I won't be around. He might be though. I read an article some time ago that he believes in cryogenics. And it will happen.

https://scitechdaily.com/latest-science ... ife-video/

Leothebear wrote:Apparently the US has already passed a bill proclaiming that while no nation or individual could make claim to a planet, any resources within that planet could be exploited one and all.

Ignoring the fact that the logistics of any such activities are beyond our present capabilities, the arrogance displayed by these men is beyond parody.

It's not arrogance it's setting the ground rules as they want them to be.

People with access to extra-terrestrial resources want to establish in terrestrial law their right to exploit those resources.

There is already a contract in place for the sale of lunar dust, with an advance paid, in order to set a precedent.

BILL NELSON, the administrator of NASA, grinned for the cameras as he handed over a cheque to Justin Cyrus, the boss of a company called Lunar Outpost. The amount? A mere 10 cents. This moment last year was partly a marketing gimmick. But in its own strange way, it was also a legitimately important milestone: it marked the first time that a government agency – or anyone else for that matter – had signed a deal to buy natural resources in space.

If all goes to plan, later this year Lunar Outpost will use a rover to scoop up some lunar dust, snap a photo of it, and officially transfer ownership of the material to NASA. In return, the agency will pay a further fee, this time 90 cents to make a round dollar.

- https://www.newscientist.com/article/0- ... oon-rocks/

XFool wrote: Anyone remember Journey into Space?

Yes - and the spooky sound effect/music at the start.
And can you remember the intro to Dick Barton?
(quiz for the over 70s )

UncleEbenezer wrote:

XFool wrote: Sadly I missed the beginning of today's Start the Week and only caught the end, which did include some of Musk and his Mars ambitions!

Didn't hear any of it, so I can only judge by what's in this thread.

They went on to discuss Musk and how he is a strong believer in "Libertarianism", seeing Mars as somewhere off Earth where he and other Libertarians can start over and freely do their own thing without interference by others or government control. One speaker pointed out that Mars is hardly the place for such "freedom" as the only way you could live there is under the most severe control and limitations, due to the obviously highly controlled technical environment required simply to exist.

That might be eerily close to an idea explored by Ursula LeGuin in The Disposessed. How much does Musk have in common with Odonian ideas?

I think he likes "stuff" a bit too much for life on Anarres

XFool wrote:

Leothebear wrote:Ignoring the fact that the logistics of any such activities are beyond our present capabilities, the arrogance displayed by these men is beyond parody.

Anyone else listen?

Sadly I missed the beginning of today's Start the Week and only caught the end, which did include some of Musk and his Mars ambitions!

They went on to discuss Musk and how he is a strong believer in "Libertarianism", seeing Mars as somewhere off Earth where he and other Libertarians can start over and freely do their own thing without interference by others or government control. One speaker pointed out that Mars is hardly the place for such "freedom" as the only way you could live there is under the most severe control and limitations, due to the obviously highly controlled technical environment required simply to exist.

Returning to the Moon

Isn't the point though that Musk won't be subjected to those rules, just as employees in Twitter have had to sign up for working practices illegal in many countries ( unlimited extra hours witout pay, slave conditions, no right to disagree with authority, no whistle-blowing, discharge without compensation for any infraction of the rules) so the workers on Mars will labour hard to provide Musk with his empire of comfort.

He simply wants to be the villain in so many sci-fi movies who grates out "Shut off the oxygen" when faced with dissent.

BobbyD wrote:

Leothebear wrote:Apparently the US has already passed a bill proclaiming that while no nation or individual could make claim to a planet, any resources within that planet could be exploited one and all.

Ignoring the fact that the logistics of any such activities are beyond our present capabilities, the arrogance displayed by these men is beyond parody.

It's not arrogance it's setting the ground rules as they want them to be.

People with access to extra-terrestrial resources want to establish in terrestrial law their right to exploit those resources.

There is already a contract in place for the sale of lunar dust, with an advance paid, in order to set a precedent.

BILL NELSON, the administrator of NASA, grinned for the cameras as he handed over a cheque to Justin Cyrus, the boss of a company called Lunar Outpost. The amount? A mere 10 cents. This moment last year was partly a marketing gimmick. But in its own strange way, it was also a legitimately important milestone: it marked the first time that a government agency – or anyone else for that matter – had signed a deal to buy natural resources in space.

If all goes to plan, later this year Lunar Outpost will use a rover to scoop up some lunar dust, snap a photo of it, and officially transfer ownership of the material to NASA. In return, the agency will pay a further fee, this time 90 cents to make a round dollar.

- https://www.newscientist.com/article/0- ... oon-rocks/

The arrogance to which I was refering was Elon Musk's.

Leothebear wrote:

BobbyD wrote: It's not arrogance it's setting the ground rules as they want them to be.

People with access to extra-terrestrial resources want to establish in terrestrial law their right to exploit those resources.

There is already a contract in place for the sale of lunar dust, with an advance paid, in order to set a precedent.
- https://www.newscientist.com/article/0- ... oon-rocks/

The arrogance to which I was refering was Elon Musk's.

Sorry, thought that went as read...