1-way planetary colonization

[AZRedhawk44]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1324192/Nasa-plan-Hundred-Year-Starship--mission-astronauts-Mars-leave-forever.html

I approve.

Even if the proposed Martian colony becomes a welfare boondoggle, it would permanently put support infrastructure into Earth orbit for routine interplanetary travel.  It would also cause others like Rutan to consider further steps to privatize space, such as mining asteroids for fuel (for routine interplanetary travel) and materials to construct spacecraft or lunar base modules.

The idea of 4 people, though... probably 2 women and 2 men, creeps me out.  The inbreeding of the children would be inhumane.  I can see 4 people up there for 5 years or so to do some preliminary ground work to build a base, then another group to come and augment them.  I can't see a colony surviving in a genetically healthy state (not to mention the civil rights issues of scientifically arranged marriages), with less than at least 50 people.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

You could keep the genetic lines separate until the third generation, the grandchildren.  They should have plenty of time to bring in fresh blood before inbreeding becomes necessary.

Although, could you imagine growing up entirely on Mars and never knowing more than a handful of people?

[Marnoot]

From what this article says, you need ~160 people to get enough genetic diversity for a successful healthy population, though you could go down to 80 with some social engineering (planned breeding).

[bedlamite]

1 way may not be be necessary. The plasma drive has real money behind it, and they already have plans for what amounts to an orbital tow truck. Apparently there is money to be made retrieving dead satellites.

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/support/researching/aspl/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_Specific_Impulse_Magnetoplasma_Rocket

[Tallpine]

The astronauts would be sent supplies from Earth on a regular basis but they would be expected to become self-sufficient on the red planet’s surface as soon as possible.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1324192/Nasa-plan-Hundred-Year-Starship--mission-astronauts-Mars-leave-forever.html#ixzz13afDBFjp

Why couldn't they just send more people later on to broaden the gene pool 


BTW, whatever happened to that elliptical solar orbit ferry plan that I heard about a few years back...?  It was supposed to wobble back and forth between earth and mars every few years.  Once built and manuvered into the proper orbit, it would be a permanent "road" to mars and back.


Who would go on such an expedition?  Volunteers or not 

You know who the first "settlers" in Australia were 

[Harold Tuttle]

babies are resource hogs

sterilize the travelers

[AZRedhawk44]

Apparently there is money to be made retrieving dead satellites.

I can believe it.

All the solar arrays, antennas and parabolic dishes are out there.  As well as the fact that it doesn't cost anything to get them into orbit since they're already out there.

If someone could gather derelict satellites for recommissioning, or assembly into new spacecraft, that would be awesome.

Recycling becomes MUCH more valuable when you factor in the lift costs to get any new mass into space.  That whole scene in the latest Star Trek movie, with the NCC-1701 being built on Earth's surface, irked me.

[AJ Dual]

I'm pretty sure there would be many follow-on colonists. The newspaper (This is the "Daily Mail" after all...) is hyping the "Robinson Caruso" aspects of this.

The main point is that one-way, they can double or even triple the amount of cargo, supplies, and "bootstrap" technology they send with them.

If the space-craft does not need to come back, they can have larger landers that serve as shelters, or once they dig underground, as "garages" etc. Or have greenhouse and "air factory" modules etc. All the return trip fuel can be extra gear and consumables. Instead of having to take the nuke-reactor home, they get to keep it for power.

The logistical benefits of one-way colonization of Mars are immense.

Taking it further, pieces of the ship could be left in Mars orbit to serve as parts of an eventual space station to serve as an infrastructure base for LMO operations. (Low Mars Orbit) If follow-on ships can dock with the station, and then ferry people/supplies down to Mars, then those ships won't even need landers, and can carry even more gear/people/supplies.

I don't have a count, but I'd say that the majority of the modern Mars mission concepts leave behind lots of gear, or have unmanned cargo/fuel vehicles for return trips etc. This is just taking it to a logical extreme to maximize those advantages.

[BrokenPaw]

There's also nothing that says that a colonization expedition has to be made all in one vessel, all at once.  The only reason that speed-of-transit is important is because in space, you only have the raw materials you take with you, and life support requires materials and energy to maintain.  There's no reason at all that one or more slower (and therefore potentially cheaper/simpler) cargo-only ships couldn't be sent on well in advance, with things like reactors, ikea flat-box all-you-need-is-an-allen-wrench housing modules, and so forth, to arrive well before any actual personnel; doing so would actually simplify things quite a lot, because you wouldn't even launch the people-carrier until you had confirmation that the materials they would need are safely at the destination. 

Not having to carry anything at all but life support for the trip should lighten the load for the personnel transport, too.

[grampster]

I just got the following message on my rear molar: 

You people keep the hell off'n my planet!!!  If'n you know whats good fer ya!!!

[taurusowner]

Question:  Do you think planets should remain colonies of their respective nations, of earth as a whole, or if they can support it, entirely separate and sovereign worlds.

[Tallpine]

Question:  Do you think planets should remain colonies of their respective nations, of earth as a whole, or if they can support it, entirely separate and sovereign worlds.

Those dang Martian rebels!   

[BrokenPaw]

Question:  Do you think planets should remain colonies of their respective nations, of earth as a whole, or if they can support it, entirely separate and sovereign worlds.

Until they can achieve self-sufficiency, they simply cannot be sovereign worlds.  Afterward, it only makes sense for them to be sovereign; fighting a war across an ocean during the 18th century was less of a logistical nightmare than attempting to put down a revolution across an interplanetary gap. 

The needs of the people of Mars would be different enough from the needs of people on Earth (far less in common than English colonists had with the Mother England) that it doesn't make sense to try to govern them from afar; all they have to do is take the phone off the hook, and >poof< they're self-governing.

During the colonial period, before self-sufficiency, I would expect that the colony would remain beholden to the governance of whatever entity put it there and continues to supply it; certainly the UN (for instance) shouldn't get to say a thing about what happens at a colony that was put together (and paid for) by a single nation or a coalition; the nation or coalition that's footing the bills has the right to control the colony.

After self-sufficiency, the economic balance shifts to one of trade; it behooves both sides to play well together.

[MicroBalrog]

The idea of 4 people, though... probably 2 women and 2 men, creeps me out.  The inbreeding of the children would be inhumane.  I can see 4 people up there for 5 years or so to do some preliminary ground work to build a base, then another group to come and augment them.  I can't see a colony surviving in a genetically healthy state (not to mention the civil rights issues of scientifically arranged marriages), with less than at least 50 people.

You don't need to send more people to avoid inbreeding. Send sperm (and possibly egg) samples from several hundred parents.

[lupinus]

You don't need to send more people to avoid inbreeding. Send sperm

An interesting solution....

[41magsnub]

You don't need to send more people to avoid inbreeding. Send sperm (and possibly egg) samples from several hundred parents.

That is a technically correct answer but totally buzz kills a few fantasies.

[S. Williamson]

I would sign up in a heartbeat. 

[Jim147]

Can I go alone? People have really brought out my love for them today.

jim

[MillCreek]

I would sign up in a heartbeat. 

+ Eleventy.

[stevelyn]

You could keep the genetic lines separate until the third generation, the grandchildren.  They should have plenty of time to bring in fresh blood before inbreeding becomes necessary.

Although, could you imagine growing up entirely on Mars and never knowing more than a handful of people?

Seemed to work out okay after the garden of Eden and The Flood....................just sayin'.

[MicroBalrog]

Isn't there also some form of 'controlled inbreeding', which prevents the more horrific genetic malformations that inbreeding causes?

[RoadKingLarry]

1 way may not be be necessary. The plasma drive has real money behind it, and they already have plans for what amounts to an orbital tow truck. Apparently there is money to be made retrieving dead satellites.

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/support/researching/aspl/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_Specific_Impulse_Magnetoplasma_Rocket

I've always thought it could be a profitable venture IF you already have a space vehicle capable of making the trip multiple times and it is capable of collecting space junk. Of course some of that stuff has some kind of nuclear power source so an extra bit of caution with that.

[erictank]

babies are resource hogs

sterilize the travelers

Kind of defeats the whole purpose of "colonization", doesn't it?

[Jim147]

I've always thought it could be a profitable venture IF you already have a space vehicle capable of making the trip multiple times and it is capable of collecting space junk. Of course some of that stuff has some kind of nuclear power source so an extra bit of caution with that.

Sounds like time to call ole Andy out of retirement.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvage_1

I thought it was a neat show when it came out. But like most shows I watched on the whole three channels we got at the time, it was cancelled.

jim

[Perd Hapley]

The idea of 4 people, though... probably 2 women and 2 men, creeps me out.  The inbreeding of the children would be inhumane. 

Arkansas in space. Each day brings us closer and closer to Firefly.