Is It Time to Pull Up Stakes and Head for Mars?
Probably not, Kelly and Zach Weinersmith argue in “A City on Mars.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/28/b...y-on-mars.html
Quote:
they found that the loudest advocates for space settlement are so dazzled by the beauty of their rockets that they wave away “the stuff regular lives are made of,” like food and birth, democracy and law. The main problem, the Weinersmiths write, is that “Space is terrible. All of it. Terrible,” adding:
The Moon isn’t just a sort of gray Sahara without air. Its surface is made of jagged, electrically charged microscopic glass and stone, which clings to pressure suits and landing vehicles. Nor is Mars just an off-world Death Valley — its soil is laden with toxic chemicals, and its thin carbonic atmosphere whips up worldwide dust storms that blot out the sun for weeks at a time. And those are the good places to land.
|
https://www.planetary.org/planetary-...a-city-on-mars