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Colonization


Mojlnir

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Actually, the icy moon of Jupiter is Europa. Io is a highly volcanic moon that is similiar to Venus, but not as harsh. Europa has Ice on it that shifts around, thus indicating a moving body of liquid (water, ammonia, a mix of it or whatever) underneath. Life may live on Europa, but only the kind that we may see around thermal vents at the bottom of our oceans. Colonizing Eurpoa is a long way off, provided we have the type of ships to get there. But with Mars, first we should colonize the two moons Deimos and Phobos, so we actualy have a way to get back to Earth. Mars has gravity, and the amount of fuel required to escape that gravity would be more than what we can carry on our ships today. So we land on Phobos and Deimos (0 gravity is easy on the engines and fuel) and from the two moons we work our way down to the surface after we have permanent stations on either moon. So if something bad happens on Mars to our people, our people aren't totally screwed in that they would have to go all the way back to Earth. The two moons would be way points, like a pit stop or refueling depot. From the two moons we could oversee the slow terraformation of Mars, but we would have to have pressurised habitats on the planet just the same, so the terrafromers can oversee their work and progress. Buzz Aldren has a lot of ideas similar to mine (he actually had the Phobos Deimos idea which I completeley agree with) but if any one bothers to read all this, I apologize :D
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Do you have a link to where he said that stuff, Ancalagon? If its not on the net, fair enough. The moons idea is a good one; like you said, no gravity equals easy take-off. But do we have the technology to build the sealed domes everyone has talked about? I mean, theywould have to survive all the elements of a hostile environment, and sustain life inside it. Building these on the surface of the moons/planet would be very difficult, so thechnology would have to adapt to this.

I actualy saw a TV programme on Discovery about this factor in building - a guy (i forget his name) has developed the technology to build buildings and other structures out of a "memory metal". This means that it is cast (only in basic shapes mind you, but isnt that all you would need?) into the structure of the building, then it is crushed, using pnematics, into the smallest possible space, ie a cube of metal. This is then taken to the build location, ie Phobos, Deimos, Mars surface, and then it is heated. The temperature makes the metal literally bounce back into its original shape, thus eliminating any complex construction work on-site.

 

BTW: If i got any of this stuff wrong, sorry. I did see the programme about 2 months ago.

 

And i have a question: If the liquid under Europa is ammonia, isnt that a bad thing? Take note:i am no Chemistry teacher (Physics is my strong point), but all i know is ammonia=burned lungs, hands, and anything else it touches :bye:

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No, sorry. I don't have a link to the information. Though you could try going to the website for the magazine, Popular Science (which is where I found some of the stuff on colonization, that and meandering around the web like an old person...<_< )

 

And i have a question: If the liquid under Europa is ammonia, isnt that a bad thing? Take note:i am no Chemistry teacher (Physics is my strong point), but all i know is ammonia=burned lungs, hands, and anything else it touches

 

As far as I know, it isn't pure ammonia, but rather a mix of it, water, and some other chemicals probably (hypothesis). But no one knows for sure since we haven't sent a rover to land on Europa yet. However, we do have flyby images of the moon, and some orbital pics as well, which is how scientists theorized that the shifting ice on the surface is caused by warm liquid or possibly a large body of water underneath. But as before, there may not be fish-like creatures on Europa, in all likelihood it may just be creatures like tube worms or creatures that are beyond our imagination.

 

But do we have the technology to build the sealed domes everyone has talked about? I mean, they would have to survive all the elements of a hostile environment, and sustain life inside it. Building these on the surface of the moons/planet would be very difficult, so thechnology would have to adapt to this.

 

Yes we have the technology, or at least enough to send a small team to the moons (by small I mean six to eight astronauts, or colonists) it's not that anything like this is beyond us right now. If we actually got down to business and started doing actuall work in space, rather than sending up astronauts to complete meaningless experiments and crapping our pants every time a ship blows up or soemthing goes wrong...I mean, get over it, yes it's sad that the Colombia is gone and with it seven fine people, but it was in the job description and if NASA thinks that they will never fly another Shuttle until 2025 then the whole Space Program deserves to be cut, but that's my opinion. I also think that the International Space Station should be used as a shipyard or expanded into one...0 G can do wonders for ship design and it means you don't have to worry about launching a behemoth off the ground. So in summary, we need to get our sh** together and start actually doing something with the Space Program, or it will be cut in our lifetime. :bye:

 

:rip:

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