Re: send humans to Titan, it isn't a question of physics, it's a question of time, technology and commitment
"Jim Wilkins" <[email protected]>
| Newsgroups | alt.astronomy,rec.aviation.military,alt.economics,ca.politics,fl.politics |
|---|---|
| Organization | A noiseless patient Spider |
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
"R Kym Horsell" wrote in message news:[email protected]... If the plan is to have more than one planet in the system with people on in just in case some calamity happens, then you cant send a robot to do that for you. -------------------------------- Robots could prepare a heated inhabitable base. I've lived outdoors in winter snow without heat in the Army and camping here in New Hampshire. We are very limited without warm hands. A screw fumbled and dropped in the snow can be lost until spring. A calamity on Earth would cut off their support. Unless we can terraform an area on Mars sufficiently to be self-sustaining we would only strand the settlers there to die. Our polar installations here can't survive without resupply. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pituffik_Space_Base At best they would be reduced to harpooning seals and whales for food and clothing. Explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson spent an arctic winter living with the Inuit and eating nothing but boiled fish. Explorers who scorned their uncivilized lifestyle died. I've read that we can live indefinitely on meat as long as it contains some fat; rabbit may not. It must be cooked to kill tularemia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin%27s_lost_expedition After the dust settles and sky clears enough to let weed seeds sprout they would need to be able to return with enough supplies to recolonize a barren and possibly toxic or radioactive Earth. The Pilgrims didn't and half died the first winter. They were lucky to meet Squanto who spoke English and showed them how to farm the poor soil here. The first Virginia colonists vanished. Squanto had been kidnapped by an associate of Roanoke's John Smith and taken to Spain, where priests bought and freed him and he found work in a London shipyard, then became a sailor and guide. European disease caught from fishermen had killed his village and the Pilgrims offered help to defend against their enemies. The scenario is worth thinking about but we are far from ready to invest in preparations. AI robots able to maintain tech with extremely cold bare fingers may be essential.