Talk:Semi-autonomous colony

Crew rotation

I removed the part "Early in the history of the colony, crews would likely rotate, in a similar manner to a moon base or the ISS", because I find it extremely unlikely to have a regular personnel space travel between Earth and Mars. With the currently available transport technology those journeys consume vast amounts of money. Manned space flights cost several times the money compared with unmanned. With the same effort a young colony can be supported with so many things to make life easier. So, I am really in doubt about frequent manned space travel. It would strongly decelerate the development of the colony. -- Rfc 06:25, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

Rotating the entire population of colonists (How many in an early colony?) would not be possible. Scheduled resupply flights would be launched every 2-3 years. Since we are bringing equipment to Mars, and we want to return large amounts of samples to Earth, we could make use of this to transport people to Mars. The transport systems would be reusable, and rocket launches would only be required for fuel. Mars Landers could be made, at least in part, on Mars, And fuel for the return would almost certainly be made on Mars. Do not think of space travel as a Hi-Tech no-no. Think of the apollo spacecraft, which used less computing power then a pocket calculator. Wouldn't a pnuematic computer be up to the task? I am saying, maybe, 5-6 people being transported on an irregular basis. T.Neo 08:04, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

That's an interesting concept. Maybe you can describe it in detail in a separate article. Such a transport could possibly swing between Mars's orbit and Earth's orbit, which requires rather little fuel. The lift from Earth's surface and the lift from Mars's surface into orbit are really big parts. Another really big part is keeping the travelers alive during the interplanetary journey (food, drink, air, radiation, zero gravity, ...). The transportation of 500 kg of living people requires approximately 10 times the mass of additional life support machinery and additional shielding. So, you have to carry 5000 kg. In other words, the transportation of people is 10 times as expensive as the transportation of samples. Maybe even more, I do not know the exact factor.

If I would go to Mars, I wouldn't want to return to Earth and leave all that I have built there behind, risk another dangerous space flight, suffer from the stronger terrestrial gravity. For me, the settlement on Mars would be a new home, where I can build up a whole new world, just like the settlers on the American continent a few hundred years ago. Most of them didn't return to Europe, too. -- Rfc 16:50, 18 August 2008 (UTC)