09-10-2019, 10:22 PM
ztirffritz wrote:
[quote=mikebw]
And this, I think, is why Musk is so hot to get at least some of us on Mars, ASAP.
We need to remember that humans will not be able to live on any other planet unsupported by Earth for a LONG time. Elon's plan is ambitious, but achievable, but it still requires an umbilical cord for supplies from earth and will for decades, if not centuries.
I figure it'll be close to 100 years from first landing before any colony is moderately self sustaining. 200 years after that that it's completely self sustaining.
But, that's no reason not to get started! That 100 year clock doesn't get shorter if we wait around in low earth orbit with our thumbs on the dark side of uranus.
I'd really like to live to see the first human land on Mars (on a return ticket, that is).