{"id":778118,"date":"2024-02-29T16:44:05","date_gmt":"2024-02-29T21:44:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=778118"},"modified":"2024-02-29T16:44:05","modified_gmt":"2024-02-29T21:44:05","slug":"how-startups-on-earth-could-blaze-a-trail-for-cities-on-mars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=778118","title":{"rendered":"How Startups on Earth Could Blaze a Trail for Cities on Mars"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>If future explorers manage to set up communities on Mars, how will they pay their way? What\u2019s likely to be the Red Planet\u2019s primary export? Will it be\u00a0Martian deuterium, sent back to Earth for fusion fuel? Raw materials harvested by Mars-based asteroid miners,\u00a0as depicted in the \u201cFor All Mankind\u201d TV series? Or will future Martians be totally dependent on earthly subsidies?<\/p>\n<p>In a new book titled\u00a0\u201cThe New World on Mars,\u201d\u00a0Robert Zubrin \u2014 the president of the\u00a0Mars Society\u00a0and a tireless advocate for space settlement \u2014 says Mars\u2019 most valuable product will be inventions.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-spotify wp-block-embed-spotify wp-embed-aspect-21-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<p>\n<iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: Exploring &amp;apos;The New World on Mars&amp;apos;\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"152\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/episode\/47ngyxxaZXJmJPpT3dLEnu?utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p><span id=\"more-165964\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re talking about creating a new and potentially extremely inventive branch of human civilization, which will benefit humanity as a whole enormously,\u201d he says in the latest episode of the\u00a0Fiction Science podcast. \u201cBut moreover, we\u2019ll play from that strength to make money.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Zubrin isn\u2019t waiting until humans step foot on Mars to get started.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are in the process of drawing up business plans for two major initiatives \u2014 one in the artificial intelligence area and the other in the synthetic food production area,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd the idea is, fairly soon we\u2019re going to be presenting these business plans to investors, with the idea of starting companies devoted to these two different technological ideas that we have put together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Zubrin says it\u2019s too early to reveal exactly what these companies would do, but he claims the ventures have the potential to become extremely profitable. The AI concept could be \u201ca billion-dollar idea,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re both addressing critical questions for Mars that have tremendous terrestrial spin-off potential,\u201d Zubrin says.<\/p>\n<p>Income from the ventures would be split between investors and the Mars Society, which would use the funds to support a Mars Technology Institute. \u201cWe just did a fundraising drive and raised $150,000 to get this thing started,\u201d Zubrin says.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-thumbnail\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Robert Zubrin is the founder and president of the Mars Society. (Credit: Mars Society CC BY-SA 3.0)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Once things get rolling, Zubrin envisions setting up a\u00a0headquarters for the institute\u00a0\u2014 perhaps in the Pacific Northwest or in Colorado (where the Mars Society is currently based).<\/p>\n<p>The concept of using earthly ventures to support off-Earth adventures is by no means new. Back in 2015, when SpaceX founder Elon Musk was recruiting engineers for the Starlink satellite internet network, he said the profits from Starlink\u00a0would go toward funding a city on Mars.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLooking in the long term, and saying what\u2019s needed to create a city on Mars \u2014 well, one thing\u2019s for sure: a lot of money,\u201d Musk told an audience of about 400 techies (including prospective employees) in Seattle. \u201cSo we need things that will generate a lot of money.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Zubrin says the challenge of establishing settlements on Mars will promote invention in the same way that the challenges facing pioneers in the United States led to innovations ranging from steamboats to light bulbs to iPhones.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMars is even going to be much more technologically selective in terms of who goes there, and also a much more challenging environment,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be America to the third power in terms of what it will be able to invent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He argues that settlers will be forced to innovate when it comes to developing nuclear fission and fusion plants for energy, finding ways to conserve and recycle resources for sustaining Martian communities, and maximizing food production amid the planet\u2019s harsh conditions. All those innovations can then be exported back to Earth.<\/p>\n<p>Zubrin has laid out the case for Mars settlement in a series of books that goes back to, well,\u00a0\u201cThe Case for Mars\u201d\u00a0in 1996. He also wrote a fictional account of a crewed mission to Mars, titled\u00a0\u201cFirst Landing.\u201d\u00a0And he has appeared in more than a dozen TV shows about Mars and space exploration, including\u00a0\u201cMars,\u201d\u00a0a National Geographic series that blends science fiction and science fact.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe New World on Mars\u201d deals with thematic territory that spreads out much more broadly than what was covered in \u201cThe Case for Mars.\u201d And Zubrin says SpaceX\u2019s rise is the reason why.<\/p>\n<p>For years, Musk and his team have been focusing on development of a reusable super-heavy-lift launch system known as\u00a0Starship. The next test flight\u00a0could take place within weeks\u00a0\u2014 and it\u2019s likely to be only a matter of time before Starship offers a reliable way to get to Earth orbit and beyond.\u00a0 Musk envisions building a fleet of the rockets to send thousands of settlers to Mars, in line with his long-term ambition to make humanity a multiplanet species.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-thumbnail\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"167\" height=\"250\" src=\"https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/NewWorldMars-167x250.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-165967\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/NewWorldMars-167x250.jpg 167w, https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/NewWorldMars-387x580.jpg 387w, https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/NewWorldMars-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/NewWorldMars-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/NewWorldMars.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 167px) 100vw, 167px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u201cThe New World on Mars: What We Can Create on the Red Planet\u201d by Robert Zubrin. (Diversion Books)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Zubrin assumes that Starship or something like it will be a success \u2014 which means there\u2019s less need to dwell on the nuts and bolts of interplanetary transport in \u201cThe New World on Mars.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis book essentially says, \u2018Look, it\u2019s soon going to be possible for humans to go to Mars,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cSo the key question is not how do we do that, but what do we do when we get there?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Zubrin goes into great detail about how Mars\u2019 harsh realities could affect every aspect of daily life, from energy production and terraforming to marriage and parenthood. For example, he suggests that Martians might clean their clothes simply by airing them out in the Red Planet\u2019s low-pressure, bacteria-killing environment.<\/p>\n<p>Zubrin went so far as to test the technique by stuffing dirty clothes into a laboratory vacuum chamber. \u201cThe only downside is that stains are not removed, so they don\u2019t look clean. One remedy for this would be to use camo coloration for clothes, as it does not show stains,\u201d he writes. \u201cI predict this will be the style.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe New World on Mars\u201d is more optimistic about Red Planet settlement than\u00a0\u201cA City on Mars,\u201d\u00a0a book by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith that was\u00a0featured on Fiction Science last November. That book argues that the drive to create space settlements is premature \u2014 and that a host of uncertainties need to be cleared up first. For example, the Weinersmiths say that much more research should be done on the potential effects of Mars\u2019 reduced gravity on human reproduction and development. They also raise concerns about the potential international conflicts over property rights in space.<\/p>\n<p>As you\u2019d expect, Zubrin strongly disagrees with such views \u2014 in his book, on the podcast, and in a\u00a0book review published by Quillette. \u201cThey say there\u2019s no point going into space. There\u2019s nothing to be gained from it, and therefore, there should be laws to stop it, which makes no sense whatsoever,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>In Zubrin\u2019s view, the 1967 Outer Space Treaty\u2019s prohibition on claims of national sovereignty won\u2019t tie the hands of Mars settlers. Instead, it would make it easier for them to stake their own claims. \u201cIf a Martian colony is set up, and declares property rights within its vicinity, [governments on Earth] have no jurisdiction to contradict it,\u201d Zubrin says. \u201cThey have explicitly signed away their rights to interfere with Mars settlement.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And what about the health effects of living on Mars? \u201cOK, so yeah, we don\u2019t know about the long-term effects of one-third gravity on people, but we\u2019ll find that out,\u201d Zubrin says. \u201cWhen we send our first exploration missions to Mars, I believe it\u2019ll be OK.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The way Zubrin sees it, the main attraction for Mars settlers won\u2019t be deuterium, or\u00a0asteroid riches, or shiny\u00a0red obsidian. It\u2019ll be something money can\u2019t buy: the freedom to create<a\/>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe that there\u2019s nothing more powerful than the creative power of life,\u201d he says. \u201cThe grass finds a way to break through the pavement. Life finds a way. \u2026 And freedom is going to find a way.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<p><em>Check out the original version of this posting on Cosmic Log for Red Planet reading recommendations from Robert Zubrin.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>My co-host for the Fiction Science podcast is Dominica Phetteplace, an\u00a0award-winning writer\u00a0who is a graduate of the\u00a0Clarion West Writers Workshop\u00a0and lives in San Francisco. To learn more about Phetteplace, visit her website,\u00a0DominicaPhetteplace.com, and read\u00a0\u201cThe Ghosts of Mars,\u201d\u00a0her novella in Asimov\u2019s Science Fiction magazine.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Stay tuned for future episodes of the\u00a0Fiction Science podcast via\u00a0Apple, Google, Overcast, Spotify, Player.fm and\u00a0Pocket Casts. If you like Fiction Science, please rate the podcast and subscribe to get alerts for future episodes.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-block sd-like jetpack-likes-widget-wrapper jetpack-likes-widget-unloaded\" id=\"like-post-wrapper-24000880-165964-65e0f85655c5e\" data-src=\"https:\/\/widgets.wp.com\/likes\/?ver=13.1.3#blog_id=24000880&amp;post_id=165964&amp;origin=www.universetoday.com&amp;obj_id=24000880-165964-65e0f85655c5e&amp;n=1\" data-name=\"like-post-frame-24000880-165964-65e0f85655c5e\" data-title=\"Like or Reblog\">\n<h3 class=\"sd-title\">Like this:<\/h3>\n<p><span class=\"button\"><span>Like<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"loading\">Loading&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"sd-text-color\"\/><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.universetoday.com\/165964\/how-startups-on-earth-could-blaze-a-trail-for-cities-on-mars\/?rand=772204\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If future explorers manage to set up communities on Mars, how will they pay their way? What\u2019s likely to be the Red Planet\u2019s primary export? Will it be\u00a0Martian deuterium, sent&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":778119,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-778118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-genaero"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=778118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/778119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=778118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=778118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=778118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}