Madely in the morning, July 24

2 Responses to Madely in the morning, July 24

1. Tony MacDonell says:

   July 24, 2009 at 8:52 am

   Hey John,

   When you were commenting on traveling to Mars, you stated that beyond Mars there is nothing of interest in which we could send humans to. You pointed out that sending humans to Jupiter or Saturn would be silly considering the fact that these are gas giants, and that their gravity is so strong it would kill us.

   While that is true, you miss something critical. Both Jupiter and Saturn have over 50 moons each. A handful of these moons are actually extremely interesting, and one in particular could easily support a human colony:

   Titan: Saturn’s biggest moon
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_%28moon%29

   It is the most similar place to Earth in the solar system. Yes t is covered in noxious gas, but that gas is methane which is very useful. It’s lakes and oceans are not filled with water, they are filled with natural gas!, so unlike other places like Mars, a colony on Titan could be reasonably self-sustainable.

   Mars’s role in this would be a jump off point to Titan in the way future, and that’s why scientists always speak of it as step two (step one is creating a colony on our Moon).

   So don’t be so quick to dismiss the exploration of the solar system. There is a lot more out there worth visiting than many people think.
2. John Robson says:

   July 27, 2009 at 9:43 am

   Yes, I once read a sci-fi story in which Titan or some such object had really cool methane oceans. I still say that if we cannot find fulfilment on Earth it is improbable that we’ll find it there. Liquid methane still strikes me as a relatively inhospitable setting for human life… and for goodness sake don’t strike a match!