@atheist It's worth trying though right?

@atheist At the very lest saving the species and as our technology and abilities to transport and create habitat increase then a large group of gentically diverse people. I would say we have to be selective, for instance some one like myself who is genetically defective would not make the list unless their contributions make a difference in the success of the colony. I would not make the cut.

@atheist They already are, Elon Musk plans to send two supply ships ahead in 2022 with four more ships in 2024, two supply and two with colonists. I am under no delusion that he is going to choose people based in part on their genetics as at that stage other mpre pressing qualities come to the for.

@atheist I see them getting there and it ending up like Jamestown

@atheist Not for me, I plan on being there

@atheist It depends on how sensible they are about getting it done. For example, something I've given thought to is habitats. There's sand on Mars. There's iron. Carbon, if not present in some usable form, could be obtained from our wastes and what plants we take there. Glass and steel could probably be obtained from that.

The first thing that needs to be done is a geological survey, with boots on the ground. We only know about some of what's on the surface, but not in the ground. Knowing what's there that we can use to build a colony would make for better planning.

@atheist Enough to keep the human species going, also it would be a good idea to dig into the face wall there and create a version of the seed vaults we have on earth but also include the DNA of as many species of fauna as possible.

@atheist That is why we need to start now and grow the colony and maybe use it as a place to mine asteroids and build startships in orbit for even longer missions. We must be like Star Trek, boldly go where no man has gone before.

If the UN could actually enforce anything, it might be more sensible.

We need to do both, Mars can be brought back to life though it would take a great deal of time to terraform it. I see it as a base of sorts and an emergency shelter in case an asteroid were headed our way. I also think it could be a great jumping off point into deeper space and we know there are planets that may be habitable not that far off.

@misstuffy If we were serious about bringing Mars back to life we would need to increase its mass and heat it up. A few million astroids crashing into it at low velocity might do the trick. As a jumping off point the moon would seem to be the better choice its low gravity make its escape velocity very low saving fuel, it also seems to have the resources we need to make fuel and maybe even power fusion reactors.
The thing we seem to lack is the will to make things happen; large nations would rather build there military machine than explore space and the private sector is only interested in profits mostly from the same militaries space projects.
Part of the problem that is preventing things from happening in manned space exploration is that as this century progresses the cost of dealing with global warming, soil degradation and pollution will increase exponentially, taking the resources for this away.

@HeathenFarmer Ironically the things needed to heat Mars are the same things that are polluting our own world. We need to fill the atmosphere with carbon dioxide, the very thing that green plants need to live and to give off oxygen as a biproduct. Basically plants and anomals are symbiotic to each other in the oxygen/carbon dioxide exchange between them for each to sustain their lives. More worrisome is the fact that Mars iron core has cooled and needs to become molten again in order to maintain the electromagnetic field needed to hold the astmoshphere to the planet. Finding a safe way to heat the core to a molten state will take some doing if it is doable at all but it is necessary if we hope to return it to a state where humans can breathe without artificial assistance up there.

@misstuffy The lack of a Magnetosphere is a problem cosmic and solar radiation would damage our genes, cancer, mutation and radiation sickness would be a constant concern. The bigger problem is that its small mass does not allow long term retention of hydrogen which gets lost to space, meaning water becomes ever scarcer as soon as it enter the atmosphere as water vapour.
Massive controlled bombardment would increase the mass and might even heat the core. It is the kind of project only a Class 1 or better civilization is capable of and we are a long way away from that.
Although there seems to be a lot of frozen water on Mars there is likely even more frozen CO2 so, plants can convert that to oxygen but, they also produce water vapour in the process that results in further hydrogen loss without that extra planetary mass.

@atheist On that I agree, we are screwed.

@HeathenFarmer There are a lot of reasons to colonize Mars. Shelters can be built to keep colonists safe, there is water already present and it does have an atmosphere though weak it is more than the moon has. It would be ideal for a seed/DNA bank and a good place to build a space dock and ships. We need to diversify, I agree put a base on the moon first but Elon has already begun the process to colonize Mars and I intend to follow his progress because I think he too believes if we are to survive as a species this is a necessary progression.

@misstuffy I still think we would be better off to fix this world before trying to move to a new one. Regardless of how or what we build on mars its existence as a human colony remain extremely fragile on a frozen radiation bathed world lacking a breathable atmosphere lacking enough gravity to retain water vapour: where the breach of a habitat means possible extinction. Don't get me wrong I do think we need to go there but, I doubt that the publicity stunts of Elon Musk will do it.