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News Elon Musk wants to put millions of people on Mars.
- Thread starter RGClark
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Cosmic Penguin
Geek Penguin in GTO
Well I would take that as his "business philosophy" as opposed to his "business plan". AFAIK he could mean that his company is pushing towards this target in 1000 years..... :rofl:
If Mr Musk wants to have daring goals, so shall I!
I suggest the formation of a Society to pursue the inhabitation of Baffin Island by at least one million (1 000 000) human beings within twelve years and six months (12.5 years) of the starting date. Ticket price for emigration shall be $250 000 or a similar amount (half Musk's value- this shall be done the competitive way!)
The Society will not be required to develop Mars transit vehicles, habitats, or big Falcon rockets. Only currently existing hardware need be employed for this grandiose accomplishment to be met. Current inhabitants of Baffin Island (approximately ten thousand people) shall not be counted for the purposes of the Society's goals.
The sole purpose of this activity shall be to demonstrate the existence of a market in the hundreds of billions of dollars for emigration to a frozen wasteland.
I do say, what a scintillating concept!
I suggest the formation of a Society to pursue the inhabitation of Baffin Island by at least one million (1 000 000) human beings within twelve years and six months (12.5 years) of the starting date. Ticket price for emigration shall be $250 000 or a similar amount (half Musk's value- this shall be done the competitive way!)
The Society will not be required to develop Mars transit vehicles, habitats, or big Falcon rockets. Only currently existing hardware need be employed for this grandiose accomplishment to be met. Current inhabitants of Baffin Island (approximately ten thousand people) shall not be counted for the purposes of the Society's goals.
The sole purpose of this activity shall be to demonstrate the existence of a market in the hundreds of billions of dollars for emigration to a frozen wasteland.
I do say, what a scintillating concept!
Cosmic Penguin
Geek Penguin in GTO
[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iqaluit"]Too late[/ame] - [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baffin_Island"]there are already 11000 people in this colony[/ame]! :rofl:
Of course there are, which is why I stated this in my proposal for the creation of a Baffin Island Society;
There is always [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devon_Island"]Devon Island[/ame], located in Baffin Bay and pretty darn wasteland-y. It is said to be the largest uninhabited island on Earth. It is nearly 60% larger than Hainan, which is inhabited by several million people, so it should be able to accomodate enough colonists.
As a plus, the [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashline_Mars_Arctic_Research_Station"]Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station[/ame] was constructed there.
As a plus, the [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashline_Mars_Arctic_Research_Station"]Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station[/ame] was constructed there.
kamaz
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Baffin Island? Good place for a trading hub, with the Northwest Passage opening up due to global warming. I'd need, say, a hundred billion to build up the initial infrastructure plus independence from Canada to make my own tax law.
People do not emigrate to something, they emigrate away from something. Poverty, persecution, taxes, etc.
The problem is not how to get people on Mars. The problem is how to build economy to Mars. Once you have economy which needs people, the people will come.
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No cause for an economy on Mars, since there is nothing on Mars that is economical to ship back to Earth, which is the only known market in the universe.
I am not suggesting that people pay $250 000 to move to Devon Island to start up a trading hub, I am suggesting that people pay $250 000 to move to Devon Island because it's a frozen wasteland (and thus, has most of what Mars has to offer, and more).
Creating a market for things on Mars seems a bit like creating a market for things on Devon Island, for the people who I suggest should pay $250 000 to move to Devon Island simply for the sake of it. It's rather like building a bridge to nowhere and then expecting nowhere to be the center of everywhere.
Devon Island has been populated before for economic reasons (whaling and suchlike) but that is not relevant to the discussion of it here. The question is; will roughly 80 000 people per year fork out a good portion of a million dollars to live there, just because it exists and is inhospitable?
And of course people emigrate away from things- but they emigrate to places like the USA, Europe, Australia, and soforth. Not to uninhabited wastelands like Devon Island. You don't have that sort of influx of people to make money there- how can you possibly expect an influx in the tens of thousands a year if you expect them to pay you for it?
I am not suggesting that people pay $250 000 to move to Devon Island to start up a trading hub, I am suggesting that people pay $250 000 to move to Devon Island because it's a frozen wasteland (and thus, has most of what Mars has to offer, and more).
Creating a market for things on Mars seems a bit like creating a market for things on Devon Island, for the people who I suggest should pay $250 000 to move to Devon Island simply for the sake of it. It's rather like building a bridge to nowhere and then expecting nowhere to be the center of everywhere.
Devon Island has been populated before for economic reasons (whaling and suchlike) but that is not relevant to the discussion of it here. The question is; will roughly 80 000 people per year fork out a good portion of a million dollars to live there, just because it exists and is inhospitable?
And of course people emigrate away from things- but they emigrate to places like the USA, Europe, Australia, and soforth. Not to uninhabited wastelands like Devon Island. You don't have that sort of influx of people to make money there- how can you possibly expect an influx in the tens of thousands a year if you expect them to pay you for it?
RGClark
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Somehow didn't see this when it came out:
Billionaire space entrepreneur wants vegetarian-only colony on Mars.
Published time: January 09, 2013 00:26
http://rt.com/usa/space-mars-musk-people-595/
Bob Clark
BruceJohnJennerLawso
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Well, I think any off-planet colony will have a fairly low consumption of meat anyways, but people will adapt. I really doubt one of the questions on the go to mars application will be "are you a vegetarian".
Hlynkacg
Aspiring rocket scientist
1: Livestock are an extremely efficient method of converting matter that wouldn't normally be digestible by humans into something digestible by humans.
2: Where do you get new clothes?
There are reasons that domestication and agriculture were wellspring of civilization, we haven't outgrown them.
BruceJohnJennerLawso
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Clothes could probably be synthetically made, although you may have a point there in terms of what would be cheaper. Not all clothing is animal based though (cotton, flax, polyester, etc.).
With regards to the matter conversion, yes that is helpful, but that assumes that a colony would be growing crops that need conversion to a useful form. One would think that a martian greenhouse would only contain crops fairly useful to the colony.
I think the real point here is that the amount of livestock off-planet will be much lower per capita than on earth. Theres just not enough room, consumeables, or reason to do it on a large scale.
All this had made me think though, it would be interesting to do a sort of Orbiter Greenhouse project, modelling what gets grown, & what it produces. Maybe Ill try that someday.
RGClark
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On the other hand I doubt that such a requirement would prevent people from going if they really wanted to.
Bob Clark
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