What is Digg?85 Comments
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+42A giant space mirror hard to deploy? No..!
- zediker, on 10/12/2007, -3/+24"We dont do this because it is easy, but because it is hard" -JFK (paraphrased)
Space is an unkind mistriss. If we gave up because it was difficult, we still wouldnt be out there today. Hell, we would still be stuck in the middle ages, or further back. We can do it, and I personally welcome the challenge. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -7/+24Fat chicks are not going to like this concept
- snowhell, on 10/12/2007, -2/+18+ 7 years of bad luck - that's why they're scared...
(7 martian years, that is more than 12.6 terrestrial years) - curios, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13"We choose to go to the moon, not because it is easy, but because it is hard." JFK
- jrizzo, on 10/12/2007, -5/+18Asteroid + Giant Mirror = Deadly Glass-shard Rain of Death
That would be pretty cool to watch though... - drinkGreen, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14This is all fine until that gateway to Hell is found.
- omega6, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11Maybe it would be easier if there was some sort of liquid agent that could be controlled and reflected light? Kinda like that oil that is controlled by magnets since there's little pieces of metal in the oil. You could deploy a couple of super high powered magnets that could pull the oil into a sort of screen. Then, if hit by any floating debris it would just plow through the oil and then oil would then form right back to how it was before the impact. Or maybe a liquid metal of some sort. Kinda far fetched I suppose but so is terraforming.
- curios, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11Far fetched, but it gets us thinking and fires the imagination, the initial creation.
- Otto, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12>>>"Asteroid + Giant Mirror = Deadly Glass-shard Rain of Death"
Funny, but not accurate. Orbital mechanics 101: If a thing is in orbit and breaks up, the individual pieces of it are still in orbit. Deorbiting something means adding enough velocity to it to significantly change its orbit, and an asteroid shattering it would not do that. Plus, small pieces of anything have a tendancy to burn up completely in the atmosphere as they hit it at significant speeds. - curios, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10We are more important than a big rock. Mars is there for us.
- skytomorrownow, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10from our time, the achievements of human explorers on earth seem easy, but in their time the challenges were almost as insurmountable. imagine setting off over the horizon, until your navigation no longer works, and you don't even know if you have enough water to make landfall. explorers take great risks because they can't stand the thought of night trying.
- jcapogna, on 10/12/2007, -8/+16Yah seriously, what a lame excuse. NASA is so lazy.
- dj_sea2005, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6May as well fit some spinners and a spoiler while your there too.
- curios, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5What about gently nudging comet's to take orbit around Mars and slowly disintegrate their water and organic content onto the surface.
- curios, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Comets are too small too do that, but they are a valuable resource of water that may be lacking on Mars.
- qwertydvorak, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6why not deploy space based tinted windows over the earth to help lessen global warming ?
- blahblah, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Let's not try it because it's too hard.
- Barnstormer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I like the "lets ram a watery comet into Mars" idea. The impact would generate some heat, the atmosphere would be nudged toward greenhouse a little, and you might end up with a few nice-sized lakes.
Now if we could just find a way to regenerate a planetary magnetic field... - omega6, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Well considering you can't breathe on Mars I assume that shouldn't be a problem.
- TenebrousX, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6I think it's a Doom reference
- Xanadude, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6NASA to develop BFG9000.
- jonesyhahaha, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4May be hard to deploy? No sh*t!
- dronebee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Red Mars indeed. First we need to build the Soletta to aim sunlight at the planet, warm the surface, and have tons of utopian hippy sex in the communal bath houses.
- curios, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3 ________________________
| GET YOUR ASS TO MARS |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - EbenieRosa, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Like anyone would live on Mars anymore, not after the Great Migration, heh.
- NinjaBoy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Well we are just being creative we have all this global warming and mars could use some global warming. I think we just need to compromise.
- cameron074, on 10/12/2007, -7/+10Futurama global warming episode anyone?
A rock the size of your fist would knock that thing out of orbit, or at least change it's position enough to screw something up. - AI_Joe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Wouldn't it be cheaper and cooler to just put everyone inside large gerbil balls?
- NinjaBoy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Terraform ftw. Just need to warm up the planet so the ice caps melt then work on importing plant life to take root in the soil. OK maybe its not that simple. But i like to think it is.
- sdbryan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Did anyone else notice the journalist couldn't get simple facts straight? Arizona State is located in Tucson? It is either the University of Arizona in Tucson or Arizona State in Tempe (near Phoenix and a long way from Tucson).
- RoboRay, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I've only seen gerbil balls a couple of times, and they were pretty freaking small.
- Xanadude, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3The biggest problem with living on Mars might not be the climate, but the soil. Mars is covered with an extremely fine silica-based dust. The stuff is sticky, magnetic, and toxic - breathing it in would almost certainly cause silicosis pretty quickly. So the first step might be to flood the area and either wash it all away or turn it all into concrete.
- Langford, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It wouldn't be that easy to dislocate, but it would have a limited lifespan and would cost a ton of money to build.
- curios, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Superconductors!
- Xanadude, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Then you assume wrong. Unless you stay indoors 100% of the time, that dust will become a problem - you'll track it inside, and it will get in your equipment and tear it up.
- curios, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"Open your miiiiiiind, open your miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiind."
- docmanhattan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Did someone in NASA just finish reading Red Mars?!?
- curios, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Better to put the comets in orbit to slowly disintegrate lest we contaminate the orbit of mars with debris that could hang around for thousands to millions of years.
- qwertydvorak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Manifest Destiny ?
- aggieandrew, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2
Also, the air pressure is 1/100th that of Earth's. I see that as a problem as well. - thewise1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Pretty awesome idea - there are a lot of problems with it, of course (for instance, actually creating a magnetic field the size of Texas and keeping it on, and then shaping it properly), but most ideas start out a bit rough around the edges. Humankind needs thinkers like you!
digg++ - curios, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Do you.
- revenant, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1ok.. all of these other problems taken in, but also how long will it take to get out there with this crap? We need to have better propulsion tech imo to make the trip out and back much faster..
- curios, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1My brother noticed that the book sounded like it was written by an Australian, Mic Dundee like. Wouldn't recommend it though.
- Superthug, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Reminds me of Golden Eye...
- robertgoodwin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Yah seriously, what a lame excuse. NASA is so lazy."
What? I didn't even see a comment from NASA in this article! The comment about the difficulty of deploying such a mirror was made by Margarita Marinova of Caltech in Pasadena. Does this mean academics are lazy? - maxfior, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Quaid... Quaid... Start the reactor.... Save Mars... "
- polyGone, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Well, my science book told me to pray for a terraforming of another planet.
- revenant, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1LOL... "the pyramid mines?? I used to work there until they found that alien ***** inside" ;)
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