Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to Oh, heck with it. Here it is.

A technical comment, not a historical one
E.P. Grondine — (archived)

Once again, the problem standing in the way of human settlement of Mars is fundamental and serious, and Zubrin is oblivious to it.

Mars' core has pretty much cooled down, and thus Mars lacks much of a magnetic field. Without a magnetic field to protect it from deadly solar radiation, including bombardment by those parts of the Sun itself thrown out in Coronal Mass Ejections, Mars' surface can not be terra-formed.

Since it is widely becoming recognized by legislators that Mars can not be terra-formed, it is being seen by them as being of less benefit to the public as a whole, and thus of less interest as an object for exploration.

On the other hand, those same legislators are also beginning to realize that we face a pretty severe hazard from impacting asteroids and comets, and thus with any luck it is quite possible that we may see a man tended observatory built on the Moon within the next decade.

EP

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