Blue and Red Gradient

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Colonisation of the Moon and Mars

• Shaun Moss
• BarCampMelbourne
• 2009-09-12

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Who Am I?

• Freelance web geek (PHP, JS, MySQL, Drupal)
• Writer, humanitarian, environmentalist.
• Space enthusiast Mars Society, Mars Foundation,
  MarsDrive, NSSA, Space Frontier Foundation, Space
  Renaissance Initiative
• Chairman of Board of Moon Society
  (www.moonsociety.org)

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• 384,000km from Earth
• Gravity 0.17g (1/6 Earth)
• Diameter 3474km (27 Earth)
• Temp 70K-390K (-200C - 120C)

• Surface area equal to Africa Australia
• Lots of metals and oxygen
• Virtually no atmo, water, C, H, N (essential for
  life)
• 29.5-day diurnal cycle (2w light, 2w dark)

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Mars

• 55-400Gm from Earth
• Gravity 0.38g (3/8 Earth)
• Diameter 6779km (53 Earth)
• Temp 186K-268K (-87C - -5C)
• Surface area equal to allland area of Earth
• Lots of water, metals, CHNOPS, etc.
• Atmo mainly CO2 _at_ about 0.7kPa
• Diurnal cycle 2440, orbital period 1.9 Earth
  years

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Why Colonise Other Worlds?

• Abundant resources (metals, carbon, energy, etc.)
• Preservation of our species (defence against
  asteroid impacts)
• Inventions/Engineering robotics, ISRU, LSS,
  enviro-control, comms, vehicles, etc.
• The Overview Effect
• Inspiration, adventure, frontier

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Why Colonise the Moon?

• Close to Earth - short missions, rapid emergency
  response, comms (1.5 light seconds)

• Science solar wind, formation of Solar System,
  astronomy (far side)
• Good tourist destination (sports in 0.17g)

• Great view of Earth! (60 x brighter than full
  moon)

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Why Colonise the Moon? (cont.)

• Practice for other destinations, e.g. Mars

• Resources solar energy, He-3, iron, engineering
  metals (Ti, Al, Mg), PGM's
• Low g good for construction, spacesuits, access
  to space

• Manufacture space habitats, vehicles, etc.

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Why Colonise Mars?

• Abundant resources, incl. water, atmo, CHNOPS,
  solar wind energy ? independence from Earth

• Diurnal cycle almost same as Earth (2440)
  benefits for humans, crops, etc.
• Axial tilt almost same (seasons)
• Comparatively close to Earth

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Why Colonise Mars? (cont.)

• Science astrobiology, geology, hydrology
• Transparent atmo (sky, stars)
• Potential for terraforming

• Create enlightened, high-tech, scientific,
  legacy-free society.

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Technical Challenges of the Moon

• Energy solar 50. Stored energy (vanadium
  redox batteries), peaks of eternal light,
  fission, fusion, H fuel cells.

• Air plenty of O, but no N import? Pure O2
  explosive (Apollo 1).
• Water minimal inaccessible, hard-frozen at
  poles
• Growing food w/o C and N? Import food, seeds,
  organic material (humus), fertiliser

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Technical Challenges of the Moon

• Long diurnal cycle artificial lighting
• Extreme T cooling and heating of bases
• Radiation (solar wind, flares) cover bases w/
  dirt, underground

• Health problems caused by low g, e.g. muscle
  bone loss
• Meteorites
• Ubiquitous abrasive dust

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Technical Challenges of Mars

• Energy solar, wind, geothermal, fission (no
  nukes on Mars!)
• Air manufacture fromMars atmo (3 N2)
• Water obtain frompermafrost, poles
• Food greenhousesw/ high-CO2

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Technical Challenges of Mars

• Distance from Earth ? long missions (2 years),
  comms lag up to 40 min, slow emergency response

• High-UV radiation cover bases w/ dirt,
  underground
• Spacesuit mass below 50kg

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Financial/Political Challenges

• High cost of fuel, salaries, tech development.
• Cost of access to space (US10k/kg to LEO)
• International collaboration (ISS) spread cost
• CATS (cheap access to space). Ion, plasma
  propulsion, nuclear thermal rockets, solar sails,
  field propulsion, space elevator
• Who owns Moon/Mars? Outer Space Treaty, space
  law.
• Militarisation of space, geopolitical climate

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Space Business

• NewSpace a.k.a. Space 2.0
• Tourism flights into space,orbital and lunar
  hotels
• Sport
• Metalliferous mining (L, M, A)
• Lunar energy solar and He3
• Property development

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Terraforming Mars

• Increase T orbital mirrors/lenses, greenhouse
  gases (PFC's)
• Increased CO2 H2O ? increased T (runaway
  greenhouse effect) ? new equilibrium at higher T
• Liquid water ? aquatic life (algae,
  cyanobacteria, etc.). Water provides protection
  from UV.

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Terraforming Mars

• Photosynthesis converts CO2 atmo to O2
• N2 imported from Venus or Titan ? Earthian air
• High O2 ? ozone layer (O3) ? protection from UV
• Ozone layer wet weather ? life on land
• Genetic engineering DNA from extremophiles,
  extant martian life
• Robotic gardeners
• Planet-circling conductor ? artificial
  magnetosphere ? radiation protection

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The End

• Mars Society marssociety.org
• MSA marssociety.org.au
• Moon Society moonsociety.org
• Space Frontier Foundationspacefrontier.org
• Email me shaun_at_starmultimedia.biz
• Coming soon!