If Mars is lush and habitable planet just like Earth

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: arcenite
that would be a really long ethernet cable

Ping time could be 42 minutes minimum when the Earth and Mars are opposite the sun

Except that the Sun would cause near 100% packet loss.

I guess we'll need to put something in orbit around the Sun and bounce off it on the way to Mars when it's on the other side

 

[WHAMPOM]

Originally posted by: darkxshade
Yet another one of my hypothetical discussions. If Mars were and always exactly like Earth. Would we have advanced our technology to a degree such that it would be colonized as of today? Would there be interplanatary flights that would transport civilians from one planet to the other? Would said flights take 3 months or less? Who would rule this new planet or would international laws and treaties prevent sovereignty over it?

Martians would own Earth.

 

[zerocool84]

Total Recall

/thread

 

[mshan]

The History Channel's "The Universe" (season one) actually talked about Mars and Venus and also how certain moons of Jupiter (?) were sites with the potential for (microbial) life:

http://www.thehistorychannel.c...tes/universe/index.php

Available on iTunes if you can't find it at your local library, or if video linked at above website isn't full episodes.

 

[Brigandier]

I voted other on both. I think Mars would be populated by those individuals in society that make up on frontier outpost, those with wither nowhere else left to go or those that hope to strike it rich. I think Mars would be home to desperate and entrepreneurial souls looking for precious metal or other such deposits. Or others simply because they see space as a romantic place to live. I can bet no one would tease you for liking Star Wars/Star Trek or anything else nerdy on Mars. I mean, it would mean the geeks were right, right?

Also, it would not be impossible to live on Mars for awhile and come back, it would only be permanent if a person chose for it to be. Or if the Earth was destroyed.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: arcenite
that would be a really long ethernet cable

Ping time could be 42 minutes minimum when the Earth and Mars are opposite the sun

Except that the Sun would cause near 100% packet loss.

I guess we'll need to put something in orbit around the Sun and bounce off it on the way to Mars when it's on the other side

or just develop quantum interweb

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: SagaLore

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: SagaLore
Mars could never exactly like Earth, because its too far away from the Sun, and doesn't have enough gravity to properly hold an atmosphere.

If you're going to make this hypothetical, then use Venus instead. Similar composition, gets plenty of sun, and has almost the same gravity. Closer to us too.

Titan is smaller than Mars, and it's got an atmosphere denser than Earth's.

Its due to being colder, farther away from sun's solar wind, and constantly replenishing itself from internal activity.

Mars had an atmosphere thought to have been comparable to Earth in density, and to what Venus used to have. Mars also was internally active, but for some reason hasn't stayed too alive and for some reason began to lose the atmosphere it once held.

And for some reason, while Venus used to have a normal atmosphere, it went haywire and now has an atmospheric pressure that is equatable to the pressure on the bottom of our ocean.
A planet maintaining a certain atmosphere appears to be a fine art. Hell, Earth's atmosphere has never been steady over the course of its history, though stability of the current atmosphere has been rather long lasting.

Not only does life require a stable atmosphere, but it appears that might be a two-way relationship; a planet holding a stable atmosphere may require life to keep the balance.

Mars and Venus may never have established any sort of life, and specifically with Mars being a certain size yet less dense, with no life to make use of the atmosphere and contribute to exchanging gasses, that may have been what doomed it.

Titan may have more to thank due to a certain density in regards to its size. Solar winds only have so much part in the process of atmospheric regulation. And hell, Titan's ability to regulate the atmosphere may be due to the composition. IIRC, it has heavier gasses in the composition, which may provide a more favorable stability factor for smaller and/or less dense bodies. And Titan may have the ability to house life of some type, but that might be completely dependent on the conditions of early Titan. Certain conditions may be required to initially create life, and then life evolves and adapts for other conditions.

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: bobsmith1492

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: SagaLore
Mars could never exactly like Earth, because its too far away from the Sun, and doesn't have enough gravity to properly hold an atmosphere.

If you're going to make this hypothetical, then use Venus instead. Similar composition, gets plenty of sun, and has almost the same gravity. Closer to us too.

Titan is smaller than Mars, and it's got an atmosphere denser than Earth's.

But it's a frozen ball of ice...

what is frozen?
the atmosphere is comprised mainly of methane. Methane has a freezing point of about 90K at 1bar. According to that chart, the surface has a pressure of about 1.5bar. That thoroughly supports the notion that the surface has local conditions extremely comparable to Earth, except swap out H20 with methane, and drastically different temperatures. But, there are rivers and lakes of methane, and there is precipitation of methane.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
I guess we'll need to put something in orbit around the Sun and bounce off it on the way to Mars when it's on the other side

Yeah, but 42 minute pingtimes, I can handle. That'd increase it even more.

Originally posted by: mshan
The History Channel's "The Universe" (season one) actually talked about Mars and Venus and also how certain moons of Jupiter (?) were sites with the potential for (microbial) life:

http://www.thehistorychannel.c...tes/universe/index.php

Available on iTunes if you can't find it at your local library, or if video linked at above website isn't full episodes.

My money's on Europa. It's suggested that it has a shell of ice a few miles thick, but below that, an ocean of water that may contain 2-3x as much water as is in all of Earth's oceans.

 

[MovingTarget]

Yes - we would have colonized it already. However, I don't think it would be by the millions, just a few thousand. Only once the inhabitants start reproducing on site will the population get that high.

I disagree with question 2. The internet will still be there, albeit with rather atrocious ping times. No playing WOW, but you will still get ATOT. I guess it isn't much different than current sattelite offerings.

 

[reallyscrued]

Would it still be called the World Wide Web?

 

[CKent]

Originally posted by: Fritzo

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: SagaLore
Mars could never exactly like Earth, because its too far away from the Sun, and doesn't have enough gravity to properly hold an atmosphere.

If you're going to make this hypothetical, then use Venus instead. Similar composition, gets plenty of sun, and has almost the same gravity. Closer to us too.

Titan is smaller than Mars, and it's got an atmosphere denser than Earth's.

But it doesn't have as much solar radiation to blast it away. Also a magnetic field is required when close to the sun to deflect radiation and keep the atmosphere from being ripped away.

It's amazing how many things have to be "just right" for a planet to support complex life:

-right distance from the star
-protection from radiation
-a non-toxic atmosphere
-liquid water
-a metalic core to provide a magnetic field
-plate tetonics to recycle resources

It makes one wonder if Earth is indeed very rare.

Anyway, if Mars was habitable, we'd be there already. The reason we're not right now is there's so many protection systems that have to be built or invented that it's an incredible feat of engineering to even consider. If we didn't need to protect ourselves so much on the surface, 1/2 of the problem wouldn't be there.

And a single large moon to give a stable axis. Without it you might get bacteria and algae but probably not anything more complex.

 

[waffleironhead]

Originally posted by: SagaLore
Mars could never exactly like Earth, because its too far away from the Sun, and doesn't have enough gravity to properly hold an atmosphere.

If you're going to make this hypothetical, then use Venus instead. Similar composition, gets plenty of sun, and has almost the same gravity. Closer to us too.

There is always some idiot who can not function inside the parameters given.

 

[MovingTarget]

Originally posted by: reallyscrued
Would it still be called the World Wide Web?

Notice how we now call them 'the intarwebs'? Mars had dsl before my neighborhood ever did.

 

[Whitecloak]

yes

 

[StinkyPinky]

Without a doubt imo. The only reason the space program isn't going anywhere is because the majority of the tax paying public think there's nothing to gain from it. But if there was a whole lush planet out there...there would be trillions spent imo. And not just in the US.

 

[Udgnim]

pretty easy no

the first world countries (read the one's with money) have enough space for people to habitat

even if they don't, that's for the poor people to figure out how / where to live and not the government's problem