[meteorite-list] The Next Mother Lode: Mars

From: Sterling K. Webb <kelly_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Sep 8 02:22:00 2005
Message-ID: <431FD863.3F58AFF2_at_bhil.com>

Hi, Darren, List


    Why Mars? you ask? Or the Moon, or the Asteroid
 Belt, or anywhere else in the solar system?

    The question is analogous to the perceptions of the
Old World (Europe) to the New (Americas). In the XVth
century, the Americas were not a discovery but an
obstacle. They inconveniently blocked the way to China
and Japan, and for the better part of a century,
exploration was undertaken in an effort to find a way
to get through them or around them (searching for
the Northwest Passage)!

    Soon, the Americas became more important as a
source of lootable resources, that is, the gold of native
civilizations fueled the wealth of nations. Impoverished
Spain became the richest nation in the world thanks to
the Aztec and Inca gold and silver, for a century at least
until they wasted it all on military excess.

    By the XVIIth century, resource looting became much
more rational, seeking after conventional resources, like
timber, furs, and new unexpected resources, like tobacco
and new agricultural products. Colonies were placed in
America, not because people wanted to live there, but
because it was more efficient to have the workers live
"near the mine head," as it were.

    But, by the XVIIIth century, people were coming to the
new lands because they wanted to seize a share of those
immense resources for themselves! American history,
as told to Americans, asserts that the USA, for example,
was a great success because Americans were industrious,
ingenious, and generally virtuous (all -- ahem! -- true,
of course). There is little mention of the fact that a new
population was placed on a continent with a sizable
share of the world's coal, oil, gold, silver, copper, iron, a
long list, all free for the picking up. You don't suppose that
having the wealth of a world handed to you on a platter
helped any in our success story? Nah....

    I can see knowledgeable and sober Europeans listening
to explorers rant about the vast empty lands of the new world,
"Yeah, but what good is it? It's empty, no cathedrals, no towns,
no villages, all worthless wilderness; it'll never amount to
anything." Very practical. There must have been a lot of
practical Europeans, since so many of them stayed there
But there were a few who weren't so practical...

    I'm a Moon Nut, rather than a Mars Nut, but perfectly
happy that we currently want to go to the Moon to "jump
off" to Mars. What good is the Moon? Are you crazy?
Ten million square miles without a single McDonald's?
The Mickey D franchise for the Moon is ultimately more
valuable than if the Moon was littered with diamonds or
gold nuggets and they were all yours. It drives me nuts
to listen to people who ask "what use is a new untouched
world?" Please, sell me the exclusive Lunar McDonald's
franchise for the next 100 years; I'd like my heirs to be
trillionaires! (A billion just doesn't go as far as it used to.)

    In the 1700's, coal was a curiosity; in the 1800's, it
was driving the Industrial Revolution. In 1800, petroleum
was a curiosity and an ingredient in patent medicines;
by 1900, it was driving the Industrial Revolution. In
1940, uranium was useful only for pottery glazes...
What resources of Mars or the Moon are essential
for the future and worth their weight in Helium-3?
Impossible to say. If you really want people to be
desperate to go to Mars, they should "arrange" for
one of the rovers to find a puddle of crude oil...

    Actually, what the people in 4Frontiers are smoking
is a great idea for an Earthly theme park, as you can
see, and if they develop any new technologies, so
much the better. If they really wanted to test Martian
environmental technologies, wouldn't Antarctica be
better than New Mexico? On the other hand, there
is more tourist potential in New Mexico than Anarctica...

    But seriously, the Martian end of their "business
plan" is perfectly sound and corresponds to the resource
development strategy applied in America c. 1600-1650.
It worked then; it'll work now, or fifty years from now,
just as well. And it will have just as unexpected results!
We cannot say what the wealth of the Moon or Mars or
Ceres or any other world will be with complete certainty,
but do not doubt that every world as yet unexploited
by man represents immense wealth, by the simple fact
of being unexploited.

    That is, after all, what we do, exploit, or transform,
the stuff of worlds, for its material and energy potential,
as the guys at 4Frontiers point out. That's where the
money is, and in the McDonald's franchises. How
about selling me the Starbuck's franchise for Mars?
See, if I was going to the 1848 Gold Rush, it would be
to open a hardware store, a laundry, a grocery store,
or a brothel... (I've been watching Deadwood.)

    In the end, the true wealth of a world is in its human
population, wealth being a human concept. What do you
think will be the population and GPP (Gross Planetary
Product) of Mars in the year 2100? 2300? 2500? Or
don't you think there is a future?

    4Frontiers just wants to get in on the ground floor,
or maybe just a little under the ground floor, or maybe
they just want to build BioSphere3.


Sterling K. Webb
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Darren Garrison wrote:

> If I was a druggie, I'd say give me some of what they are smoking.
>
> http://www.wired.com/news/space/0,2697,68739,00.html
>
> Space entrepreneurs eyeing Mars as a hub of some future solar system economy launched a startup on
> Tuesday to mine the red planet for building materials.
>
> The new company, 4Frontiers, plans to mine Mars for building materials and energy sources, and
> export the planet's mineral wealth to forthcoming space stations on the moon and elsewhere.
>
> The company also wants to build the first permanent human settlement on Mars, using strictly Martian
> materials, as early as 2025.
>
> The idea is to make Mars a center for needs of the solar system economy, said Bruce Mackenzie,
> co-founder of 4Frontiers and the company's vice president and outreach director.
>
> "Mars happens to be a good place for these crucial minerals," said Mackenzie. "You have them all in
> one spot."
>
> "Carbon, nitrogen and hydrogen are all scarce on the moon, but readily available on Mars," said
> Joseph Palaia, 4Frontiers' other co-founder and vice president of operations and research and
> development. And while oxygen is available in both locations, "it is easier to extract on Mars," he
> said.
>
> 4Frontiers (the four being the Earth, moon, Mars and the main asteroid belt) will be ready in 2025
> with the tools that space explorers will need to colonize the solar system, said Bruno Marino, a
> consultant to the company.
>
> "What makes this group so unique is that it is all about getting on the surface of Mars and making
> the settlement," said Marino. "We are ready to set up shop as soon as we can get on the surface."
>
> Marino was director of science and research at Biosphere 2, an enclosed ecosystem built to model
> extraterrestrial settlements. The experimental facility, in Arizona, is now on the block.
>
> Biosphere 2 provided much of the inspiration and "lessons learned" for facilities planned for a
> future Mars settlement, said Marino.
>
> 4Frontiers' settlement plan faces some challenges, however, namely the harsh Martian environment,
> with its nasty chemicals and radiation, said Molly Macauley, a senior fellow specializing in space
> policy at Resources for the Future, a Washington, D.C., institute concerned with environmental and
> energy issues.
>
> Macauley said she would not support any government funding for the startup.
>
> "But if it flies on its own through private financing," said Macauley, "it sounds great."
>
> 4Frontiers' business plan is based on research done by the Mars Foundation, a group that has been
> working on ways to fund and build a Martian settlement with local materials.
>
> In fact, the two groups have close ties. Mackenzie also co-founded the Mars Foundation and was
> executive director of the Mars Society and a board member of the National Space Society.
>
> It will be many years before 4Frontiers is mining Mars and doling out mineral rights to Martian
> prospectors. So the company has several moneymaking schemes for the near term.
>
> One plan is to build a full-scale version of the planned Mars settlement and charge visitors to tour
> the "Mars Settlement Research and Outreach Center." 4Frontiers hopes to have a site selected for the
> center by the end of this year, said company co-founder and CEO Mark Homnick.
>
> "We've narrowed the search to New Mexico, Central Florida or Colorado," he said.
>
> In addition, the company plans to develop technologies with immediate market value, according its
> business plan. The group will sell any technology it develops to companies operating on Earth, as
> well as those participating in NASA's Earth, Moon, Mars and Beyond space exploration program.
> (4Frontiers also hopes to consult to these organizations.) The company has already applied to patent
> a technology for making plastics on Mars using Martian materials.
>
> 4Frontiers will also be hiring soon, said Homnick.
>
> "We're not shooting blanks," said Homnick. "We need to staff up. Our message to recent college
> graduates is, 'You can go with a large corporation, give up some of your freedom and most of your
> dreams. Or, if you have freedom in your heart, courage to face the unknown and discipline to
> deliver, contact us.'"
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Received on Thu 08 Sep 2005 02:21:24 AM PDT