Mike Solana

i appreciate any billionaire addition to the human potential club but this is extremely not true. there’s almost nothing of value on the moon and it can’t (practically speaking) be terraformed. given current technology, mars is the only way forward.https://twitter.com/trengriffin/status/1086740028951162881 …

Do you think it will be easier or harder to build an O'Neill cylinder than a Mars colony? If easier, then I think Moon makes more sense; can be used as supply depot and dry dock for manufacturing.

much much much harder. in terraforming, mars does most of the work itself. mainly what we need to do is warm the southern polar ice cap (frozen CO2).

from there, a runaway greenhouse effect builds an atmosphere and oceans. we start washing out perchlorate, seed the biome with plant life, and start building colonies.

This is a way more optimistic assessment of the ease of terraforming Mars than any of the literature I've read suggests. Curious to see your sources on this.

also check out chris mckay’s speaking on the subject (youtube is full of videos here)

Thank you, I'll check out both. Curious if the lack of magnetic shielding is addressed - energy requirements for an artificial one are vast, and it seems the biggest impediment to maintaining an atmosphere and protection from radiation.