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United Arab Emirates Wants To Build A City On Mars

Nebusj said:
There is no scientific evidence about the health costs, risks, or benefits of long-term lower-than-normal gravity. There are some fine-sounding hypotheses, but none have been tested. This is reasonable, given the difficulty in getting any test animal in a lower-than-normal but not-microgravity environment for any appreciable time. But anyone pretending that it is not something we need at least provisional answers to before committing people to long-term stays on Mars is not serious about committing people to long-term stays on Mars.
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And that's the problem. We know the effects of micro-gravity quite well, and the damage it causes long term. A human body can't survive in zero gravity indefinitely, or rather a lifespan. I've been trying to find data on what the effects of partial gravity might be, but the problem is it's only guess work since we don't really have any data on that. We know what happens without gravity, with full gravity, but nothing in-between which is exactly what we need to know to live on Mars.

One thing that is certain though, is continued loss of immune system functions in lower gravity, loss of circulatory functions, and less blood cell production, the Martians are going to be some sickly and weak people. On the bright side, whenever we actually get around to being able to afford something like this, which is NOT going to be anytime soon, maybe we'll have solved some of these problems.
 
Spider said:
And that's the problem. We know the effects of micro-gravity quite well, and the damage it causes long term. A human body can't survive in zero gravity indefinitely, or rather a lifespan. I've been trying to find data on what the effects of partial gravity might be, but the problem is it's only guess work since we don't really have any data on that. We know what happens without gravity, with full gravity, but nothing in-between which is exactly what we need to know to live on Mars.

One thing that is certain though, is continued loss of immune system functions in lower gravity, loss of circulatory functions, and less blood cell production, the Martians are going to be some sickly and weak people. On the bright side, whenever we actually get around to being able to afford something like this, which is NOT going to be anytime soon, maybe we'll have solved some of these problems.
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Quarantine procedures could keep a lot of infectious diseases out of the Martian environment. Lower gravity could actually be beneficial in many cases such as the elderly, sick or infirm. Intense short dose gravity recreation (such as the elastic strapping to a treadmill on the ISS) can offset more of the effects of low gravity than you would think.

There are many issues, but it may not be hopeless...
 
I see space populated by older folks--who have already have kids out of the home--perhaps who have lost loved ones.

A one way trip to fix a rover that's stuck--do harsh work but in lower gravity to put a spring back in one's step. You go until you can't. Take a pill--open the helmet.

The most noble way I can think of to die.
 
Coco Pops 1967 said:
Isn't mathematics the language of the universe?
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Depends if you're a Platonist or not. My view is that mathematics is a purely human invention, some aspects of which correlate with some aspects of the observable Universe. I don't know how to test this, however. One might argue that given the Universe created us (through evolution), it is both inventing and discovering Mathematics. Personifying the Universe seems a little silly though and is also untestable.

Mathematical Platonism and its Opposites
Is Mathematics Invented or Discovered?
 
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Nebusj said:
``Worked to death in exile in an inhospitable landscape years away from the touch of anyone in your family'' has quite the ring to it.
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Look at it this way. You stay at one gee and gravity is your enemy Your useful days hear are behind you--and now you are in a home.

Now, imagine you are mining ice on the saucer moon Pan--a tether to either pole and you are harvesting ice. Your bones will fade--but that is coming anyway.

In the same way old dogs wander off to die--so a child can always think he is "out there."

Now if that same child asks where grandpa is--and Mommy points at the sky above--you can KNOW it's true.
 
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