Category Archives: Mars Colonization

Lets Play Sol 0 Blind 2
Sol 0 is a Mars Colonization Game that is in very early development at time of this recording. Check out the game here: http://www.solzerogame.com/ This is a...

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Lets Play Sol 0 Blind 2 - Video

The science world has been mostly fixated on Mars and comets, but some scientists at NASA are starting to talk about Venus -- suggesting a manned mission to our closest neighbor could be simpler and less expensive than a trip to Mars.

For some time, Mars has been the logical next step for the United States space program. It's the closest planet with tolerable, Earth-like conditions. NASA has three robotic rovers actively exploring the Martian planet, and plans to send astronauts to the Red Planet by the 2030s are underway.

But Venus is actually closer to Earth than Mars, and experts say a manned mission there isn't unreasonable. Venus is one of the least hospitable places in the solar system. Its close proximity to the sun makes its surface unimaginably hot -- 462 degrees Celsius. And its lower atmosphere is a highly pressurized oven of noxious gases.

A manned mission to Venus, however, wouldn't have to involve the planet's surface. Researchers say just a few miles higher up and Venus's atmosphere boasts conditions not unlike Earth's, with more a manageable temperature and pressure.

A new study by researchers at the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate, part of the NASA Langley Research Center, suggests astronauts could circle Venus in a helium-inflated dirigible -- conducting science experiments as they orbit.

"Venus has value as a destination in and of itself for exploration and colonization," NASA scientist Chris Jones, one of the researchers working on the High Altitude Venus Operational Concept (HAVOC), told IEEE. Jones and fellow researcher Dale Arney say a trip to Venus doesn't have to bee seen as a distraction from NASA's plans for Mars. It could be complementary.

"There are things that you would need to do for a Mars mission, but we see a little easier path through Venus," Jones said.

"If you did Venus first, you could get a leg up on advancing those technologies and those capabilities ahead of doing a human-scale Mars mission. It's a chance to do a practice run, if you will, of going to Mars," Arney said.

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NASA theorizes a manned mission to Venus

WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- The science world has been mostly fixated on Mars and comets, but some scientists at NASA are starting to talk about Venus -- suggesting a manned mission to our closest neighbor could be simpler and less expensive than a trip to Mars.

For some time, Mars has been the logical next step for the United States space program. It's the closest planet with tolerable, Earth-like conditions. NASA has three robotic rovers actively exploring the Martian planet, and plans to send astronauts to the Red Planet by the 2030s are underway.

But Venus is actually closer to Earth than Mars, and experts say a manned mission there isn't unreasonable. Venus is one of the least hospitable places in the solar system. Its close proximity to the sun makes its surface unimaginably hot -- 462 degrees Celsius. And its lower atmosphere is a highly pressurized oven of noxious gases.

A manned mission to Venus, however, wouldn't have to involve the planet's surface. Researchers say just a few miles higher up and Venus's atmosphere boasts conditions not unlike Earth's, with more a manageable temperature and pressure.

A new study by researchers at the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate, part of the NASA Langley Research Center, suggests astronauts could circle Venus in a helium-inflated dirigible -- conducting science experiments as they orbit.

"Venus has value as a destination in and of itself for exploration and colonization," NASA scientist Chris Jones, one of the researchers working on the High Altitude Venus Operational Concept (HAVOC), told IEEE. Jones and fellow researcher Dale Arney say a trip to Venus doesn't have to bee seen as a distraction from NASA's plans for Mars. It could be complementary.

"There are things that you would need to do for a Mars mission, but we see a little easier path through Venus," Jones said.

"If you did Venus first, you could get a leg up on advancing those technologies and those capabilities ahead of doing a human-scale Mars mission. It's a chance to do a practice run, if you will, of going to Mars," Arney said.

2014 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

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NASA considering a manned mission to Venus

Pesky Rock Removal! - Sol 0 #3
FishSandwich #39;s Sol 0 Playthrough Part 3 with LIVE commentary! Sol 0 is a Mars colonization real time strategy game where you develop the first Martian colony...

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Pesky Rock Removal! - Sol 0 #3 - Video

It #39;s All Going Wrong! - Sol 0 #4
FishSandwich #39;s Sol 0 Playthrough Part 4 with LIVE commentary! Sol 0 is a Mars colonization real time strategy game where you develop the first Martian colony. Sol 0 imagines the near future,...

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It's All Going Wrong! - Sol 0 #4 - Video

One of Orlandos newest homegrown video games, PeriAreion, has a very Central Florida theme: Mars colonization.

Three masters degree graduates from Full Sail University built the 3D strategy game, called PeriAreion. They have had a successful KickStarter campaign to raise $6,000, and are now on the verge of having the game listed on the popular gaming website Steam Greenlight for independent developers.

We were partly inspired by the mission to Mars that NASA is planning, said Erica Holcomb, producer and lead designer on the game.

PeriAreion was created by Orlando-based TBA Games, which includes Holcomb; Cameron Bolinger, lead programmer; and Joseph Arcidiacono, lead writer and promotion coordinator.

The game is already for sale on its own website for $14.99, for Mac and PC.

PeriAreion isnt the first Mars colony game, but it has some unique challenges. It also offers a lot of documented science and current technology regarding space travel and Mars.

At certain stages of play, you unlock notes about Mars exploration facts and illustrations, Bolinger said. We only used current peer-reviewed science, but it is aimed a junior high audience, so it can be a legitimate education tool.

Players are in charge of a mission that has just landed on Mars, starting with a small spaceship module.

The goal is to build and manage the first sustainable extraterrestrial colony. There are no enemies except the hostile environment.

Players must mine minerals, construct food modules to harvest plants, overcome illness and storms, and eventually build out their base. There are three possible landing sites, and three difficulty levels.

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Full Sail grads seek Steam listing for Mars video game

But this was long ago, back when the idea of missionaries knocking on doors in communist countries was the stuff of fantasy. It seemed an impossible boundary to breach.

Not so much anymore. Mormons are all over the ex-Soviet Union today. And as soon as it figures out how to make money while maintaining its non-capitalist contempt for us, China is next. I should be scared now, right?

Mostly I wish I had paid more attention to the talk. It would be nice to recall whether that whole "wards and stakes" in previously unheard-of places condition also included outer space.

Now that NASA has announced its intention to colonize Mars sometime in the next 30 years, will off-world wards and stakes also be a precursor to the Second Coming?

As it has been with every other outward migration in human history, once a toehold is established somewhere missionaries soon follow.

For example, if there are more than three dozen Mars colonists by 2050 you can bet somebody at LDS Church HQ will be trying to figure out how to get Mormon missionaries there.

A space church mission is a whole other can of bugs than one to a country we were willing to atomize in the interest of global peace.

For starters, there's the fact that it's a one-way trip. People signing up for the NASA mission know they'll never be coming home. So a missionary called to Mars would never get released.

I can't tell you how much this would suck. The only thing that got me through the 77 days I spent with Elder Lekker was knowing that it couldn't last forever.

It wouldn't get any better as human colonization spread. If sharing a miniscule apartment with someone whose ability to draw a level breath drives you crazy, imagine having to share an oxygen bottle with him 105 astronomical units from the mission home.

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Kirby: A Mormon mission to Mars - and beyond

But this was long ago, back when the idea of missionaries knocking on doors in communist countries was the stuff of fantasy. It seemed an impossible boundary to breach.

Not so much anymore. Mormons are all over the ex-Soviet Union today. And as soon as it figures out how to make money while maintaining its non-capitalist contempt for us, China is next. I should be scared now, right?

Mostly I wish I had paid more attention to the talk. It would be nice to recall whether that whole "wards and stakes" in previously unheard-of places condition also included outer space.

Now that NASA has announced its intention to colonize Mars sometime in the next 30 years, will off-world wards and stakes also be a precursor to the Second Coming?

As it has been with every other outward migration in human history, once a toehold is established somewhere missionaries soon follow.

For example, if there are more than three dozen Mars colonists by 2050 you can bet somebody at LDS Church HQ will be trying to figure out how to get Mormon missionaries there.

A space church mission is a whole other can of bugs than one to a country we were willing to atomize in the interest of global peace.

For starters, there's the fact that it's a one-way trip. People signing up for the NASA mission know they'll never be coming home. So a missionary called to Mars would never get released.

I can't tell you how much this would suck. The only thing that got me through the 77 days I spent with Elder Lekker was knowing that it couldn't last forever.

It wouldn't get any better as human colonization spread. If sharing a miniscule apartment with someone whose ability to draw a level breath drives you crazy, imagine having to share an oxygen bottle with him 105 astronomical units from the mission home.

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Kirby: An LDS mission to Mars - and beyond

SpaceX will apparently attempt something truly epic during next week's cargo launch to the International Space Station.

During the Dec. 16 launch from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, which will send SpaceX's robotic Dragon capsule toward the orbiting lab, the California-based company will try to bring the first stage of itsFalcon 9 rocketback to Earth for a controlled landing on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean.

The bold maneuver marks a big step forward in SpaceX's development of reusable-rocket technology, which the company's billionaire founder, Elon Musk, says could eventually cut the cost of spaceflight by a factor of 100 and perhaps make Mars colonization economically feasible. [SpaceX's Quest For Rocketry's Holy Grail: Exclusive Video]

Musk shared photos of the Falcon 9 and landing platform via Twitter late last month, ratcheting up interest in the cargo mission, the fifth of 12 unmanned resupply flights SpaceX will make to the space station for NASA under a $1.6 billion contract.

"Autonomous spaceport drone ship. Thrusters repurposed from deep sea oil rigs hold position within 3m even in a storm,"Musk tweetedabout the platform on Nov. 22. "Base is 300 ft by 100 ft, with wings that extend width to 170 ft. Will allow refuel & rocket flyback in future," he added in another tweet.

The Falcon 9 photo revealed that the rocket is outfitted with "hypersonic grid fins" to increase stability during a return to Earth.

"Grid fins are stowed on ascent and then deploy on reentry for 'x-wing' style control," Musk tweeted on Nov. 22. "Each fin moves independently for pitch/yaw/roll."

At a conference at MIT in October, Musk said that SpaceX would attempt to land the Falcon 9 first stage on the floating platformduring the rocket's next flight. The next liftoff on the rocket's schedule is the Dec. 16 Dragon launch.

Musk estimated a 50 percent chance of success for the platform landing on the first attempt, but said the odds would improve on subsequent missions.

"There are a lot of launches that will occur over the next year," Musk said at the conference, which was called "AeroAstro at 100" and celebrated 100 years of MIT aerospace research. "I think it's quite likely that [on] one of those flights, we'll be able to land and refly, so I think we're quite close."

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Can SpaceX land a rocket on a floating ocean platform? (+video)

SpaceX will apparently attempt something truly epic during next week's cargo launch to the International Space Station.

During the Dec. 16 launch from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, which will send SpaceX's robotic Dragon capsule toward the orbiting lab, the California-based company will try to bring the first stage of itsFalcon 9 rocketback to Earth for a controlled landing on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean.

The bold maneuver marks a big step forward in SpaceX's development of reusable-rocket technology, which the company's billionaire founder, Elon Musk, says could eventually cut the cost of spaceflight by a factor of 100 and perhaps make Mars colonization economically feasible. [SpaceX's Quest For Rocketry's Holy Grail: Exclusive Video]

Musk shared photos of the Falcon 9 and landing platform via Twitter late last month, ratcheting up interest in the cargo mission, the fifth of 12 unmanned resupply flights SpaceX will make to the space station for NASA under a $1.6 billion contract.

"Autonomous spaceport drone ship. Thrusters repurposed from deep sea oil rigs hold position within 3m even in a storm,"Musk tweetedabout the platform on Nov. 22. "Base is 300 ft by 100 ft, with wings that extend width to 170 ft. Will allow refuel & rocket flyback in future," he added in another tweet.

The Falcon 9 photo revealed that the rocket is outfitted with "hypersonic grid fins" to increase stability during a return to Earth.

"Grid fins are stowed on ascent and then deploy on reentry for 'x-wing' style control," Musk tweeted on Nov. 22. "Each fin moves independently for pitch/yaw/roll."

At a conference at MIT in October, Musk said that SpaceX would attempt to land the Falcon 9 first stage on the floating platformduring the rocket's next flight. The next liftoff on the rocket's schedule is the Dec. 16 Dragon launch.

Musk estimated a 50 percent chance of success for the platform landing on the first attempt, but said the odds would improve on subsequent missions.

"There are a lot of launches that will occur over the next year," Musk said at the conference, which was called "AeroAstro at 100" and celebrated 100 years of MIT aerospace research. "I think it's quite likely that [on] one of those flights, we'll be able to land and refly, so I think we're quite close."

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Can SpaceX land a rocket on a floating ocean platform?