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Why would humans try to establish a colony on Mars rather than on the moon?

Seems to me that both bodies are similarly inhospitable, yet the moon is so much easier to reach (and we should be able to transport much, much more cargo there).

mezzanine
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    It's a good question! "...not because it is easy, but because it is hard" perhaps? – uhoh May 31 '20 at 01:36
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    @uhoh, at least in terms of delta-V requirements, Mars is easier: you can aerobrake and use parachutes, where the Moon requires a purely propulsive descent. – Mark May 31 '20 at 02:15
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    That <1% of Earth's pressure really makes a difference? (I have no idea, genuine question) – mezzanine May 31 '20 at 02:30
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    Yes, actually. You can get rid of 99% of the energy by so doing. But there are other reasons, give me a few minutes... – PearsonArtPhoto May 31 '20 at 02:55
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    I'm under the impression that Mars has a lot more natural resources as far as colonization goes – ikrase May 31 '20 at 05:13
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    @ikrase: Apart from the huge ice deposits, look at the iron salt deposits that trapped Spirit (https://mars.nasa.gov/mer/gallery/press/spirit/20060404a/Sol788A_P2396_L257atc-A788R1_br.jpg). There's mineral deposits like this all over Mars, while the moon is mostly just basalt. – Christopher James Huff May 31 '20 at 12:20
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    Advantages for what? It's hard to answer the question without understanding what it is you're trying to find the right solution for. For example, current human space exploration in the US is aiming to go to Mars precisely because it's harder than going to the Moon--there is no long term economic goal, it's simply to try and do something understandably more challenging (but also in the easiest way possible) than what has been done before (going to the Moon). – spacetyper Jun 01 '20 at 01:14
  • Maybe the same reason you have your pit stop halfway across the country instead of down the street? – DKNguyen Jun 01 '20 at 22:12
  • @mezzanine: much has been made of the difficulty of slowing down enough with parachutes, but that's been because nobody wanted to be the first to try starting retrorockets in a supersonic descent...aerodynamic braking can get you down to <1 km/s quite easily, it's getting subsonic that's hard. SpaceX now does supersonic retroburns every time they recover a booster, and plan on using that approach to land Starships on Mars. – Christopher James Huff Jun 02 '20 at 02:12
  • ..."similarly inhospitable". I'm of the view that neither offers any genuine opportunities for colonisation and any answer I give would consist of why one is more unhospitable and unsuitable than the other. I think colonies that cannot pay for themselves - within the Earth based economy that funds them - will not survive. I know that Q's of space colonisation overlap with exploration but I think such interesting questions - with answers being highly speculative - belong somewhere, but not necessarily here. – Ken Fabian Jun 12 '20 at 22:52

4 Answers4

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There are three big advantages to Mars over the Moon for a longer term settlement.

  1. There is a thin atmosphere.
  2. The days are approximately 24 hours
  3. The gravity is about twice as high.

Let's break these down one at a time.

Atmosphere

The thin atmosphere allows aerobraking, and can be useful in the production of oxygen. Electricity + Martian atmosphere yields oxygen, carbon, and likely water as well. It can be used to grow plants for food as well. You can make methane from the carbon, so rocket fuel, and likely plastics.

Producing carbon dioxide on the Moon is more challenging.

24 hour day

The days being nearly 24 hours allows for a much easier time to get used to things. A 2 week long day followed by 2 weeks of night on the Moon will make the thermal management much more difficult, for instance, having to be managed for the two sides. The solar power availability is limited as well.

More gravity

We don't really know what the minimum gravity required for normal human life is, but the Martian gravity is much closer than the Moon's, and thus probably better.

Disadvantages for Mars

There are a few disadvantages too. The distance is way further. You can't get there all of the time, only a few limited times when the planets align correctly. Still, it seems likely that long term stays on Mars will be easier than those on the Moon. But only time will really tell.

uhoh
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PearsonArtPhoto
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I'll defer to others on technical advantages/disadvantages. But it's kind of fun consider some possible answers in terms of underlying motivations and goals, too.

As you say, the Moon's a lot easier to reach - in fact, we've already sent people there to check it out! Mars is a lot farther away, so transit back and forth will take a lot longer and require greater resources for each trip. Depending on your reasons for wanting an off-Earth colony in the first place, the increased difficulty of physical interaction with Earth could be exactly the reason you'd favor colonizing Mars over the Moon.

For example, if you believe human colonies off Earth are imperative in order to reduce the possibility of future human extinction, then the additional distance to Mars could be a real advantage - more time to intercept incoming weapons from Earth, more time to identify and interdict disease or contagion on route from Earth, etc. (I mean, talk about social distancing!)

Or if you support off-world colonization because of an anarchist streak - say, for example, longing for a place you and others can be free from restraints increasingly imposed by intrusive governments here on Earth that you believe are unfairly run by an elite hegemony (not views I personally hold) - then, too, you might consider the extra distance an advantage in the struggle to get out from under the government thumb. It's just harder for them to push you around when they can't get to you, right?

Or maybe you really, really want to get away from ex? Definitely leaning toward Mars. Just sayin.

If you support colonization because you desire the benefits of technology a program like that would produce, I could imagine that cutting either way. You might favor working towards Mars believing the more difficult task would lead to richer technical innovation. Or you might favor the Moon believing that a more attainable goal increases the likelihood of success, thus increasing the chances of on-going public support for further projects. Or maybe you'd come out in a sort of middle ground - favoring Mars as an ultimate long-term goal rather than stopping after colonizing the Moon, but favoring the Moon as a desirable initial step along the way.

On the other hand, if your goal (or, say, the goal of commercial entities involved in working toward off-world exploration and colonization) is to make money participating in trade with established businesses and economies on Earth, then the difficulty of transit seem like a definite additional hurdle to overcome for Mars.

Fun question- thanks!

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    Thank you for including the political reasons, which are pretty important. – ikrase Jun 01 '20 at 05:40
  • @uhoh - aside from the bit about getting away from an ex (a poor attempt at humor that I hope didn't offend), not sure I understand the objection? I personally feel some sympathy for the "colonize to reduce the risk of human extinction in the long run" and "pursue space projects for technological benefit" arguments, without having any desire to actually move off Earth myself. It's true I'm no position to make or influence any meaningful decisions about choosing between building on Mars or the Moon, but I suspect those ideas would factor in if I were. –  Jun 01 '20 at 09:14
  • @T-Creek okay so more time to "intercept incoming weapons from Earth" or "identify and interdict disease or contagion on route from Earth" could count towards deciding to build a more expensive and challenging colony on Mars than on the Moon. And perhaps Russian oligarchs would count as your anarchists simultaneously wealthy enough to pull it off, so +1 – uhoh Jun 01 '20 at 09:40
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Asteroid mining

It is something NASA is already evaluating.

If we will want to exploit natural resources in asteroids, Mars would be much closer to them than Earth is. A decent place to get R&R, store and process or preprocess mined minerals would be very beneficial. And in case of Mars, you could just drop cargo from the belt on the surface without any risk it will miss and destroy a city with few millions people in it.

Higher gravity means you can leave professionals there longer without adverse effects, lowering the cost of shift changes - advantageous for both scientific and commercial missions.

Asteroids

Mołot
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A human colony has some essential needs that have to be supplied in order to flourish. Since the question asked why Mars might be superior, I'll focus on the Mars advantages and neglect the disadvantages.

  1. Air - Mars has small amounts of Nitrogen available in the atmosphere ~ 2.7% as discussed in This related question which could fairly easily be collected and separated for breathing atmosphere. The oxygen can come from either CO2, hydrolysis of water, or driven out of oxidized soil with heating. By comparison, the moon's resources are much less certain and much less universal than Mars and polar conditions on the moon in the permanently shadowed regions are much colder than the Mars poles.

  2. Water - Mars has some atmospheric water and exhibits water clouds during some seasons at various locations. Subterranean water is thought to be prevalent in the mid-latitudes due to evidence of recurring slope linea Space Article on RSL as well and of course on the surface at the poles. That makes it a lot more accessible than in permanently shadowed craters at cryogenic temperatures.

  3. Shelter - siting colonies underground or at least with thick layers of soil or regolith may be essential for providing protection from radiation. Martian soil may be easier to work with as a building material since we're already seeing evidence at the soil around the Insight lander is hard packed and can be compacted Insight Link. Mars' thin atmosphere also offers protection from micrometeorites which decreases the hazard for anyone working on the surface in a suit. Another advantage of the Martian soils is that they appear to be much less abrasive than lunar soils. In the Apollo days the lunar regolith resembled volcanic dust in its sharpness and abrasive qualities, which would make keeping a door or suit seal difficult over time. Martian soil and dust with its exposure to weathering is much rounder and less abrasive and thus our rovers are handling long term exposure quite well.

  4. Transportation - making in-situ storeable rocket fuel should be much easier on Mars than the moon given the availability of both CO2 and water as others have pointed out including Zubrin in his pioneering work Recent Award Link

  5. Food - Martian soils may be more similar to Earth than Lunar soils and thus require less amendment to make them viable for crops. This Study showed that using simulants for Lunar and Martian soil resulted in Mars crops growing close to the same biomass as the earth soil control but the lunar crops had significantly lower biomass.

  6. Human Factors - the comfort of a nearly 24 hour day and twice the gravity of the moon may ultimately contribute to less physiological hardship for Mars colonists vs. Lunar colonists.

Terrance Yee
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