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OneChrononOfPlancks t1_j6u8wyd wrote

Why are we seriously considering encampments on Mars, and floating balloon colonies around Venus, but not looking seriously at colonizing moons of the gas giants?

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TheSpaceBird t1_j6vts73 wrote

This also has a lot to do with distance - relatively speaking Mars and our own Moon are very close to Earth. The moons of Jupiter and Saturn are incredibly far and the logistics of keeping people alive on those moons is beyond our current capabilities.

Even a Mars colony - a true one with humans constantly inhabiting it - would be incredibly difficult. If anything goes wrong, human lives will be lost without question. It is more likely that a Martian base would be first established as a research outpost, only housing humans on explicitly research-focused missions.

Source: I'm an astrobiology PhD (fifth year) at McMaster University.

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OneChrononOfPlancks t1_j6vv3nl wrote

Thank you. Assuming distance wasn't a factor, like if we had reliable long-haul space transportation capability, are there spots in the solar system more appealing than Mars or Venus?

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TheSpaceBird t1_j6xl7br wrote

For the singular purpose of human habitation, not really. Unless we find significant resources on other moons or planets and their value outweighs the cost of extraction, even with better space travel and hauling, the danger of living on extraterrestrial bodies remains. Space is dangerous even with the best technology - our science fiction even includes this quite often where breaches to spacecraft or colony buildings leads to disaster.

That being said if research was the main goal and we could justify the cost of it then the icy moons of Saturn and Jupiter, notably Titan, Enceladus and Europa would be the best targets if you care about discovering life as they are most likely to harbor it.

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atomfullerene t1_j6uf58h wrote

First of all "seriously considering" just means " people are talking and writing about it" not anything concrete.

But even floating on Venus has advantages over gas giants. You have much higher gravity on gas giants. It is much harder to launch out of the atmosphere. The hydrogen helium mix is worse for bouyancy. The planets are much further away. And there is no altitude with decent pressure and temperature.

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WhiteRaven42 t1_j6wfcew wrote

Unless it was a recent edit, they asked about the moons of the gas giants.

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Triabolical_ t1_j6vi9o7 wrote

The energy to get to Mars and Venus is much, much less than it takes to get to the gas giant moons.

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