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TheSpaceBird t1_j6vts73 wrote

Reply to comment by OneChrononOfPlancks in Ask Anything Wednesday - Physics, Astronomy, Earth and Planetary Science by AutoModerator

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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