this isn’t really a new community but i think promoting it from time to time makes sense because it has barely any subscribers and most people probably don’t know about it. so i’m promoting it here to maybe give it some fresh new views! enjoy
Edit: because i’m stupid, here’s the link: !mars@discuss.tchncs.de
The plan is indeed not to go there, take a nice pic, return home. The plan (at least mine and of many other people) is to go there and stay there permanently, from the first human-carrying ship onwards. Lift support systems, tools, equipment will have to be brought along of course, but keeping people alive on Mars is not more difficult than keeping them alive on the ISS (which is a closed tin can as well btw, and people routinely spend 6 months up there).
The advantage of Mars over the ISS is that settlers on mars have access to raw material resources all around them, including rock (hydrated minerals), which can be used as a source of water, carbon dioxide (and with it a source of carbon, which is the building block for a lot of materials), and metal ores. all of these can be turned into useful materials through a process known as ISRU (In-Situ Resource Utilization, in other words on-site resource usage), which can then be used to reduce imports from Earth and to grow the settlement outwards autonomously. That’s the difference to just “living in a tin can”.
ISS gets delivered tons of stuff regularly, stuff that has been produced using the full extent of all supply chains of the whole planet Earth. All dreams of replicating just a tiny part, only the most necessary parts, of these supply chains on Mars are delusional, and that’s at the low level necessary to support only two humans (probably women as they’re much more resilient, gritty and persistent than male astronauts).
And again: For what? Simply to prove “we can”? The money this hazardous endeavour would cost would better be spent improving living conditions on planet Earth. If you want to replicate life on Mars do one of the “1.000 days in an sealed off enclosure”-experiments here on earth - saves tons of money (literally) and is much less deadly.
I won’t interfere with that community as it’s a nice game of thoughts and ideas and probably has a lot of entertaining and informative aspects. Have fun 👋