ChrisSpace

11/10 as usual. But did you remember to A. keep Mars' topography the same and B. Follow the stats given on the front post? The second story sounds quite interesting.

It looks like this thing is only open to people on the other side of the pond

I admire it as the first serious interstellar starship design that didn't involve carrying the nuclear arsenals of the US and USSR combined as a propulsion method. Only problem is how to get that thing into orbit. I assume it would have to be manufactured there out of asteroid metals.

I imagine it to look like those pictures of what a 'terraformed' Mars would look like. Same terrain, but it's all covered in either forests, grasslands, snow or water.

I like your idea for Erebus. Also, after a bit of simulating I found a way to include Planet Nine into this solar system without removing anything. I'll update the front post soon-ish.

So basically it's one step 'behind' Titan? So the Methane on P9 is like water ice on Titan and rock on Earth, and the Hydrogen is like Methane/Water? I don't see any way there could be a patch of liquid Methane/Water/Ammonia on such a cold planet. I'm with fredinno on this one. Remember that since the planet is so much colder, it can hold onto much more Hydrogen and Helium despite being smaller than the gas/ice giants.

What you just quoted was a really really really early iteration of my alternate solar system project. I later scrapped the idea of aliens doing the terraforming.

Wait, there's a serious chance there's a ninth planet IRL? I already read about the Kuiper Cliff, but this is new to me. Just wondering, if such an object is found, would it qualify as a planet?

Yeah, It was just an idea.

Okay, so with that in mind I redid the simulation, changing the CO2 concentration to 100ppm instead of 39ppm (for comparison, during the recent ice ages it was around 150-180ppm). I also moved the orbit out from 0.8AU further out, and here is what I found: With an orbit of 0.90AU: 41 degrees average temperature With an orbit of 0.89AU: 45 degrees average temperature With an orbit of 0.88AU: 49 degrees average temperature

Reminds me of this: http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/nigeria-to-send-first-giraffe-in-space/

I'm thinking of getting the game soon-ish. Also, sorta related: http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/nasa-martian-polar-ice-caps-melting-result-of-global-warming/

You know you're a nerd when you read this story and are onlt thinking about the launch vehicle's technical specifications: http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/isis-launches-new-communications-satellite-into-space/

No, in this scenario Phobos/Deimos actually make more suitable locations as they are less likely too be destroyed by whatever they thought would wipe out the life on Mars. Also, something interesting happened in my last US2 simulation: I made a non-deserty planet in Venus' position habitable. Specifically, here's what I did: 1. Open up the solar system simulation 2. Bring a new Earth into the simulation 3. Place this Earth into a 0.8AU circular orbit around the sun (I think that's were Venus was going to be IIRC) 4. Halve the surface pressure 5. Remove 90% of the CO2 in the atmosphere so there's only 39ppm left 6. Wait 100 years to see how everything stabilizes So after 100 years of waiting what I found was that the global temperature stabilizes at 47 degrees Celsius, or about 22 degrees above Earth's. And this is on a planet with Earth's land-to-water ratio. Obviously humans would want to stick to the poles, but I don't see why the local life couldn't adapt to the temperature increase and develop ecosystems similar to Earth's (although there would be less large animals due to easier overheating), including intelligent life. If you're wondering how the above is possible ... I have no idea. Edit: Also, I think I know a way around the 'Luna needs to be ----ing massive in order to work' problem. You see, the retention capability of a planet or moon is determined not by mass, but by escape velocity. So Luna can stay relatively un-massive, but more compact so it's gravitational well is 'deeper'. This solution has the added bonus of increasing the surface gravity to nearly Earthlike levels.

So, let me get this straight: Aliens on Mars colonized Bellona, then had their own little Fallout, then the survivors formed into small low-tech societies scattered across the planet, while the Bellonan Martians (or Martian Bellonans, I'm not sure what the correct term is) basically died out?

OH WHAT THE ----! I'll need to do some atmospheric calculations on my own. I'm pretty sure evolution doesn't work that way. If there were a species of intelligent dinosaur that existed in the past, not only would it's remains be quite widespread (remember that humans went from being in one part of Africa to covering the entire world in less than 150,000 years), but we'd also see precursor species that show early traits of advanced intelligence. And so far we have yet to see any 100-million-year-old Australopithecus yet. An interesting idea. But perhaps Mars isn't the best place for the 'precursors' to have risen up in. Well, they may not have had opposable parts of their hands, but they had hands. Oh yeah, cephalopods have all the manipulative organs they'll ever need! I actually remember watching a documentary about what the Earth would be like if humans packed their things and left Earth for 200 million years, and it showed that the descendants of squid could develop into a species that could replace humans as the planet-destroying biosphere-decimating ocean-polluting climate-disrupting evil overlords intelligent species.

Didn't I already make Luna bigger? I think my pets would like to have a word with you on that...

Diagrams like those are never accurate. Remember that Titan has methane, Mars has water vapor, Pluto has methane and nitrogen, etc etc.

Indeed. If we extrapolate the 5 billion for 4 people rule to the full size of the MCT, that gives us an MCT cost of $125 billion, or about $1.25 billion per person. Not the $500,000 per person Elon estimates. Then again, that method of calculation assumes the MCT is just a scaled-up Mars Direct, which it is not.

where are you getting that number from?

The link isn't working

I was actually seriously considering that option myself.

Discussion on that can be kept to that thread. Please don't go off-topic. Well, that's what its supposed to mean.

I don't think we should be putting exact numbers on anything yet. In 2011 Elon said they'd launch the first manned Mars mission in 2021-2031 (10-20 years). - jumps off chair - WAIT WHAT? When did they say they'd show us in March? As far as I know they only said it would be 'Early 2016', which could mean anything from January to November. Oh ---- not this 'space vs surface' argument again!

Front post has been edited again, taking into account most new ideas.