darthgently

Thanks for the link and additional info. Yeah, it is the turnover that occurs as the cold ice on top melts and sinks which pushes lower water up into the sun that is key to better oxygenating deeper water and bringing fallen minerals and nutrients toward the surface.

Yes, the crystalline ice that forms on Earth given the temperature range and presumably the atmospheric pressure and gravity combo is rare off Earth where most ice is amorphous. As you note amorphous ice sinks instead of floats and if ice behaved like that on Earth it would have been far more challenging for life to have survived the ice ages and glacial eras as iced over bodies of water act like glass covered solar collectors raising the minimum temperature of the water and melting it sooner in the day or season via convection. So the Goldilocks zone isn’t just about some liquid water, but also crystalline water ice that is less dense than liquid water instead of amorphous water ice

I think what you refer to is a tweaked variation on a free return flyby trajectory with a much narrower window. I think a retrograde LLO is a given in this case if the starting earth launch and return orbits are prograde. I’d love to know if this isn’t true as I’d like to try falling into a prograde mun orbit in kOS/KSP

I’m more in the orbital camp but the more I think about Mars settlement, the more I see the surface as a weekend/vacation thing and am seeing more value in simply burrowing in. That magma swell could make an excellent base level energy source balancing solar and wouldn’t require fuel from Earth if nuke fuel not found handy elsewhere. Mostly those water reservoirs and higher underground temps at those depths have really begun to intrigue me

I didn’t get the temperature estimate from the phase of the water but from asking an LLM to make an educated guess as no one knows. But it’s going to be warmer for certain, so less energy required to keep people and farms warm The LLM guessed based on the known temp gradient on earth kitbashed relative to what scientists think Mars core temp is Mars’ core is estimated to be around 1200+C

Maybe add finished products of high value per kg. I can imagine, in the medium to long term, finished space industrial modules, habs and space craft being the premier products originating in a space economy primarily for customers in space. Once out of deep gravity well transport may take time, but costs would be reasonable compared to bringing up out of a deep well

Tom, check out some of the speculative Mars oriented Starship variants the X user has explored in his articles. Very interesting stuff Here is his article on a generally modular Starship concept

Some pondering this morning. The liquid water reservoirs on Mars discovered from seismic data range from 11.5 to 20km from the surface. The temperatures in this range could be from 0C to 30C with depth. If a tunnel boring machine were to bore on an initial 3 degree slope downward from a 365km distance from a 20km deep reservoir all the way to that reservoir it would provide access to water, areothermal heat, and side tunnels and chambers along its length could provide vast amounts of pressurized space. Conservative estimates of Prufrock 4 boring speed is 1 mile, or 1.6 km, per week. So this main tunnel could be bored in under 4-1/2 earth years. A drop in the bucket on the scales we usually talk about. About 2 transfer windows. If one doesn’t mind a steeper grade in the main tunnel it could be significantly less time. But I think keeping it under say 10 degree slope at entrance would be more livable and less dangerous. It should be safely navigable in less than ideal conditions and conducive to TBM operation. At a 10 degree entrance slope a straight tunnel to a 20km depth would take 1.5 earth years to cut. Interestingly, the 3 degree entrance slope in a straight tunnel on Mars becomes zero slope at 20km below the surface as this tunnel would be the midpoint of a chord connecting two surface points. So the tunnel would be level in the liquid water, summer day temperature zone. Yes, I worked backward from there to get the 3 degree slope entrance. I’m thinking run the tunnel adjacent just above and off to the side of the reservoir then slant drill on another gentle slope down to the water.

The ball could be put in the can and the can sealed within a pressurized area? Idk. A soluble plug seems viable.

LM2 is bearing arms now

Depends on reference frame I suppose. Works either way

365.24

365.24, thus the leap years every 4 years dropping a day in February. Then some leap seconds thrown in on some schedule