My thoughts on space are influenced by Robert A. Heinlein’s novel The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. In Heinlein’s novel, the lunar colonists live underground in either natural caves or tunnels drilled by large lasers.
“The Caves of Mars”. Title for an SF novel.
So you have a nice cavern on Mars. How many rooms full of regulatory binders is NASA going to want signed off on before approving it for human habitation? What happens to the wall, floor, or ceiling if the interior warms up? How often does open water flow through, and if so how high might it back up? If the ends of the cavern are sealed to make walls, and there is water flow, how much water pressure might build up?
Even though early humans often lived in caves, that was before onerous safety inspectors caught on.
We must protect the Martian wetlands!
We need to know how structurally sound they are and work on ways to improve their strength. The reason why we know there are so many tunnels is because there are a lot that collapsed. These might not be difficult challenges but the answers wont come before we get people on the planet.
Cavers like ZimmerBob could wind up being like the 19th century mountain men of the American West – Jim Bridger, Jeremiah Johnson and the like – first-movers who pioneered new places for more ordinary people to follow. To the extent that cave systems are more common and/or more extensive in areas of past major volcanic activity, they could be literal mountain men as well.
“Mountain Men of Mars” has kind of a ring to it, doncha think?
It does have a nice ring to it. It is fun to contemplate.
I like his thinking!
My thoughts on space are influenced by Robert A. Heinlein’s novel The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. In Heinlein’s novel, the lunar colonists live underground in either natural caves or tunnels drilled by large lasers.
“The Caves of Mars”. Title for an SF novel.
So you have a nice cavern on Mars. How many rooms full of regulatory binders is NASA going to want signed off on before approving it for human habitation? What happens to the wall, floor, or ceiling if the interior warms up? How often does open water flow through, and if so how high might it back up? If the ends of the cavern are sealed to make walls, and there is water flow, how much water pressure might build up?
Even though early humans often lived in caves, that was before onerous safety inspectors caught on.
We must protect the Martian wetlands!
We need to know how structurally sound they are and work on ways to improve their strength. The reason why we know there are so many tunnels is because there are a lot that collapsed. These might not be difficult challenges but the answers wont come before we get people on the planet.
Cavers like ZimmerBob could wind up being like the 19th century mountain men of the American West – Jim Bridger, Jeremiah Johnson and the like – first-movers who pioneered new places for more ordinary people to follow. To the extent that cave systems are more common and/or more extensive in areas of past major volcanic activity, they could be literal mountain men as well.
“Mountain Men of Mars” has kind of a ring to it, doncha think?
It does have a nice ring to it. It is fun to contemplate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caverns_of_Mars
Meh! Done done it!