Rant on.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Last night I had an odd dream.\u00a0 I dreamed I was on a mission to Mars.\u00a0 Nevermind how unlikely it is I would ever be chosen for such a thing; there I was, at least in my dream.\u00a0 I was apparently there as part of a terraforming effort, doing tasks completely unrelated to my chosen profession or any area of expertise I have actual experience in.\u00a0 In the dream, Mars had already been significantly terraformed.\u00a0 While it was a cold place with strong winds, the atmosphere was breathable and one could get by with a heavy coat.\u00a0 Buildings were already in place, although there were no streets.\u00a0 Just dusty, unpaved avenues, good for walking.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
When I awoke, I got to thinking about this whole possibility, and how we are failing to explore it.\u00a0 NASA has plans to maybe send a manned mission to Mars in fifteen to twenty years or so.\u00a0 Why are they taking so long?\u00a0 The technology exists to go there now<\/em>.\u00a0 We could go there, set up a small colony, and learn a great deal.\u00a0 It would be expensive, yes, but the scientific knowledge gained might be helpful to us back here on Earth.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Which leads to the core of my rant today:\u00a0 The gain of scientific knowledge on a planet that happens to not be Earth.\u00a0 I see in Mars–and the moon and other places in the solar system–huge potential for commercialization.\u00a0 Software giants worried about hackers (hello, Sony?) or even folks inside leaking out corporate secrets?\u00a0 Take it off-planet!\u00a0 There would be exactly ONE channel of communication to Earth and, as such, to where leaks and breaks might occur.\u00a0 Social engineering isn’t even an option.\u00a0 Back here on Earth, somebody can potentially sneak in, grab a few terabytes of sensitive data and walk out.\u00a0 Not so easy on a space station or other planet.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n That’s the tip of the iceberg.\u00a0 The biggest benefactors could potentially be the pharmaceutical folks.\u00a0 Need a really secure laboratory?\u00a0 Go to Mars!\u00a0 Not only do you have the advantage mentioned above to keep the spies out, but the potential damage from your experiments is extremely limited.\u00a0 Things you might want to try but can’t on Earth because of the danger to the population at large if it ever got loose you can do on Mars.\u00a0 Or maybe the moon if you want to be closer.\u00a0 The cost difference between the two might not be so astronomical in the long run; we’re talking billions either way.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The potential revenue is also in the billions.\u00a0 Maybe higher.\u00a0 After all, there’s a place you can breed all the lab rats you want without any interference from PETA or some similar agency.\u00a0 Not to mention the capability of doing things you can’t do here on Earth.\u00a0 Not just for the above scary scenario of killing the planet, but stuff which might otherwise be considered unethical.\u00a0 No, I’m not talking human experimentation–I would prefer that continue to be avoided–but stem cell, cloning or other research.\u00a0 Nobody’s going to reach you on Mars to stop you.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In short, the potential in the commercialization of extraterrestrial colonization–meaning on Mars, the moon or maybe at a private space station–is huge.\u00a0 It’s been there for awhile, but it’s getting really ripe.\u00a0 The technology is there.\u00a0 The cost of putting somebody in space is down to a few million.\u00a0 That’s a lot in private terms, but for a big company it wouldn’t be that huge of an impact in the R&D budget, especially if the returns are high enough.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So if any companies with a big R&D budget are listening, please listen good:\u00a0 First, try to see the potential I am talking about here.\u00a0 And B, if you do…let me know where to send my r\u00e9sum\u00e9.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rant off.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rant on. Last night I had an odd dream.\u00a0 I dreamed I was on a mission to Mars.\u00a0 Nevermind how unlikely it is I would ever be chosen for such a thing; there I was, at least in my dream.\u00a0 I was apparently there as part of a terraforming effort, doing tasks completely unrelated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.shadowkatmandu.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.shadowkatmandu.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.shadowkatmandu.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.shadowkatmandu.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.shadowkatmandu.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=495"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.shadowkatmandu.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":496,"href":"https:\/\/blog.shadowkatmandu.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495\/revisions\/496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.shadowkatmandu.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.shadowkatmandu.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.shadowkatmandu.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}