On 01/19/2015 01:02 PM, songbird wrote:
i thought Mars was iron oxides (Venus is acidic)?

Hi Songbird,

Mars dirt has crazy high sulphuric content. You can't
breath the air, you can touch the soil, colder than
all get out, no magnetic field to protect from the
solar winds, you can't come back (to the Earth) if you stay
too long (low gravity and your bones), no trout.
Can't see any reason why anyone would ever want to go there.

Now I do believe that ever since the first human eye gazed
on the first star in the heavens, that humanity was meant
to go there. (It will be a red letter day when humanity
develops trans-light drives.)

And I don't think we have even the tiniest clue what
microbes are required to keep soil alive (or when we
get there) on a long trip. Or how to nurture those
microbes. We take a lot for granted living on this
planet.

We should first have successful colonies on the moon
before going to Mars. And the moon is protected somewhat
by the Earth's magnetosphere.

-T

Did I mention no trout on Mars (or the moon for that
matter).