Fear & Loathing in Little Rock (& in Space)

[Jefferson]

Fear & Loathing in Little Rock (& in Space)

This is the show from Wednesday July 29th, 2015

Summary:

* A Scandal a Day: Bob and co-host Doug McBurney help promote Kathleen Willey’s new Anti-Hillary Website by providing her with interviews with primary historical sources. That’s right! Bob Enyart secured several rare interviews with some of the people who actually witnessed episodes of Bill Clinton’s long career of assaulting women.

* Stephen Hawking Fears God: Although he may not realize it… Listen in as Bob and Doug trace the roots of Stephen Hawking’s irrational fear of just about everything to his very rational fear of encountering the Living God. Tune in and find out what we think about life on other planets and other possibilities as we look further and further into God’s Creation.

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[Granite]

So Bob's deigning to tell Stephen Hawking what's up. Mighty big of the guy.:rotfl:

 

[User Name]

So Bob's deigning to tell Stephen Hawking what's up. Mighty big of the guy.:rotfl:

That said, Hawking really is nuttier than a fruitcake on some issues. The whole "terraform Mars" idea ain't going to happen:

.

​

Mars has no magnetic field, and without that, it cannot protect from solar radiation or sustain an atmosphere conducive to human life--and that's assuming we could ever create one. That fact alone is a deal breaker, and there are many other reasons why terraforming Mars is essentially impossible.

In 2004, President Bush tried to shore up his legacy by planning to send astronauts to Mars in 2034. Needless to say, it won't happen. A permanently manned base on the Moon is doable in the long term, however.

 

[gcthomas]

That said, Hawking really is nuttier than a fruitcake on some issues. The whole "terraform Mars" idea ain't going to happen:

.

​

Mars has no magnetic field, and without that, it cannot protect from solar radiation or sustain an atmosphere conducive to human life--and that's assuming we could ever create one. That fact alone is a deal breaker, and there are many other reasons why terraforming Mars is essentially impossible.

Venus doesn't have a magnetic field, and that hasn't stopped it sustaining a very thick atmosphere. And given the amount of gas tied up in Mars's ice caps it should be possible to thicken the atmosphere enough to obviate the need for pressure suits and absorb solar radiation.

 

[User Name]

Venus doesn't have a magnetic field, and that hasn't stopped it sustaining a very thick atmosphere. And given the amount of gas tied up in Mars's ice caps it should be possible to thicken the atmosphere enough to obviate the need for pressure suits and absorb solar radiation.

Venus is partially protected by an induced magnetic field, which is generated by the interaction between Venus' ionosphere and the solar wind and the magnetic field carried by the solar wind. During the continuous battle with the solar wind, this region of the upper atmosphere is able to slow and divert the flow of particles around the planet, creating a magnetosphere, shaped rather like a comet’s tail, on the lee side of the planet.​

Source: A Magnetic Surprise from Venus

And given the amount of gas tied up in Mars's ice caps it should be possible to thicken the atmosphere enough to obviate the need for pressure suits and absorb solar radiation.

If we look to the atmosphere alone to protect us from solar radiation, it would have to be very thick like the one on Venus. Such a thick atmosphere would cause too much pressure at the surface, and be too hot, to make it livable.

 

[gcthomas]

Venus is partially protected by an induced magnetic field, which is generated by the interaction between Venus' ionosphere and the solar wind and the magnetic field carried by the solar wind. During the continuous battle with the solar wind, this region of the upper atmosphere is able to slow and divert the flow of particles around the planet, creating a magnetosphere, shaped rather like a comet’s tail, on the lee side of the planet.​

Source: A Magnetic Surprise from Venus

If we look to the atmosphere alone to protect us from solar radiation, it would have to be very thick like the one on Venus. Such a thick atmosphere would cause too much pressure at the surface, and be too hot, to make it livable.

That is true to some extent, but since ISS radiation levels are several times that of the surface of the Earth it is clear that the atmosphere provides a lot of protection, given the ISS is within the magnetosphere.

The radiation level in orbit around Mars is 0.08 Sv per year, so with NASA astronaut career radiation limit of 1- 4 Sv you could live for 12 to 50 years on the surface without protection. If you built accommodation and work rooms under the regolith and spent only a few hours per day on the surface, that would extend to a lifetime with only a slightly increased health risk.

And that is without any terraforming of the atmosphere.

 

[User Name]

Could We Use Terraforming to Colonize Mars?

​

 

[User Name]

Elon Musk thinks that we can make Mars habitable by nuking it. But would that really work?

Let's Nuke Mars!

​

In short, no. I think the best answer is to colonize Mars with...robots. They can get all of the work we want done there without us having to worry about human frailties.