Will any of us live long enough to see a permanent settlement on Mars?

[mrstickball]

TheRealMafoo said:

megaman79 said:
Minerals, tons of goddamned minerals would pay for it. Thats why there are interspace mining colonies in every scifi movie.

Its def. possible, even certain, but not likely by the US. China, and India to a lesser extent, will make space travel much more competitive in the next 30 yrs.

 

We would need a space lift first. One on Mars, and one on Earth. They are coming, but intill we can get things into space cheep, it's pointless to think about.

A big part of me wishes that we'd reign in our federal spending, and use the saved money to build a space lift.

Economic stimulus package? How about a $500,000,000 space lift that cuts costs of space travel by 90%?