A space elevator is indeed viable considering requirements for materials are met.
Check out the Mars Society conventions and websites for innovative ways to get to Mars, colonize or study it. It's famous and credible enough to have NASA and SpaceX present there.
One such idea involves harnessing an asteroid in a periodically adjusted elliptical orbit that intersets with Earth/Mars orbits to allow for gravitational assists. A benefit of that is that the asteroid, before it sling shots around the Earth, is in prime position of a highly elliptical orbit easily attainable from an Earth launched vehicle using funded and existing technology to rendezvous.
The challenge lies in orbital dynamics, patience (20 years to get the rock into full operational capacity).
The benefit of such is a body that can be mined for pre-existing volume, a free radiation shield negating the need for extremely dense materials required for throwing tiny ships of people at Mars, and can be used as an actual commitment to colonizing Earth's nearest neighbor for a rather cheap investment.
Remember that sending a few people to Mars ensures that colonization of it will be very delayed. With fewer people, less science can be done. And, if those people get cancer, they will lack the facilities that could be easily dumped en mass from a ship departing the asteroid before it slingshots around and the medical expertise and/or supplies.
All in all, looking at the past, sending a few explorers to the New World was suicide. Sending a fair bunch, though, is much more successful. And hopefully, unlike retarded puritans without planning, we can plan infinitely better.
Oh - yeah - this idea is mine. It's also been presented at the Mars Society, invited to 2010 COSPAR and is currently a continuing astrophysics project of mine at university.
Check out the Mars Society conventions and websites for innovative ways to get to Mars, colonize or study it. It's famous and credible enough to have NASA and SpaceX present there.
One such idea involves harnessing an asteroid in a periodically adjusted elliptical orbit that intersets with Earth/Mars orbits to allow for gravitational assists. A benefit of that is that the asteroid, before it sling shots around the Earth, is in prime position of a highly elliptical orbit easily attainable from an Earth launched vehicle using funded and existing technology to rendezvous.
The challenge lies in orbital dynamics, patience (20 years to get the rock into full operational capacity).
The benefit of such is a body that can be mined for pre-existing volume, a free radiation shield negating the need for extremely dense materials required for throwing tiny ships of people at Mars, and can be used as an actual commitment to colonizing Earth's nearest neighbor for a rather cheap investment.
Remember that sending a few people to Mars ensures that colonization of it will be very delayed. With fewer people, less science can be done. And, if those people get cancer, they will lack the facilities that could be easily dumped en mass from a ship departing the asteroid before it slingshots around and the medical expertise and/or supplies.
All in all, looking at the past, sending a few explorers to the New World was suicide. Sending a fair bunch, though, is much more successful. And hopefully, unlike retarded puritans without planning, we can plan infinitely better.
Oh - yeah - this idea is mine. It's also been presented at the Mars Society, invited to 2010 COSPAR and is currently a continuing astrophysics project of mine at university.
