Mars or a border wall?

by **Maichuko** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 7:10 am

Mars.

by **Unstoppable Empire of Doom** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 7:14 am

Thermodolia wrote:What's your opinion OP?

Mars although I am worried that martians will deport us as illegal aliens and build a wall around Mars to keep us out.

by **Hammer Britannia** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 7:20 am

Neither, instead, I will spend the money to move the entire population of Mexico TO Mars (I'll give them spacesuits and other survival necessities, I don't wanna kill them)

by **Urban Springs** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 7:23 am

by **Ifreann** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 7:31 am

Build a Mars on the border.

by **Longweather** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 7:31 am

Well, NASA is already working on going to Mars so I'd choose that if we can only have one since we're already working on it. I've been to a few seminars and lectures during my time working here and the Mars guys were definitely cool. They also just completely shit upon the Martian and Elon Musk's overly optimistic timeline.

The Federation of Kendor wrote:Mars. I don't want Mexicans to be banned from entering the US. Plus, space is important for science and the humanity

A wall wouldn't ban Mexicans from entering the US. It would, ideally, prevent them from circumventing our immigration laws. Not that I'm for the wall.

Stellar Colonies wrote:We could build a huge and thin reflective wall (Orbital mirror) for heating up Mars for terraforming, but that's centuries from now.

Martian soil is toxic... so is much of the liquid surface water (the ice is surprisingly clean though). Also, Mars doesn't have much of an atmosphere and no amount of heating is going to improve that.

by **Purpelia** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 7:33 am

Sending a human to mars is next to worthless. Everything scientific we as a species can do on Mars we can do with robots. The only reason to send a man up there would be bragging rights. So frankly I'd rather you guys sent over many more robot missions for the same price.

The wall on the other hand would just be an epic thing to have. Like THE great wall of America. A modern day rival to the Chinese. Kind of like what the DPRK has but actually continent size. Hell, you could start an arms race in walls!

Longweather wrote:Martian soil is toxic... so is much of the liquid surface water (the ice is surprisingly clean though). Also, Mars doesn't have much of an atmosphere and no amount of heating is going to improve that.

Also no organized magnetic field and therefore no magnetosphere. That by the way is the thing that keeps Earth and us on it from being cooked by cosmic radiation like some critter that tries to nest on top of the reactor core in Chernobyl.

by **Kannap** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 7:39 am

While officially my answer is neither, we're assuming that is not an option here.

So I'm going to go with the border wall. Quite unfortunate, but perhaps one day it will follow the route of Berlin's wall. That decision also stems from me being an environmental science major and believing that if we're going to throw billions of dollars into making a planet livable, it should be the one we are already on rather than another one.

by **Kannap** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 7:40 am

Ifreann wrote:Build a Mars on the border.

This is an idea I can get behind.

by **Longweather** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 7:41 am

Purpelia wrote:Sending a human to mars is next to worthless. Everything scientific we as a species can do on Mars we can do with robots. The only reason to send a man up there would be bragging rights. So frankly I'd rather you guys sent over many more robot missions for the same price.

The wall on the other hand would just be an epic thing to have. Like THE great wall of America. A modern day rival to the Chinese. Kind of like what the DPRK has but actually continent size. Hell, you could start an arms race in walls!

Longweather wrote:Martian soil is toxic... so is much of the liquid surface water (the ice is surprisingly clean though). Also, Mars doesn't have much of an atmosphere and no amount of heating is going to improve that.

Also no organized magnetic field and therefore no magnetosphere. That by the way is the thing that keeps Earth and us on it from being cooked by cosmic radiation like some critter that tries to nest on top of the reactor core in Chernobyl.

For the arms race in walls, I'm pretty sure eastern Europe has beaten us to border walls. :'(

Also, the lack of a magnetosphere is definitely an issue though not an insurmountable one for any human habitation or terraforming operation. The fact that the entirety of Martian soil is filled with toxic levels of perchlorates is an issue though. As one of NASA's Mars experts said to me, "it doesn't matter how much poop you use to fertilize the soil, the soil is still toxic."

by **Coalition of North American States** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 7:43 am

A wall would be a monument to the stupidity of people.

by **Guardians of the Holy Bowling Alley** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 7:46 am

Let's build a wall so high that it goes all the way to Mars. Problem solved.

by **Kannap** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 7:47 am

Coalition of North American States wrote:A wall would be a monument to the stupidity of people.

Look, you can hate the Chinese but don't insult them publicly.

by **The Blaatschapen** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 7:47 am

The Greater German Federal Republic wrote:Mars and a wall to keep rogue mars rovers out

*starts singing*
I've been a Mars rover for many a year.

by **The Derpy Democratic Republic Of Herp** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 7:47 am

Mars.

There bars are tasty.

by **The Portland Territory** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 7:48 am

Fuck, I'm torn

It depends. Do we have terraforming yet? How big shall the color be?

by **Engleberg** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 7:54 am

Mars.

Wouldn't need the border wall when you've got thousands of miles of space in between you!

by **Sweet Baby Jones** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 7:59 am

Build a mars wall on the border

by **Arvanon and Vortes** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 8:00 am

Think it's pretty obvious... It's Mars.

by **The Greater Ohio Valley** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 8:05 am

The choice is pretty clear for me on this one.

by **Thermodolia** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 8:07 am

The Portland Territory wrote:Fuck, I'm torn

It depends. Do we have terraforming yet? How big shall the color be?

A wall vs American Space Empire. How is that even a choice?

by **Dushan** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 8:12 am

Is that even a question?

Mars of course.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBYuDdfEnnc

by **The Alexanderians** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 8:15 am

A border wall on Mars. Gotta keep them aliens out, might as well start at the source!

by **The Salian Realm** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 8:16 am

Vassenor wrote:Going to Mars has the potential to benefit humanity as a whole, even though I'm personally not sure about whether it's worth the risk to send crewed missions yet rather than landers and rovers.

Building a wall does nothing except satisfy the ego of one particular manbaby.

Well, first we have to stop the zero-gee and radiation-induced premature senescence likely to result from such a journey if Scott Kelly's experience is any proof.
Besides, if Mars becomes self-sufficient that's one more place Eros has to collide with to wipe us out.

by **Arvanon and Vortes** » Thu Oct 12, 2017 8:18 am

Dushan wrote:Is that even a question?

Mars of course.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBYuDdfEnnc

I was expecting this...

The Alexanderians wrote:A border wall on Mars. Gotta keep them aliens out, might as well start at the source!

Do you mean to say... this?

Mars or a border wall?

Should the US build a wall or land on Mars?

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