
Ask HN: I am 33 yrs young, will we form a colony in Mars within my lifetime? - jackallis
boy, would i love to see this happen before i die.
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psdw
Follow what they are up to at the stations in Antarctica. It's boring and
depressing. Mars won't be any different. I think a lot of talk about Mars is
marketing to sell some other product (books/shows/movies/people etc).

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0_gravitas
Perhaps it's boring and depressing to most, I've always really liked the
feeling of being in a desolate place, it's a kind if quiet you can't get
anywhere else (that being said requirement 1 for me going anywhere is a good
internet connection). And there is an unarguable novelty to being on another
planet, in addition to the security idea, it's sort of a fail safe if we end
up nuking each other into oblivion

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byoung2
The first airplane flight was in 1903, and commercial air travel was common by
the 1950s. The first person in space was 1961 and with SpaceX we might be on
the verge of commercial space travel, or more likely automated supply missions
to Mars. We do need a major advancement in propulsion technology to make
roundtrips to Mars, so people aren't stranded there.

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notahacker
The economic (and military) rationale for developing commercial air travel was
somewhat stronger than that for colonising Mars though, as well as there being
fewer logistical hurdles to overcome.

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PhilWright
If you mean a colony in that it is a self-sustaining outpost then definitely
not. If you mean a base that is constantly occupied like the international
space station then it is unlikely but possible. If you mean will a person get
to Mars then I would say that is very likely.

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HNLurker2
Makes me sad to think that this dream legacy started since 1930 when rockets
where made by amateur (source: Carl Sagan Cosmos). And then still they dreamt
to visit Mars or the moon. Then Carl Sagan also wished to see people on Mars
but has seen the moonlanding. He also influenced Hawking who also wanted to
see human on sustainable interplanetary.

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simonblack
Possible in the next 50 years, but highly unlikely. We might get a few people
to land, and maybe return if we're lucky, but that's about it.

Nobody currently has the spare cash to outlay the horrific expenses. (The US
has 24 trillion in debts, China is still in the growth phase and unlikely to
have the spare readies for a century or so. Nobody else can come close.)

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gtsteve
Perhaps watch this video for a nice overview of what that might look like:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqKGREZs6-w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqKGREZs6-w)

I think you'll probably see baby steps towards it but there are a lot of
problems to overcome.

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thedevindevops
More comprehensive space station and lunar base are more likely. That said von
Braun had a plan for a 250 foot rotating space station in the 50s so don't
cross your fingers yet...

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schappim
It depends on how long you live.

