<story><title>History of Biosphere 2</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/29/sunday-review/biosphere-2-climate-change.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>gryfft</author><text>A Mars colony is something humanity should start thinking seriously about once we successfully run a production-grade lunar colony for about a decade-- long enough to recognize and tackle the worst bugs.</text></item><item><author>jasonwatkinspdx</author><text>I always get downvoted to oblivion for pointing this out, but the Elon Musk hype squad is just not being realistic about how far we are from establishing a permanent colony on mars. Severe issues remain.</text></item><item><author>maxxxxx</author><text>This just shows that we have to do a lot of tedious testing before there is a chance to go to Mars. Even pretty innocent looking things  can cause huge problems that can’t be anticipated beforehand</text></item><item><author>pram</author><text>I took a tour of Biosphere 2 when I was young. I remember the guide talking about two specific problems they didn&amp;#x27;t anticipate that dramatically altered the outcome of the experiment:&lt;p&gt;The &amp;#x27;domes&amp;#x27; are supported by a metal lattice framework. That structure actually blocked too much sun and created extra shade which affected the plant growth.&lt;p&gt;The concrete used in the construction was sucking up carbon dioxide and changing the environment unexpectedly. That also reduced plant growth.&lt;p&gt;I really don&amp;#x27;t believe the entire thing was useless. It wasn&amp;#x27;t successful, but it failed in many interesting ways ;P</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>asark</author><text>I understand a Martian colony as a kind of romantic dream. I understand a longish-term Martian outpost for scientific purposes. I don&amp;#x27;t get a Martian colony as a serious proposal for pretty much any reason. It&amp;#x27;s like 1000x more expensive, dangerous, and inconvenient than colonizing any number of very-inhospitable places on Earth.&lt;p&gt;To survive planetary disaster? Well 1) Mars is &lt;i&gt;already&lt;/i&gt; worse than most imaginable post-disaster Earths would likely be, and 2) you could build a couple highly-survivable emergency bunker-habitats and pay people to live in them (in shifts, say, so there are always enough inside to ensure survival but they&amp;#x27;re not stuck in there full time) for, surely, less money than Martian colony establishment &amp;amp; maintenance would cost. You might still screw it up and they might not succeed if things really got that bad, but I&amp;#x27;d bet their odds are better than any Martian colony we&amp;#x27;re likely to manage to put up in the next 100 years.</text></comment>
<story><title>History of Biosphere 2</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/29/sunday-review/biosphere-2-climate-change.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>gryfft</author><text>A Mars colony is something humanity should start thinking seriously about once we successfully run a production-grade lunar colony for about a decade-- long enough to recognize and tackle the worst bugs.</text></item><item><author>jasonwatkinspdx</author><text>I always get downvoted to oblivion for pointing this out, but the Elon Musk hype squad is just not being realistic about how far we are from establishing a permanent colony on mars. Severe issues remain.</text></item><item><author>maxxxxx</author><text>This just shows that we have to do a lot of tedious testing before there is a chance to go to Mars. Even pretty innocent looking things  can cause huge problems that can’t be anticipated beforehand</text></item><item><author>pram</author><text>I took a tour of Biosphere 2 when I was young. I remember the guide talking about two specific problems they didn&amp;#x27;t anticipate that dramatically altered the outcome of the experiment:&lt;p&gt;The &amp;#x27;domes&amp;#x27; are supported by a metal lattice framework. That structure actually blocked too much sun and created extra shade which affected the plant growth.&lt;p&gt;The concrete used in the construction was sucking up carbon dioxide and changing the environment unexpectedly. That also reduced plant growth.&lt;p&gt;I really don&amp;#x27;t believe the entire thing was useless. It wasn&amp;#x27;t successful, but it failed in many interesting ways ;P</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>aliswe</author><text>A sustainable colony on earth would be a good pilot</text></comment>