> I wonder what sort of progress would smooth over the extraordinary credit injection we've seen in 2020.
A successful Mars colony, obviously :) Gaining a second planet might possibly justify this level of credit.
A successful Mars colony, obviously :) Gaining a second planet might possibly justify this level of credit.
> A successful Mars colony, obviously :) Gaining a second planet might possibly justify this level of credit.
I'm not so sure. From the perspective of Earth economics, a Mars colony may be no different from a massive, useless boondoggle. The colony would obviously consume massive amounts of Earth resources, but what products and services would it provide Earth in return and is the production of those things on Mars economically justifiable?
You can apply this approach to more complex commodities to theorize about the upper limits, but I think this is a good way to get started.
IIRC, mining on Mars for export to Earth doesn't make much sense vs mining on an asteroid, since you're paying for transport through an extra gravity well.
They want the first seats outta here when we fuck up big!