Going to Mars is a terrible idea. There’s no drinkable water, no breathable air and depending where you set up camp, the temperature can swing from a comfortable 70 degrees to a brisk -225. That kind of temperature swing is going to make packing for the trip a real bear.
And don’t get me started on the radiation. Not only would an intrepid voyager be bathed in the unrelenting radiation of the sun during their voyage to the red planet, once arriving they would have to pitch their tent in one of the planet’s many deep trenches or, optimally, underground. After eons of being raked by solar winds, Mars doesn’t have much of an atmosphere left, so life on the surface in full view of the sun would necessitate a shortening of your stay or your life.
That being said, Elon Musk seems pretty infatuated by the idea and I think we should support his pioneering spirit.
A mission to Mars would save us all the prospect of co-president Elon setting up camp in the Lincoln Bedroom for the next four years. Musk is CEO of, I don’t know, half a dozen companies that offer a diverse set of goods and services ranging from poorly constructed electric vehicles to literally planting a chip in your brain. You would think he has better things to do than hang around D.C. firing civil servants, but you’d be wrong.
It remains to be seen just how long Trump’s ego will allow a younger, more successful billionaire to hang around taking up airtime and sucking the oxygen out of the room, but I say why chance it: Fund Elon’s mission to Mars now. The title of richest man on the planet flips back and forth depending on stock prices, but I propose we send Elon someplace where he would be the undisputed champion.
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