XPost: sci.space.policy, sci.physics   
   From: fjmccall@gmail.com   
      
   jimp@specsol.spam.sux.com wrote:   
      
   >In sci.physics Jeff Findley  wrote:   
   >> In article , invalid@invalid.com says...   
   >>>   
   >>> there may not be any coal or oil on Mars if no huge plants growing in   
   >>> its past like on earth. "=> no fuel on Mars"   
   >>   
   >> So you use solar and nuclear power.  And if fusion power ever becomes   
   >> practical, you use that too.  Just because we're dependant on fossil   
   >> fuels here on earth doesn't mean a Mars colony needs to be!   
   >>   
   >> Jeff   
   >   
   >To get the equivalent of a small 50 MW nuclear reactor on Mars, you   
   >would need over a million square meters of solar panels which only work   
   >during the day.   
   >   
      
   Why would I need a 50 MW reactor (or that much power)?  Just how big a   
   colony are you assuming here?  A million square meters is only a   
   square one kilometer on a side.   
      
   >   
   >If we had dilithium reactors, warp drive, replicators, and transporters   
   >the problem would be trivial.   
   >   
      
   Do you insist the effort for anything you do must be 'trivial'?   
      
   --   
   "Ordinarily he is insane. But he has lucid moments when he is   
    only stupid."   
                               -- Heinrich Heine   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)