NASA/JPL-Caltech photo mosaic from July 2013 showing the Valles Marineris hemisphere of Mars projected into point perspective, a view similar to that which one would see from a spacecraft.
NASA/JPL-Caltech photo mosaic from July 2013 showing the Valles Marineris hemisphere of Mars projected into point perspective, a view similar to that which one would see from a spacecraft.

Extended Classic – Cosmic Queries: Colonizing Mars

July 2013 mosaic of the Valles Marineris hemisphere of Mars projected into point perspective, a view similar to that which one would see from a spacecraft. The distance is 2500 kilometers from the surface of the planet, with the scale being .6km/pixel. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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About This Episode

This episode is now extended with Neil and Chuck answering more Cosmic Queries on militarizing space, space law, planetary orbits, gravity, Pluto, the heliosphere, the Drake equation, Panspermia, and more.

This week, Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice answer questions from our fans about colonizing Mars, from the smelly, to the psychological, to the political. What would happen to garbage on Mars without microbes to break it down? Are there treaties governing interplanetary colonization and homesteading? You’ll learn all about terraforming, and how long it might take before pioneers would be able to grow crops outside of greenhouses. Explore adaption, mutation, and speciation and the possible impact of growing up in 40% Earth gravity. Finally, step up to the plate for a description of the impact of Martian gravity and atmosphere on the first baseball game between the NY Yankees and the Martian Reds.

NOTE: All-Access subscribers can listen to this entire episode commercial-free here: Extended Classic – Cosmic Queries: Colonizing Mars.

In This Episode

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