Mars is kind of short of nitrogen

John Savard wrote:
but, as Robert Zubrin notes, it does seem to be the best place to set
up a colony.

However, are there any other alternatives that might be even more
attractive?

One of the objections Dr. Zubrin gives to O'Neill colonies is that a
mirror area comparable to the crop area is required for agriculture.
As it would seem to me that aluminized Mylar is easier to construct
than the *land area of the colony itself*, that seems to be an odd
objection.

It appears to be bar far better to use solar batteries and artifical
lightning combined with hydroponics.

[snip]

Since the gas giants have very deep gravity wells, comets and Pluto
seem to be the other potential non-terrestrial sources of nitrogen in
the Solar System.

Remember Titan.


John Savard
http://home.ecn.ab.ca/~jsavard/index.html

--
Sander

+++ Out of cheese error +++