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Posted by windbag on May 31, 2008, 12:19 am
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David Williams wrote:
> -> Obviously, Ceres is the best candidate after Mars. Rocket-assisted
> -> landing is a breeze there, and the presence of a surrounding asteroid
> -> field makes it the most radiation-shielded planetary body in the
> -> neighborhood.
>
> -> Navigation could pose problems, however, due to the many large
> -> intervening chunks of matter.
>
> Go out and look at the sky, along the ecliptic. Do you see anything
> looking like the milky way? Do you see anything at all, different from
> the sky in other directions?
>
> Sure, there are a lot of asteroids in the belt between Mars and
> Jupiter, but there's also a lot of empty space. Spacecraft going to
> Jupiter and beyond go through the belt with no problems. The chance of
> colliding with an asteroid is very small. But, also, the radiation
> shielding provided by the asteroids is negligible.
>
> Ceres is probably as boring as the moon, but a lot further away.
>
> dow
Ceres might be boring like the moon, but it's composition is worlds
apart from the lunar mantle-blob that lights our night sky. The
physical features on the next worldlet out from Mars might be far more
Earthlike than anything resembling our moon -- or even dusty Mars.
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