We have all heard about the colonization of Mars, but in this article I would like to raise the issue of the colonization of Titan (Saturn’s satellite) as not a possible alternative, but as a possible more successful option in terms of the colonization of near space. Also in this article will be a criticism of the colonization of Mars.

Pros and cons

Each planet and satellite has its pluses and minuses, but the only question is how many of these minuses and pluses are and how big they are. We begin listing and comparing Mars and Titan in this regard.

Distance

The closest distance between Titan and Earth is 1.2 billion kilometers, while Mars is 55 million, which is about 22 times closer than Titan. And this is a big difference and the main obstacle to the colonization of Titan. However, it is worth noting that everything is not so simple here. Colonization is much more complicated than the comic project “Mars One”, which is gradually turning into MMM and I will mention it at the end of this article.

A long flight imposes restrictions, increases risks and investments. But as I will tell below, not everything is so sad, because Comparative equipment for Titan will be required much less than for Mars, therefore, it is possible to increase the power of the engines of the future ship with settlers and the fuel supply, which will reduce the flight.

The problem is also in the solar wind and cosmic radiation. Here you will find both protons and high-energy electrons and gamma rays, it’s not so easy to protect yourself from all this variety of high-energy particles, and no lead plates will help here, because induced radiation is even more dangerous. However, it will not be necessary to develop any fantastic shield made of magnetic fields, nanoparticles or exotic matter, a layer of water placed between the living compartment and the casing can protect against all this.

Another problem is weightlessness. In the absence of gravity, the human body is destroyed, calcium is washed out of the bones, the heart weakens, and so on. Exercise will not help either, because only slow down these destructive processes. However, you can design a future spacecraft so that the living compartments are under the action of centrifugal force, in other words, the colonists must be in a rotating ring, or the ship itself must rotate around its axis.

Size and weight

The surface of Mars is larger than that of Titan, but Titan, although it is not a small satellite, it is larger than the planet Mercury. The size at the stage of colonization is small, which means mass is much more important. Gravity on Mars is almost three times lower than that of the Earth, which entails serious problems for people in the current state, these are numerous health problems and big problems with the birth and growth of a new generation.

No one really knows how low gravity affects the birth of children (and this is necessary for the colony), because no one has ever set up such experiments, no one has yet given birth to zero gravity or low gravity and children have not grown in it, but the opinions of experts are not particularly encouraging on this issue. Here you and the development of all kinds of health defects and the risk of child death and the risk of miscarriage, etc. There is quite a bit of data in this area, experiments were carried out with rats in orbit and the result is rather controversial, on the one hand, the first generation had problems, on the other, the next generations were better adapted to zero gravity conditions. However, people are still doing this differently, for example, pregnant astronaut women are forbidden to fly to the ISS, as this can cause risks with fetal development (microgravity + radiation). All this suggests

As for Titan, it’s still sadder, its gravity is 7 times less than Earth. The safe level is about 0.5g ( in fact, it is not known exactly , but as a threshold we take half of the Earth), i.e. half of the fact that neither Mars nor Titan passes on Earth and here, therefore, without genetic modifications, future colonies are doomed to both Mars and Titan, or they will not be able to become full-fledged colonies, but will be something like stations in the Antarctic, where people live and work only for a while (here's the idea of ​​a one-way flight to Mars).

Atmosphere and pressure

Roughly speaking, the atmosphere of Mars is a vacuum. Well, not really, because there is even wind there, but it’s a vacuum relative to the human body. The atmospheric pressure on Mars is 0.6% of the Earth’s, in fact, it’s lonely to colonize the Moon, that Mars is lonely, they are both just big cobblestones in space, and therefore all the restrictions and risks for construction and life in space are imposed. You need special armored tight capsules to protect against micrometeorites (from those that won't help much more), plus protection against radiation, which, although Mars is less than outer space, is still not the safest level for humans. Also suits are necessary for an exit to a surface.

On Titan, everything is much better. There is an atmosphere consisting of nitrogen (90%) and hydrocarbons. Atmospheric pressure is approximately 1.5 atm, which is quite comfortable for a person, while research by Jacques-Yves Cousteau with his underwater village showed that a person feels rather well living at 2 atm. The dense atmosphere provides protection from meteorites and radiation. Plus, the problem of transport is solved, because without roads and infrastructure, the only transport is aircraft, in the conditions of Titan it will be much easier to transport.

There are two problems in the atmosphere of Titan: the first is a mixture of hydrocarbons with oxygen gives an explosive mixture, and the second is thermal insulation. It’s very cold on Titan, -180 C, this of course does not mean that an unprotected person will immediately turn into an icicle like in Hollywood films. However, since on Titan there is no wind; thermal insulation, although a problem, is not too big. People already have the technology to solve it - it's an airgel.

The houses on Titan will be large airgel-based domes, no reservation is needed, which means that you do not need to carry so much excess weight with you. Also, there is no point in burying yourself underground to protect yourself from cosmic radiation and solar flares. Weighty expensive suits are not needed, an oxygen cylinder and insulating clothing are enough. Depressurization (in the case of Mars or loss of integrity in the case of Titan) of the compartment will not lead to the instant death of everyone inside as on Mars (30 seconds in a vacuum will lead to loss of consciousness), it is quite possible to put on an oxygen mask and go to another compartment (once again, in the icicle do not turn instantly).

Do not forget about the landing on the planet, as one of the most difficult stages. For Titan, everything is decided by parachutes, in a dense atmosphere they are most effective, for Mars they are almost useless and can only be used for initial braking. Therefore, each armored capsule for Mars will require more engines and a supply of fuel for landing. Titanium is deprived of such a problem, in principle, it is enough to sit down to the colonists in the landing capsule and erect all the buildings manually.

Resources

That on Mars, that on Titan there is enough water. In terms of resources, not much is known about Titan, because it is poorly studied. It is believed that there are underground lakes with methane. Nothing is also known about metals on Titan, unlike Mars. However, in terms of resources, it is still worth considering not a separate satellite, but the entire system of Saturn, so Titan here is much richer than Mars. Metals are on other satellites of Saturn, but more importantly, Saturn itself is a source of helium-3, which is an excellent fuel for thermonuclear reactors. It follows that the necessary minimum for the colonization of Titan is developed thermonuclear energy, since there is almost no solar energy there, on the other hand, you should not rely on it on Mars, where a dust storm can last a month. There are so many gases in Saturn’s system that they will serve as excellent export raw materials. Many already predict that there is an obvious economic benefit in the extraction of helium-3 on Saturn, because Unlike Jupiter, Saturn has low gravity and radiation.

Surface

The surface of Titan is very reminiscent of Earth, there are seas, lakes, crevices, canyons, mountains and depressions. However, here I would like to mention the composition of the surface. Titanium is geologically active, in addition, it has an atmosphere, and once rivers of liquid methane and ethane flowed through it, an important conclusion follows from this, many do not think about it when they dream of colonizing Mars. The fact is that the regolith of Mars and Titan is very different. Regolith is not lunar soil, although the name came from there, it is a suspension of dust that covers a surface consisting of particles of different diameters.If the rock breaks due to strong mechanical impact (meteorite impact, for example), then the dust that is formed in this case is very dangerous, because it contains particles with sharp edges that penetrate through the lungs into the bloodstream and wear out the internal organs of a person, and also break down the technique with complex moving parts. For example, after the investigation of the terrorist attack in New York in 2001, the workers who raked the rubble got big health complications, because After the collapse of buildings, a large number of ultra fine (less than 100 nanometers) particles formed, for the same reason volcanic ash is also dangerous. However, all this is also true not only for ultra fine particles, but also for those that are less than 10 microns in diameter. Mars regolith consists mainly of 3 microns of particles, and therefore poses a health hazard. In the Earth’s atmosphere, they quickly stick together due to water vapor in the air, and the sharp edges are smoothed out, which is also typical for Titanium, the rock has smoothed edges, and there are no winds, the average particle size has a diameter of 5 mm. Therefore, no special complex cleaning systems are needed in the case of Titanium.

Total

As you can see, the process of colonization is not at all as simple as it might seem from science fiction films and literature. This article only addresses some of the issues. Other worlds are simply not suitable for humans for a number of reasons and no colonization will occur in this century. To colonize our native solar system, we at least need genetic modifications of the body, thermonuclear energy, materials are an order of magnitude better than existing ones (at -180С most metals lose strength and flexibility), engines are an order of magnitude better (at least plasma, not to be confused with ionic ones) and a lot what else.

It’s easier to colonize some worlds than others and it may seem that close Mars is the same place, but it’s nothing more than a fantasy tale of dreamers of the 60s and 70s of the last century that continues to live in our minds until now, one thing just landed, another the matter is to build a colony and survive successfully.

One thing is clear that without real preparation no colonization is possible, you need to be able to build a ship for at least 10 thousand colonists and everything necessary for them. This is not a matter of the near future, it is good if this happens in the next century. Of course, in our solar system it is not necessary to send everyone and everything at once, but where is the guarantee that the next batch will arrive as planned, and any delay in this case will be fatal for the entire colony.

Here I would like to recall the recent project "Mars One". He immediately caused skepticism among many, it is difficult to approach the process of colonization so stupidly than was done in this project. Neither the material side of the issue, neither the technical nor the psychological, was taken into account, and even everything with common sense was tight. Send people one way, in three tin cans, as you could only guess. People were invited to spend 4 to 4 indoors until the end of their lives, under radiation in the hope that they would survive there. Worst of all, people looked like experimental rats there, but forget about the ethical side of the issue, since the psychological side is much more important here. And it is not taken into account at all. They just thought that they would see it there. It would be difficult for you living in terrestrial conditions to imagine how hard it would be to who is sentenced to the end of his life to spend his whole life on a lifeless piece of stone in space. Of course, experiments were carried out on the long stay of people in locked conditions, but they knew that they could return, and this is a determining factor. Of course, this project is nothing more than a scam to raise money, and even if the creators believe in it, and not just want to make money, it will not be put into practice and I hope it will be soon forgotten. Because if they nevertheless send adventure-minded people to Mars, the colony will fail completely, and if the colonists do not immediately kill each other by losing their minds, they will be slowly poisoned by the influence of Mars and will die one by one. This shameful chapter will hit the reputation of science and space research and set the public against it. Of course, experiments were carried out on the long stay of people in locked conditions, but they knew that they could return, and this is a determining factor. Of course, this project is nothing more than a scam to raise money, and even if the creators believe in it, and not just want to make money, it will not be put into practice and I hope it will be soon forgotten. Because if they nevertheless send adventure-minded people to Mars, the colony will fail completely, and if the colonists do not immediately kill each other by losing their minds, they will be slowly poisoned by the influence of Mars and will die one by one. This shameful chapter will hit the reputation of science and space research and set the public against it. Of course, experiments were carried out on the long stay of people in locked conditions, but they knew that they could return, and this is a determining factor. Of course, this project is nothing more than a scam to raise money, and even if the creators believe in it, and not just want to make money, it will not be put into practice and I hope it will be soon forgotten. Because if they nevertheless send adventure-minded people to Mars, the colony will fail completely, and if the colonists do not immediately kill each other by losing their minds, they will be slowly poisoned by the influence of Mars and will die one by one. This shameful chapter will hit the reputation of science and space research and set the public against it. than a scam to raise money, and even if the creators believe in it, and not just want profit, it is not practical and I hope it will be soon forgotten. Because if they nevertheless send adventure-minded people to Mars, the colony will fail completely, and if the colonists do not immediately kill each other by losing their minds, they will be slowly poisoned by the influence of Mars and will die one by one. This shameful chapter will hit the reputation of science and space research and set the public against it. than a scam to raise money, and even if the creators believe in it, and not just want profit, it is not practical and I hope it will be soon forgotten. Because if they nevertheless send adventure-minded people to Mars, the colony will fail completely, and if the colonists do not immediately kill each other by losing their minds, they will be slowly poisoned by the influence of Mars and will die one by one. This shameful chapter will hit the reputation of science and space research and set the public against it. they will be slowly poisoned by the influence of Mars and will die one by one. This shameful chapter will hit the reputation of science and space research and set the public against it. they will be slowly poisoned by the influence of Mars and will die one by one. This shameful chapter will hit the reputation of science and space research and set the public against it.