A Backup to the Backup

         Someone asked why we should waste money trying to get people to live on the Moon and Mars. I replied that the benefits of being able to live in either place mean you are able to recycle your air, food, and water would directly benefit people here on earth. We would be able to live anywhere from miles below the surface, to the top of the atmosphere and everywhere in between without impacting our environment.

         The next day I noticed a new private message on that site.

         It was from someone with the screen name 1ST2MARS who said that I was one of the few to understand the benefits of the journey into space. They asked my thoughts on a few other projects like the Falcon Heavy, SLS and others. I responded that I was surprised that no one was using spun carbon nanotube fibers for both their strength, but their conductivity as well in their space vehicles.

         After a couple of days of messaging back and forth on that site and later on a secure messaging app, I was asked what my dream home for my family would look like. My response was that I would love to have a valley domed over and sectioned into greenhouses of various climates to grow citrus and other exotic foods in a far north area of the world like Alaska. It would need a power source like a thorium steam generator to both keep the temperatures where they need to be and provide the lights needed to grow these plants year round.

         I went on for nearly an hour about how I planned it to be sterile from both pathogens and weeds with visitors and workers wearing protective gear to ensure sterility. In a real colony, I would grow animals like chickens and fish along with mushroom production to use the excess oxygen and produce carbon dioxide for the system to work best, but here on earth, I would buy meat from the locals as I sell the food to local stores and eateries.

         I was asked if access to the sun was that important, or if building my idea underground would be feasible.

         Underground was perfectly fine for me, but I felt that my family would want to at least have a fake sun and sky. I was then introduced to the state of the art in the artificial sky field and my doubts were gone. Not even animals could tell they were not seeing the sky.

         1ST2MARS and I had been talking for nearly a month when he linked a picture. It was a beautiful dirt road with autumnal trees lining each side as it curves off into the distance. He then said that was the driveway of my new home if I was willing to try to live in and make an underground farm work. My family would each get a six-figure salary if I could convince them to go along with my crazy scheme.

         I was in, of course, now I just had to figure out how to get them to onboard with the new adventure.





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