this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2023
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Space

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Cover author: Michał Kałużny http://astrofotografia.pl/

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A recent preprint paper examines the minimum number of people required to maintain a feasible settlement on Mars while accounting for psychological and behavioral factors, specifically in emergency situations. This study was conducted by a team of data scientists from George Mason University and holds the potential to help researchers better understand the appropriate conditions …

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[–] readbeanicecream@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

@stopthatgirl7 That seems really low. The Roanoke colony in the U.S. had around 120 people with access to food, water, and shelter on Earth and still vanished. I know that is not a 1:1 comparison, but the point is that I would think that a Mars colony would be 10x more difficult. But, I guess we will never know until we try.

[–] DavidB@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

The Roanoke colony is not a really fitting comparison (actually there are none, this is literally unprecedented), they were still on Earth. And they vanished because they had no food. And they didn't vanish into the void. They were welcomed by a native colony nearby. Most integrated into the colony, some traveled to other places, died, or were integrated into other native villages.

If a Mars colony runs out of food, I'm not sure there is a Martian village to welcome them.