I Say Preposterous!
The very idea would have been preposterous just 50 years ago, still sounds a bit silly today. Or does it? Let’s peek under the hood shall we?
Why have a couple of these tech ga-zillionaires expressed an interest in the idea of colonizing Mars? I cannot speak for Jeff Bezos, not at all. Bezos kind of reminds me of a modern day version of Alfred E. Newman from Mad Magazine fame, he seems like kind of a doofus, unsophisticated as a billionaire could ever be. On the other hand, to a guy like Elon Musk, the idea might have legs, or rockets(?), or something like that. I’ve never spoken to Elon myself but there might be a shiny profit motive behind this bold endeavor, this idea of building some kind of presence on the planet Mars. How’s that? Well you see, in between Mars and the next farthest planet in our solar system, Jupiter, lies what is known as the “asteroid belt”. A vast wasteland full of planetary leftovers.

[These asteroids are basically planetary orphans in our solar system orbiting around inside a vast area estimated to be 92 million miles wide! The only time one of these escapes is entirely due to Jupiter’s enormous gravitational pull. This phenomenon is well known in astronomy circles, Jupiter is the largest planet. And as largest planets go it is responsible for sending asteroids, once behaved inside the belt, spinning outside to their never neverland. Because it’s never a good thing when one of these big rocks escapes the asteroid belt and begins hurling through our solar system as they become projectiles on a collision course with other planets. Evidence of this destructive aftermath is found everywhere, especially on surfaces like our Moon. However, the earth has suffered many an asteroid impact in the past as well, the one that hit the tip of the Yucatan Peninsula was an estimated five miles wide! The impact was so massive that scientists believe the earth turned dark for an entire decade which of course killed off vegetation as well as the dinosaurs back then… and you know the rest of the story.

Introducing 16 Psyche!
Why can’t we just leave asteroids alone? The answer is we can’t and for a few reasons. Remember that video game called “Asteroids”? I must have put a $1,000 worth of quarters in that machine from the time I was a teenager and still never killed every one of them critters! No there is just enough juice flowing around who and what asteroids are made of these days that attracts true capitalist-minded men like an Elon Musk. You see, one of these boogers could be worth an estimated $100,000 quadrillion dollars! There are several large asteroids inside the Asteroid Belt that are square on the radar screen of scientists. One in particular, 16 Psyche, is probably the most well-known because it is made up entirely of metals, and could be as much as 40% solid gold!

I found some talking points about this unique object in space:
“While no planet is entirely made of gold, the asteroid 16 Psyche, located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, is believed to be composed largely of metals, including gold, nickel, and iron, and is sometimes referred to as a “golden asteroid”.”

Here’s a more detailed explanation:
16 Psyche: This asteroid is unique because it’s thought to be the metallic core of a failed planet from the early solar system.
Composition: Scientists believe that Psyche is composed almost entirely of exposed metals like iron, nickel, and gold.
Value: The estimated value of the gold and other precious metals on Psyche is astronomical, with some estimates suggesting it could be worth trillions of dollars.
NASA Psyche Mission: NASA is currently on its way to Psyche to study it in more detail.
Not a Planet: It’s important to remember that Psyche is an asteroid, not a planet, and it is not made entirely of gold.”
Synopsis: NASA’s Psyche mission, launched in October 2023, aims to explore a metal-rich asteroid worth $100,000 quadrillion, offering a glimpse into the formation of planetary cores. While the asteroid holds immense potential for resource extraction, asteroid mining remains an ongoing challenge due to technological and economic limitations…”

Mining Asteroids?
Creating a presence of machines and launchpads on Mars could be a great place to conduct mining missions to asteroids contained inside the belt. A few mining companies say they are all ready to go with this plan. The challenges that remain are significant, to name a few, sufficient capital, timespans required for space travel, and maybe adequate oxygen? I myself was surprised to read that the atmosphere of Mars does contain oxygen, the only problem is it’s in very small quantities. My understanding is that the Martian atmosphere is very thin compared to earth’s and made up mostly of carbon dioxide. The good news is we have the technology to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, or at least convert it into enough oxygen to support human life. [Needless to say, there are other physics challenges for landing a space craft in atmospheres that thin without crashing into the planet but that’s beyond the scope of this writing.]

What The… Now What?
The “now-whats” are looking like the “where-fors”, if you throw enough time and money at something it usually sprouts wings but with caveats this time? Some caveats are that while it can take about 9 months to travel from Earth to Mars, it can take around 3 years to return, even on a good day. Why is that? Well, the two planets orbit the Sun but not in perfect circles, [instead elliptical], so the Earth and Mars are closest in proximity to each other only about every two years. So missions to Mars and back need to be planned and timed according to this elliptical orbit schedule. Other issues involve bringing back some of these [rare and not so rare] metals in payloads, etc. What’s funny in my mind is remember when our U.S. astronauts and their Moon rock samples were quarantined before they could be released out into the public? How long would these folks and their payloads be quarantined landing back here from a first trip to Mars? The answer would be quite a long time my friend – a long, long time! 🙂