They could even build this self-contained city on Mars. It would make more sense there. Call it New Jeddah and send some out of favor prince there to run it.
Mars is and always will be a hopeless idea. Mars has no magnetic dynamo, so it can't generate the magnetic field necessary for keeping an atmosphere in place. You'd have to invent magic to make Mars livable.
In this example I assumed the city would be self-contained and pressurized. As for terraforming, assuming you had the magic to pump enough nitrous oxygen mixture into the air, you'd also have the magic to keep it there in spite of the very slow solar wind erosion. Though radiation will be a much bigger concern for pressurized settlements.
Okay, so self contained and pressurized. Leaks happen in systems like that, and you can't really replenish your supply. You'd be dependent on earth for resupply.
Again, not viable.
The viable option in my opinion is towing asteroids into orbit for mining. Most of the asteroids in our belt are known in terms of metal content, and that would be a useful first step to securing resources for future space expansion.
They could even build this self-contained city on Mars. It would make more sense there. Call it New Jeddah and send some out of favor prince there to run it.
Mars is and always will be a hopeless idea. Mars has no magnetic dynamo, so it can't generate the magnetic field necessary for keeping an atmosphere in place. You'd have to invent magic to make Mars livable.
In this example I assumed the city would be self-contained and pressurized. As for terraforming, assuming you had the magic to pump enough nitrous oxygen mixture into the air, you'd also have the magic to keep it there in spite of the very slow solar wind erosion. Though radiation will be a much bigger concern for pressurized settlements.
Okay, so self contained and pressurized. Leaks happen in systems like that, and you can't really replenish your supply. You'd be dependent on earth for resupply.
Again, not viable.
The viable option in my opinion is towing asteroids into orbit for mining. Most of the asteroids in our belt are known in terms of metal content, and that would be a useful first step to securing resources for future space expansion.