it may be a better strategy to boot-strap power production first.Tom Ligon wrote:Yes, Mars has an atmosphere that is largely CO2, but not much atmosphere. And using solar to convert it to methane is plagued by not having much solar, either.
i mean sure, start with a basic converter if just for oxygen production.
but then i'd say work on an in-situ solar membranes/concentrators/whatever (and wires) so you can start multiplying your energy capacity.
then you build you have sustainable greenhouse, more room, robotics repair...
plastics...
seems like it'd be a while until rocket fuel production would be the next thing to scale up
then again, seems like a while before you'd be sending 100 people at a time...