Hurricane in Texas, and the Galley on Starship Deck E
Plus 11 ideas for making money during your trip to Mars
Welcome space friends!
SpaceX and Starship
Tropical storm Hanna has been upgraded to hurricane status, with 75 mph winds as it made landfall. Operations at Boca Chica appear to have been suspended until the hurricane has passed.
Starship SN5’s single Raptor engine (SN27) was installed on July 4. Based on that and their road closure announcements, they seem to be pretty close to a static fire test.
Getting There
Continuing our virtual tour through one possible configuration of an early passenger-filled Starship to Mars, the next deck up from the last issue is Deck E:
The galley is on the upper part of the sketch. This is an area for self-service food preparation, similar to the way things work today on the ISS. Dehydrated or freeze-dried food can be re-hydrated and optionally heated. It’s unlikely that early passenger flights will have fresh food. Later on, a small hydroponic garden for fresh vegetables would be great. However, making that work is going to take a fair bit of development.
The galley will also have the equipment needed to hold and process post-meal waste materials, such as plastic wrappers and the like.
There are also a couple of hexagonal tables, as places for passengers to gather. The vertical blue bars would have Velcro on them, to make it easy to temporarily place an item, without the risk of it floating away. The idea of a “table” proper isn’t really needed in zero-G, of course, since without gravity, you can’t really set anything down like you normally could. Rather, the idea is to use these small areas to make small social gatherings more comfortable. I’m sure people will also come up with inventive ways to use the surfaces, even in zero-G.
This deck has room for a little food or water storage on the left, and some plants for decoration on the right. Real plants, not plastic ones! The center of the deck has passageways to the lower deck, as usual. Note that the passageways from one deck to another are slightly offset from one another, to prevent the temptation for passengers to try “flying” the length of the ship while in zero-G. Even though we’re weightless in zero-G, we aren’t mass-less, and our movement still carries momentum. That means we can still seriously hurt ourselves or others if we “fly” into them (or a wall) at speed.
Here’s a closeup view of part of Deck E:
From this perspective, you can see the ubiquitous blue hand and foot rails, along with the yellow protective railing around the passageway down to Deck D. The handrail “stairs” up to Deck F are also visible, along with part of the galley in the background.
The hexagonal tiles on the floor, as on other decks, represent a modular flooring material to which walls, tables and the like can be easily and firmly attached. For this deck, that means the tables can be moved around, or even removed entirely, if the passengers so desire.
The yellow railing is important for when Starship is still on Earth or after landing on Mars. When gravity is present, it protects against accidental falls through the passageway. Once in zero-G, passengers may decide to remove it.
Living There
Here’s an image captured by the Curiosity rover on Mars, showing a nearby hillside with some cool rocks and dust, along with mountains in the distance, either within or perhaps at the edge of Gale Crater, largely obscured by dust:
One aspect of going to Mars is how to pay for the trip. Here are a few ideas of things you could do after you arrive that are likely to have economic value:
Mars rocks or dust. This is the obvious one, of course. Unlimited supply, but limited demand. Rocks to be sold should be carefully chosen, and those not selected for research purposes could even polished or tumbled on Mars before taking them back, to maximize “beauty per kg.”
Documentaries. In-depth coverage of the trip and the Martian environment. So many new discoveries, and undoubtedly some awesome things to see. One format might be something like a modern-day Jacques Cousteau. The flight there will be as interesting to many as Mars itself, especially in the early days.
Reality TV, including YouTube and the like. The “life and times” of people traveling to and living on another planet will be interesting and worth watching to many.
TV and movie production. There will be things you can do and see on Mars that just aren't possible on Earth. Could be an amazing location to make certain kinds of shows and movies.
Sports. With 38% of the gravity of Earth, you will be able to jump about twice as high. Sports on Mars could be incredible spectacles. Imagine what basketball or a Martian Olympics could look like. Sports is a multi-billion dollar industry on Earth; there's no reason it couldn't produce significant income on Mars.
Gems. We don’t know yet what the full extent of minerals will be like on Mars. We know a little, from things like the Curiosity rover’s pics and from satellite photos. There are many similarities with Earth, but there are differences as well. Gems are a large market on Earth. Finding minerals on Mars that could be made into gems could be very lucrative.
Adventure travel. I don't see Mars becoming a place rich people would want to vacation anytime soon (too risky, too time consuming, not enough luxury). However, adventure travel is a thing. Many people can and do take months of their lives to go on adventures. There's no reason you couldn’t cater to those who enjoy that kind of thing. Much more expensive and much longer, but also the biggest of all possible adventures.
Universities. Go to Mars and get a degree in something Mars-related, like Martian Geology. Return to Earth afterwards and teach and lecture. Demand for knowledge on the Earth side will create demand on the Mars side.
Non-fiction writing. Travel to Mars and write about what you learn, see and do. Start selling books even before you get back, and do paid lectures once you return.
Research. Low gravity. Radiation. Dark skies. Near vacuum. Unusual geology. Agriculture. Health. Biology. Lots of opportunities for research in environments that either aren’t readily available on Earth, or are expensive to maintain here (particularly at scale).
Hospitality to support the above. Hotels, restaurants, apartments, shopping and the like.
For digital exports, I’m imagining a central clearinghouse that could help willing travelers maximize their income through optimized marketing and sales of their product. Something like a combined Agent and Distributor, but designed for the digital space age.
Physical exports will heavily depend on the type and extent of mineral deposits that are eventually found. I don’t think we know enough yet to say exactly what those will be. I do think they’re possible, even likely, though. Some optimization in production may well be needed due to the significant cost of transportation. That might eventually mean building factories or refineries on Mars.
A potential side-effect of Mars becoming a travel destination is that I suspect most of the luggage carried there will end up being left behind when people return. Why spend your limited return mass budget on clothes, for example, when you could take something valuable back instead, like Mars rocks. This phenomenon could produce some interesting local market dynamics.