JD Vance has some valid questions about space colonies

Recently, Vice President JD Vance appeared on the Joe Rogan podcast for a wide-ranging interview. One of the subjects that came up was space colonies, which is topical, considering the Artemis program and Elon Musk’s dreams of settling Mars.

Vance began his answer with the promising phrase, quoted on X, “One of the things that worries me is that I want humans to be a multiplanetary species. I want us to go to Mars and set up a colony. I love humanity, and I want it to continue.”

However, the vice president had a “but” after that agreement with SpaceX CEO and space visionary Musk, regarding an issue that he has “not heard a satisfactory solution” for. 

“When we’re outside of the Earth’s gravity, our genes — our actual DNA — seems to not function as well when it’s not in Earth-style gravity.”

Vance misstates the time it would take to get to Mars, claiming it would take two years to Mars and two years back. Actually, as Frank Norris, an aerospace engineer and the author of “Colonizing Mars” suggested, it’s more like six months there when Earth and Mars are aligned properly, an 18-month stay and then six months back when the planets are aligned again, using chemical rockets such as the SpaceX Starship.

However, as to the effects on the human body of being “outside of Earth’s gravity,” Vance is on to something, though he is rather vague on the details.

Space is the most hostile environment into which........

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