I see an economic diasater coming...

[triffid]

In 2008 the book "Leaving the Planet by Space Elevator", by Dr. Brad Edwards and Philip Ragan, was published in Japanese and entered the Japanese best seller list.[28] This has led to a Japanese announcement of intent to build a Space Elevator at a projected price tag of a trillion yen (£5 billion/ $8 billion). In a report by Leo Lewis, Tokyo correspondent of The Times newspaper in England, plans by Shuichi Ono, chairman of the Japan Space Elevator Association, are unveiled. Lewis says: "Japan is increasingly confident that its sprawling academic and industrial base can solve those [construction] issues, and has even put the astonishingly low price tag of a trillion yen (£5 billion/ $8 billion) on building the elevator. Japan is renowned as a global leader in the precision engineering and high-quality material production without which the idea could never be possible."[27]  So maybe japan will have the first space elevator on earth? triffid

[triffid]

If we can build now for the moon can we also build one for MARS? With the material we already have?
triffid

[triffid]

Building the Martian Lift
Building a Martian lift system, much like the primitive lift that I described earlier in section III could very well make for the rapid exploration of Mars. A single reel of tether with four other anchoring reels to anchor it might cost 10 billion dollars. The effects of such a system at early stages during Mars exploration would be very beneficial. Large pieces of equipment could be moved down to the planet very quickly and cheaply. Bulky life-support and mining equipment could be sent down and a huge city might develop around the base of this elevator. But these are only effects. Actually transporting these materials to Martian orbit, deploying them and bringing in the supplies to use the elevator would cost more than a few hundred billion dollars and, except for the corporation or country that owns the Terran space elevator, it might be all but out of reach.
However, despite all of these monetary problems, the Martian elevator would be fairly simple. The tether and reel system mentioned before would be extremely easy to construct. Just drop the anchors down onto the planet, have the robots place them accordingly and drop a habitat and you're ready to begin.
"Congratulations Gossamer Albatross, you've just become the bridge to the new world."
John Cashly, upon anchoring the Martian elevator, "Landfall, Pt. 1", Kevin Reimund
The Effect Two weeks after the first elevator is constructed on Mars, I imagine that
we could have a habitat for 100 people in a large pressurized dome, air mining, a temporary gas flow (for oxygen/water), exploration via heavy two story rovers and dirigibles. Virtually any type of heavy equipment from a large jet engine mining water and oxygen from the atmosphere to a fleet of nuclear reactors could be deposited on Mars and moved. First, I imagine that we would need to create a human presence. A small habitat for 5 people could be lowered down to the surface and these 5 people would supervise the deposit of all materials, then, a temporary shelter for 30 would be erected while automated robots were at work creating a dome habitat. Eventually, after two weeks, about the time it takes to drop off two loads, we could have a permanent human base ready to begin the exploration, colonization and eventual terraforming of Mars.  http://www.redcolony.com/art.php?id=0308290     triffid

[triffid]

Why colonize Mars? Its worth a lot of money!!!! http://www.redcolony.com/features.php?name=whycolonizemars    triffid


Mars is worth a lot of money. There are 144 trillion square meters of surface area, roughly the land area of the Earth, available for development. I'm not going to tell you how great all that land is for residential, commercial, and industrial use... go play Sim City.

There is an abundance of rare metals on Mars such as platinum, gold, silver, and others. Shipping from Mars to Earth, as mentioned above, is much easier than the other way around. Even more promising is the proximity of the asteroid belt to Mars. Dactyl, the moon orbiting the asteroid Ida shown in this picture, is 1.4 kilometers in diameter, yet it contains more iron that the human race has used in its entire existence. These asteroids could be mined near Mars and shipped from the planet for little cost. What we could see develop is a triangle trade route, much like the one in the 18th century between Britain, the West Indies, and America. The economic potential is colossal

[triffid]

The MOON is worth money too!There is real estate to develop also along with precious metals and minerals.We could get started today working on the lunar space elevator.No need to wait 20 years .In 20 years Japan or some other country will have the first working space elevator.If japan can do it for ten billion dollars why can't we?According to Ron Paul the USA spends 3.7 trillion dollars a year.And takes in taxes of 2.2 trillion a year.A trillion is a thousand billion.Take away ten billion from that and the USA still has 990 billion dollar to spend on foreign wars,entitlements,defense,and whatever else.So the USA spends 3700 billion a year anyway.Take ten billion out of that and leaves 3690 billion to spendon foreign wars,entitlements,defense ,and whatever else.So
Ron Paul says new taxes are not the answer congress would spend away any tax increases anyway.He also says that China and other nations are getting wary of buying our debt.