Is Living on the Moon or Mars a Practical Possibility in the Near Future?

[aquitaine]

I'd like to live on the moon. Some of the Mare regions in the Lowlands look inviting.

 

[Evo]

I've always dreamed of being in a cabin in a mountain wood, next to lake.

Next, deep in the woods in a stone cottage next to a stream or small river.

Third, on an island with temperate climate

In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar regions. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate, rather than extreme hot or cold.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temperateness

 

[sas3]

I am in the upper peninsula of Michigan (yes I am a Yooper now) lots of woods and dark sky's, just love it up here

 

[Danger]

a hundred acres or so, hobbit hole in the middle, cleared space for farming, grains for brewing ales.

Oh, no! Not at all. My home is on a double lot in a town. My grandfather built it in 1911. Back then, it was a small town. (I have a picture of my house when there wasn't another building within 1/4 mile of it.) When I decided that this is where I wanted to live, the population was 850. That was in '65, but I was shanghaied down east for 13 years. When I managed to move here in '78, it was up to 1,200. We're now at approximately 16,000 and growing at an alarming rate. That's great for me, because I can still get to most places with my walker, but have access to big stores and an emergency medical centre that is essentially a small hospital. I used to think that I had a perfect place chosen a couple of miles outside of town, backed into a river bank, but that idea vanished when I lost my driver's license. Besides, that area is now inside of the town limits and surrounded by houses.

I'd like to live on the moon. Some of the Mare regions in the Lowlands look inviting.

Okay, now... I thought that the question referred to currently practical locations. If not, I'd go for Gerry O'Neill's version of an L-5 colony. I love the idea of Larry Niven's ringworld as a project, but it's a little too "terrestrial" for me to live on.

 

[KiwiKid]

I'd happily spend the rest of my days on board of the USS Enterprise. (That's the starship, not the aircraft carrier.)

 

[GregJ]

Quite a few areas in Switzerland have interested me for some time I must say. The mountain range, villages and... well... everything just draws me to it.

Japan in general is quite good, as the country has the weather extremes (some of the best snowboarding in the north during winter and great sunny beaches and surfing in the south during summer). Big city life and super backwoods.

 

[aquitaine]

Okay, now... I thought that the question referred to currently practical locations. If not, I'd go for Gerry O'Neill's version of an L-5 colony. I love the idea of Larry Niven's ringworld as a project, but it's a little too "terrestrial" for me to live on.

In the next few decades it will be practical. In fact there's already a reality TV series that's been proposed about people living on Mars in 2023. If that's possible, why not the moon?

 

[DragonPetter]

I used to live in Norway for a couple years and would love to live there again some day. Beautiful water, woods, and mountains, and an amazing coast line with plenty of mind-blowing fjords.

Oslo is a great blend of international city life with modest, modern, and subtle Norwegian culture and nature, and it has a great view of its fjord. Bergen is my favorite city, and I loved eating fresh caught fish at the market on the harbor and hiking behind the mountain with the gondola. The older people have more respect and place a lot of importance in the younger generations rather than trying to acquire as much wealth and authority as they can in their lifetime.

The summers are very mild and comfortable without A/C and the winters are longer but no worse in extremes than a lot of other places in the world like NY or Chicago. My only complaints are that the long summer days (only dark from 11:30pm to 2:30am) can drive you crazy at night, everything is super expensive and you don't get the kind of selections of products you can get in the US, and things are slightly more inconvenient that I take for granted in the US.

I'm also interested in the pacific northwest, but have never been there. I also really like La Jolla, Ca, Peoria, IL, and Wyoming. Growing up in the Chicago suburbs has really rubbed me the wrong way with long stretches of flat land covered in roads, construction, subdivisions and planned neighborhoods, shopping centers, and factories every where I look.

 

[Astronuc]

A place where plants can grow is sufficient for me, not to mention family and friendly people [can't imagine living alone]. I don't really like cities, especially the ultimate modern lifestyle.. Well, I do, but it won't take me long before I get bored and sometimes depressed..

Astro, you GOT to try to go to the desert.

I've been to a few. Which one did you have in mind? an-Nafud? or Rub' al Khali?

The Sonoran desert is nice, so is the Extremadura and the Patagonian Steppe.

Australia has quite a few from which to choose.

 

[ThomasT]

... there's already a reality TV series that's been proposed about people living on Mars in 2023. If that's possible, why not the moon?

I doubt that anything like that would ever be done. There's just no good reason to colonize Mars or the Moon, afaik.

 

[turbo]

I doubt that anything like that would ever be done. There's just no good reason to colonize Mars or the Moon, afaik.

I hope that there is no drive to colonize South Solon, ME. I love being able to walk my dog on rural roads, encountering the random mink, marten, fisher, fox, etc. It's so nice here (most of the year, weather-wise) that it would be tough to justify a move to anywhere else. We both have older parents that pretty much anchor us here.

When I was a kid, my father used to bring home copies of "Arizona Highways" magazine that an older friend of his subscribed to. It was then that I learned that there were mountainous parts of AZ that had cool weather, snow, etc. Didn't sound too bad.

 

[Danger]

In the next few decades it will be practical. In fact there's already a reality TV series that's been proposed about people living on Mars in 2023. If that's possible, why not the moon?

When I said "currently", I meant "now". I don't have one decade left, let alone "a few". Of course it already is physically possible, but economic practicality is such an ephemeral concept that it can't be predicted. For sure, most governments won't bother; it will be up to the free enterprise system. Even now, that has begun.