The first, and also the most futuristic techno-utopian one, is the colonisation of Mars. Elon Musk founded Space X in 2002 (Peter Thiel was the first outside investor) with the idea of re-founding humanity. It’s all there: the call to save humanity by turning it into a multi-planetary species, the desire to start from scratch without the legal constraints of Earth, and the will to break with the established order. As you can read, half-hidden, on the terms and conditions page of the Starlink service owned by Space X:
The parties recognize Mars as a free planet and that no Earth-based government has authority or sovereignty over Martian activities.
Sweet. Build the ship, cram all the nazi aristocrats in, and bon voyage. Let us know how “re-founding of humanity” goes.
with the idea of re-founding humanity
the desire to start from scratch without the legal constraints of Earth
What they are doing is playing the old book of the nazis
I really hope they take as many people as they can. Really.
And I hope they all take the most efficient path to Mars, rather than the fastest. And I hope they send them all in a very short time period, and Musk never bothers to read anything about the hazard of traveling in space outside of our magnetosphere.
I really don’t like to be the “well acktschually” guy but the major constraint for a mars settlement is the availability of water. mars is inhabitable (with the help of technology ofc) wherever there is water, probably it in the form of ice underground. Various research missions are currently mapping that out. Here’s a map from around 2000:
Have you read A City On Mars? It has quite a detailed look at many of the challenges. You’ve pointed to some research relevant to the possible availability of water - which is great, but I think it would be better to say “a major constraint” rather than “the major constraint.”