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Wednesday, July 6, 2005 New Article: A City for Mars A dome on Mars. Credit: Mark Somers If you're familiar with Frank Stratford or his work, you understand how adamant he is about the strength of the private sector in space colonization. His latest article, A City for Mars describes, in detail, "a proposal that may well become a key solution to the long term funding problems of space exploration from the private sector." His article outlines the exact specifications of the first city on Mars, including building plans, a timetable, and a pricetag. Here's a snippet: I propose that a domed city be built on Mars that is able to hold 7500 people and will include a strong commercial sector, shopping areas, hotels, resorts, medical centres, a university, theme parks, swimming areas, parks, residential sectors, a large greenhouse area for food production, a space port nearby for the depature and arrival of tourists and industrial workers, roads leading to mines and a separate industrial sector near those mines. There will also be underground shelters to hold the population in case of dome problems and many other safety systems in place. This city will house 2500 permanent residents and 5000 tourists every day of the year. Enough money has already been wasted by government and private sector on unprofitable space ventures, and now is the time for something new, something that transcends all of these small time efforts and builds on them. It is time for a city to be built on Mars. @ 14:00 EST