Book Series
This is an interesting paper estimating the minimum number of people required for a self-sufficient colony on Mars. Using a mathematical model to estimate work time requirements vs. work time capacity, the researchers come up with a surprisingly low number: 110.
In the forthcoming second book of the Generation Mars series, I peg the colony population at around 5000, so I think I’m good there.
Scientific Reports Did a comet explode in Earth’s atmosphere at the end of the Pleistocene?
I’ve been a little concerned that the actions and responsibilities taken on by Cas and Ori in my next Generation Mars book (still a WIP) are beyond what is possible for a six and eight year old. Turns out: nope.
Neal Stephenson, commenting on a bunch of stuff.
Reason.com His comments regarding personal freedom in a Martian colony don’t gel with mine. The social system that I imagine in Generation Mars has a great respect for personal freedom.
However, that is tempered by a level of social responsibility that we would likely find unrecognizable here on Earth.
Dr. Phil Metzger posted an epic 48 tweet thread on Twitter explaining why megaconstellations (e.g. SpaceX’s Starlink) are inevitable, as is their eventual demise as better tech comes online.
Looking at the evolution of life, from single celled organisms to bipedal apes rapidly outgrowing the planet, as the exponential growth of information is a novel (to me at least) approach and provides an interesting perspective.
“I would bet that if we find alien civilizations somewhere else in the galaxy, or in a galaxy far, far away, we will discover that they ALL developed megaconstellations right before they got industry off their planets & divorced their information systems from their biosphere.”
This is wild stuff and well worth a full read.
A brief but inspiring interview with Robert Zubrin:
“… that’s what we need: a place where the rules haven’t been written yet, so people can give new ideas a try. Martian society will be an engine for invention.”
What Scratching the Surface is really about.
background: illustration by Luis Peres for Scratching the Surface
“I want to inspire that first girl who is going to walk on Mars.”
We share the same goal!
“Writing science fiction is a race between the author’s imagination and the progress of science and history.”
“This perfect society we’re striving towards should always be a spot on the horizon, something we’re still moving towards even if it seems like we’ve fixed everything. Utopia is a journey: not the happy ending, but the continued improvement of ourselves.”
This is a near perfect summation of my thoughts regarding Dawn Colony in Generation Mars.
Ut melius faciat! (To do better)
io9 
The UCSB Current 
the Guardian