Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Interplanetary base builder

Blast a huge hole in ground from high orbit to make groundwork for planetary base.
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I always heard people talk about building base on Mars. So how they always thinking along of same line of building structures on earth. Collect material, stack them up, and add enforcement. Apparently, everything should be prefabricated on Earth.

I said hell with that, collect some good sized comets or old satellites in the space and send them straight down to the planet. There is little air on that planet. So the impact should be splendid. That should clear a large piece of land. An unmanned robot will then move into the center of impact zone and start digging into loosen surface. After sufficient depth, the robot will inflate a giant balloon on top of itself which will form base. A second or third robot will then collect the dust and loose soil in the site, mix them with cohesive brought from earth into a cement like parse. The parse will then spread on the inflated structure to form a protective layer.

Since the structure will be below surrounding areas, it is not so exposed to the wind. There is no rain on Mars. That should make it last long enough until human can arrive and finish the final work.

This should also work on other solid surface planets or celestial bodies without a corrosive atmosphere like Venus.

bing, Mar 30 2002

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       Wouldn't this seriously screw up the atmosphere?
mcscotland, Mar 30 2002
  

       The thin CO atmosphere that would be full of dust after the strike.
mcscotland, Mar 31 2002
  

       You can hardly have any fun anymore without someone crying about the atmosphere. It's time we start teaching the cosmos a little lesson about who's in charge.   

       Hey, do you think you could use your technology to build me a backyard swimming pool?
spartanica, Mar 31 2002
  

       Less air means shorter time the dust will be suspend in them. Dust got its energy from the energy of air to counteract gravity.
bing, Apr 01 2002
  

       I am now thinking the builder can also be dropped directly into the center of crater using smart weapon technology. That would save all of digging and the robot don't needed to be so smart. It will deploy just like airbags in the car. If we time it right, we might need only spread the cohesive on the inflated structure. The falling dust will form the protective cover. The base can be built with just one robot.
bing, Apr 01 2002
  

       Could you go into detail about the construction of this mighty robot?
thumbwax, Apr 01 2002
  

       I deleted the cow part and the comments related to that. Hope nobody was serious about that.   

       Anyway here is more detail about the constructure robot idea. I scrap the air drop idea since few equipment can possible survive the landing. But the digging and spreading can still be accomplished by one robot. The robot similar to the pathfinder will make a control landing into the crater. Gravity will automatically roll the robot down to the center of crater because that is the lowest point. Once there, robot will alright itself, deflate the outer airbag and inflate base structure. The structure will be built like an umbrella covering the bottom of crater. After inflation, the drill bits on the bottom of robot will start drill into surface, the dirt and soils pick up by the drill will be sent up to the center of umbrella and fall down on top of structure. After a hour or some, drill will stop and a layer of cohesive will be sprayed on top of dust deposites. After the spraying, drill will start again, putting new dirt on. The process will repeat until sufficient layers are formed on the top for weather protection.
bing, Apr 02 2002
  

       cool idea - one problem is how to spray the cohesive on the dust
chud, Apr 02 2002
  

       Aw. The cow bit was the best part.
waugsqueke, Apr 02 2002
  

       Is English your first language? Because if it is, I am seriously worried about you; "There aren't much air on that planet" There AREN'T MUCH AIR? Oh come on. That's not even a typo.   

       "There are no rains on Mars" Of course there aren't; it's not a horse. No seriously though, learn the language, okay?   

       "A second or third robot will then collect the dustes" The dustes. The DUSTES?!   

       Oh yes, this is for all of you, it's spelled "centre"
EvilDoctor, Apr 02 2002
  

       I like to thank EvilDoctor taking his precious time to pointing out my grammatical errors. Being evil and a doctor are full time job by themselves, but he has to be both. Yet he found time to defend the integrity of English language against Yankee insolence. I applaud you, EvilDoctor! I corrected the mistakes as him pointed out and hope he will continue to be so ever vigilant in making a world a better place for English language.
bing, Apr 03 2002
  

       Yes, it is Mandarin. I am not offended if someone want to point out my spelling or gramma error. You don't learn if you don't use it.
bing, Apr 03 2002
  
      
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