Time and time again, people try to solve Mars. They suggest a radical solution, or some neat operating trick, that they claim makes the whole problem of exploration and settlement wildly easier. Many of these people are very smart and many of their ideas are genuinely insightful and unexpected. Unfortunately, in an overwhelming majority of cases, they aren’t helpful. If we could crack Mars open with a clever solution, or design the perfect settlement on paper, we would have done it by now. No – the reason we haven’t solved the problem of Mars yet is that Mars isn’t the kind of problem that has a solution. Yet.
Mars is not a “solutions” problem
