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jharrom t1_j8vot12 wrote

Low gravity and an almost complete vacuum are both huge challenges. Traditional construction of almost all structures on earth are engineered by necessity to compensate, use, and account for much stronger gravity. Add high-pressure liquefied gasses, huge temperature swings unlike anything on Earth, and the additional radiation. You not only have to build and run such a structure under those conditions, you have to use a ridiculous amount of safety precautions and redundant systems to guarantee the system won't fail catastrophically.

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FlingingGoronGonads OP t1_j8xf4ud wrote

All true (though the proposal is for gaseous oxygen), which is why a long pipeline at the south polar site seems strange to me. Even if the O2 production must be done at a fair distance from the habitat, I'm wondering why it can't be buried in regolith over most of its length, which would partially mitigate some of the issues you mention, not to mention providing protection from meteorites.

OTOH, if you can learn to manage the issues you're identifying here at this site, you do open up a lot of the solar system (asteroids, moons of Mars, airless bodies generally)...

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