Agreed. Wish he went more into the tunnel infrastructure. There's a lot there to talk about. I recommend Kim standly Robinsons book Red Mars. He dose a good job at going over the construction scenes which is really interesting. It's quiet out dated tho. Kinda wish he would write a short novel with updated science. But that book was way more political than anything else so I doubt he will revisit and rewrite.
I kinda did a short game that's set on a lunar lava tube. The idea was that the first colonists would build inflatable labs , and then build a concrete-like substance out of lunar regolith to reinforce the tunnels.
When Musk bought the company 5 years ago, I immediately knew it was meant for boring tunnels on Mars. Same goes for the cars: electric vehicles for on Mars, SpaceX: rockets and space ships for Mars. Everything he does has the long view in mind.
And mining companies. Get good at that so when you go to Mars you already know how. I'm surprised he hasn't talked about using the boring machine to dig down to mining deposits on earth. Maybe our other systems are just fine and the market is cornered.
I dont think Mars was Tesla's focus for EVs initially. Nor Boring tunnels. But I think it's something that can be applied. Also Elon didn't BUY the Boring company. He created it
@@paulmichaelfreedman8334 That doesn't mean that's the inspriation for the boring company. I've been wanting to go to Mars since the 1980s. Can you point me to something that he said that was the inspiration for going to Mars? I''ve only seen the need to destroy "soul crushing" traffic in California as an impetus.
yes dreams are easier than reality , in dreams your not stuck in a shipping container sized habitat for life with a slow lingering death from a variety of reasons .
@@reasonerenlightened2456 & Or Set up Satilites Send 1 or 2 TBM {Tunnel Boring Machines} in segments, use the very delayed wifi to control robots to Assemble the tbm's slowly, & Keep doing that till the close of the lava tube etc....not easy, but not impossible.
I thought of this when I heard about the Boring Company in the beginning. I had thought of using a kind of loader that would scoop out a flat foundation, melt the scooped up dirt, and lay it back into the scooped area as a glassy, insulative foundation.
I think such a system was already worked out in detail in the 1980s or 1990s. Would take a nuclear reactor to provide the energy needed to continuously melt regolith. Luckily, SMR provides a cheap, safe, portable solution (Small modular Reactors). If they can get that process to work with Thorium it would be even better.
Figure the energy required to melt surface rock. It will take a temperature of about 1200 deg. C. Which would require a lot more than a few giant solar farms to melt to melt, say, several kilometres/day. More like several huge nuclear plants.
@@edwardcoulter9361 An SMR can deliver 300MWe continuously and fits in a 20ft shipping container. That's some serious power output and should be ample to melt regolith at an acceptable pace.
The rock boring machines doesn’t need to be shiped directly from earth to mars. Instead you could ship them in pieces to the moon, assambled them there and then ship to Mars. NASA also plans for future missions to assamble a huge station on the moon. And consider that: Only the first boring and mining machines needs to be assambled on earth. All future ones should been directly made on mars, with insitu-materials once an underground factory is assambled. What really matters are the blueprints and the knowledge how certain materials react in different enviroments, what you partially explains in this video.
Nasa is right in aiming for the Moon. Build them on the Moon and use them there first. Habitats, all kinds of Science facilities and Industrie need to happen there first, that would save lifes and money. Make all mistakes in our backyard and then aim for Mars.
For those who take the time to read all of the below: So much innovative thinking generated by this video ... It's great when good minds think positively ... This is how 'something' is born ... Great job by so many who contributed here, and for the most part, with 'respect' to each of the contributors. A good example for all to follow.
I've come to the conclusion that everything Musk does is to reach his goal of a self-sustaining civilization on Mars. Yes, the boring machines on Mars could be useful, for transportation, habitats and mining. You point out that a boring machine has a mass of 1200 tons, meaning that a Boring machine on Mars would be assembled on Mars from earth supplied parts. Perhaps this will do for the first couple of Boring Machines, but not efficient. There is another way, a necessary way, to get to self-sustenance on Mars. Don't ship equipment, built it. I'm sure you've heard variations of the Tesla Giga factories are the Tesla product. With higher and higher vertical integration, the Tesla factories at their limit get resources shoveled in one end and products come out the other end. How could you do this on Mars? Tesla Bot will be the solution, being able to work on the surface of Mars without a pressure suit. At a minimum, Musk will start flights in 2024/6 to Mars, and the first flights will have Tesla bots and equipment to start the Sabatier process. Without the Sabatier process established on Mars, there is no return flight with a Starship. Only later can human flight to Mars start in 2028/9.
@@MyKharli I thought that seeing a rocket land on its butt was impossible. Would you care to share the dozens of reasons why a self-sustaining Mars colony is impossible?
@@MyKharli once it rains fish can survive mars nature - melt large amounts of ice with reflectors, water absorbs dust and radiation as heat, boiloff be greenhouse insulation and atmospheric pressure
It is totally unknown if low gravity pregnancy causes issues or deformation. Before entering the a 3 century project to create a habitable Mars how about the most basic of research if it is even possible without issues to have children on a low-gravity planet. If this is not the case (and I did no hear a 100% no answer on this from anyone on that question) then why bother at all? A moon habitat has all the same issues as Mars minus sandstorm + better output for solar panels + shorter distance + only a ping of 2 seconds - at least those people can communicate with earth and their relatives and check websites on the internet (with the right communication satelites)
@@usamat3297 1/ low gravity 2/ radiation 3/ impossible without constant ultra expensive unreliable resupplies . 4/there is no such thing as a self sustaining biosphere outside of earth or ever recreatable on earth in an enclosed building . 5/ we are clearly delusional thinking we are a space fairing species , we are barely out of the chimpanzees with guns stage ..just look at politics !! 6 /the unproven ability to land human rated space craft on mars / 6 there is no way humans can manage those living conditions without going mad whatever those nonsence cgi presentations show .7 no reason to go there /8 if your are as tech savvy as you think then read the latest ipcc report and tell me where were getting the time to get any of this done ..there are still DOZENS more reasons ..look them up !
6:42 - 7:01 This is something I've been waiting to hear for a while ! up till now, I've only heard 1 youtuber talk about this centrifuge idea. I think it's the biggest 'hard to solve problem' for permanent habitation. As mentioned in this great video, there are lots of big challenges but more answers for them. (i was expecting the image to be different, as i imagined it as like a train on a circular tube track, and the train banks towards the center as the speed increases.)
Great plan but the details are going to be fun to work out. We know little about the nature of the soil and we don't know what we will use in place of concrete to support tunnel walls. So I'm sure that we will use tunnels on Mars but the exact nature and extent is yet to be developed.
to paraphrase from the movie the Martian. We are going to science the shit out of this. We will solve one problem, and then the next, and then the next. And if you solve enough problems, eventually you get to live on Mars.
the crisis is about greedy banksters doing what they always do. we do need to escape them to thrive. like the original american colonies. sadly this corrupt system is way past reform. so it is time to cut bait and start over. the technorati like musk figured this out already. its a race against collapse vs setting up another colony before its too late thats why their hurry. clock is ticking....btw trust no main stream media all concocted...no real value.
Yeah I can see tunnels being used to connect other underground colonies. But I can also see Tesla investing into 3D printing Boring machines so they don't have to carry an entire machine to Mars.
For a large sustainable present on Mars you will need the same infrastructure that you have on Earth. Which means mining, smelting metals, and other base materials. Then you just need to send the plans to make the machines to build your new world. I would think for all that you will need lots of energy and I would guess that it would be small nuclear plants and not solar panels... Small N plants that could be built into a dedicated SS's and after landing on Mars they could ready to go after connecting to the new grid. It will take a monumental effort that's for sure.
I'm sure that most of the rocket's are intended to return to Earth. But there's bound to be some failures that end up crashing, which they can salvage and re-purpose. Plus I'm sure that they will be using whatever minerals and such that they displace while boring.
Boring company developed an advanced, efficient and cheaper method to dig tunnels. What you do with that tunnel is up to you. Use it for subway/metro/water/sewage/parking/storage/emergency bunker/vending kiosks/Restrooms. Whatever you want that space to be. Their core business is to make cost per mile for digging as low as possible while keeping safety paramount. As an engineer I appreciate the initiative and creativity of Boring company.
The one fly in the ointment is water. Even a relatively small nuclear reactor requires a lot of water. While there is some evidence of large pockets of frozen water on Mars, it is far from certain. It would also be nice if the breakthroughs in sold state batteries, graphene and super conductors come through. I wish I was 40 years younger so I could live to see it. A million people off planet is a good insurance policy in case we destroy the earth.
Would it be unthinkable to find a few big chunks of ice, strap a few small rockets to them, and crash them into the surface? I mean, we are talking about setting up an underground colony on another planet....
Antarctica is a global reserve...it pretty much holds all our water 💧 well near all our water is on Antarctica I should say. Also water is also presumably already on Mars, granted not as much as earth but still a great amount as well as Mars having much better access to not only Martian resources but also Ceres as well as the belts natural abundance of minerals (water included). Basically Colonising Mars is both a humanitarian mission aswell as an excellent future business model for his young children to heir upon, provided they share daddy musks intelligent aspirations.
We'll still need glass domes for the same reason we use them on Earth, growing plants. The atmosphere of Mars is sufficient to stop the small grain-sized metrorites, and larger ones are rarer. A TBM may be useful long-term, but if you're transporting heavy machinery a traditional backhoe and other earthmoving machines would be more immediately useful.
Not really....Plants can be grown hydroponically under artificial light. Musk's brother owns a company that's experimenting with growing that way.....Also light reflected with mirrors can be piped down underground to farms and habitats. The nice thing about doing that as apposed to a dome is you can Earth levels of illumination. On sunlight on the surface only about half as bright as Earth. At the same time it's very easy to filter out unneeded UV and IR parts of the spectrum. Either way artificial light or concentrated with mirrors, Martians living underground could theoretically have a lower radiation exposure than we do on the surface of Earth.
@@THX..1138 In your world no one starves or goes without water because they can just x y z , cant you see the difference between what's possible and what can actually happen !!!
I've read proposals for mylar bubbles inflated by the air pressure. That would have much lower mass than a glass dome. Even in a total decompression event, the collapse could be quite slow and gentle.
starship- payload delivery system The boring company + hyperloop - tunnel networks on mars solar roof - power generation Cybertruck - martian exploration vehicle Neurolink- performance enhancement At least that would be my guess.
I wonder if a Starship could launch a Boring machine from the Moon. Honestly I think they just need to transport one of them in pieces and having start to dig the tunnels. It will find resources, and we'll use those resources to build more. Call it a Horta.
Good idea! But I wonder if they couldn't just assemble it into say 4 separate parts while in Earth's orbit, each being big enough to just fit inside one full cargo Starship. These would be *specially designed Boring Machines* scaled down to fit a smaller type transport pod (let's say only 8' in diameter instead of 12') and without the sections that install the tunnel liner as they go (slower, yes, but then the early missions would not be for extremely long tunnels anyway so much less need for speed). Given all these modifications they should be able to shrink a Boring Machine down to be much smaller and lighter (at least the early versions), possibly being made of more lightweight material like titanium or magnesium alloy (considering the much lower gravity on Mars, possibly much less stress on the parts, idk ;?). This might work if they could get the machine reduced in size/weight such that each section only weighs about 250 tons or less - remembering that the lower gravity of Mars, only 37.83% (or about 1/3) that of Earth's, which works out to LESS THAN 100 TONS per section and is within the current Starship's capabilities ;?). While no engineer, I'm fairly certain that these Mars-specific Boring machines could easily come in under 1,000 tons each and would be INVALUABLE for reduction of labor and much faster construction of underground habitations. There's also the potential that the Martian soil could be mixed with some compound to make building blocks, just as Earth Boring Machines do (although more complex) - considering weigh reduction requirements, this would be a separate machine that would simply follow behind, "cleaning up" after the borer. These would then be used in the wall liner to stabilize tunnel walls and also for building structures within the lava tunnels. Well that's my take, probably not alone in this thinking, but is it possible?
@@russell2449 Many options here, I agree. They could launch the sections into orbit from Earth, assemble it in orbit, then transport it to either Luna or Mars. The question will be whether a Starship would be able to handle the load on a landing like that on Luna or Mars. If not, they could partially assemble it and then make the final assembly easier on the surface.
@@TotalGrowthInvesting I wonder if they could design an interplanetary TUGBOAT, lol, something like 2 or 3 cargo Starships linked together, designed to tow objects that are too large to fit inside a single one. Hmmmm, well not sure how they'd get it down to the surface, lol, yeah probably have to wait on that idea until they create the Deimos Space Elevator, lol. BUT the tugboat idea might work for objects that are meant to stay in Mars orbit, like building a space station where freight could be dropped off so that fuel could be saved for return flights to Earth (meaning such a cargo Starship could either carry a bit more cargo or get to and from a bit faster ;?).
@@russell2449 Once something is in orbit, the delta-V would be reasonable for a single Starship. They would just set up the solar orbit mechanics to match the engine power.
As soon as the boring company launched, I immediately got this theory, that Elon just started refining the tunneling technology to use for his lifetime endeavor. I wholeheartedly believe that we're going to see the first operational "technical" martian base by 2030. What a time to be alive!
underground is cheaper and safer when it comes to planet colonization. and im talking about the safety of the electronic equipment. we colonized earth from the underground caves.
Exactly! When humans had a mostly empty planet to live on, they lived in caves - ready made habitats.. Mars has even more and larger caves and we can pick and choose.. I'd like them to find a big cave in the wall of the noctis labyrinthus canyons myself.. :)
I actually believe we should be building large underground Cities here, the moon and Mars!! Here we could turn mountains into large massive cities!! Just like the Dwarves do in LOTR we could have in the center of the city a large cylinder that goes all the way the the surface of that mountain to let the sunlight in and down the cylinder that has reflective material to bounce that light lighting up the city for daytime!! Then on the roof of the mountain we could place lights to simulate 🌟 during night
I think bore the tunnels and insert an inflatable form fitting bag habitat. It can be a flexible mesh skin on the outside with layers of protection against the elements. The bag contains circuitry and the plumbing in the skin and modular living abd tech can be added later inside.
lava flows on earth are also where you would find gems, crystals, metals etc etc etc.... elon has been working on his boring machines too... he is aiming to speed them up... since they are so slow right now. if that helps... i'm not sure if the target is 7 miles an hour or if that has been achieved yet. our initial tunnels will probably be trenches or surface crafted structures... personally the idea of trenches is best in my opinion, because the more you dig the more you can cover the ones you already have, inflatable habitats in trenches that have concrete caps covered in soil dug from additional trenches... that could eventually be used for the transit system would make sense to me. so the construction/home building machines would be in charge of making the support structures to handle the pressure of the soil on top of the trenches turning them into tunnels... i mean its' easier to make bricks than it is to make a home right? air locks installed to pressurize them... the only real issue i see thou is that with less gravity it would mean allot more soil would be needed to cover them to make sure the pressure didn't pop the tunnels.... thou i mean we have boring machines that put concrete tunnel segments into place to protect and make the tunnels.... so maybe those bricks will be of the proper shape to be used as that... and use multiple layers?? bonded together to help with that? eh its a bit much to think about for a non engineer but thought i'd throw that in :D peace
I've seen this movie, "Battle Beneath the Earth" 1967. The Chinese attempt to invade the US with boring machines under the Pacific. I have it in my library.
LOTS of advantages to building the first Mars colony at the deepest part of the huge canyon. Higher atmospheric pressure, less radiation, underground ice/water, etc.
I like elon Musk and his companies, however, the Boring company is not a company I like. Digging tunnels at a fast pace is all good, but once they're built, please, just put a metro in it. what is the point of a bunch of small pods other than them looking cool. It's so inefficient and would require far more resources (which will already be incredibly scarce on Mars), to build, all the while being less efficient. Just build a metro for the love of god.
Trains don't make sense except in the most densely populated cities, and even then they provide at best moderate energy efficiency compared to electric cars - at a huge cost of wasted time for people. The real question is how much it will cost to dig tunnels. With cheap labor from Teslabots I expect the cost will become so low that it will make no sense to build trains when we can just build more and more tunnels to deal with any quantity of traffic required. And of course especially in a place like Mars where there isn't really any soil, we're going to need to source large amounts of finely crushed rock anyway to start the process of producing soil - so we can get that from digging tunnels, providing more living space and transportation routes while providing the raw materials we will need to build and manufacture things.
About time this Musk conclusion is talked about...It has been obvious for a long time...doh! Musk has never spoken crap or acted upon without a reason. All you have to do is listen, reason and add to understand his visions. May he have continued success...buy his products!
On their website the Boring company has a rendering of one segment of a two segment prufrock machine being transported to and from the job site with a 9 axle Tesla Semi, so aspirationally I think a machine much lighter than 1100 tons is envisioned. In the US an 18 wheeler has a 40 ton total weight limit so a 2 segment machine should easily be within the limits of a single starship. A 3 segment machine could likely be carried. And the segmentation would be desirable to aid unloading from starship. The rendering suggests Prufrock is being designed with transportation on a single Starship anticipated.
Everything Elon works on and develops all work together so well. From his factory workers being robots in the future, to his transports being self driving vehicles… and of coarse the boring company like you’re saying.
This time what went on in Vegas will not stay in Vegas!! I met both Britney Spears and Elon Musk early in 2000 at Bellagio. Britney just stared at me as she was singing on stage and I was standing in an archway above and nearby. I'm not sure if I was supposed to be standing up there by myself but I did have her undivided attention. A few days later Elon came up to me and started asking me questions about what I was doing there, in Hawaii and Las Vegas during that time. Would I be fine answering a few questions and if I was a gambling man? I stated, "I was on vacation and I only like to bet on things that are worth betting on!" I had earned these trips by qualifying reward points at my work. He asked, "What kind of work is it that you do?" I said, "Commercial energy saving promotions but I had been schooled in Automotive Marketing Business Administration and worked in that field for several years as well." He asked me, "If I had millions of dollars to spend what would be the most innovative businesses that could help humanity?" We talked about electric cars, we talked about solar energy and so many other subjects for over an hour. Even commercial space exploration for the consideration of colonization. That way all of humanity's eggs are not in one basket in case of another world war, asteroid strike, major climate change, etc. These we're very expensive and ambitious businesses to become successful at. Therefore we had to talk about ways of keeping a low overhead in advertising, distribution and the manufacturing. He said, "They were all very good ideas and that they should be done!" He said he had already made hundreds of millions off of a couple internet companies he started. "One of them was PayPal," he stated. Not that I had really done a lot of online banking or e-transfers at that time I didn't think much of it, until I noticed online about a year later that I could buy something off the computer with my PayPal card! Unfortunately I had just received a promotion as regional manager with the company I was working with. This made me let Elon know that I had to wait for a few years before I could assist further. I keep on sending out messages, hoping that he will get one and reply back. I will probably have to keep on trying, he gets more messages in a day then I would in five years! It is very inspiring to me to have a conversation with someone and they dedicate the next 20 years to making our conversation reality! We also talked about becoming your own best supplier and starting businesses that help your existing business. A type of slingshot effect that he has incorporated very well. It is so ambitious and amazing that he was willing to put pretty much all of his money where his mouth is and just make it happen with a consistent dedication. Congratulations Elon and I am looking forward to working with you again, one day in the near future! I still come up with innovative business ideas on a daily basis. Of course Britney I always wish her well and would enjoy meeting her again as well! Shoot for the Moon then Mars and then we will end up amongst the Stars! If you would like to learn more of these topics let me know. People with integrity expect to be believed otherwise they let time prove them right! propower101@hotmail.com
Maybe they could just have a dome made out of metal, or covered by dirt ,no glass. Then have cameras on the outside of the domes that send live feed to massive TVs covering the inside sky of the dome to simulating the feeling of a glass dome. The cameras would probly get dust on them all the time so maybe they use like tiny air tubs to clean them. -If you think that's a good idea leave a like IDK. -probly way more problems with this idea.
Why? Earthers spend most of their time indoors anyway. Vast spaces can be quickly carved w honeycomb tunnel excavation collapsed w Project Plowshare Gnome-type nuclear explosives. Instant cities, reservoirs, preserves. Finding lava tubes in the right places is optimistic - borers the norm.
@@andstufforsomefin628 Define 'indoors'. Is a cave the size of a football stadium filled w lakes, forests, herds considered indoors? Plenty of work to do on the surface. Suits/skinsuits w conventional outerwear will be less and less intrusive. Ever wear a snowmobile suit?
@@ottovonottsville476 true,. But the whole point of a dome is for there to be an indoor environment that can simulate the conditions on earth or even better than earth. I think the purpose of the dome on mars is for there to be a place for the scientist, builders, and other workers on mars to go after a long day of work to not just stay alive, but to feel at home , while adding the effect of you being on mars . Which is why I suggested the tv dome thingy in my first comment. I just wonder what Elon will come up with next
@@xiphactinusaudax1045 “Predator” wore an exoskeleton suit something similar to one I think will ultimately be developed for Martians. However there will always be a boundary within which Martians would like to be buck-naked. For “suited” hyperloop travellers, the existing mars atmosphere is fine. For stricken travellers trapped in these hyperloops, emergency pods will keep them alive until help arrived. For a “naked” human, an atmosphere of ½ bar & 30% O₂+ 70% N₂ is the lower comfort limit for extended periods. Possibly N₂ might be more difficult to produce than O₂ on Mars & a different diluent would have to be found.
You would want to seal off some big sections tho, ones just inside the big airlock to the surface... Pressurize them to a minimum with CO2 from outside, so you don't really care about slow leaks.. That way you have large hangars to work on Starships etc, without pressure suit and regolith issues.. workers would wear winter clothes and a breather.. :)
I said it was for mars and the moon from the beginning. The problem is that the tunnel borer is and needs to be a heavy piece of machinery. Even broken down into the smallest possible sections, when it goes out the side of a mostly empty of fuel Starship 120 ft up onto the elevator mechanism, the whole rocket will tip over. There will need to be another type of lander for heavy multi ton machinery.
It’s not going to happen, it’s way too heavy and makes bo sense at all, other companies including nasa have been working on composite materials to make a quicker/lighter build on the surface.
The best underground urban civilization was the opinion of Mr. Musk. If the automated mining industry has been established, as a business, high pay jobs would be posted for human applicants sequentially. Then the civilization would be expedited with humans with true trust. Appreciate sharing the insight with trust.
For Mars usage, you dont actually think they would build the boring machine using the same heavy materials as they do for use on earth, do you? They could build it today using carbon fiber composite and the final weight would be less than 100 metric ton. And since graphene is out of the lab, in the future they can build it even lighter and much stronger. Imagine.
@@davaguco Yeah. If we need to bore, we can just make the machines on mars since we'd already have a lava tube colony, or at least we'd have better concepts that need to weigh less
@@davaguco Well, where are you going to get the oxygen/air for a lava tube 100' wide, and miles long? A tunnel is a much more manageable volume to fill & use.
You don’t need to send complete tbm’s! Firstly, you need huge amount of power, to be able to transfer iron ore into parts. Secondly, you must be able to prospect certain materials: never ship if it’s already there. Probably, the tough claws, and all micro electronics must be shipped. As imagined in James Blish sci-fi novel, silicon/ germanium will replace gold as precious metal (after all, what’s the good use for gold anyway)
Yes this is the best concept for mars. I was even thinking just trenching to make use of the solar energy transfer through ceilings but underground/semi-underground is the most viable option
Finally! Someone has addressed the gravity problem. The centrifuge checks a lot of points. Maybe could go something like this. Get to Mars you go into the centrifuge for X time from being out of Earth's gravity. Then back in every so often to keep the body up. Now we can colonize Mars. With out this I saw no way we could ever live on Mars. Now I can see man living and thriving. AWESOME
Would living underground affect people mentally, though? I mean, I feel like it wouldn't affect me personally, and I bet most people would agree that's how they feel, but I've heard there are some psychological effects of this. Does anyone know anything about this? Would working above ground help with this? Would we have artificial windows on the top of the lava tubes broadcasting areas of the surface just to make people see the surface?
One thing to concider is that the further down we drill the denser it gets (higher pressure). I don't know how far down we would need to go but I believe it could equate to Earth's atmosphere pressure.
I think if you drill a vertical shaft 5 miles down and produce "Pure Oxygen" at the bottom of it you could maintain a pressure of around 3.5 lbs and produce enough heat to have a comfortable Suitless Environment, but you would most likely need to wear a filter mask to keep Particulates out of your lungs.
@@alanmay7929 The best material to bring to Mars is the material you don't need to bring to Mars. Digging allows for basically an endless creation of (living) space with minimal additional materials. Since you need radiation protection as well as protection from (micro)meteorites digging is the only viable way to go, anyhow.
No boring machine used by companies on earth for digging tunnels on earth is going to be practical to take to Mars. Anything taken to Mars would be a very different design from what is used on earth. Every kilo/pound put into orbit & sent into deeper space is very expensive to do. That results in very different designs. Example; the electric cart used by NASA on the Moon was very different from a typical golf cart used on earth. Weight is a major difference.
If you wanted to bring a boring machine to mars you would probably want to custom design a more lightweight version with carbon composite or aluminum for the body.
He is too blind talking about tunnel on mars forgetting the gigantic mass of a TBM. Other companies have been working on composite materials structures for mars already
Possibly - but it's also worth remembering that Mars has much lower gravity so regardless of material used a boring machine for Mars will likely weigh much less than a boring machine for Earth.
It will blow my mind more when we start to do this. When the first person goes to sleep in a bed in a habitat in a lava tube somewhere on the moon or mars I'll think 'how great we are, we humans'
I think it much more likely that a Boring machine would be used on a asteroid or comet. Dig a hole at the right spot, put an Ion drive inside and place the item into a La Grange orbit. Or put a mining habitat inside the hole and toss packages towards Earth. AFA Mars, make an inflatable dome with airlocks on Earth, send it to Mars, place it on prepared ground, inflate it and cover it with Mars version of gunite. Once the gunite cures like concrete. You have an instant shelter. ... liked your vid
There was a quote from an interview, that Elon judges every decision on whether it makes it quicker to live on mars or farther away. it is definitely his life goal
Elon have knowledge, intelligence and creativity at a level most people cant imagine. He have goal to build a human colony at Mars. So the boring company is a part of that plan. It can probably be made much lighter. Another possibility is to use very long and straight tunnels as cannons to send cargo to orbit with a cheaper method. Especially on Mars. But maybe even at earth from high mountains.
Great video. As you suggest the boring machines can be used for expansion of existing caves, and tunnels. So the boring machines can come later or a bit at a time. On a different tact. Musks other efforts also tie in nicely. Earthlink for communication, robots - workforce, AI for brainpower, management. Neuralink for human-machine efficiency, solar/batteries for power, tiny home tech for Mars space requirements, driverless conveyance- material distribution. He does these to create new tech and earth bound revenue. Mars is loaded with rare metals. Turism...
It does.. but access to the surface is so useful, they would need the bulk of the base 'just inside the cave door' as it were... Besides, you want a restaurant and nightclub built into the cave mouth, with mega windows with a view (to break up the underground dwelling feel of enclosed space... :)
I'm not so sure about the Prufrock boring machine allegedly weighing 1200 tons. The Boring Company website shows the Prufrock being trucked into jobsites. Even oversized loads rarely exceed 100 tons.
I've been saying that the TBM was for Mars for awhile. Pretty much ever business he has created will benefit Mars. Solar panels, the battery storage, the Tesla phone Pi (when it comes out), space link for internet. All of it will be deployed for the colony Musk wants to build on Mars.
I've been suggesting this idea for almost 4 years now ;?) They need to load up a couple of specially designed Boring machines, send them over on a couple of Starships, set them up to drill down into some of the largest lava tubes on Mars, and that's how you quickly build a MASSIVE underground colony, or Bob's your uncle as they say ;?)
@@DZ-yk2ew Put a sock in it Bubbah, you know nothing, the future is wide open and there's definitely going to be an attempt to colonize Mars, sooner or later, and I'm BETTING ON SPACEX AND ELON MUSK, not some know-nothing like you, now go away, smfh.
Plenty of large caves connect to the surface already... I feel the boring machines would be more phase 2 - connecting habitats built in natural caves with transport tunnels.... In situ resource utilization as it were... :)
When in the Apollo era of our space program,when problem came along,all of the PHDs worked the problem,really quickly,but, eventually. Imagine what we could REALLY do out there!
Yes. For those of us with atypical neurology, it was a fairly obvious thing. People aren't going to tunnel under their major cities right now. The regulatory environment alone is prohibitive. So, why "waste" time and money on air-tight (a total tip-off) double-sealed tunnel R&D? Because you think you'll need it. Good video.
Everything Elon is doing will be for Mars. The Boring Company. The solar tech. The starlink internet. The tesla vehicles. The tesla bot. Even neuralink.
The Boaring Co. Tunneling machines are used where existing infrastructure is present and the only way to make a tunnel is to dig beneath roads and buildings. On another planet without any infrastructure a simple trench and cover system is vastly simpler and faster.
@@heartflame503 5 to 10 years. To develop equipment, test it, launch it, deploy it remotely... nah man. Not sure if you're aware of this but construction equipment like a TBM isn't what I'd call "lightweight" launching multiple ships will be required. Not to mention those types of machines have to be maintained. So unless they devise a way for other machines to perform such tasks people will have to go with the equipment. It also will have to be assembled on site as well. Usually TBMs are lowered by crane into a large open pit. So that'll have to happen prior to use. Or somehow have it inch into the side of a cliff or whatever. Much more than 5 years
@@antonisautos8704 :-) you forget its an Elon company.. 5 years is plenty of time for them. The boring machines are already going to be automated maybe they already are. (Prufrock was supposed to be.). MarsBoring Machines wont be sent till at least 2031 that's almost 10 years away. that's 5 generations of innovation for Elon companies. LOL they will probably be transformer robots that can deploy themselves and drill and compose a Mars sonata while they are at it! BTW Optimus prototype is expected to be ready by the end of the year !
Likely mentioned in the 1000 comments below but we must remember the boring machine sent to Mars could likely be build of much lighter materials other then the cutting face and structure needed to withstand the rigors of torsion. Possibly mostly titanium, aluminum and magnesium. Very modular and possibly very reconfigurable. Don't forget there are all kinds of tunneling machines just as adaptable to Mars. Look at Road Headers etc.
Thanks for this fantacy ride on Mars ... And under it! 😁. U've quite interestingly given this fantasy trip as much realistic tone as u can 👌🏼👏. It jells well with the known physics of Mars regolith. Thanks again.
You don't actually need to carry the whole Boring Machine to Mars at all, a Starship could take a Disassembled or Modular Prufrock into orbit then send it to mars in Pieces like how we send Rovers. Twelve Launches of One Starship makes more sense.
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This was the most informative and intelligent video about Mars as human habitat that I have seen on TH-cam.
Subscribed
Agreed. Wish he went more into the tunnel infrastructure. There's a lot there to talk about. I recommend Kim standly Robinsons book Red Mars. He dose a good job at going over the construction scenes which is really interesting. It's quiet out dated tho. Kinda wish he would write a short novel with updated science. But that book was way more political than anything else so I doubt he will revisit and rewrite.
Yours is actually the 1st discussion I've seen to address lava tubes; good job! Thanks for opening up the topic for discussion!
I kinda did a short game that's set on a lunar lava tube. The idea was that the first colonists would build inflatable labs , and then build a concrete-like substance out of lunar regolith to reinforce the tunnels.
None of this is gonna happen until there is a quantum leap in propulsion and off world energy production
I totally agree; have been assuming this was the case for years; thanks for putting some more substance behind the theory!
When Musk bought the company 5 years ago, I immediately knew it was meant for boring tunnels on Mars. Same goes for the cars: electric vehicles for on Mars, SpaceX: rockets and space ships for Mars. Everything he does has the long view in mind.
And mining companies. Get good at that so when you go to Mars you already know how. I'm surprised he hasn't talked about using the boring machine to dig down to mining deposits on earth. Maybe our other systems are just fine and the market is cornered.
I dont think Mars was Tesla's focus for EVs initially. Nor Boring tunnels. But I think it's something that can be applied.
Also Elon didn't BUY the Boring company. He created it
@@jonathanwiliams4993 Musk has been wanting to colonize Mars since 2004/5
@@paulmichaelfreedman8334 That doesn't mean that's the inspriation for the boring company. I've been wanting to go to Mars since the 1980s. Can you point me to something that he said that was the inspiration for going to Mars? I''ve only seen the need to destroy "soul crushing" traffic in California as an impetus.
@@jonathanwiliams4993 No, Mars was the inspiration for creating the boring company.
Hehehe, been dreaming up that Mars tunnel colony for years, got tons of design ideas for it, glad to see someone bring it up! 😇
yes dreams are easier than reality , in dreams your not stuck in a shipping container sized habitat for life with a slow lingering death from a variety of reasons .
I feel the same way
All you need is about 5 billion workers sent to Mars. They will dig the tunnels and will fertilise the land.
@@MyKharli plenty of people are already signed up to go. Even on a one way trip
@@reasonerenlightened2456 & Or Set up Satilites
Send 1 or 2 TBM {Tunnel Boring Machines} in segments,
use the very delayed wifi to control robots to Assemble the tbm's slowly,
& Keep doing that till the close of the lava tube etc....not easy, but not impossible.
I thought of this when I heard about the Boring Company in the beginning. I had thought of using a kind of loader that would scoop out a flat foundation, melt the scooped up dirt, and lay it back into the scooped area as a glassy, insulative foundation.
I think such a system was already worked out in detail in the 1980s or 1990s. Would take a nuclear reactor to provide the energy needed to continuously melt regolith. Luckily, SMR provides a cheap, safe, portable solution (Small modular Reactors). If they can get that process to work with Thorium it would be even better.
Figure the energy required to melt surface rock. It will take a temperature of about 1200 deg. C. Which would require a lot more than a few giant solar farms to melt to melt, say, several kilometres/day. More like several huge nuclear plants.
@@edwardcoulter9361 An SMR can deliver 300MWe continuously and fits in a 20ft shipping container. That's some serious power output and should be ample to melt regolith at an acceptable pace.
The rock boring machines doesn’t need to be shiped directly from earth to mars. Instead you could ship them in pieces to the moon, assambled them there and then ship to Mars. NASA also plans for future missions to assamble a huge station on the moon. And consider that: Only the first boring and mining machines needs to be assambled on earth. All future ones should been directly made on mars, with insitu-materials once an underground factory is assambled. What really matters are the blueprints and the knowledge how certain materials react in different enviroments, what you partially explains in this video.
Nasa is right in aiming for the Moon. Build them on the Moon and use them there first. Habitats, all kinds of Science facilities and Industrie need to happen there first, that would save lifes and money.
Make all mistakes in our backyard and then aim for Mars.
could you not just only ship the parts that are hard to contruct on mars and build the machine there
For those who take the time to read all of the below: So much innovative thinking generated by this video ... It's great when good minds think positively ... This is how 'something' is born ... Great job by so many who contributed here, and for the most part, with 'respect' to each of the contributors. A good example for all to follow.
I've come to the conclusion that everything Musk does is to reach his goal of a self-sustaining civilization on Mars. Yes, the boring machines on Mars could be useful, for transportation, habitats and mining. You point out that a boring machine has a mass of 1200 tons, meaning that a Boring machine on Mars would be assembled on Mars from earth supplied parts. Perhaps this will do for the first couple of Boring Machines, but not efficient.
There is another way, a necessary way, to get to self-sustenance on Mars. Don't ship equipment, built it. I'm sure you've heard variations of the Tesla Giga factories are the Tesla product. With higher and higher vertical integration, the Tesla factories at their limit get resources shoveled in one end and products come out the other end. How could you do this on Mars? Tesla Bot will be the solution, being able to work on the surface of Mars without a pressure suit. At a minimum, Musk will start flights in 2024/6 to Mars, and the first flights will have Tesla bots and equipment to start the Sabatier process. Without the Sabatier process established on Mars, there is no return flight with a Starship. Only later can human flight to Mars start in 2028/9.
But its clear a self sustaining mars colony is impossible for dozens of reasons so whats going on ?
@@MyKharli I thought that seeing a rocket land on its butt was impossible. Would you care to share the dozens of reasons why a self-sustaining Mars colony is impossible?
@@MyKharli once it rains fish can survive mars nature - melt large amounts of ice with reflectors, water absorbs dust and radiation as heat, boiloff be greenhouse insulation and atmospheric pressure
It is totally unknown if low gravity pregnancy causes issues or deformation.
Before entering the a 3 century project to create a habitable Mars how about the most basic of research if it is even possible without issues to have children on a low-gravity planet.
If this is not the case (and I did no hear a 100% no answer on this from anyone on that question) then why bother at all? A moon habitat has all the same issues as Mars minus sandstorm + better output for solar panels + shorter distance + only a ping of 2 seconds - at least those people can communicate with earth and their relatives and check websites on the internet (with the right communication satelites)
@@usamat3297 1/ low gravity 2/ radiation 3/ impossible without constant ultra expensive unreliable resupplies . 4/there is no such thing as a self sustaining biosphere outside of earth or ever recreatable on earth in an enclosed building . 5/ we are clearly delusional thinking we are a space fairing species , we are barely out of the chimpanzees with guns stage ..just look at politics !! 6 /the unproven ability to land human rated space craft on mars / 6 there is no way humans can manage those living conditions without going mad whatever those nonsence cgi presentations show .7 no reason to go there /8 if your are as tech savvy as you think then read the latest ipcc report and tell me where were getting the time to get any of this done ..there are still DOZENS more reasons ..look them up !
6:42 - 7:01 This is something I've been waiting to hear for a while !
up till now, I've only heard 1 youtuber talk about this centrifuge idea. I think it's the biggest 'hard to solve problem' for permanent habitation. As mentioned in this great video, there are lots of big challenges but more answers for them.
(i was expecting the image to be different, as i imagined it as like a train on a circular tube track, and the train banks towards the center as the speed increases.)
Great plan but the details are going to be fun to work out. We know little about the nature of the soil and we don't know what we will use in place of concrete to support tunnel walls. So I'm sure that we will use tunnels on Mars but the exact nature and extent is yet to be developed.
to paraphrase from the movie the Martian. We are going to science the shit out of this. We will solve one problem, and then the next, and then the next. And if you solve enough problems, eventually you get to live on Mars.
In this time of international crisis, building tunnels on Mars certainly is important.
the crisis is about greedy banksters doing what they always do. we do need to escape them to thrive. like the original american colonies. sadly this corrupt system is way past reform. so it is time to cut bait and start over. the technorati like musk figured this out already. its a race against collapse vs setting up another colony before its too late thats why their hurry. clock is ticking....btw trust no main stream media all concocted...no real value.
It absolutely is important
Yeah I can see tunnels being used to connect other underground colonies. But I can also see Tesla investing into 3D printing Boring machines so they don't have to carry an entire machine to Mars.
Well shit why don't they just build the transporter from star trek while they're at it. 3d print a tunnel cutting machine, ok
For a large sustainable present on Mars you will need the same infrastructure that you have on Earth. Which means mining, smelting metals, and other base materials. Then you just need to send the plans to make the machines to build your new world. I would think for all that you will need lots of energy and I would guess that it would be small nuclear plants and not solar panels... Small N plants that could be built into a dedicated SS's and after landing on Mars they could ready to go after connecting to the new grid. It will take a monumental effort that's for sure.
aka not possible , just say it !
@@MyKharli AKA already underway. Just need to hold Elon’s beer. Cheers
The guberment is not going to allow Musk to play with atoms.
@@ReachOutToWilliam Which guberment? If Elon makes it to Mars then he will be the Guberment there.
SpaceX is already looking at small modular reactors (SMR), trust me. SMR reactors are small, movable, and supply power of ~300 MWe.
truth is anything can be constructed on Mars , you just need to transport some smaller machines to build larger ones
2:09 couldn't you just wear 40-50spf if it's the same radiation that gives us sunburns?
(I'm probably misunderstanding this)
The rocket itself could be used as habitation and covered over with Martian regolith.
I'm sure that most of the rocket's are intended to return to Earth. But there's bound to be some failures that end up crashing, which they can salvage and re-purpose. Plus I'm sure that they will be using whatever minerals and such that they displace while boring.
Boring company developed an advanced, efficient and cheaper method to
dig tunnels. What you do with that tunnel is up to you. Use it for
subway/metro/water/sewage/parking/storage/emergency bunker/vending
kiosks/Restrooms. Whatever you want that space to be.
Their core business is to make cost per mile for digging as low as possible while
keeping safety paramount. As an engineer I appreciate the initiative and
creativity of Boring company.
I always knew they would start tunneling on mars. Mostly automated with maybe half a dozen or so on site to maintain the equipment.
Wow! I think you seriously cracked master plan 3! Amazing work!
The one fly in the ointment is water. Even a relatively small nuclear reactor requires a lot of water. While there is some evidence of large pockets of frozen water on Mars, it is far from certain. It would also be nice if the breakthroughs in sold state batteries, graphene and super conductors come through. I wish I was 40 years younger so I could live to see it.
A million people off planet is a good insurance policy in case we destroy the earth.
Would it be unthinkable to find a few big chunks of ice, strap a few small rockets to them, and crash them into the surface? I mean, we are talking about setting up an underground colony on another planet....
I thought small reactors didn't use pressurized water and tended to opt for liquid metals etc? :)
we cant even sustain a million people on antarctica, you really think they're gonna survive on mars which is 10000X harsher
@@jebes909090 When did we send a million people to Antarctica!?!?! :O
Antarctica is a global reserve...it pretty much holds all our water 💧 well near all our water is on Antarctica I should say. Also water is also presumably already on Mars, granted not as much as earth but still a great amount as well as Mars having much better access to not only Martian resources but also Ceres as well as the belts natural abundance of minerals (water included).
Basically Colonising Mars is both a humanitarian mission aswell as an excellent future business model for his young children to heir upon, provided they share daddy musks intelligent aspirations.
What we are really going to need on Mars is some really good large volume cement making and pumping technologies that will work in low gravity.
We'll still need glass domes for the same reason we use them on Earth, growing plants.
The atmosphere of Mars is sufficient to stop the small grain-sized metrorites, and larger ones are rarer. A TBM may be useful long-term, but if you're transporting heavy machinery a traditional backhoe and other earthmoving machines would be more immediately useful.
Probably another reason a dome is not viable
Not really....Plants can be grown hydroponically under artificial light. Musk's brother owns a company that's experimenting with growing that way.....Also light reflected with mirrors can be piped down underground to farms and habitats. The nice thing about doing that as apposed to a dome is you can Earth levels of illumination. On sunlight on the surface only about half as bright as Earth. At the same time it's very easy to filter out unneeded UV and IR parts of the spectrum. Either way artificial light or concentrated with mirrors, Martians living underground could theoretically have a lower radiation exposure than we do on the surface of Earth.
@@THX..1138 In your world no one starves or goes without water because they can just x y z , cant you see the difference between what's possible and what can actually happen !!!
@@MyKharli Peter, you are so negative.
I've read proposals for mylar bubbles inflated by the air pressure. That would have much lower mass than a glass dome. Even in a total decompression event, the collapse could be quite slow and gentle.
starship- payload delivery system
The boring company + hyperloop - tunnel networks on mars
solar roof - power generation
Cybertruck - martian exploration vehicle
Neurolink- performance enhancement
At least that would be my guess.
I wonder if a Starship could launch a Boring machine from the Moon. Honestly I think they just need to transport one of them in pieces and having start to dig the tunnels. It will find resources, and we'll use those resources to build more. Call it a Horta.
Good idea! But I wonder if they couldn't just assemble it into say 4 separate parts while in Earth's orbit, each being big enough to just fit inside one full cargo Starship.
These would be *specially designed Boring Machines* scaled down to fit a smaller type transport pod (let's say only 8' in diameter instead of 12') and without the sections that install the tunnel liner as they go (slower, yes, but then the early missions would not be for extremely long tunnels anyway so much less need for speed).
Given all these modifications they should be able to shrink a Boring Machine down to be much smaller and lighter (at least the early versions), possibly being made of more lightweight material like titanium or magnesium alloy (considering the much lower gravity on Mars, possibly much less stress on the parts, idk ;?).
This might work if they could get the machine reduced in size/weight such that each section only weighs about 250 tons or less - remembering that the lower gravity of Mars, only 37.83% (or about 1/3) that of Earth's, which works out to LESS THAN 100 TONS per section and is within the current Starship's capabilities ;?). While no engineer, I'm fairly certain that these Mars-specific Boring machines could easily come in under 1,000 tons each and would be INVALUABLE for reduction of labor and much faster construction of underground habitations.
There's also the potential that the Martian soil could be mixed with some compound to make building blocks, just as Earth Boring Machines do (although more complex) - considering weigh reduction requirements, this would be a separate machine that would simply follow behind, "cleaning up" after the borer. These would then be used in the wall liner to stabilize tunnel walls and also for building structures within the lava tunnels. Well that's my take, probably not alone in this thinking, but is it possible?
@@russell2449 Many options here, I agree. They could launch the sections into orbit from Earth, assemble it in orbit, then transport it to either Luna or Mars. The question will be whether a Starship would be able to handle the load on a landing like that on Luna or Mars. If not, they could partially assemble it and then make the final assembly easier on the surface.
@@TotalGrowthInvesting I wonder if they could design an interplanetary TUGBOAT, lol, something like 2 or 3 cargo Starships linked together, designed to tow objects that are too large to fit inside a single one.
Hmmmm, well not sure how they'd get it down to the surface, lol, yeah probably have to wait on that idea until they create the Deimos Space Elevator, lol.
BUT the tugboat idea might work for objects that are meant to stay in Mars orbit, like building a space station where freight could be dropped off so that fuel could be saved for return flights to Earth (meaning such a cargo Starship could either carry a bit more cargo or get to and from a bit faster ;?).
@@russell2449 Once something is in orbit, the delta-V would be reasonable for a single Starship. They would just set up the solar orbit mechanics to match the engine power.
Bingo, so glad to see someone cover this aspect.
Yup, exciting times to be alive.
Why ? your going to die horribly in a climate catastrophe , who is telling you otherwise ?
yup
I don’t think living underground on a planet with an atmosphere impossible to sustain life is gonna be fun but pop off I guess
I agree, but living on a planet with nuclear winter won't be fun either.
It's great being a young person and knowing that this is the future I will be helping to build!
Wow it must feel amazing to be this genius, he probably never has a thoughtless moment.
As soon as the boring company launched, I immediately got this theory, that Elon just started refining the tunneling technology to use for his lifetime endeavor. I wholeheartedly believe that we're going to see the first operational "technical" martian base by 2030. What a time to be alive!
your a dipstick
We can use the ground for protection and makes way more sense then building domes.
underground is cheaper and safer when it comes to planet colonization. and im talking about the safety of the electronic equipment. we colonized earth from the underground caves.
Exactly!
When humans had a mostly empty planet to live on, they lived in caves - ready made habitats..
Mars has even more and larger caves and we can pick and choose..
I'd like them to find a big cave in the wall of the noctis labyrinthus canyons myself.. :)
@@EveryoneWhoUsesThisTV same here. I would love to see the birth of a new civilization on mars that is self governing.
I actually believe we should be building large underground Cities here, the moon and Mars!! Here we could turn mountains into large massive cities!! Just like the Dwarves do in LOTR we could have in the center of the city a large cylinder that goes all the way the the surface of that mountain to let the sunlight in and down the cylinder that has reflective material to bounce that light lighting up the city for daytime!! Then on the roof of the mountain we could place lights to simulate 🌟 during night
Send the Teslabot to Mars first, them the tunnel boring machines, genius
I've watched all your videos in the longest while and I like hearing your take on these
I think bore the tunnels and insert an inflatable form fitting bag habitat. It can be a flexible mesh skin on the outside with layers of protection against the elements. The bag contains circuitry and the plumbing in the skin and modular living abd tech can be added later inside.
Inflatable tent like habitats, like a Bigelow inflatable module, set up in natural caves is a low resource option too.. :)
lava flows on earth are also where you would find gems, crystals, metals etc etc etc.... elon has been working on his boring machines too... he is aiming to speed them up... since they are so slow right now. if that helps... i'm not sure if the target is 7 miles an hour or if that has been achieved yet. our initial tunnels will probably be trenches or surface crafted structures... personally the idea of trenches is best in my opinion, because the more you dig the more you can cover the ones you already have, inflatable habitats in trenches that have concrete caps covered in soil dug from additional trenches... that could eventually be used for the transit system would make sense to me. so the construction/home building machines would be in charge of making the support structures to handle the pressure of the soil on top of the trenches turning them into tunnels... i mean its' easier to make bricks than it is to make a home right? air locks installed to pressurize them... the only real issue i see thou is that with less gravity it would mean allot more soil would be needed to cover them to make sure the pressure didn't pop the tunnels.... thou i mean we have boring machines that put concrete tunnel segments into place to protect and make the tunnels.... so maybe those bricks will be of the proper shape to be used as that... and use multiple layers?? bonded together to help with that? eh its a bit much to think about for a non engineer but thought i'd throw that in :D peace
Natural caves connected by artificial tunnels is the way to go. I know it, you know it, everybody knows it.
Agreed... No need to tunnel until much later.... :)
0:37 "earth shattering" ... a "tunelling machine"...
Thanks fellow descendant of the yellow Dragon, you are right; this isn't "ground breaking"...
I've seen this movie, "Battle Beneath the Earth" 1967. The Chinese attempt to invade the US with boring machines under the Pacific. I have it in my library.
LOTS of advantages to building the first Mars colony at the deepest part of the huge canyon. Higher atmospheric pressure, less radiation, underground ice/water, etc.
Nice one, but a bit tricky to navigate when landing. I assume it's full of rubble.
I've always thought the same and had a feeling the real reason for tunneling for Mars.
I like elon Musk and his companies, however, the Boring company is not a company I like. Digging tunnels at a fast pace is all good, but once they're built, please, just put a metro in it. what is the point of a bunch of small pods other than them looking cool. It's so inefficient and would require far more resources (which will already be incredibly scarce on Mars), to build, all the while being less efficient. Just build a metro for the love of god.
The size and space required for one metro line would equal many car tubes
Trains don't make sense except in the most densely populated cities, and even then they provide at best moderate energy efficiency compared to electric cars - at a huge cost of wasted time for people.
The real question is how much it will cost to dig tunnels. With cheap labor from Teslabots I expect the cost will become so low that it will make no sense to build trains when we can just build more and more tunnels to deal with any quantity of traffic required. And of course especially in a place like Mars where there isn't really any soil, we're going to need to source large amounts of finely crushed rock anyway to start the process of producing soil - so we can get that from digging tunnels, providing more living space and transportation routes while providing the raw materials we will need to build and manufacture things.
@@alanlight7740 bullshit
The Boring Co not only for Mars, maybe even for the Hyperloop here on the planet.💡🤔🤙🏾
About time this Musk conclusion is talked about...It has been obvious for a long time...doh! Musk has never spoken crap or acted upon without a reason. All you have to do is listen, reason and add to understand his visions. May he have continued success...buy his products!
On their website the Boring company has a rendering of one segment of a two segment prufrock machine being transported to and from the job site with a 9 axle Tesla Semi, so aspirationally I think a machine much lighter than 1100 tons is envisioned.
In the US an 18 wheeler has a 40 ton total weight limit so a 2 segment machine should easily be within the limits of a single starship. A 3 segment machine could likely be carried. And the segmentation would be desirable to aid unloading from starship.
The rendering suggests Prufrock is being designed with transportation on a single Starship anticipated.
Everything Elon works on and develops all work together so well. From his factory workers being robots in the future, to his transports being self driving vehicles… and of coarse the boring company like you’re saying.
This time what went on in Vegas will not stay in Vegas!!
I met both Britney Spears and Elon Musk early in 2000 at Bellagio. Britney just stared at me as she was singing on stage and I was standing in an archway above and nearby. I'm not sure if I was supposed to be standing up there by myself but I did have her undivided attention. A few days later Elon came up to me and started asking me questions about what I was doing there, in Hawaii and Las Vegas during that time. Would I be fine answering a few questions and if I was a gambling man? I stated, "I was on vacation and I only like to bet on things that are worth betting on!" I had earned these trips by qualifying reward points at my work. He asked, "What kind of work is it that you do?" I said, "Commercial energy saving promotions but I had been schooled in Automotive Marketing Business Administration and worked in that field for several years as well." He asked me, "If I had millions of dollars to spend what would be the most innovative businesses that could help humanity?" We talked about electric cars, we talked about solar energy and so many other subjects for over an hour. Even commercial space exploration for the consideration of colonization. That way all of humanity's eggs are not in one basket in case of another world war, asteroid strike, major climate change, etc. These we're very expensive and ambitious businesses to become successful at. Therefore we had to talk about ways of keeping a low overhead in advertising, distribution and the manufacturing. He said, "They were all very good ideas and that they should be done!" He said he had already made hundreds of millions off of a couple internet companies he started. "One of them was PayPal," he stated. Not that I had really done a lot of online banking or e-transfers at that time I didn't think much of it, until I noticed online about a year later that I could buy something off the computer with my PayPal card! Unfortunately I had just received a promotion as regional manager with the company I was working with. This made me let Elon know that I had to wait for a few years before I could assist further. I keep on sending out messages, hoping that he will get one and reply back. I will probably have to keep on trying, he gets more messages in a day then I would in five years! It is very inspiring to me to have a conversation with someone and they dedicate the next 20 years to making our conversation reality! We also talked about becoming your own best supplier and starting businesses that help your existing business. A type of slingshot effect that he has incorporated very well. It is so ambitious and amazing that he was willing to put pretty much all of his money where his mouth is and just make it happen with a consistent dedication. Congratulations Elon and I am looking forward to working with you again, one day in the near future! I still come up with innovative business ideas on a daily basis. Of course Britney I always wish her well and would enjoy meeting her again as well! Shoot for the Moon then Mars and then we will end up amongst the Stars! If you would like to learn more of these topics let me know. People with integrity expect to be believed otherwise they let time prove them right!
propower101@hotmail.com
Maybe they could just have a dome made out of metal, or covered by dirt ,no glass.
Then have cameras on the outside of the domes that send live feed to massive TVs covering the inside sky of the dome to simulating the feeling of a glass dome.
The cameras would probly get dust on them all the time so maybe they use like tiny air tubs to clean them.
-If you think that's a good idea leave a like
IDK.
-probly way more problems with this idea.
Why? Earthers spend most of their time indoors anyway. Vast spaces can be quickly carved w honeycomb tunnel excavation collapsed w Project Plowshare Gnome-type nuclear explosives. Instant cities, reservoirs, preserves. Finding lava tubes in the right places is optimistic - borers the norm.
@@ottovonottsville476 good point,.....I
think
@@ottovonottsville476 I mean yh they'll spend most of their time indoors, but what's the point of going to another planet if you cant see it?
@@andstufforsomefin628 Define 'indoors'. Is a cave the size of a football stadium filled w lakes, forests, herds considered indoors? Plenty of work to do on the surface. Suits/skinsuits w conventional outerwear will be less and less intrusive. Ever wear a snowmobile suit?
@@ottovonottsville476 true,. But the whole point of a dome is for there to be an indoor environment that can simulate the conditions on earth or even better than earth. I think the purpose of the dome on mars is for there to be a place for the scientist, builders, and other workers on mars to go after a long day of work to not just stay alive, but to feel at home , while adding the effect of you being on mars .
Which is why I suggested the tv dome thingy in my first comment.
I just wonder what Elon will come up with next
Another study of lava tubes concluded that they would mostly be used as unpressurised habitats because of the engineering challenges of sealing them.
Habitats on Mars must be pressurized, though? Am I wrong in saying that? Also, sealing them requires effort, but as far as I know, is not impossible.
@@xiphactinusaudax1045 “Predator” wore an exoskeleton suit something similar to one I think will ultimately be developed for Martians. However there will always be a boundary within which Martians would like to be buck-naked. For “suited” hyperloop travellers, the existing mars atmosphere is fine. For stricken travellers trapped in these hyperloops, emergency pods will keep them alive until help arrived. For a “naked” human, an atmosphere of ½ bar & 30% O₂+ 70% N₂ is the lower comfort limit for extended periods. Possibly N₂ might be more difficult to produce than O₂ on Mars & a different diluent would have to be found.
You would want to seal off some big sections tho, ones just inside the big airlock to the surface...
Pressurize them to a minimum with CO2 from outside, so you don't really care about slow leaks..
That way you have large hangars to work on Starships etc, without pressure suit and regolith issues.. workers would wear winter clothes and a breather.. :)
I said it was for mars and the moon from the beginning.
The problem is that the tunnel borer is and needs to be a heavy piece of machinery.
Even broken down into the smallest possible sections, when it goes out the side of a mostly empty of fuel Starship 120 ft up onto the elevator mechanism, the whole rocket will tip over.
There will need to be another type of lander for heavy multi ton machinery.
That's where the Teslabot enters the conversation.
A few Teslabots and guy wires should take care of that.
He doesn't want to bore Mars he wants to bore the asteroid made of gold I love this dude
Perhaps the Boring machine could be shipped in pieces?
Just PONDERING😳
Maybe an earth boring machine is way to heavy duty for a similar job on the moon or Mars with less gravity.
It’s not going to happen, it’s way too heavy and makes bo sense at all, other companies including nasa have been working on composite materials to make a quicker/lighter build on the surface.
The best underground urban civilization was the opinion of Mr. Musk. If the automated mining industry has been established, as a business, high pay jobs would be posted for human applicants sequentially. Then the civilization would be expedited with humans with true trust. Appreciate sharing the insight with trust.
For Mars usage, you dont actually think they would build the boring machine using the same heavy materials as they do for use on earth, do you? They could build it today using carbon fiber composite and the final weight would be less than 100 metric ton. And since graphene is out of the lab, in the future they can build it even lighter and much stronger. Imagine.
Not gonna happen. They need to mine outside of earth and send it to anywhere. Create an orbital factory. But we are still far away tho.
I would probably try to start a colony inside natural caves. We know they probably exist on some areas of Mars. So why not use them?
@@davaguco Yeah. If we need to bore, we can just make the machines on mars since we'd already have a lava tube colony, or at least we'd have better concepts that need to weigh less
@@davaguco Well, where are you going to get the oxygen/air for a lava tube 100' wide, and miles long? A tunnel is a much more manageable volume to fill & use.
You don’t need to send complete tbm’s!
Firstly, you need huge amount of power, to be able to transfer iron ore into parts.
Secondly, you must be able to prospect certain materials: never ship if it’s already there.
Probably, the tough claws, and all micro electronics must be shipped.
As imagined in James Blish sci-fi novel, silicon/ germanium will replace gold as precious metal (after all, what’s the good use for gold anyway)
Yes this is the best concept for mars. I was even thinking just trenching to make use of the solar energy transfer through ceilings but underground/semi-underground is the most viable option
Finally! Someone has addressed the gravity problem. The centrifuge checks a lot of points. Maybe could go something like this. Get to Mars you go into the centrifuge for X time from being out of Earth's gravity. Then back in every so often to keep the body up. Now we can colonize Mars. With out this I saw no way we could ever live on Mars. Now I can see man living and thriving. AWESOME
Elon start the reactor, free Mars!
5:00 MOLTEN SALT REACTOR, it could be a LOT like total recall. its salt not ice.
Would living underground affect people mentally, though? I mean, I feel like it wouldn't affect me personally, and I bet most people would agree that's how they feel, but I've heard there are some psychological effects of this. Does anyone know anything about this? Would working above ground help with this? Would we have artificial windows on the top of the lava tubes broadcasting areas of the surface just to make people see the surface?
One thing to concider is that the further down we drill the denser it gets (higher pressure). I don't know how far down we would need to go but I believe it could equate to Earth's atmosphere pressure.
I think if you drill a vertical shaft 5 miles down and produce "Pure Oxygen" at the bottom of it you could maintain a pressure of around 3.5 lbs and produce enough heat to have a comfortable Suitless Environment, but you would most likely need to wear a filter mask to keep Particulates out of your lungs.
You figured this out only now? Really? I mean...really?
This was painfully obvious the day he founded the company.
What's the acceptable info/squee ratio?
It has nothing obvious lol…. That TBM ain’t going nowhere! Composite materials are going to be king for building on other planet
@@alanmay7929 The best material to bring to Mars is the material you don't need to bring to Mars. Digging allows for basically an endless creation of (living) space with minimal additional materials. Since you need radiation protection as well as protection from (micro)meteorites digging is the only viable way to go, anyhow.
Very informative thanks
No boring machine used by companies on earth for digging tunnels on earth is going to be practical to take to Mars.
Anything taken to Mars would be a very different design from what is used on earth. Every kilo/pound put into orbit & sent into deeper space is very expensive to do. That results in very different designs. Example; the electric cart used by NASA on the Moon was very different from a typical golf cart used on earth. Weight is a major difference.
SOLID CONTENT!!!! thank you for the video
If you wanted to bring a boring machine to mars you would probably want to custom design a more lightweight version with carbon composite or aluminum for the body.
He is too blind talking about tunnel on mars forgetting the gigantic mass of a TBM. Other companies have been working on composite materials structures for mars already
Possibly - but it's also worth remembering that Mars has much lower gravity so regardless of material used a boring machine for Mars will likely weigh much less than a boring machine for Earth.
@@alanlight7740 the weight matters for getting the machine to mars
It will blow my mind more when we start to do this. When the first person goes to sleep in a bed in a habitat in a lava tube somewhere on the moon or mars I'll think 'how great we are, we humans'
I think it much more likely that a Boring machine would be used on a asteroid or comet. Dig a hole at the right spot, put an Ion drive inside and place the item into a La Grange orbit. Or put a mining habitat inside the hole and toss packages towards Earth. AFA Mars, make an inflatable dome with airlocks on Earth, send it to Mars, place it on prepared ground, inflate it and cover it with Mars version of gunite. Once the gunite cures like concrete. You have an instant shelter. ... liked your vid
08:09 So you're saying that people at one time used to live on the red planet and somehow nuke it? 😬
Yeh I've heard this before...supposedly an ancient race of hybrid humans lived on Mars eons ago
There was a quote from an interview, that Elon judges every decision on whether it makes it quicker to live on mars or farther away. it is definitely his life goal
If there is no molten core which other people think differently there could be hyper loop tunnels through the planet like total recall 2
The thrill of exploration and learning!
Elon have knowledge, intelligence and creativity at a level most people cant imagine. He have goal to build a human colony at Mars. So the boring company is a part of that plan. It can probably be made much lighter. Another possibility is to use very long and straight tunnels as cannons to send cargo to orbit with a cheaper method. Especially on Mars. But maybe even at earth from high mountains.
read "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by" Robert A Heinlein
Just need a lava tube connection system and you’ve got your first highways.
If we could somehow get the core going again we could create an atmosphere way easier.
Great video. As you suggest the boring machines can be used for expansion of existing caves, and tunnels. So the boring machines can come later or a bit at a time. On a different tact. Musks other efforts also tie in nicely. Earthlink for communication, robots - workforce, AI for brainpower, management. Neuralink for human-machine efficiency, solar/batteries for power, tiny home tech for Mars space requirements, driverless conveyance- material distribution. He does these to create new tech and earth bound revenue. Mars is loaded with rare metals. Turism...
Very interesting supposition. Thanks for good stuff.
it was total BS why can you not see this ?
I know that the core of Mars is not molten. But does the temperature go up as you go further underground?
yes NASA's Mars InSight mission was going to determine the details but it failed.
It does.. but access to the surface is so useful, they would need the bulk of the base 'just inside the cave door' as it were...
Besides, you want a restaurant and nightclub built into the cave mouth, with mega windows with a view (to break up the underground dwelling feel of enclosed space... :)
Not surprised at the integration and cross over tec from Elons other companies. It's all interrelated by design.
I'm not so sure about the Prufrock boring machine allegedly weighing 1200 tons. The Boring Company website shows the Prufrock being trucked into jobsites. Even oversized loads rarely exceed 100 tons.
Utterly fascinating, a great presentation and it feels doable. I also think the speculation on Martian life feels like it could turn out to be true.
I've been saying that the TBM was for Mars for awhile. Pretty much ever business he has created will benefit Mars. Solar panels, the battery storage, the Tesla phone Pi (when it comes out), space link for internet. All of it will be deployed for the colony Musk wants to build on Mars.
Why does Musk wish to travel to Mars? Does he have a personal interest in Mars or space in general? What influences his decision?
@@hackman669 solar panels are terrible for mats they generate much less energy on mars than earth
I've been suggesting this idea for almost 4 years now ;?) They need to load up a couple of specially designed Boring machines, send them over on a couple of Starships, set them up to drill down into some of the largest lava tubes on Mars, and that's how you quickly build a MASSIVE underground colony, or Bob's your uncle as they say ;?)
You science fiction fans sure are adorable, Earth is on the brink of catastrophe and you all are dreaming of things that will never be.
@@DZ-yk2ew Put a sock in it Bubbah, you know nothing, the future is wide open and there's definitely going to be an attempt to colonize Mars, sooner or later, and I'm BETTING ON SPACEX AND ELON MUSK, not some know-nothing like you, now go away, smfh.
Plenty of large caves connect to the surface already...
I feel the boring machines would be more phase 2 - connecting habitats built in natural caves with transport tunnels....
In situ resource utilization as it were... :)
Assemble the boring machine in earths orbit, then shield it and
then use a starship to push it to mars.
When in the Apollo era of our space program,when problem came along,all of the PHDs worked the problem,really quickly,but, eventually. Imagine what we could REALLY do out there!
Much appreciated, wholistic overview and proposal :>
First step in our desire to explore other planets is to survive here. If we destroy ourselves then none of these dreams will happen.
Nicely joined-up thinking thanks. Subscribed for more. There’s more joined-up thinking in Elon’s life for you to uncover. Just keep digging!
Yes. For those of us with atypical neurology, it was a fairly obvious thing.
People aren't going to tunnel under their major cities right now. The regulatory environment alone is prohibitive.
So, why "waste" time and money on air-tight (a total tip-off) double-sealed tunnel R&D?
Because you think you'll need it.
Good video.
Excellent stuff bro, yep he’ll do it. Let’s hope he starts on the moon
Everything Elon is doing will be for Mars. The Boring Company. The solar tech. The starlink internet. The tesla vehicles. The tesla bot. Even neuralink.
The Boaring Co. Tunneling machines are used where existing infrastructure is present and the only way to make a tunnel is to dig beneath roads and buildings. On another planet without any infrastructure a simple trench and cover system is vastly simpler and faster.
One of the main reasons to bore tho is depth. Remember radiation n meteor/ites.
Maaaaaaaaan. It took them a year to tunnel about 1 mile in Vegas. Trying to get that equipment onto Mars and dig tunnels is a long long way off.
not that long 5 to 10 years ..
@@heartflame503 5 to 10 years. To develop equipment, test it, launch it, deploy it remotely... nah man. Not sure if you're aware of this but construction equipment like a TBM isn't what I'd call "lightweight" launching multiple ships will be required. Not to mention those types of machines have to be maintained. So unless they devise a way for other machines to perform such tasks people will have to go with the equipment. It also will have to be assembled on site as well. Usually TBMs are lowered by crane into a large open pit. So that'll have to happen prior to use. Or somehow have it inch into the side of a cliff or whatever.
Much more than 5 years
@@antonisautos8704 :-) you forget its an Elon company.. 5 years is plenty of time for them. The boring machines are already going to be automated maybe they already are. (Prufrock was supposed to be.). MarsBoring Machines wont be sent till at least 2031 that's almost 10 years away. that's 5 generations of innovation for Elon companies. LOL they will probably be transformer robots that can deploy themselves and drill and compose a Mars sonata while they are at it! BTW Optimus prototype is expected to be ready by the end of the year !
A centrifuge can not work if there is gravity unless you want to be stuck upright on the outside wall. Simple physics !
Likely mentioned in the 1000 comments below but we must remember the boring machine sent to Mars could likely be build of much lighter materials other then the cutting face and structure needed to withstand the rigors of torsion. Possibly mostly titanium, aluminum and magnesium. Very modular and possibly very reconfigurable. Don't forget there are all kinds of tunneling machines just as adaptable to Mars. Look at Road Headers etc.
Been saying this forever
Gotta have the living infrastructure underground up there💪
Thanks for this fantacy ride on Mars ... And under it! 😁. U've quite interestingly given this fantasy trip as much realistic tone as u can 👌🏼👏. It jells well with the known physics of Mars regolith. Thanks again.
Love from Slovenia 🇸🇮!¡!¡
You don't actually need to carry the whole Boring Machine to Mars at all, a Starship could take a Disassembled or Modular Prufrock into orbit then send it to mars in Pieces like how we send Rovers.
Twelve Launches of One Starship makes more sense.
Simple, add some raptor engines to the boring machine and blast it into space. Once in orbit, add a couple fully fueled tugs and on to Mars!
In the 1950s everyone thought we would have flying cars by now This is the same concept