• @Gradually_Adjusting
    link
    English
    41 year ago

    “Long enough to establish a human presence” is a very fuzzy goalpost. Very limited usefulness even as a mere operational definition.

    You need a minimum of 50 to avoid inbreeding issues and 500 to minimize genetic drift in a population.

    It sounds like they’re just looking for enough people to build a pied a terre though.

    • @KorkkiOP
      link
      21 year ago

      It’s not about colonization, but a initial base not collapsing within 28 years. And collapse is here defined that the population doesn’t go under 10, because that is the safest lover limit to run a mars colony. It doesn’t include more arrivals in that time so no extra colonists. Nor does it consider things as inbreeding.