The continental shelves are where a big part of determining the viability of extraterrestrial colonies will take place. Antarctica has air, while domes 100+ m down will have cold, no air, killer pressures and other dangers more akin to space than the Antarctica.
Europa has no air, but they suspect it may have oceans, with life under the ice. If we colonize that place in the next 500 - 1000 yrs. (an optimistic guess), they'll be able to extract oxygen from the water and not have to worry about the vacuum of space and other dangers such as asteroids.
thats pretty cool, i also thought the land under antarctica was flat
As did I. I'd be some curious about the contents of the connected glacier lakes and whether they support life.
It's not even one single landmass. it's got lots of large bays, basins, island chains and such, under all that ice.
That's the interesting part. One would think life living in those extremes would bode well for upcoming missions to Europa.
The continental shelf is where a big part of determining the viability of extraterrestrial colonies will take place.
Depends of the conditions. Antarctica may have closer conditions to Europa.
I'd love to see more work on Titan, however. I was glued to the internet over that one as it came about.
Be nice to have at least one thread that doesn't have deniers swooping in to air their views.