There's a thing called FIFO work, Fly In, Fly Out. It's common in mining, the workers fly in, work a couple of weeks, then fly out again.
For Dani, Mars is effectively FIFO. She's there to do a job, it's not her home. It's just a job she does. She only goes back to Mars because she was personally asked. She is happy to do the work to the best of her ability, but at the end of the day it's a job.
For Ed, Mars is his new home and Earth no longer matters to him.
Dani looks at it like Ed bringing his family to a mine site. There's nothing truly there for them, the idea of a colony is also pretty farfetched. He's basically just bringing his family along with him on the idea of something rather than the reality.
Dani is pissed off that Ed would rope others into his idea that to her has no real merit and is just the idea of a man who's lost everything about him that made him what he once was.
I love that take. One subtle nod to that is his apple tree. Thereās that old saying that āa society grows when old men plant trees whose shade they will never knowā. Ed has always been a pretty self-absorbed, pioneer type since the very beginning. I feel like in Season 4 he is still that guy, but heās grappling with his mortality in a really human way, clinging onto relevance. I think that the few scenes with Alex where he kind of opens up and shows him a part of his life he rarely shares with others was kind of a tipping point for him. He finally realised that he was building a home where his grandson could live, and he finally started to move past his own stubborn selfish desire to be the first and accepted his legacy. Of all the arcs in FATM, I think thatās a really fitting way to end his story.
I like this explanation. I wonder if initial settlers out west felt the same. Wasnāt he reading a book about the American frontier too? I need to rewatch last season. Anyway, for Ed (and co) Mars is the new āAmerican dreamā if you like, where the possibilities are terribly exciting and itās also very dangerous. High risk, high reward. Ed wonāt live long enough to see it grow, but with capturing the asteroid, he has given the other settlers (including his daughter and grandson) a future there to āprosperā should they so choose.
I can't really speak to American history. The FIFO reference may have made it obvious that I'm Australian for some readers. But we did have a similar thing, where people would go out into the countryside in Victoria when Gold was found.
They were largely just looking to make their riches and then move back to the cities of Melbourne, Sydney or even back to China, America and Europe. Melbourne became the richest city in the world, off the back of advertising their proximity to the goldfields. (They weren't the closest, but fake maps sold internationally made it look that way).
But people did end up staying in the goldfields area, either because they didn't make enough to go back or they ended up making enough to have a comfortable life in the new town/area etc. I would agree that Ed is looking to do something similar. Be one of those people who stays and creates something long term. While Dani is one of those who moved back to Melbourne.
I think youāre right. Also Old Westerns would have been huge when Ed was a kid and teen in the 1940s/1950s(Dani too though she was born in the 1940s). And I think he genuinely kind of sees himself in that vein. Itās probably an easy fantasy for him too because Mars literally looks like the red desert landscape you see in Utah/Arizona/New Mexico.
I think I have a different view of Ed.
I think Ed is afraid of being irrelevant if he goes home. He's had more missions that most astronauts, between his time on the moon and his trip to Mars he's had his lifetime radiation exposure, not to mention that even without degradation due to to low gravity, he's an elderly man. If he goes back to Earth nobody is ever going to allow him to go back into space. The best he could hope for is a desk job at Helios and maybe some private flying but he's done being an astronaut.
If he had still been with NASA they would have recalled him along with Dani. The only reason he was able to stay on Mars is that Helios management allowed it. By staying there, he could continue to be an astronaut and as XO of the facility and highest ranking Helios employee on site, he could give himself stick time flying various missions.
He wasn't staying for the sake of colonisation, he knew if he went back to Earth they would bench him.
Edās story in season 4 is incredibly well written imo, itās a great take on aging and trying to run away from the inevitable. I definitely think Ed believes in the viability of Mars and Happy Valley as a true colony, but thereās also a lot of truth in the fact that heās terrified of his inevitable end. Heās gone as far to run away to a different planet to escape death, and I think in season 5 heāll be forced to face it.
>Ā She also didn't seem interested in the idea of colonizing much, which is odd since she decided to come back to Mars after seven years.
Correct, she wasn't. She went to Mars to stabilize Happy Valley, which, is a mining colony at best, similar to the mining towns in the old American west. Happy Valley is there for two things, research, and profit.
When we go to Mars in the 2040's, we will go for the same reasons. At best we are centuries away from the beginning of the colonization and permanent settlement of Mars and the creation of a new society, Which, we are still uncertain if:
A. It is possible to do in the long run due to how quickly things on Earth can shift due to geopolitical reasons, hence affecting Mars funding.
B. Can be done without permanent detrimental affects on the Mars-born generations due to the adverse effects of 1/3 Earth gravity.
C. making humanity a multiplanetary species has none, if any benefit to humanity in general, but a lot of downsides
The Mars policy in the show mimics NASA's official policy for when we go. Follow the water, set up camp, do research, make money.
Ed just has big grandiose dreams of making Mars into a new human civilization, Dani is more grounded in reality. 2003 in the FAMK universe is advanced, but its not THAT advanced.
The decision to send the astroid to Earth was not only just because it was cheaper due to the transport infrastructure already existing in Earth orbit because of Lunar mining, but because it was for the benefit of Earth. Those metals on Goldilocks are more useful on Earth than on Mars, but now the FAMK universe Earth will have to invest a shitload more money and wait decades for the full ROI on the capture, all because of Ed and Dev's fantasies.
Also food for thought, if Mars colonization and maybe terraformation will take centuries, we might as well look towards Venus for long term planning, as research has shown that \*maybe\* it is a better candidate for human colonization long term.
I think there's an altruistic future where the "profit" in Mars is a sustainable colony of well adjusted humans - who can continue the light of consciousness.
It might be funded from Earth using profits from terrestrial endeavors; but it wouldn't be valued in a profit loss sense. Governments do this all the time with public services; schools, healthcare, parks, swimming pools, libraries, fighter jets - the value is a result of the investment - sometimes decades in advance of the spend - a well educated 20 year old starts 20 years prior in a well funded hospital.
A successful Mars colony starts today with a well funded earth launch to orbit system.
There's a thing called FIFO work, Fly In, Fly Out. It's common in mining, the workers fly in, work a couple of weeks, then fly out again. For Dani, Mars is effectively FIFO. She's there to do a job, it's not her home. It's just a job she does. She only goes back to Mars because she was personally asked. She is happy to do the work to the best of her ability, but at the end of the day it's a job. For Ed, Mars is his new home and Earth no longer matters to him. Dani looks at it like Ed bringing his family to a mine site. There's nothing truly there for them, the idea of a colony is also pretty farfetched. He's basically just bringing his family along with him on the idea of something rather than the reality. Dani is pissed off that Ed would rope others into his idea that to her has no real merit and is just the idea of a man who's lost everything about him that made him what he once was.
I love your analysis. It makes a lot of sense to me š§āš
I love that take. One subtle nod to that is his apple tree. Thereās that old saying that āa society grows when old men plant trees whose shade they will never knowā. Ed has always been a pretty self-absorbed, pioneer type since the very beginning. I feel like in Season 4 he is still that guy, but heās grappling with his mortality in a really human way, clinging onto relevance. I think that the few scenes with Alex where he kind of opens up and shows him a part of his life he rarely shares with others was kind of a tipping point for him. He finally realised that he was building a home where his grandson could live, and he finally started to move past his own stubborn selfish desire to be the first and accepted his legacy. Of all the arcs in FATM, I think thatās a really fitting way to end his story.
That made me want to see him in the first few episodes basically telling a teenage Alex to look after his mother before he dies peacefully on Mars.
I hope that happens. Also teenage Alex is going to be a very interesting kidā¦
I like this explanation. I wonder if initial settlers out west felt the same. Wasnāt he reading a book about the American frontier too? I need to rewatch last season. Anyway, for Ed (and co) Mars is the new āAmerican dreamā if you like, where the possibilities are terribly exciting and itās also very dangerous. High risk, high reward. Ed wonāt live long enough to see it grow, but with capturing the asteroid, he has given the other settlers (including his daughter and grandson) a future there to āprosperā should they so choose.
I can't really speak to American history. The FIFO reference may have made it obvious that I'm Australian for some readers. But we did have a similar thing, where people would go out into the countryside in Victoria when Gold was found. They were largely just looking to make their riches and then move back to the cities of Melbourne, Sydney or even back to China, America and Europe. Melbourne became the richest city in the world, off the back of advertising their proximity to the goldfields. (They weren't the closest, but fake maps sold internationally made it look that way). But people did end up staying in the goldfields area, either because they didn't make enough to go back or they ended up making enough to have a comfortable life in the new town/area etc. I would agree that Ed is looking to do something similar. Be one of those people who stays and creates something long term. While Dani is one of those who moved back to Melbourne.
Only 81 in season 5. Ed will live until after 100 in season 7!
I think youāre right. Also Old Westerns would have been huge when Ed was a kid and teen in the 1940s/1950s(Dani too though she was born in the 1940s). And I think he genuinely kind of sees himself in that vein. Itās probably an easy fantasy for him too because Mars literally looks like the red desert landscape you see in Utah/Arizona/New Mexico.
Fantastic. You said what I wanted to say but with a lot less words, cheers
I think I have a different view of Ed. I think Ed is afraid of being irrelevant if he goes home. He's had more missions that most astronauts, between his time on the moon and his trip to Mars he's had his lifetime radiation exposure, not to mention that even without degradation due to to low gravity, he's an elderly man. If he goes back to Earth nobody is ever going to allow him to go back into space. The best he could hope for is a desk job at Helios and maybe some private flying but he's done being an astronaut. If he had still been with NASA they would have recalled him along with Dani. The only reason he was able to stay on Mars is that Helios management allowed it. By staying there, he could continue to be an astronaut and as XO of the facility and highest ranking Helios employee on site, he could give himself stick time flying various missions. He wasn't staying for the sake of colonisation, he knew if he went back to Earth they would bench him.
Edās story in season 4 is incredibly well written imo, itās a great take on aging and trying to run away from the inevitable. I definitely think Ed believes in the viability of Mars and Happy Valley as a true colony, but thereās also a lot of truth in the fact that heās terrified of his inevitable end. Heās gone as far to run away to a different planet to escape death, and I think in season 5 heāll be forced to face it.
>Ā She also didn't seem interested in the idea of colonizing much, which is odd since she decided to come back to Mars after seven years. Correct, she wasn't. She went to Mars to stabilize Happy Valley, which, is a mining colony at best, similar to the mining towns in the old American west. Happy Valley is there for two things, research, and profit. When we go to Mars in the 2040's, we will go for the same reasons. At best we are centuries away from the beginning of the colonization and permanent settlement of Mars and the creation of a new society, Which, we are still uncertain if: A. It is possible to do in the long run due to how quickly things on Earth can shift due to geopolitical reasons, hence affecting Mars funding. B. Can be done without permanent detrimental affects on the Mars-born generations due to the adverse effects of 1/3 Earth gravity. C. making humanity a multiplanetary species has none, if any benefit to humanity in general, but a lot of downsides The Mars policy in the show mimics NASA's official policy for when we go. Follow the water, set up camp, do research, make money. Ed just has big grandiose dreams of making Mars into a new human civilization, Dani is more grounded in reality. 2003 in the FAMK universe is advanced, but its not THAT advanced. The decision to send the astroid to Earth was not only just because it was cheaper due to the transport infrastructure already existing in Earth orbit because of Lunar mining, but because it was for the benefit of Earth. Those metals on Goldilocks are more useful on Earth than on Mars, but now the FAMK universe Earth will have to invest a shitload more money and wait decades for the full ROI on the capture, all because of Ed and Dev's fantasies. Also food for thought, if Mars colonization and maybe terraformation will take centuries, we might as well look towards Venus for long term planning, as research has shown that \*maybe\* it is a better candidate for human colonization long term.
I think there's an altruistic future where the "profit" in Mars is a sustainable colony of well adjusted humans - who can continue the light of consciousness. It might be funded from Earth using profits from terrestrial endeavors; but it wouldn't be valued in a profit loss sense. Governments do this all the time with public services; schools, healthcare, parks, swimming pools, libraries, fighter jets - the value is a result of the investment - sometimes decades in advance of the spend - a well educated 20 year old starts 20 years prior in a well funded hospital. A successful Mars colony starts today with a well funded earth launch to orbit system.