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I noticed Musk tentatively mention nuclear - I think that's because it will be the only logical way to generate enough power to support a city in such an inhospitable climate. There is going to be a huge and ongoing energy need just to survive.

Unless we build a battery/solar panel factory there is no way solar is going to cut it.

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Sadly - but it just tells you that he is acutely aware of the public opinion aspect of his vision. Nuclear - especially a firm grasp and experience in Thorium reactors - would be a perfect energy solution for all industrial processes on Mars. One can only hope that a massive project as the one he is proposing here will lead to a renaissance in thinking big - colonial in its ambition - and with it in challenging the Unenlightened modern anti-nuclear phobia.

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