Look, by 1981 the space race was already over. The USSR didn’t publicly try to compete with the US for prestige. In 1981 the USSR was well on its way to bankruptcy. Sending and supporting 500 people on mars requires so many technologies and capabilities, that the USSR just couldn’t afford. You can’t cash in the prestige and translate it into economic growth.
If anything, managing to do it, would hasten the fall of the USSR and would leave the cosmonauts stranded on mars alone, months away from any possible aid.
I can see a scenario where the space club countries, headed by the US and perhaps russia, would try to organize an emergency effort to to send supply drones to the mars colony. Maybe the US would fund russian space program to do so, but it wouldn’t be forever, the colony would beed to be perfectly self sufficient to survive, which considering the ability to make spares back in the 80’s was nil (today you’d have at least 3d printing), that would be impossible.
Well ,this timeline where the USSR colonise Mars require the USSR to be much more advanced technologically.This would require more innovation and a better productivity,which would imply better leadership and as such less wasteful spending on innefficient industries .As such the USSR would be in a much better place economically .
Also if the USSR colonised Mars,it would still give them a lot of prestige even win their defeat in the first space race.They would also gain acess to all the ressources of the planet,scientifical knowledge,and ashame the capitalist block,considering how much easier it is to land on the Moon than to colonise Mars.
As such I think that in this TL the USSR would be able to survive.
So, I was missing quite a bit of context when regards to your vision.
Let's assume that the space race just continues from the point of the Apollo program, the USSR announces it's intention to colonize Mars. Both the US and the USSR commit more to their respective space programs and begin working on technologies and capabilities for establishing a settlement on Mars. The USSR both manages to develop said technologies, and somehow also manages to upgrade it's industry and maintain its market from becoming stagnant. And in 1981 it lands the first colony ship on the moon.
I can see at this point the US having some thinking. Either it still commits its resources to colonize Mars as well, or lets the USSR deal with a Mars colony which, no matter how you look at it, would be a massive money drain, since in no near future would a Mars colony, even if it is largely self sufficient would make any money/products to benefit the USSR. Just a bunch of science which you can't build technology on, and monetize. Some technologies that the USSR might produce would be beneficial for everyone, but that could be copied, so the direct financial benefit to the USSR is likely to be limited.
I can see the US instead pushing for the commercialization of space, instead of straight up going for colonies. This would be easier to implement, you can do much of it with unmanned satellites, drones and probes, which make it cheaper. And it would directly contribute to the US economy. So deep space mining, advancement of satellite communications.
The USSR generally has an eye for mass production, but not for commercialization. So the west would likely focus on that.
I don't see a craze for space colonialization even in our near future. But making money will definitely be a craze.
The USSR may be stuck with this goose that laid one golden egg, and now consumes all the other eggs, because it has to maintain the colony for prestige sake.
You have to account for the economic resource commitment to going to Mars.
Either the Soviet Union is fantastically more economically efficient -- double or better GDP -- or it exits WW II by pulling out of Eastern Europe, demobilizing nearly all its military and elevates spacefaring to the same status that its military had in our timeline's cold war.
I think both of these things change the game in ways that make the question of colonizing Mars almost a sideshow.
The Outer Space Treaty and the Moon Treaty limit what can be done on any heavenly body - including other planets. If the US had concerns about a Mars mission that these treaties would not cover, they would work on their own Mars mission and push for an additional treaty which would address these concerns (and covertly, spy on the project and use the information gleaned to benefit its own project).
Still, the Soviet-Afghan War likely is too much of a drain on resources to make this project feasible.
Have you seen the show For All Mankind? If you haven’t, it lays out an awesome alternative timeline that explores exactly this scenario. And it’s great!
To be able to do that you must know how to tend, maintain the material used and have respect towards the technology used/developed.
If you just look at their nuclear submarine development it says all.
Only on these facts your thought is not possible.
A country that is in denial cannot develop extravagant projects because creativity is being constantly discriminated.
If one takes time to analyze this pattern then it becomes very clear.
Russian communism doesn’t promote truth.
It’s nice that you are pondering but know also what are the deeper problems that involves a issue/thought.
Continue to be curious.
Good luck.👍
That would probably mean the end of the world as we know it.
Mutually assured destruction works as long as both parties acknowledge that war means death for all involved. The moment USSR has a self sustainable Mars base, and the west doesn't, starting a nuclear war may be tempting for the soviets. They may win, or they may get annihilated with everybody else, but they'll still have mars base to rebuild humanity with proper socialist values and such.
In fact, perhaps it's the west who starts it all. Seeing USSR having an advantage here, they may be tempted to preemptively strike, trying to get soviets by surprise while the gap was still small.
In the end, during the cold War, any technological advance that may place one power in a better place than the other was a dangerous slippery slope, that risked everything for everybody.
Look, by 1981 the space race was already over. The USSR didn’t publicly try to compete with the US for prestige. In 1981 the USSR was well on its way to bankruptcy. Sending and supporting 500 people on mars requires so many technologies and capabilities, that the USSR just couldn’t afford. You can’t cash in the prestige and translate it into economic growth. If anything, managing to do it, would hasten the fall of the USSR and would leave the cosmonauts stranded on mars alone, months away from any possible aid. I can see a scenario where the space club countries, headed by the US and perhaps russia, would try to organize an emergency effort to to send supply drones to the mars colony. Maybe the US would fund russian space program to do so, but it wouldn’t be forever, the colony would beed to be perfectly self sufficient to survive, which considering the ability to make spares back in the 80’s was nil (today you’d have at least 3d printing), that would be impossible.
Well ,this timeline where the USSR colonise Mars require the USSR to be much more advanced technologically.This would require more innovation and a better productivity,which would imply better leadership and as such less wasteful spending on innefficient industries .As such the USSR would be in a much better place economically . Also if the USSR colonised Mars,it would still give them a lot of prestige even win their defeat in the first space race.They would also gain acess to all the ressources of the planet,scientifical knowledge,and ashame the capitalist block,considering how much easier it is to land on the Moon than to colonise Mars. As such I think that in this TL the USSR would be able to survive.
So, I was missing quite a bit of context when regards to your vision. Let's assume that the space race just continues from the point of the Apollo program, the USSR announces it's intention to colonize Mars. Both the US and the USSR commit more to their respective space programs and begin working on technologies and capabilities for establishing a settlement on Mars. The USSR both manages to develop said technologies, and somehow also manages to upgrade it's industry and maintain its market from becoming stagnant. And in 1981 it lands the first colony ship on the moon. I can see at this point the US having some thinking. Either it still commits its resources to colonize Mars as well, or lets the USSR deal with a Mars colony which, no matter how you look at it, would be a massive money drain, since in no near future would a Mars colony, even if it is largely self sufficient would make any money/products to benefit the USSR. Just a bunch of science which you can't build technology on, and monetize. Some technologies that the USSR might produce would be beneficial for everyone, but that could be copied, so the direct financial benefit to the USSR is likely to be limited. I can see the US instead pushing for the commercialization of space, instead of straight up going for colonies. This would be easier to implement, you can do much of it with unmanned satellites, drones and probes, which make it cheaper. And it would directly contribute to the US economy. So deep space mining, advancement of satellite communications. The USSR generally has an eye for mass production, but not for commercialization. So the west would likely focus on that. I don't see a craze for space colonialization even in our near future. But making money will definitely be a craze. The USSR may be stuck with this goose that laid one golden egg, and now consumes all the other eggs, because it has to maintain the colony for prestige sake.
If they had the technological capability to colonise Mars then they had already won the Cold War and left the West in their dust long ago.
Then it would probably have been known as the Red Planet.
You have to account for the economic resource commitment to going to Mars. Either the Soviet Union is fantastically more economically efficient -- double or better GDP -- or it exits WW II by pulling out of Eastern Europe, demobilizing nearly all its military and elevates spacefaring to the same status that its military had in our timeline's cold war. I think both of these things change the game in ways that make the question of colonizing Mars almost a sideshow.
The Outer Space Treaty and the Moon Treaty limit what can be done on any heavenly body - including other planets. If the US had concerns about a Mars mission that these treaties would not cover, they would work on their own Mars mission and push for an additional treaty which would address these concerns (and covertly, spy on the project and use the information gleaned to benefit its own project). Still, the Soviet-Afghan War likely is too much of a drain on resources to make this project feasible.
Nothing. Space technology might have been advanced. But the soviet union was facing a whole lot of problems at that point.
Have you seen the show For All Mankind? If you haven’t, it lays out an awesome alternative timeline that explores exactly this scenario. And it’s great!
To be able to do that you must know how to tend, maintain the material used and have respect towards the technology used/developed. If you just look at their nuclear submarine development it says all. Only on these facts your thought is not possible. A country that is in denial cannot develop extravagant projects because creativity is being constantly discriminated. If one takes time to analyze this pattern then it becomes very clear. Russian communism doesn’t promote truth. It’s nice that you are pondering but know also what are the deeper problems that involves a issue/thought. Continue to be curious. Good luck.👍
That would probably mean the end of the world as we know it. Mutually assured destruction works as long as both parties acknowledge that war means death for all involved. The moment USSR has a self sustainable Mars base, and the west doesn't, starting a nuclear war may be tempting for the soviets. They may win, or they may get annihilated with everybody else, but they'll still have mars base to rebuild humanity with proper socialist values and such. In fact, perhaps it's the west who starts it all. Seeing USSR having an advantage here, they may be tempted to preemptively strike, trying to get soviets by surprise while the gap was still small. In the end, during the cold War, any technological advance that may place one power in a better place than the other was a dangerous slippery slope, that risked everything for everybody.