The Power Of Fusion

The real revolution in travel to Mars, and elsewhere in the solar system will come when a radically new propulsion system can be developed. Leaving aside warp drives, anti-matter propulsion or zero point energy,  
any of which probably lie far enough in the future to constitute the stuff of science fiction for the moment; the likeliest candidate for fast travel to the planets is a nuclear fusion powered spacecraft. The problem is of course that research and development work on fusion power has been going on for decades without yet having produced anything capable of getting out of the process significantly more power than is put in. Nevertheless, work on fusion continues apace and there may be a breakthrough before a settlement on Mars is fully developed. Although a fusion propulsion system for a spacecraft would still need development, putting the advent of reasonably rapid planetary travel some further way off, it is worth reflecting on the implications for a moment.

What could fusion and the consequent possibility of constant boost ships achieve? The suggestion recently is that it could bring down the travel time to Mars to as little as thirty days. In addition, greater power capacity would allow the construction of larger transports for goods as well as people. The prospects for economically viable trade and for significant tourism could be substantially enhanced. In addition, large-scale soil farming in pressurisable poly-tunnels, which could then be transported in quantity from Earth, could lead to a much more rapid growth in the martian population. Constant boost would of course provide a more comfortable trip to Mars, as the acceleration would give the effect of gravity within the ship. Given the G force, suitable food animals in the early stages of growth could also be transported to vary the colonists' diets. If you have not considered this before just imagine what the conditions would be like with a menagerie in a zero G ship, as the animals' bodily wastes floated uncontrollably around their living quarters. And as the animals floated with them!

All this is looking quite far ahead, I concede. But it is a relevant issue to consider and potentially transformative for a colony's long-term future.