What goods would be worth trading between Earth and Mars?
Mars is a cold, inhospitable, slightly damp ball of rock that would be very difficult to do things like grow crops on. However, it's also very far away. Far enough that, presumably, it would probably still be worth finding a way of growing them there, rather than shipping them from Earth.
Assuming that I've got technology several centuries more advanced than what we have now, (so probably fusion propulsion, big space stations, and space elevators), what sorts of goods would be worth trading between Earth and Mars? How much would something need to cost for it to be worth shipping it between planets?
Note: I've added the hard-science tag to this question, so answers should be based off of hard data about space flight, rather than pure conjecture.
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1 answer
Earth -> Mars trade is going to be "almost everything" for a while, with emphasis on things that can't be done on Mars.
Over time as corporations begin to develop Mars, heavy equipment and things for making things are going to be the main export. Mars has untapped minerals, so something to take those minerals and turn them into goods that can be used on Mars without having to boost them from Earth's gravity well is going to be attractive.
The other thing that Earth will export to Mars is people. Mars has a lot of land, and with no oceans it's pretty close to the same dry surface area as the Earth.
It'll start off slow, with scientists doing short duration stays like the ISS.
Then they'll find something interesting, and the corporations will decide to get involved. They'll try to do as much automation as possible, but there will still be humans sent for short periods to set up and maintain everything.
Eventually it'll become practical to start sending administrators and support staff, and then families will begin to arrive.
Meanwhile, there are a few nations with space programs that are severely over crowded, and they'll start to see Mars as a great dumping ground for the people they don't want.
Mars->Earth Trade is a little unbalanced.
Minerals is the first obvious answer, though those can be gotten from asteroids cheaper, and without the pesky and expensive gravity well. Heavy metals like iron, nickle, gold, and things that the asteroids are rich in wouldn't be worth it, but any rarer minerals used for production like lithium might be worth the cost of shipping.
Anything that isn't rare raw resources can be gotten a lot cheaper and easier here on Earth. The biggest thing that Mars has to offer is a new frontier, since we're running out of those down here.
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