A recent preprint paper examines the minimum number of people required to maintain a feasible settlement on Mars while accounting for psychological and behavioral factors, specifically in emergency situations. This study was conducted by a team of data scientists from George Mason University and holds the potential to help researchers better understand the appropriate conditions …
“In the end, they determined that a minimum colony population of 22 agents was ideal to maintain a feasible Mars mining colony over the long-term.”
Until one of them is The Thing.
I always confused “The Thing” with the character from Fantastic Four. And never understood why people were afraid of a rock person who shouts “It’s clobbering time!”
because they do not wish to be clobbered
You can get it down to 21 if you call Black Jack.