Sounds like a plan. Hey, I wonder what happens when the rocket/shuttle blows up. That'll be fun, what with those high al!@#$%^&*ude airstreams to spread the material around the world and all. That said, the Russian's announced they want to build a nuclear powerplant on mars: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3162129.stm All Americans in favour of having the Russians sending nuclear material into space raise their hands please. Aileron's counter argument to Akai is broadly correct (I haven't done the maths to prove it) but he forgot to add that solar anad wind power are very dependant on their location and that there simply aren't enough sites, even if we were to destroy the environment, to generate the power we require. Also note the maintenance is a -*BAD WORD*- seeing as the prime sites (miles off coast in rough seas, deserts, gale prone areas) aren't particularly forgiving when it comes to high tech repair.